Red Velvet, Ira Aldridge & the problems and possibilities of Othello

Red Velvet, Ira Aldridge & the problems and possibilities of Othello My field notes today are exactly that, paragraphs shaped from rough notes made after attending the December 1, 2022 performance of Lolita Chakrabarti’s Red Velvet directed by Cherissa Richards at Crow’s Theatre.  Set primarily in 1830s London, bookended by Continue Reading

God Give Me the Confidence of a Straight White Able-bodied Man: Cripping Up for Richard III

He has many names: Tricky Dicky, Richard Plantagenet, the Duke of Gloucester, King Richard III. He is famed for being scheming, manipulative, morally corrupt, and also possesses a nondescript disability commonly alluded to in performance through able-bodied actors feigning a limp, walking with a cane, and adopting a hunch-backed stance Continue Reading

Open Air Shakespeare: “a corrective to an overcitified and artificial life”?

To me, watching Shakespeare performed outdoors is a delicious novelty. I love sitting outside on a blanket or pillow, watching actors and musicians perform in a park alongside trees, rocks, grass, birds, bats, and mosquitos. Ok, maybe I don’t love the mosquitos. This summer I had the good fortune of Continue Reading