Ashley Park has been working non-stop since graduating college. This year, she’s racking up a slew of award nominations and wins for her work in “KPOP” and “Mean Girls,” including a recent Tony Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical. One might say she is one to watch. We recently spoke with Ashley about how she’s managing being in-demand, her approach to Gretchen in “Mean Girls,” ambition, and more.
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Kristolyn Lloyd is currently starring in Dominique Morisseau’s “Paradise Blue.” It marks a notable change from her last New York role as one of the teenagers in the Broadway hit “Dear Evan Hansen.” We recently spoke with Kristolyn about her perspective on her character in “Paradise Blue”, how she thinks about her career trajectory, and her future as a director.
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How much agency does Eliza Dolittle have in “My Fair Lady”? How much does Joan of Arc have in “Saint Joan”? And where does that agency come from? We talk to Lauren Ambrose and Condola Rashad, the actresses currently playing Eliza and Joan on Broadway, about embodying these characters in 2018 and more.
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We speak with Tony nominee Lauren Ridloff, currently making her Broadway debut as Sarah in “Children of a Lesser God,” about the ways in which Lauren relates to Sarah, how the play helps her empower her own children, the importance of people truly listening to one another, and more.
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Leslye Headland is a playwright, screenwriter, director, and creator. We speak with her about her process for writing the play “Surfer Girl,” taking an indirect path to directing, and what it means to be a woman in the entertainment industry in 2018.
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“Miss You Like Hell” is an ambitions and expansive musical about mothers and daughters. It has book and lyrics by Pulitzer Prize-winner Quiara Alegría Hudes, music by singer-songwriter Erin McKeown, and is directed by Public Works founder Lear deBessonet. We speak to Quiara, Erin, Lear about how they developed the musical, their own spirituality, and moral purity in an imperfect world.
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“Mean Girls”—the movie that quickly became part of the canon of high school films—is now a Broadway musical. Stepping into the role of Regina George, the chief mean girl of “Mean Girls,” is Taylor Louderman. We talk to Taylor about playing the well-known mean girl, managing expectations, ambition, and more.
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Less than three years later after making her Off-Broadway debut, playwright Lindsey Ferrentino has two productions running Off-Broadway: “Amy and the Orphans” at the Roundabout and “This Flat Earth” at Playwrights Horizons. We speak to Lindsey about writing “This Flat Earth” and “Amy and the Orphans,” her career trajectory, writing female protagonists, and more.
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Marisa Michelson is a composer and vocal philosopher who often adapts myths, folklore, or biblical stories into interdisciplinary, experimental musical works. Her latest piece is “One Thousand Nights and One Day: A Postmodern Musical Fantasia.” We talk with Marisa about “One Thousand Nights and One Day,” her process of composing from the body, why she enjoys crafting non-linear narratives, and more.
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For years, people told actress Sharon Washington that she should write about her childhood growing up in an apartment above the St. Agnes branch of the New York Public Library, where her father was a custodian. Now, she finally has. “Feeding the Dragon” is Sharon’s solo show reflecting back on her childhood and her family. We recently went with her to the Main Branch of the NYPL and spoke with her about writing and performing “Feeding the Dragon” and books that have had an impact on her.
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When the movie “Mean Girls” was released in 2004, it quickly became a cultural touchstone. Now, over ten years later, it’s a highly anticipated Broadway musical. Barrett Wilbert Weed plays the role of Janis, the artsy, not-so-popular girl. We talk to Barrett about creating the role of Janis for the stage, what “Mean Girls” has taught her about leadership, having a life outside the show, and more.
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In theatre, issues of appearance affect women both on and off-stage, and on both sides of the curtain. We spoke to Tala Ashe, Laura Benanti, Sierra Boggess, Halley Feiffer, Anne Kauffman, Nikka Graff Lanzarone, Rebecca Luker, Nikiya Mathis, Jesca Prudencio, Aneesh Sheth, Liesl Tommy, and Whitney White about the complexities of deciding what to wear and being a woman in the world.
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Kenita Miller is currently playing Mama Euralie in “Once on this Island.” We spoke with Kenita about how her own mom’s missionary work in hurricane-ravaged Haiti inspired her current portrayal of Ti Moune’s adopted mother Mama Euralie, and why she thinks art can be a conversation starter about rebuilding community, as well as a reflection of life.
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On March 15th, a group of women will gather at 54 Below to present Broadway Baby Mamas, two concerts—one at 9:30pm and one at 11:30pm—featuring working mothers of theatre. The concert stemmed from a mothers’ group, started by Cara Cooper and Jessica Rush, to address the many specific challenges of being a working parent in theatre. We recently spoke with Cara and Jessica, along with Celia Keenan-Bolger, who will be hosting both shows, about the idea behind the concert, what the theatre community can do to make it easier for working parents, and why they feel being visible as working moms is important.
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The new play “Is God Is” has become an early hit of the spring Off-Broadway season, earning rave reviews and multiple extensions. We talk to playwright Aleshea Harris about her inspiration and process for writing Is God Is, writing women who want revenge, her use of language, and more.
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We speak to the women of the “Folk Wandering” creative team: Pipeline Artistic Director Ari Schrier, Pipeline Producing Director Natalie Gershtein, Jaclyn Backhaus , and songwriters Jo Lampert, Barrie McLain, Annie Tippe, and Dominique Toney, about collaborating on devised theatre while navigating the realities of day jobs and student loans, and why they are standing on the shoulders of the women who came before them.
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In the new play “queens,” written by Martyna Majok and directed by Danya Taymor, a group of female immigrants find their paths crossing in a small apartment in Queens. We talk to Martyna and Danya about the process of writing and staging “queens,” autobiography in work, and how they structure their lives as theatre artists.
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Bernadette Peters turns 70 this week. Her name is synonymous with American musical theatre—and the moniker “young and cute forever.” How did that happen? And has she ever really gotten the respect she deserves? We take a romp through 1970s Los Angeles, ’80s New York, and the brain of a ’90s pre-teen to find out how Bernadette Peters became a woman not afraid to take up a lot of space.
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In Hammaad Chaudry’s new play, “An Ordinary Muslim,” the characters navigate their family, faith, and the complicated nature of assimilation. We sat down with director Jo Bonney along with actresses Purva Bedi, Angel Desai, and Rita Wolf to discuss their process for rehearsing and performing “An Ordinary Muslim.”
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Maria Dizzia is making her professional directing debut with “The Loneliest Number” by Lizzie Vieh, which begins performances on February 22nd. We recently spoke with her about her directing process and how it’s forming, how she became interested in directing, and being a woman in theatre in the age of #MeToo and #TimesUp.
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We talk to Chiara Atik, Sylvia Khoury, and Abby Rosebrock to discuss their plays, their experiences with Youngblood/EST, and the ways in which their offstage pursuits have impacted their dramatic writing.
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On February 16th, “The Rest I Make Up,” a documentary about the playwright María Irene Fornés will have its premiere. It’s the first documentary about Fornés, a playwright who was instrumental in forming Off-Off-Broadway theatre and America’s avant-garde theatre movement. We spoke with filmmaker Michelle Memran about the process of making the film, her relationship with Fornés, and the playwright’s legacy.
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In 2015, Dr. Indira Etwaroo became Executive Director of the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation and The Billie Holiday Theatre, which is part of the organization and was founded in 1972 as a destination and breeding ground for black artists. Only a few years into her tenure, she has already led a major renovation of the theatre’s physical space and re-invigorated its programming. We spoke to her about running a large arts institution, working with the community, funding, and being a woman in a leadership position.
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In 2015, playwright Dael Orlandersmith went to St. Louis to interview people about their thoughts on race and the death of Michael Brown, the unarmed black teenager killed by a police officer in 2014. From those interviews, she created fictional characters for her solo show, “Until the Flood.” We spoke to her about her process for creating “Until the Flood,” what she thinks people get wrong about her work, and how it has evolved.
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“SpongeBob SquarePants, The Broadway Musical” has become one of the most well-reviewed and popular musicals of the 2017-18 Broadway season. It came from the mind of Tina Landau, who not only directed the show but conceived it (it’s also the only Broadway musical directed by a woman this season). We recently sat down with to discuss how she conceived and brought “SpongeBob” to life, how she views directing, ambition, and more.
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