All stories by Isaac Butler on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, July 19, 2023

American Theater Is Collapsing. The Federal Government Must Save It. by Isaac Butler

Government bailouts saved the automotive and banking industries. American theater is in similar trouble and deserves to be saved.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:43PM
Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Theater Review: Girls & Boys, and Archetypes and Real People by Isaac Butler

Editor’s note: Sara Holdren, New York and Vulture’s regular theater critic, is on vacation.Like its narrator, a character simply called “Woman” played with great precision …

SOURCE: Vulture at 10:00PM
Monday, June 18, 2018

Theater Review: In the Park, an Othello in Which Love Conquers Little by Isaac Butler

Editor’s note: Sara Holdren, New York and Vulture’s regular theater critic, is on vacation.“I am not what I am.” This almost-koan, spoken by Iago, comes a mere 64 lines into Othello.…

SOURCE: Vulture at 10:00PM
Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Nathan Lane Dances With the Octopus by Isaac Butler

“By the way, did you see the video of Trump’s hair in the wind?”In acting training, teachers refer to a performer’s body and voice as an instrument, but in the case of Nathan Lane, w…

SOURCE: Vulture at 08:00AM
Tuesday, January 3, 2017

A Few Quick Bloggy Thoughts on the Sam Gold / Daniel Craig / David Oyelowo "Othello" by Isaac Butler

By Isaac Butler Now that I've seen it, I’d like to briefly talk about a couple of aspects of Sam Gold’s recent, much-lauded production of Othello at New York Theatre Workshop and how it …

SOURCE: Parabasis at 12:24PM
Friday, August 12, 2016

Statement from the Dramatists Guild on the New York Fringe Festival by Isaac Butler

NYC Fringe Contract: WARNING! The Guild has reviewed this year's contract for the NYC Fringe Festival and believes it is problematic, as are the Festival's application requirements. Playwrig…

SOURCE: Parabasis at 07:20PM
Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Oral history of Tony Kushner’s play Angels in America. by Isaac Butler and Dan Kois

How Tony Kushner’s play became the defining work of American art of the past 25 years.

SOURCE: Slate at 08:23PM
Sunday, April 17, 2016

Historians are criticizing Hamilton, and fans should be thrilled. by Isaac Butler

If, like me, you work in theater and spend a lot of time procrastinating on social media, you’ve probably seen many of your friends ranting about small minded academic quislings fact-check…

SOURCE: Slate at 11:05PM
Monday, September 28, 2015

How Canon-Obsessed is the American Theater? by Isaac Butler

By Isaac Butler Over at American Theatre magazine, Susan Jonas has a great piece about expanding the theatrical canon to include overlooked works by women that is well worth your time. I am,…

SOURCE: Parabasis at 12:58PM
Wednesday, August 12, 2015

A Brief Proposal Re: David Foster Wallace by Isaac Butler

by Isaac Butler Let's never write about David Foster Wallace again. Let's never read anything about David Foster Wallace again. Let's instead read things actually written by David Foster Wal…

SOURCE: Parabasis at 10:06PM
Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Nice Work If You Can Get It by Isaac Butler

By Isaac Butler You know, it's amazing, the racket that war promoters have discovered and built for themselves over the last fifteen years. Really, it's astounding. First, you can get paid t…

SOURCE: Parabasis at 09:07PM
Monday, July 20, 2015

Elia Kazan on Orson Welles by Isaac Butler

By Isaac Butler "There are some of the younger geniuses-- everybody who has done one successful production on Broadway is a genius-- who are aware of the rewards that a conscious attitu…

SOURCE: Parabasis at 05:30PM
Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Out of Sync. by Isaac Butler

by Isaac Butler This week, the good folks over at TCG asked me to respond to some interview questions as part of a roundtable about the future of theater. I'm very proud of the results, whic…

SOURCE: Parabasis at 09:15PM
Friday, June 5, 2015

Startling Chutzpah in the 99-Seat Aftermath by Isaac Butler

Two important pieces of news coming out of the LA 99-seat scene that are relevant to the often heated and ugly debate over reforming the Equity contract there. First off, let’s take a look…

SOURCE: Parabasis at 10:52PM
Tuesday, April 21, 2015

The Equity Council Votes to Change The 99-Seat Plan by Isaac Butler

By Isaac Butler Equity has alerted its membership that they are changing the 99-Seat Plan. Well, really, they're eliminating it, but the changes are not quite as drastic as the original prop…

SOURCE: Parabasis at 10:23PM
Monday, March 23, 2015

Equity E-mails Its Members, Explains What a Union Is by Isaac Butler

By Isaac Butler AEA took the rhetorical gloves off today, explaining why it was offensive to use civil rights era imagery as part of a protest against the union and giving people a refresher…

SOURCE: Parabasis at 03:40PM
Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Nothing But Net (A Quick Note on Measuring Theatre Size) by Isaac Butler

By Isaac Butler Since my last post on this issue, folks have been pushing back about my use of gross income instead of net income for judging theater size. I initially thought my explanation…

SOURCE: Parabasis at 04:19PM
Saturday, February 28, 2015

Who Benefits from the 99-Seat Plan? by Isaac Butler

By Isaac Butler (For my non-theater readers, this post is gonna get into the weeds on a union contract issue in California. This might not be the post for you.) Last week, my old friend and …

SOURCE: Parabasis at 08:30AM
Friday, December 19, 2014

On Doing the Work by Isaac Butler

by Isaac Butler Over at The Atlantic, Adrian Hong would like us to know that The Interview, the recently canceled film starring Seth Rogan and James Franco about a hapless talk show host and…

SOURCE: Parabasis at 01:35PM
Friday, November 7, 2014

"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Isaac Butler

By Isaac Butler Theatre is the slowest of art forms. When Doubleday published Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, it was, if not quite the vanguard of a trend,…

SOURCE: Parabasis at 01:48PM
Monday, July 28, 2014

Who Should Run the Guthrie? by Isaac Butler

Marianne Combs has a great roundup of people who her readers think should be considered for the Guthrie AD job. There’s some good folks on there, but I think they’re missing a couple. So…

SOURCE: Parabasis at 10:41AM
Thursday, July 17, 2014

RIP Elaine Stritch by Isaac Butler

by Isaac Butler There are no words.

SOURCE: Parabasis at 12:58PM
Thursday, June 12, 2014

Diversity, Exclusion and Owning Your Argument by Isaac Butler

by Isaac Butler Today, the theatrically-minded zones of the internet are all abuzz about Jonathan Mandell’s HowlRound piece, “Is Diversity a Codeword for Exclusion?” The piece is in th…

SOURCE: Parabasis at 03:07PM
Thursday, May 8, 2014

On Likable Characters by Isaac Butler

By Isaac Butler Laura Miller's incisive bit of close reading of the work of Jennifer Weiner reminds me that I always meant to write about "likable characters," back when there was …

SOURCE: Parabasis at 10:06AM
Wednesday, February 26, 2014

"Annie" Wasn't a Critical Disappointment by Isaac Butler

by Isaac Butler Patrick Healy, in the Times: The $12 million Broadway revival of “Annie” closed last month as a critical disappointment and commercial failure. But it turns out that the …

SOURCE: Parabasis at 12:58PM
Monday, January 6, 2014

"That August Wilson Feeling" now up at American Theatre! by Isaac Butler

By Isaac Butler Hey folks... just wanted to let you know that an essay I wrote about August Wilson's 20th Century Cycle appears in this month's American Theatre and can be read online. I've …

SOURCE: Parabasis at 11:50AM
Wednesday, December 11, 2013

A New Chapter for Shakespeare Santa Cruz by Isaac Butler

By Isaac Butler You remember Shakespeare Santa Cruz, right? The classics company killed by complex accounting? If you don't, allow me to refresh your memory: In August, the University of Cal…

SOURCE: Parabasis at 07:31AM
Monday, December 9, 2013

We Pay for What We Value by Isaac Butler

By Isaac Butler The Flea Theatre, which relies on the unpaid labor of its resident company "The Bats," who also do menial jobs around the space and used to have to pay to audition,…

SOURCE: Parabasis at 09:10AM
Saturday, October 26, 2013

My Trip to "Fun Home" by Isaac Butler

By Isaac Butler In the years that I had been away from New York, The Public Theatre finished the renovations to its lobby. There’s a part of me that’s nostalgic for the old space. True, …

SOURCE: Parabasis at 10:59AM
Monday, October 14, 2013

Innovation Isn't Always Good by Isaac Butler

By Isaac Butler Up on Howlround today, you'll find this lengthy piece about innovation in arts business practices in anticipation of the "National Innovation Summit for Arts & Cultu…

SOURCE: Parabasis at 11:42AM
Friday, October 11, 2013

"Enough Said"' by Isaac Butler

“Most of our friends we find interesting find us boring: the most interesting find us most boring. The few who are somewhere in the middle with whom there is reciprocal interest, we distru…

SOURCE: Parabasis at 11:25AM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards