All stories by Dylan Southard on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Dramaturgy Playlist: 5 Plays for the 99-Seat War by Dylan Southard

I’m coming in with my hands over my head, okay? I’m not wearing a wire. I’m not carrying a weapon. I have credentials: I ran a nonprofit theater company here in Los Angeles for several…

SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 03:22PM
Thursday, January 1, 2015

The Dramaturg: “Birdman,” Bubbles and The End of a Company by Dylan Southard

I think Birdman might end up as my all-time favorite theater movie (not to mention my 17th favorite rapper). I know, I know. Cool your jets. I don’t take such pronouncements lightly an…

SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 12:16PM
Thursday, December 4, 2014

Dramaturgy Playlist: 5 Plays for Live TV, Cable Edition by Dylan Southard

I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that NBC has chosen to draw their water from this particular, theatrical well. In conceiving of these live, musical broadcasts of theirs, the networ…

SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 02:06PM
Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Dramaturgy Playlist: 5 Plays For 5 Theme Parks by Dylan Southard

Los Angeles theater is currently lost in a messy argument about how exactly it should divide up its income, an argument I couldn’t dive into even if I wanted and, really, if you spend …

SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 03:42PM
Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Dramaturgy Playlist: 5 Plays for 5 Comebacks by Dylan Southard

Among the many reasons to find Variety a reliably goofy read is its decision to group its theatre reviews and news under the header, “Legit.” This never ceases to amuse me. It feels like…

SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 12:59PM
Friday, October 24, 2014

Dramaturgy Playlist: 5 Plays For Our Virtual Reality Future by Dylan Southard

Conceptually at least, virtual reality has been around for a long time. I myself grew up on the mid-90s vision of it best depicted in Aerosmith’s “Amazing” music video and the Denzel/R…

SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 11:28AM
Monday, October 6, 2014

Dramaturgy Playlist: 5 Plays for Burning Man by Dylan Southard

  Breaking news, guys. I don’t know what finally gave it away—the giant, elaborately designed pieces of mechanized art or the thousands of people walking around dressed primaril…

SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 01:13PM
Thursday, August 14, 2014

The Dramaturg: Wrestlemania! by Dylan Southard

On April Fool’s Day, 1990, 67,678 people paid to enter Toronto’s brand-new Skydome stadium to watch a succession of men in their underwear pretend to fight. Even more stupendously, a hal…

SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 12:58PM
Thursday, May 8, 2014

The Dramaturg: America’s Most Relevant Play, The Finals! by Dylan Southard

The most popular form of live performance in this country is professional sports. This means that our conception of performance is shaped around competition, and the notion that an enacted s…

SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 01:59PM
Thursday, April 24, 2014

The Dramaturg: America’s Most Relevant Play, The Final Four by Dylan Southard

A behind-the-scenes factoid to open up our Final Four coverage: I initially planned for How I Learned To Drive to win this tournament. I know!! Whoa!!! This passed quickly though once I real…

SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 10:18AM
Thursday, April 17, 2014

The Dramaturg: America’s Most Relevant Play, Round 2 by Dylan Southard

Welcome to the second round, everyone. Glad you could join us on this beautiful day for theatrical bloodsport! A quick note of congratulations before we get to it goes out to Annie Baker for…

SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 04:57PM
Wednesday, April 9, 2014

The Dramaturg: America’s Most Relevant Play: Round 1, Fight! by Dylan Southard

Yeah, we’re not screwing around here. America’s most relevant play, specifically of the last twenty years. You see, twenty years ago, Angels in America closed on Broadway. Now that play …

SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 01:28PM
Monday, March 10, 2014

The Dramaturg: The Spine-Tingling Allure of the Backlot Tour by Dylan Southard

H.G. Wells’ classic tale of alien invasion and imperial paranoia, The War of the Worlds, was first published in serialized form in 1897. It was then made historic in 1938 when Orson Welle…

SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 07:08PM
Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Dramaturgy Case Study: The XXII Olympic Closing Ceremonies by Dylan Southard

“Pageantry” is a fun word to say. Something about the big, opening “Paah” sliding down pleasantly into the bouncy “-gin” and then the slightly elongated “-tree” makes it soun…

SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 04:21PM
Wednesday, January 15, 2014

The Dramaturg: Party Theater by Dylan Southard

There’s a certain kind of live entertainment that has stayed reliably popular pretty much since the dawn of man. People like to party. They like to go to parties. From time to time, th…

SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 01:23PM

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