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Under the banner of the following open letter, wrangled into being by writer/director Annie Dorsen, nearly 500 artists and cultural workers called out the NEA for its divisive and discriminatory "guidelines." This letter has been in circulation for the past few weeks, and we are publishing it here as a record, a reminder, and a call to action for artists and audiences alike, especially as the ACLU…

Demonstrators hold signs during a protest against Elon Musk outside of the US Department of Treasury building in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, February 4th, 2025. Photos by Stephen Voss for The Verge.

Steely Lies the Heart

Kirsten Greenidge

This piece, "Steely Lies The Heart" by Kirsten Greenidge, was originally published on HowlRound Theatre Commons (here), on April 1, 2017. "What’s that?” “I got a bracelet.” “What’s it say?” I hold up my wrist for my daughter to inspect. Her eyes widen. I explain. “Feminist just means boys and girls are equal.” “Okay.” “And the other word is okay to say sometimes.” She…

Martha Redbone: “Drums” at 2018 Folklife Festival. Camera: Charlie Weber via Smithsonian.

Much Ado About Martha

Ashley Thomas

The music is the message for Martha Redbone. As a performer, vocalist, songwriter, and educator Redbone was introduced to music at an early age. Between being born in New York City, and growing up in Black Mountain, Kentucky, there was always an exposure to culture, identity, and pride despite the ever changing times and landscape. The constant was, and still is music. Today, her work is a blend o…

If I Forget Thee, O Earth: afterimages

Kate Douglas

A note from playwright Kate Douglas: While writing a play, an atmospheric mood board helps me sink more deeply into the world that I'm building. These images are an exploration of color, texture, architecture, and character for my play If I Forget Thee, O Earth. The piece takes place in an environmental simulation of a Mars mission (a habitat built to replicate the conditions of Mars…

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Pentagon

Creation

Faith Zamblé

As a small bit of joy, on this, the last day of what has felt like the longest month in human history, I present a quick look at the October 1967 “raising”-slash-exorcism of the Pentagon. This event plays an important part in Radio Downtown (which you can still see at 59E59!), serving as a moment of immense absurdity, as well as earnest expression of hope for a better future. There are many way…

Mary Lou Rosato, Sandra Shipley, Rita Wolf, and LaTonya Borsay in a scene from Escaped Alone by Caryl Churchill, directed by Liz Diamond. Yale Repertory Theatre, March 8–30, 2024. Photo © Joan Marcus.

Of a Certain Age: Aging and the American Theater

Community

Francisco Morandi Zerpa

“Because I thought that you know I thought of aging as just something we do at the end of life that only involves depression and loneliness and diapers and decline and we are aging from the minute we're born.” –Ashton Applewhite in Of A Certain Age (2018) These are the words of Ashton Applewhite, a writer and activist who has dedicated much of her career to writing about…

Radio Reflections: Downtown Artists Speak Truth to Power

Creation

Faith Zamblé

“You can't just take bits and pieces of, uh, many different people's ideas and paste them together, in a juxtaposed manner and say, this is culture, and then feed this to the people and demand that they accept that. Culture just kind of rises out of the people's way of life. It's how they live. It's who they are and what they are. And without the people being directly and actively involved in what…

Peter Moore’s photograph of Yvonne Rainer in ‘We Shall Run’ © Barbara Moore/VAGA, New York/Paula Cooper Gallery

The Medium and the Message

Creation

The Civilians

Editor’s Note: Between the time we conducted this interview and its publication, Richard Foreman, whose Ontological-Hysteric Theater inspired so many innovative theater artists and who we mention in this article, passed away from pneumonia related complications. The history of downtown NYC theater seems set in stone to those of us who draw strength from its sense of community and creativity, but F…

Announcing The Civilians’ 2024-25 R&D Group, Finalists, Semi-Finalists

The Civilians

Hear ye, hear ye--amidst fires, floods, and presidential elections, we are excited to present The Civilians’ thirteenth annual R&D Group! These artists were selected from a pool of nearly 200 project proposals by a committee of Civilians staff and readers, including your Extended Play team. The R&D Group is designed to support and develop new investigative theater by gathering a group …

Introducing Access Dramaturgy

This piece, "Introducing Access Dramaturgy" by Alison Kopit, Ann Marie Dorr, and Maggie Bridger, was originally published on HowlRound Theatre Commons on November 13, 2024. In the program for Dark Disabled Stories, a note from access dramaturg Alison Kopit oriented audiences and critics to an approach to access that “imagines ourselves into the future,” creating a corner of the t…