(Un)real City: Spatial and Temporal Ghosting in ANU Productions' The Party to End All Parties

As COVID-19-related closures affected theatre and performance venues worldwide, the question of how theatrical practices might be adapted to these new circumstances became particularly pertinent in the context of immersive theatre and site-specific performance, forms which heavily draw on the audience's experiential encounter with site and performers for its process of meaning-making. Focussing on ANU Productions' The Party to End All Parties (2020) as a hybrid form of site-specific pandemic theatre set in the cityscape of Dublin, this article investigates how the production translated the "host/ghost" relationship as a central aspect of site-specific theatre to the virtual realm. It demonstrates how this notion is transformed into a thematic thread woven into the performance, arguing that it engages with the host/ghost relationship through spatial as well as temporal "ghosting," which blurs the lines between the contemporary setting of lockdown Dublin and the historical landmark of O'Connell Bridge as a site inextricably connected to the emergence of Ireland as a republic. At the same time, this notion is explored through the connections between presence and absence, visibility and invisibility (or, indeed, spectrality) in the three characters' personal journeys.

Theater de Quermesse

This article deals with the return of the Passeio Cantante artistic action to the streets, after two years of social isolation caused by COVID-19, with the aim of leaving a testimony of the experience of the arts of presence and isolation. It adds a narrative about the language that has been created from the intersection between historical heritage, scene and June tradition, which here is called Teatro de Quermesse. To describe how this caipira theater has been made, we add to the information related to Passeio Cantante, information about the urbanization of Campinas since the 18th century, about the people and the June tradition planted here since the 16th century. From the material gathered here, we show how this dramaturgy for alleys, squares and squares is thought of as a scenic event that evokes the memory of the city, from a political perspective of today with a view to proposals for the future. The text dialogues with Leda Maria Martins (1997;2002), Milton Santos (2014), Luis Antonio Simas (2019), among other references.

Lessons learnt from teaching an Applied Drama and Theatre pedagogy online in a digitally divided South Africa

An Applied Drama and Theatre pedagogy is rooted in principles of embodiment, participation and collaboration, praxis and immersion in social contexts. Over the past fourteen years, the Drama for Life department at the University of the Witwatersrand prioritised the implementation of an Applied Drama and Theatre teaching and learning practice that is premised on our bodies operating within social and cultural contexts. Furthermore, the experiential pedagogy is reliant on physical presence and human contact for the purposes of reflection, transformation and education. With the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, this complex pedagogy faced a threat. How can we migrate an Applied Drama and Theatre curriculum to online learning platforms? Can we fully honour its pedagogical objectives remotely? The study explored how Applied Drama and Theatre educators re-envisioned and implemented strategies to maintain the integrity of the embodied pedagogy as it moved online. These collective approaches transpired amidst a disruptive digital divide within a South African context, which impacted connectivity, access and the hopes of a synchronous learning experience. From 2020 to 2021, the ethnographic study tracked and observed Drama for Life and its Applied Drama and Theatre educators as they;1) responded to the pandemic and identified its threats to the pedagogy;2) through processes of experimentation, transitioned the curriculum to online learning platforms;and 3) reflected on their discoveries, challenges and interim solutions throughout the journey. The study found (based on literature and data) that the pandemic provided higher education institutions and practitioners with an opportunity for directed change. Central to the collective strategies remained student centredness and pedagogical alignment. Although certain aspects of the Applied Drama and Theatre pedagogy have undeniably been compromised online, the study demonstrated that with increased efforts to bridge the digital divide, the strategies can be navigated continually with a carefully negotiated balance.

Transformation of an independent sector treatment centre to a regional trauma centre during COVID pandemic

ContextOn the 11th March 2020, the WHO declared SARS-CoV-2 (COVID) outbreak a global pandemic. Healthcare facilities in the UK faced an unprecedented challenge of managing the outbreak, whilst maintaining basic healthcare services such as cancer and trauma. The NHS and independent sector partnership allowed a safe work stream, a relationship that continues now to support the elective recovery coming out of the pandemic.Issue/ChallengeReorganisation of healthcare provision led to the transformation of Practice Plus Group (PPG) hospital, Ilford to a green site for Barking Havering and Redbridge NHS University Trust (BHRUT) trauma service from 30/03/2020 to 10/06/2020. PPG Hospital had to rise to the challenge mobilising quickly from an elective service to a trauma unit serving a local population of over 1 million. The hospital transformed over one weekend, mobilising staff and equipment to deliver a trauma service. Their service went on to exemplify gold standard treatment of the very sick. The unit responded, adapted and developed outpatient clinics, plaster room, trauma ward and theatres to manage COVID-negative trauma cases that BHRUT received.Assessment of issue and analysis of its causesClinical staff had to upskill to take on the very sick (ASA 4) who may require end organ support, to carry out trauma surgery and procedures that were never performed before at the unit. Surgeons and surgical trainees from the trust became part of the multidisciplinary collaboration whilst the senior leaders developed a strong relationship to ensure good governance throughout the period. All of PPG staff had to get involved in ward care. Staff were trained with regards to personal protective equipment (PPE), Aerosol generating procedures (AGPs), pressure area care and applying traction to realign bones as some of the examples. The staff involved came from the following groups: theatre staff, outpatient staff, the anaesthetic consultants, ward staff, endoscopy, pharmacy, physio, housekeeping, infection control and portering.ImpactConsultant anaesthetists had a steep learning curve to both update their trauma knowledge and sharpen their skills. The guidelines of fracture hips were reviewed. The weekly teaching meetings’ topics were all about anaesthesia for emergency surgery, trauma and COVID. Anaesthetic work rota modified to provide a suitable recovery time following long days in theatres. The necessity of rest periods improves immunity.InterventionThere were some logistic hurdles, including the lack of availability of a suitable meeting facility that can accommodate a large number of attendees. There was a need to have a combined meeting with the BHRUT team in the red zone. On the first day, the meeting was carried out on the ‘ZOOM’ platform on smart phones. Within a couple of days. The trauma meeting was held in the capacious theatre reception, using a wall-mounted big screen for audio-visual display. This allowed better communication with all clinical teams including orthopaedic surgery, anaesthesia, nursing and coordinators.Involvement of stakeholders, such as patients, carers or family members:The PPG team implemented the pillars of clinical governance to improve the quality of care. The virtual monthly morbidity meeting included clinicians from all disciplines. A brief update of previous monthly data was reviewed. An initial internal audit showed that the average anaesthetic start time was 09:39. 19 lists (out of 23, 83%) started even after 09:15. The identified causes for this delay included late sending time, and the patient not being ready at the ward due to longer pre-operative checks and staff shortage. A ‘Golden Patient' was not always identified. A collaborative multi-disciplinary approach aimed to streamline the admission processes to ensure availability of both the surgical team and the patient to ensure a prompt theatre start. A repeat audit confirmed that the average anaesthetic start time has become 09:03. Only four out of 24 lists had an anaesthetic start time of 09:15 or later (17%). Th t is an Improvement of 69%.Key MessagesAs COVID created so much pressure on BHRUT, we quickly formed a positive can do working relationship both clinically and managerially to set up the Trauma service in just a few days. The 30 day mortality rate of patients with fracture neck of femur was less than the national average. This positive approach has enabled us to continue working together to help ease pressure off the lengthy patient waiting lists in Orthopaedics and General Surgery.Lessons learntPPG was proud to receive many compliments from patients and BHR staff. A patient wrote ‘I am so humbled and impressed by the amazing team-work and skill of the staff here that I want to congratulate you on what is an outstanding success amongst all the many stories coming out of the corona pandemic. Watching the way in which staff from so many different departments and skills bases are coming to this ward and learning nursing techniques with humility and patience as well as bonding in an upbeat, joyful team is something I will always remember. A surgical trainee mentioned The Independent Sector Treatment Centre (ISTC) team has been absolutely excellent so far. They have made us feel welcome and have worked hard to optimize the service'. This COVID cooperation paved the way for the ongoing cooperation between BHR and PPG, Ilford.Measurement of improvementThe outcome data shows that the service was able to successfully manage fractured neck of femur with better outcomes against national KPI. During the period from 30/03/20 to 10/06/2020, 85 patients had surgery for an emergency fracture neck of femur (Table 1). At PPG, the 30 days mortality rate was 3.5%. The national mortality rate for patients with fracture neck of Femur was 6.1%.75 patients with fracture neck of femur had surgical fixation within 36 hours.Strategy for improvementCollaborative cooperation between NHS and PPG led to set up of new pathways, governance and processes that enable patients to be transferred directly to us as well as creating capacity for BHRUT surgeons to operate in our hospital, supported by our theatre and ward teams.

Performing arts as a non-pharmacological intervention for people with dementia and care-partners: a community case study.

Participation in psychosocial enrichment activities, such as music and arts programming, have shown potential to delay or reduce functional decline - without adverse effects that can be associated with pharmaceuticals. The performing-arts programming described in this community case study was inspired by a community music program called B-Sharp Music Wellness, located in Phoenix, Arizona, which involved small groups of musicians who provided symphony performances for people with dementia. Our community programming sought to engage people with dementia and their informal care partner (typically a spouse) in existing performing-arts programs in their local community, providing social hours and season tickets for either symphony, dance (ballet), or non-musical theater performances. This case study describes the program history and design, including outcomes and lessons learned from the program evaluation of the last full season (2018-19) and partial season (2019-20), when the program was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Program outcomes suggest strategies for, and benefits of, design for performing-arts programs as psychosocial interventions in other communities.

Effective Dreaming in the Time of Zoom Theatre: Reflections on Directing The Lathe of Heaven

Using the production of Natsu Onoda Power's adaptation of The Lathe of Heaven that I helmed at Brandeis University in the spring of 2021 as a case study, I sharpen particular focus on how engaging the project with openness, curiosity, and generosity compelled me to rethink many of my artistic habits and assumptions and reconsider how I view my role as a theatre-maker in higher education. Even as my colleagues and I had come to recognize the ways that modes like "Zoom theatre" had, in a very short time, become crucial instruments "for theatrical institutions to make performances they [could] sell, as a way to keep themselves, their staffs, and their performers alive during the pandemic," there were brewing concerns about what engaging with these technologies might mean for the future of the profession, our approaches to theatre education and pedagogy, and the vitality and viability of the art form (184). The havoc that physical distancing and social isolation were wreaking on students' mental health and well-being had already become a source of concern for us. In an essay written for the site's "Devising Our Future" series, which was launched in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis and the global protests against anti-Black racism and police violence spurred by the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, projection designer and director Jared Mezzocchi made a passionate case for theatre-makers to welcome the opportunities that working in new digital and virtual modes afforded them to experiment with different aesthetic strategies and practices.

We're All in This Together: Digital Performances and Socially Distanced Spectatorship

The digital performances forwarding discourses of "we're all in it together" proliferated in the opening months of the COVID-19 pandemic, performing the social legibility of pain and loss within the public sphere. The body takes on an indexical force in such performances, constructing a symbolic community defined by the shared experience of sheltering-in-place. This performs social distancing, culturally acclimating audiences to a world in which we connect virtually but remain apart in our bodies. This has a legitimate public-health utility. That said, such performances can inadvertently construct the "we" in "we are all in it together" in a way that centers the stay-at-home experience while flattening racial and economic divisions. This essay examines two digital performances focusing on the experiences of diverse artists in quarantined isolation: Mike Sears and Lisa Berger's Ancient and Emily Mast and Yehuda Duenyas's How Are We. Both performances situate the act of sheltering-in-place as the shared facet of community belonging, utilizing aesthetic strategies that either obscure or amplify the ways that hierarchical systems of power influenced inequitable lived experiences of quarantined isolation.

Blindness (review)

Before COVID, directors often deployed such elements to disrupt traditional theatre by staging site-specific pieces or having actors lip-sync recordings of absent others. Despite being forced to live in appalling conditions in an abandoned mental hospital with countless infected strangers, this resourceful woman never lost her vision or compassion. A central intercom announced that leaving the hospital would result in death.

LOST (1.5 m) by Cordula Däuper and Johannes Müller (review)

The singer, in an extravagant black-tie concert event ballgown, continuously interrupted herself and started over. [...]the crisis more directly addressed by Cordula Däuper and Johannes Müller's concept and adapted libretto was the sluggish response to climate change in a world where the ruling class is superbly distracted by their own comfort. Except for mild discontent, the heaps of plastic bags, bottles, and crumpled soda cans did not greatly seem to bother any of them.

Editorial Comment: Feminist Methodologies at Play

Discourse concerning the Atlanta Spa Shootings, which happened around the time that this issue first started to come together in March of 2021, has renewed the urgency of thinking about performance and feminism together.1 Given that this issue's publication roughly coincides with the first anniversary of those murders, the violent events in Atlanta have loomed in the background of the editorial process. [...]although the essays in this issue address quite distinct forms of performance and paratheatrical phenomena from state surveillance to fan groups to online participatory audiences, all of the essays use feminist methodologies either explicitly or implicitly. [...]this editorial highlights some of their convergences to think through how the interventions of each author might speak to a feminist knowledge project that is critical in this historical moment. Fans watch events transpire in Wanda's magically created world, which is itself surveyed in the narrative by an extra-governmental agency (elaborated in the comic books if not so much in the television miniseries itself);these source materials give Wanda and Vision their names and provide many backstories for the roster of secondary characters. Barnette suggests that the series also provided a platform to see the ethical conundrums of real-life individuals whose positions of power grant their words authority;witness former president Donald Trump inciting the attack on the Capitol.

Jitney by August Wilson, and: Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare (review)

See PDF ] Jitney, part of Wilson's American Century Cycle exploring African American life in each decade of the twentieth century, directly explores notions of community through its depiction of a group of jitney drivers, men who use their own vehicles to provide rides to those in need of them. While it initially seemed incongruous to see Jitney with its realistic interior setting in an outdoor performance venue, the sense of strangeness faded quickly as the production began. [...]performing outside a conventional theatre space made the production viable in a city in which the Delta variant precipitated a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases during its run. During the exorcism scene, for instance, Sir Toby drenched Malvolio with liquid sprayed from a large plastic container labeled "Holy Water," and Feste performed a toe-tapping number, "Devil Be Gone," backed by an enthusiastic red-robed gospel choir.

On the Benefits of Plague: Polish Fringe Theatre in 2020

The aim of this essay is to demonstrate the significant function played by theatres during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland. It examines three pandemic projects created by fringe theatre companies and individual performers in Poland that address political and social questions, such as women's reproductive rights, excessive government control over private lives, and the social exclusion of disabled and immigrant communities: Arti Grabowski's Improvised Lecture, Usta Usta Republika Theatre's Embassy 2.0, and Adam Ziajski and Scena Robocza's Don't Tell Anyone: The Quarantine. The essay traces how these artists rediscovered the new relevance of earlier work and explored the potential of multimedia practices to reach larger or different audiences. Its discussion is grounded in Antonin Artaud's concept of theatre as the plague and Susan Neiman's perspective of "corona as chance," whereby emphasizing the major alteration of perspective and commitment to change brought about or facilitated by the pandemic.

Wolf Play by Hansol Jung (review)

Hansol Jung's Wolf Play, which finally had its New York premiere at Soho Rep in 2022 after a two-year postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, revolves around the experiences of an 8-year-old Korean child called Wolf, who was adopted by a white heterosexual couple, Peter and his wife Katie, and, at the beginning of the play, is being illegally relinquished to a lesbian couple, Ash and Robin. Whereas the 2019 Chicago-based Gift Theatre Company's production of Wolf Play was presented on a proscenium stage, this new version at Soho Rep specifically arranged the space to highlight the confrontational nature of this scene. Biased against the lesbian couple and without taking Wolf into consideration, the court ruled in the "best interest" of the child, stating that Wolf's guardianship fell under the authority of the state.

A Note from the Editor

Reading and responding to manuscripts is a labor of love, a gift of time and energy. Bringardner grounds his love for and hope in the organization with a clear-eyed assessment of ways in which ATHE needs to grow. Acting as director and dramaturg (respectively) for their university's production of this season staple, Nees and Gearhart model how to bring twenty-first-century awareness to a tricky tale of magically enabled consent violations. Returning to the status quo ante risks reinstalling those "normal” exclusions as our standard operating procedure.

Steps in Incremental Activism

In "The Promise of the Green New Deal: A 21st-Century Federal Theatre Project," I argued that a reimagined Federal Theatre Project (FTP) was a necessary response to the multiple crises faced by the field: 1) ongoing lack of equity in funding across race, gender, and geography;2) racism, misogyny, ableism, transphobia, and other forms of bias that cause ongoing harm;3) abusive and exploitative labor practices;and, of course, 4) COVID-19's widespread devastation of the theatre. [...]it would serve as a communications resource center for professional, community, and academic theatre, thus enabling us to share information and resources with other theatres and community, religious, and civic organizations. [...]I map a preliminary plan for a structure of communications and support that demonstrates the potential of a shift from crisis rhetoric to incremental activism. Minimum operating expenses of $50,000 in most recently completed fiscal year Professional paid leadership, including at least one full-time paid professional director or manager (filled either by one individual or shared) Evidence of rigorous pursuit of theatrical form, as shown by artists' payroll activity of at least 15 weeks per year or by a minimum of 50 performances per year A commitment to the rehearsal process which is demonstrated by at least 30 hours of rehearsal time for primary production activities Minimum of one year's prior existence as a professional producing organization with continuity of operation Community vitality, as evidenced by local, state or national funding sources, local media coverage and/or community awards or other recognition of the value of the theatre's work Diversification of funding sources

Editorial Comment: Specters, States, and Solidarities

Granted that only one essay specifically invokes the pandemic;still, I am struck by the fact that almost all of them focus on textual analysis and only occasionally invoke performance. [...]to the spectacular nature of direct violence, neoliberalism tends to manifest itself as a more hidden, "ordinary" violence, which our field continues to theorize as a political and aesthetic force.1 Analola Santana's article "Neoliberal Transactions: Staging Prostitution in the Mexican Nation" expands the conversation through a cogent analysis of how neoliberal violence is performed in Mexican drama;as in so much of the Global South, the damage of late capitalism is exacerbated by the forces of Western imperialism. Yet, as Sullivan also demonstrates, Suzanne's ferocious commitment to writing speaks to Kennedy's own determination to find a way to "be free of air," even "while finding no other source of breath and life." [...]he considers how plays such as American Son by Christopher Demos-Brown enact conservative ideas of reform, or what he calls reformance, which reiterate "a structure of repetition in which some change, or difference, is proposed and/or implemented without transforming the foundational structure."

"The Lens of Now": Interview with Lucie Tiberghien, Founding Artistic Director of Molière in the Park

This wide-ranging interview with Lucie Tiberghien, Founding Artistic Director of Molière in the Park, covers topics including: Tiberghien's interest in Brooklyn as a site of production and performance for the theatre organization;strategies to overcome the challenges raised by the Covid-19 pandemic – particularly the move to an online platform – and how this shift to the digital led to new ways of thinking about theatre publics, performance, and the making of theatre;the question of representation in casting;and how Molière in the Park makes anti-racist and inclusive theatre with plays written during the early modern period.

Dance and Activism: A Century of Radical Dance Across the World by Dana Mills (review)

According to Mills, there are very few books on "conceptual or theoretical studies of dance and activism” (3), but most importantly, any that do exist were written before the major events and upheavals of the current moment. Mills presents it as a practical problem that helps us to understand, among other things, why so many governments worldwide have shifted toward authoritarianism in recent decades. Because the author's main argument is that dance itself is an activist practice, Mills clarifies that the underlying problematic of the book is "how do people work to overcome dislocation from themselves, their societies, and their work by telling their life stories through dance?” (9). [...]the book could be used in full as a required reading for courses centered on dance as activism or dance for social change.

Concerts For Kids: Story Pirates dir. by Brendan O'Grady (review)

For the moment, however, there was palpable optimism and determination across the Lincoln Center campus, and the contribution of the Story Pirates to the Restart Stages programming offered a model for how all companies might navigate the months ahead as the Delta and Omicron variants continued to strain the performing arts industry. Tickets to the performance, won by lottery, were accompanied by COVID-19 liability waivers from Lincoln Center. Based on a story shared with the Story Pirates by a second-grader from New York named Michaela, it was called "I Love" and consisted of Michaela (played by Magula) telling the audience how she loves each member of her family, her pets, and a heart.