Episode 99: Exploding the Canon with Classix

Ancient Greek and Roman drama has influenced theatre for millennia, and playwrights and other artists from around the world continue to draw inspiration from these works. Professor Fiona Macintosh joins us to talk about the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama at Oxford University and how it's been a resource for those who want to learn more about how these works have been - and continue to be - performed.

Lorraine Hansberry's play "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window" is often forgotten, or dismissed as an inferior play that fell victim to the playwright's declining health at the end of her life. But as our guest, Elise Harris, tells us, it's a fascinating work in its own right, and one with a rich and complicated history.

It's a special guest episode, featuring Peter Schmitz and his podcast "Adventures in Theatre History: Philadelphia." Peter tells the story of Jasper Deeter, whose pioneering work had an impact on not only Philadelphia theatre, but the American stage as a whole.

The eighteenth century was obsessed with celebrities, and, like our own time, the fans of the 1700s were fascinated by famous actress' pregnancies. Dr. Chelsea Phillips joins us to talk about how she explores the emergence of this aspect of 18th-century fan culture in her new book, Carrying All Before Her: Celebrity Pregnancy and the London Stage, 1689-1800.

Broadway has a long and complex history, and in November of 2022 a new museum is opening that will allow visitors to explore that history. Curator Ben West joins us to introduce the Museum of Broadway and explain how it's bringing the theatrical past to life.

For anyone who's been following the news in 2022, a play about an Eastern European country's heroic resistance in the face of Russian invasion might sound timely. But as Dr. Thomas F. Connolly shows in this week's discussion of Robert E. Sherwood's "There Shall Be No Night," timeliness can be a tricky subject, perhaps especially in the context of live theatre.

The Classix project is working to, as they put it, “explode the classical canon through an exploration of Black performance history and dramatic works by Black writers.” Two members of the Classix team – director Dominique Rider and dramaturg Arminda Thomas – join us to talk about their work and how they’re sharing essential works from Black theatre history with new audiences.

It was the biggest hit on Broadway one hundred years ago – and yet it’s largely forgotten today. Eric Grode joins us to talk about his recent New York Times article marking the centenary of Abie’s Irish Rose, the hit comedy that, though it was riddled with stereotypes and reviled by critics, seemed like it just might be popular enough to run forever.

Kunqu is one of the cultural treasures of Chinese theatre. Today we're fortunate to be joined by Dr. Dongshin Chang, an expert on the art form. Dongshin will introduce us to the fascinating and musical world of kunqu.

The recent Tony-nominated Broadway revival of Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf reflects a growing appreciation for a Black writer whose work gives voice to those who have been oppressed and marginalized because of their race and gender. But who was Shange, and what more do her theatrical works have to say to us today? Dr. Kim F. Hall of Barnard College joins us to explore Shange's life and work.