Although I had read the text, libretto, and seen Ragtime rehearsal previous to the production opening, I was not offended by the usage of the term”nigger” until I saw the production live. After the show, I found myself wondering why I had such a visceral reaction to Michael Oliver’s portrayal of Willie Conklin. Despite having some historical […]
Kim & Jules went “high-tech” for the lobby display. The wonderful folks at Theater Operations put up a large flatscreen TV and we’ll be running this Prezi off a laptop every night. There it will show on a continuous loop and each slide gets about 10 seconds, which we’re hoping gives people enough time to […]
OK. So I’m doing a moment by moment (as things catch my attention) blog for tonight’s dress. This is mostly to give you two kinds of impressions. One from me who has been here for weeks! The other from an imagined audience member, noticing things that make me scratch my head and say, “What’s going […]
In this vlog for Professor Mark Anthony Neal’s NewBlackMan blog, Thomas DeFrantz, Professor of African& African-American Studies and Dance at Duke, gives a lecture-demonstration on the Roots of Black Social Dance and the “Buck, Wing, & Jig” steps so familiar to your Ragtime movement score. httpv://youtu.be/A34OD4eA17o
UPDATE: Please forgive my tardiness in posting this image on our blog. I thought it better to get it out to Twitter and Facebook in the immediate moment. Below is the photo member of our ensemble took on March 28, 2012 to show our solidarity with Trayvon Martin’s family. Broadway’s original Sarah, Audra McDonald, our […]
There must be some ugly fun or at least an emotional release to be had in letting those racial slurs fly during the “What a Game!” baseball fan number. Interestingly, we’ve not yet discussed the show’s use of the n-word. And the k-word(s), the p-word, and the m-word. Maybe the script gives us the necessary […]
If we were ever tempted to think of Ragtime as dated, or of Doctorow as an unlikely source for theater, we should take a look at Steppenwolf Theater’s current season. This acclaimed regional theater has commissioned an adaptation of Doctorow’s 2005 novel, The March, from Frank Galati, a Steppenwolf ensemble member, faculty at Northwestern University, […]
Marcy Arlin, artistic director of the Immigrant Theatre Project, has started a blog series for Theatre Communications Group (TCG) chronicling the work of immigrant theatre artists who often labor out of sight of mainstream theater goers. Her first interview is with playwright Chiori Miyagawa, author of Thousand Years Waiting, America Dreaming, This Lingering Life. A […]
To spare Matt from having to undertake an intensive escapism course, we’re going to be doing some misdirection to support the illusion of Houdini’s skills. To assist with this, here are some images of Houdini’s more “strong-man” pre- and post-escape poses. Sidenote, during my doctoral work at UNC-Chapel Hill, I had the privilege to take […]
Tonight we tackle “What a Game.” In an earlier post, I uploaded a YouTube clip featuring narration of the 1905 world series game 2 between the New York Giants (later the San Francisco Giants) and the Philadelphia Athletics (an American League Philadelphia team from 1901-1954). I also posted a picture of an early 1900s Harvard […]
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