Connecting with Directors Digitally
Video & Podcast Series
In Conversation, The Drama League's acclaimed series of live discussions with directors who are changing the face of theater, television, and film, has expanded to become accessible via digital video and podcast. The process of creation is revealed in these intimate, surprising, and wide-ranging conversations with award-winning creators from around the world.
#Collaboration provides a window into the unique collaborative process between a director and a playwright, designer, producer, or actor; in each episode, two artists will discuss their journey together on a project and their relationship as collaborators.
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Just Released!
In Conversation: Mei Ann Teo
Watch above, click here, or listen & subscribe to the podcast version, available online, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, and PocketCast
Recorded on July 17, 2020
The skillfully compassionate director and visionary arts leader Mei Ann Teo joins the series from her native country of Singapore. Nilan, Associate Artistic Director, moderates the discussion from Teo's thoughts on consciously decreasing harm in the workplace, the work of the auteur, her work as Producing Artistic Director of Musical Theatre Factory, and so much more.
#Collaboration: Conor McPherson and Simon Hale
Watch above, click here, or listen & subscribe to the podcast version, available online, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, and PocketCast
This conversation was recorded in early June 2020, in wake of the murders of George Floyd, Tony McDade, Rayshard Brooks, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and far too many others. We hold their families in our thoughts and wish for swift justice. We’ve attached links in this video and in its description to point you towards just a few of the many ways you can support Black lives, Indigenous lives, and people of color. We hope to not distract from the important work happening in our world, but ally it with light from artists, and to spread leadership and hope.
Black Lives Matter, blacklivesmatter.com
Black Visions Collective, blackvisionsmn.org
NAACP Legal Defense Fund, naacpldf.org
American Civil Liberties Union, action.aclu.org/give/now
Recorded on June 12, 2020
#Collaboration: Gaye Taylor Upchurch and Lauren Gunderson
Watch above, click here, or listen & subscribe to the podcast version, available online, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, and PocketCast
This conversation was recorded in late May 2020, prior to the murders of George Floyd, Tony McDade, and Rayshard Brooks, and in the wake of the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and far too many others. We hold their families in our thoughts and wish for swift justice. We’ve attached links in this video and in its description to point you towards just a few of the many ways you can support Black lives, Indigenous lives, and people of color. We hope to not distract from the important work happening in our world, but ally it with light from artists, and to spread leadership and hope.
Black Lives Matter, blacklivesmatter.com
Black Visions Collective, blackvisionsmn.org
NAACP Legal Defense Fund, naacpldf.org
American Civil Liberties Union, action.aclu.org/give/now
Recorded on May 11, 2020
The lead creatives of Audible's The Half-Life of Marie Curie look back on what it takes to create theatre for the ear and eye. Director Gaye Taylor Upchurch (The Blameless, The Last Match, Animal) and playwright Lauren Gunderson (I and You, The Book of Will, Natural Shocks) walks us from play commission to production.
In Conversation: Sheryl Kaller
Watch above, click here, or listen & subscribe to the podcast version, available online, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, and PocketCast
This conversation was recorded in late May 2020, prior to the murders of George Floyd, Tony McDade, and Rayshard Brooks, and in the wake of the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and far too many others. We hold their families in our thoughts and wish for swift justice. We’ve attached links in this video and in its description to point you towards just a few of the many ways you can support Black lives, Indigenous lives, and people of color. We hope to not distract from the important work happening in our world, but ally it with light from artists, and to spread leadership and hope.
We recognize and stand with the following organizations:
Black Lives Matter, blacklivesmatter.com
Black Visions Collective, blackvisionsmn.org
NAACP Legal Defense Fund, naacpldf.org
American Civil Liberties Union, action.aclu.org/give/now
Recorded on May 13, 2020
The incomparable director SHERYL KALLER shares her remarkable career with us on this week's episode. Gabriel Stelian-Shanks, Artistic Director, moderates the discussion from Kaller's thoughts on the evolution of women in the field, being a working parent in the theatre, and her work with Terrence McNally, Billy Porter, and Christopher Durang.
Women of Color in Artistic Leadership: Associate Artistic Directors
Watch above, click here, or listen & subscribe to the podcast version, available online, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, and PocketCast
This conversation was recorded in late May 2020, prior to the murders of George Floyd, Tony McDade, and Rayshard Brooks, and in the wake of the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and far too many others. We hold their families in our thoughts and wish for swift justice. We’ve attached links in this video and in its description to point you towards just a few of the many ways you can support Black lives, Indigenous lives, and people of color. We hope to not distract from the important work happening in our world, but ally it with light from artists, and to spread leadership and hope.
We recognize and stand with the following organizations:
Black Lives Matter, blacklivesmatter.com
Black Visions Collective, blackvisionsmn.org
NAACP Legal Defense Fund, naacpldf.org
American Civil Liberties Union, action.aclu.org/give/now
Recorded on May 20, 2020
We gathered three rising stars of the field who serve our industry as both director and associate artistic director to debunk what exactly is the role of an associate artistic director? We also deep-dived into the experience of being a woman of color on the job at a historically White institution. Drama League alums Nicole A. Watson (Round House Theatre), Dawn Monique Williams (Aurora Theatre Company), and Pirronne Yousefzadeh (Geva Theatre Center) sit down with our Artistic Director Gabriel Stelian-Shanks.
Queering the Theatre: A Special Pride Week Event
Watch above, click here, or listen & subscribe to the podcast version, available online, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, and PocketCast
This conversation was recorded in late May 2020, in the wake of the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Tony McDade. We hold their families in our thoughts and wish for swift justice. We’ve attached links in this video and in its description to point you towards just a few of the many ways you can support Black lives, Indigenous lives, and people of color. We hope to not distract from the important work happening in our world, but ally it with light from artists, and to spread leadership and hope.
We recognize and stand with the following organizations:
Black Lives Matter, blacklivesmatter.com
Black Visions Collective, blackvisionsmn.org
NAACP Legal Defense Fund, naacpldf.org
American Civil Liberties Union, action.aclu.org/give/now
The Drama League gathered the leaders of our nation’s top LGBTQIA+ theatre companies. The conversation that unfolded investigated why queer specific space is important in the American Theatre? How do we honor voices of the past, present, and future? Who is overlooked in our communities? How do we lead our communities and its allies towards a more equitable, authentic, diverse, and inclusive practice? And so much more! The Drama League’s Artistic Director Gabriel Stelian-Shanks is joined by Megan Carney (About Face Theatre), Paul Conroy (Out Front Theatre Company), Philip Crosby (Richmond Triangle Players), John Fisher (Theatre Rhinoceros), Adam Odsess-Rubin (National Queer Theater), Michael A. Shepperd (Celebration Theatre), Harold Steward (The Theater Offensive), and Zak Stowe (Stage Q) in an unprecedented conversation about queering the American theatre.
LILEANA BLAIN-CRUZ has received Obie Awards for Marys Seacole at LCT3 and The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World AKA The Negro Book of the Dead at Signature Theater. She recently directed Anatomy of a Suicide at The Atlantic Theater Company, Fefu and Her Friends at Theater for a New Audience, Girls at Yale Repertory Theater, Faust at Opera Omaha, and The House That Will Not Stand at New York Theater Workshop. Other projects include Lucas Hnath's Red Speedo at NYTW, Alice Birch's Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again at Soho Rep, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' War at LCT3 and Yale Rep, Henry IV Part 1 and Much Ado About Nothing at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Bluest Eye at The Guthrie, and Actually at MTC. She was awarded a 2018 United States Artist Fellowship and the Josephine Abady Award from the League of Professional Theater Women.
DESDEMONA CHIANG is based in Seattle, Washington and Ashland, Oregon, but as one of America’s most prolific directors, her work is seen at major theaters across the country – Philadelphia, New York, Houston, Washington DC, Minneapolis, Costa Mesa, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore are just a few of her recent stops. The recipient of the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Theatre, awarded to artists of exceptional ability who identify as immigrants, is just one of her many accolades: the Princess Grace Award, SDC Sir John Gielgud Directing Fellowship, and both the Drama League New York and Film/Television Fellowships. In this intimate interview, Ms. Chiang talks about her earliest beginnings to her present work, and her hopes for theatre’s future.
"A problem can be fun," proclaims choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, reminiscing over the creative process of creating Jagged Little Pill with director Diane Paulus and actress Elizabeth Stanley. Jagged Little Pill, recently nominated for a Drama League Award for Outstanding Musical, is an exhilarating original piece inspired by the themes and emotions laid bare in Alanis Morissette’s seminal album of the same name. In Diablo Cody’s reimagining, "every moment on stage has a history.”
#Collaboration: Jenna Worsham & Ren Dara Santiago
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or listen & subscribe to the podcast version, available online, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, and PocketCast
or click here to read the transcript!
JENNA WORSHAM is a stage director and activist. Broadway: The Parisian Woman, Picnic, The Heidi Chronicles (Associate Director). Off-Broadway/Regional: Summer’s Soldier by Boo Killebrew (Williamstown Theatre Festival); The Climb by C.A. Johnson (Cherry Lane); Agnes by Catya McMullen (59E59/Lesser America, NY Times Critics’ Pick); Belleville by Amy Herzog (Pasadena Playhouse); Carlo at the Wedding by Bryna Turner (ACT); Wonder Boi by Jacob Jarrett (NYMF); Dear by Lily Houghton (MCC); Blue Ridge by Abby Rosebrock (Williamstown); Street Children by Pia Scala-Zankel (Vertigo Theater, NY Times Critics’ Pick); Gun Country (A.R.T/New York); The First Immigrant by Martyna Majok (Williamstown); Invincible Ones by Samantha Cooper (Signature Center); Here to Be Seen (commissioned by the Brooklyn District Attorney); and The Vagina Monologues (Taconic Prison & Cherry Lane, for the Women's Prison Association). Jenna has developed new work at The Public, Labyrinth, ACT, Playwrights Horizons, The Women’s Project, MTC, EST/Youngblood, MCC, and Primary Stages, among others. She is a 2019 National Directing Fellow at The O’Neill Theater Center, as well as the recipient of a Jonathan Alper Award (MTC), two SDCF Observerships, and The Drama League/Williamstown Sagal Directing Fellowship. Jenna is the founding Artistic Director of Middle Voice at Rattlestick, and the Co-Founder of Creative Solutions at SPACE on Ryder Farm, a residency program for human rights advocates.
REN DARA SANTIAGO is a Fila-Rican playwright from Yonkers and Harlem. She is the 2019-2020 Tow Playwright-in-Residence at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. Something in the Balete Tree, a 2019 Finalist for the National Playwrights Conference, was written with the support of Gingold Theatrical Group, Clubbed Thumb, and SPACE on Ryder Farm. The Siblings Play has had development at The Cherry Lane Theatre (Mentor Project), Labyrinth Theater, MCC Theater, and Ojai Playwrights Conference. Other plays include Battle, Come to Starr Street, The Gods Play, Little Stories, Big World, and Love + Animation. She is a teaching artist with The National Theater Institute, The Young Women’s Leadership School, and the Playwriting Lab at MCC Youth Company, guest artist in Playgrounds at The Lark, member of Rising Phoenix Rep, founding member and former Artistic Producer of Middle Voice at Rattlestick, and an eternal member of The Baldwin Project by Lucy Thurber. Santiago is the proud recipient of the MCC Alumni Award and the inaugural recipient of Rising Phoenix Rep’s Cornelia Street American Playwriting Award.
In Conversation: Mortiz von Stuelpnagel
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or listen & subscribe to the podcast version, available online, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, and PocketCast
or click here to read the transcript!
Drama League Artistic Director Gabriel Stelian-Shanks sits down with Tony-nominated director (and Drama League alum) Moritz von Stuelpnagel to discuss his approach, inspirations, and theatrical work, including the recent Broadway productions of Bernhardt/Hamlet, Present Laughter, and Hand To God.
MORITZ VON STUELPNAGEL is a New York based director. Broadway: Theresa Rebeck’s Bernhardt/Hamlet starring Janet McTeer (Roundabout), Noël Coward’s Present Laughter starring Kevin Kline (three Tony Award nominations including Best Revival), Robert Askins’ Hand to God (five Tony Award nominations including Best Play and Best Director). West End: Hand to God (Olivier Award nomination). Off-Broadway: Larissa Fasthorse’s The Thanksgiving Play (Playwrights Horizons), Mike Lew’s Teenage Dick (Ma-Yi/Public Theater), Nick Jones’ Important Hats of the Twentieth Century (MTC), Nick Jones’ Verité (LCT3), Mike Lew’s Bike America (Ma-Yi), Nick Jones’ Trevor (Lesser America), Robert Askins’ Love Song of the Albanian Sous Chef (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Mel & El (Ars Nova), Michael Mitnick’s Spacebar (Studio 42), and Adam Szymkowicz’s My Base and Scurvy Heart (Studio 42). Regional: Williamstown Theatre Festival, Huntington Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, and more. Moritz is the former artistic director of Studio 42, NYC’s producer of “unproducible” plays. www.moritzvs.com
In Conversation: Steven Canals
Exclusive Bonus Content: Click Here to Watch!
Enjoy a never-before-seen video recording of last season’s In Conversation with Steven Canals, filmed at The Drama League Theater Center in front of a live audience. Canals is the Emmy-nominated screenwriter, producer, director, and co-creator of the FX Network’s smash television series, "Pose."
Hailing from The Bronx, STEVEN CANALS is a 2015 graduate of UCLA’s MFA Screenwriting program. He began his journey as a storyteller in high school, producing a documentary short about turf violence. Steven went on to earn a BA in Cinema from Binghamton University. While attending UCLA, Steven served as a Research Assistant for Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black. Steven was the Staff Writer on Freeform’s “Dead of Summer,” the same year his short film, "Afuera," premiered at the 2016 LA Film Festival. Variety Magazine named Steven a TV Writer to Watch in 2018. His original drama series, “POSE,” co-created with Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, debuted in 2018 on FX.
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2020 Nominees