Thinking About Theater

Read all our theater and the performing-arts coverage across the U.S., including exclusive interviews, insightful reviews, and must-see photos and videos.

Latest Articles

Jillette Penn (left) and Teller encourage cellphone use during their magic show <em>Penn & Teller on Broadway</em>, at the Marquis Theatre.
Thinking About Theater
Does the Audience Need an Outlet? (Part II)
On smartphones, LuPones, and unanticipated interactivity.
Following the "outlet incident," Beowulf Boritt updated his Facebook photo.
Thinking About Theater
Does the Audience Need an Outlet?
On smartphones, LuPones, and unanticipated interactivity.
Judith Malina and Julian Beck conceived and built works on a "poor theater" budget works while relentlessly challenging audiences' expectations.
Thinking About Theater
Judith Malina and the Award-Season Rush (Part II)
Amid a frenzy of openings, a radical-theater genius passes.
Judith Malina, who died on April 10, cofounded the radical theater company Living Theatre in 1947.
Thinking About Theater
Judith Malina and the Award-Season Rush
Amid a frenzy of openings, a radical-theater genius passes.
James Earl Jones as Claudius, Colleen Dewhurst as Gertrude, and Stacy Keach as Hamlet in a 1972 production at the Delacorte Theater.
Thinking About Theater
Should Kristin Chenoweth Play Paul Robeson? (Part II)
Ethnicity, gender, and the complexities of casting.
Katharine Hepburn portrayed a Chinese peasant in the 1944 film <em>Dragon Seed</em>.
Thinking About Theater
Should Kristin Chenoweth Play Paul Robeson?
How ethnicity and gender have complicated casting.
Ned Eisenberg and Katie McClellan in Peccadillo Theater Company's revival of Clifford Odets' <em>Rocket to the Moon</em>, directed by Dan Wackerman, at Theatre at St. Clement's.
Thinking About Theater
An Outspoken Critic Provokes Visions of Stages Past and Present (Part II)
A 1930s British Ego investigates American theater.
British critic James Agate never hesitated to acclaim new work that he found good and exciting, regardless of approach or country of origin, and he found much to admire in American theater.
Thinking About Theater
An Outspoken Critic Provokes Visions of Stages Past and Present
In the 1930s, London theater journalist James Agate discovered America.
Gretchen Mol, Hari Dhillon, Karen Pittman, and Josh Radnor in Ayad Akhtar's <em>Disgraced</em>, directed by Kimberly Senior, at Broadway's Lyceum Theatre.
Thinking About Theater
Bad News and (Maybe) Better Plays (Part II)
Ayad Akhtar's plays shed some light on our dark times.
T.R. Knight recently starred in the world premiere of Samuel D. Hunter's <em>Pocatello</em>, directed by Davis McCallum, at Playwrights Horizons.
Thinking About Theater
Bad News and (Maybe) Better Plays
The news prompts dark reflections on plays that might shed some light.
Staying Power and the Power to Leave (Part II)
Thinking About Theater
Staying Power and the Power to Leave (Part II)
Why a critic can — but mostly shouldn't — walk out at intermission.
Ruthie Ann Miles in the original off-Broadway production of <em>Here Lies Love</em> at the Public Theater.
Thinking About Theater
Staying Power and the Power to Leave
Why shows can be — but shouldn't be — walked out of.
Linzi Hateley as the title character in Lawrence D. Cohen, Michael Gore, and Dean Pitchford's musical <em>Carrie</em>, directed by Terry Hands, at Broadway's Virginia Theatre in 1988.
Thinking About Theater
Talking of Turkeys (Part II)
How to tell a legendary disaster from a simple flop.
Angela Lansbury as Cora Hoover Hooper in Arthur Laurents and Stephen Sondheim's <em>Anyone Can Whistle</em>, directed by Laurents at Broadway's Majestic Theatre in 1964.
Thinking About Theater
Talking of Turkeys
The holiday season summons recollections of flops past.
Bert Williams.
Thinking About Theater
Bert Williams: America's First Black Star (Part II)
A rediscovered film at MoMA prompts reflections on a great artist's extraordinary career.
Bert Williams and George Walker were considered by many as the first African-American stars.
Thinking About Theater
Bert Williams: America's First Black Star
A rediscovered film at MoMA prompts reflections on a great artist's extraordinary career.
Ruth Draper
Thinking About Theater
America's Greatest Woman Playwright (Maybe) (Part II)
Listening to Ruth Draper, actors and playwrights learn simple truths.
America's Greatest Woman Playwright (Maybe)
Thinking About Theater
America's Greatest Woman Playwright (Maybe)
Dana Ivey, Darko Tresnjak, and other leading Broadway lights reflect on a trailblazing solo performer.
Kevin Kline as Lear with Kristen Bush as Cordelia in the 2007 Public Theater revival of <em>King Lear</em>, directed by James Lapine.
Thinking About Theater
Lear, There, and Everywhere (Part II)
Further reflections on a tormenting play.
John Lithgow in the title role of Shakespeare's <em>King Lear</em>, directed by Daniel Sullivan, at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.
Thinking About Theater
Lear, There and Everywhere: Notes on a Tormenting Play
The rack of this tough world.
Michael Shannon as Berenger in Eugène Ionesco's <em>The Killer</em>, translated by Michael Feingold, at Theatre for a New Audience's Polonsky Shakespeare Center.
Thinking About Theater
Me, the World, and The Killer (Part II)
Follow Ionesco deep into a man's dark heart, and you discover the world outside.
Michael Shannon as Berenger and Ryan Quinn as The Killer in Theatre for a New Audience's production of Eugène Ionesco's The Killer, directed by Darko Tresnjak, at Brooklyn's Polonsky Shakespeare Center.
Thinking About Theater
Me, the World, and The Killer
Translate Ionesco, and who knows what planet you might wake up on.
Groucho Marx with Thelma Todd in the 1931 film <em>Monkey Business</em>.
Thinking About Theater
Gilbert & Sullivan & ... the Marx Brothers? (Part II)
When artists argue about money, the argument's really about art.
Courtice Pounds and Rutland Barrington as Giuseppe and Marco in Gilbert and Sullivan's <em>The Gondoliers</em> at the Savoy Theatre in 1889.
Thinking About Theater
Gilbert & Sullivan & ... Frankenstein?
A carpet for the theater lobby can cost a lot — in terms of friendships and careers.