133 stories from The Feminist Spectator
Sarah Kazemy and Nikohl Boosheri in a fantasy sequence in Maryam Keshavarz's CircumstanceWriter/director Maryam Keshavarz'sbeautiful, disturbing film tells the story of two Iranian high…
Martha Plimpton, Rob Lowe, and Sofia Vergara crown Melissa McCarthy at the Emmys[Note to readers: My mother, Cyma Dolan, died on August 19th,which I share only to explain the radi…
In May, I participated in the Feminist Performance Festival in Chicago, organized by E. Patrick Johnson and their Northwestern colleagues in performance studies and women's studies. (S…
I had the pleasure of also receiving last week a lifetime achievement award from the Women and Theatre Program (WTP) of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE). My membe…
I was honored to receive the 2011 Outstanding Teacher in Higher Education award from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) last week at the conference in Chicago. How …
Called to my attention by its writer/producer, Anna Fishbeyn, Sex in Mommyville has been transformed from a solo show that opened in 2010 at the Flea Theatre in NYC to a multi-character play…
I really enjoyed the final installment in the Harry Potter film series. I read the book when it was first released, and remember feeling very moved by how J.K. Rowling wrapped up her e…
The Galway Arts Festival opened last Monday, July 11, promising an impressive range of Irish and global theatre and performance opportunities through July 24. My own consumption of the…
Úna McKevitt conceived and directed the companion pieces Victor & Gord and 565+, which were performed together at the Mermaid Arts Centre in Bray, Ireland, last weekend. Seeing …
In the category of shameless self-promotion, let me call your attention to two forthcoming titles, one by my partner, Stacy Wolf (or "Feminist Spectator 2") and the other a collection of per…
I've been living and teaching in Galway, Ireland, since the beginning of June, working with my co-teacher Stacy Wolf, 15 Princeton students, and five local students in a Princeton Global Sem…
I recently had the good fortune to have an op-ed piece on the dearth of women playwrights nominated for Tonys this year picked up by the Huffington Post. (Thanks to all of you who saw …
I saw The Shaggs Philosophy of the World at Playwrights Horizons on Wednesday (May 25, 2011), in its second preview performance. Based on a true story, The Shaggs describes how Do…
For the last nearly six years (since August 2005), I've mostly used the occasion of this blog to indulge in long-form essays about theatre, film, performance, television, and anything else t…
On Friday, May 20, 2011, I moderated a panel discussion on feminist performance at Northwestern University's "Feminist Performance Festival," organized by E. Patrick Johnson, Ramon Rivera-Se…
Seeing the Broadway revival of Larry Kramer's landmark AIDS play, The Normal Heart, prompted me to think again about activist theatre and how it might effectively communicate its consciousne…
The Tony Awards season confirms what anyone concerned about the status of women in the arts has long come to expect: plays by women are excluded from the nominations once again. When will …
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire's Good People offers a compelling, if liberal, view of race, class, and gender relations in contemporary Boston. The Broadway producti…
This very smart play presents a conundrum of ideas and feelings which, happily, it refuses to sort out in any complete or resolved way. Part of playwright Madeleine George's point is to sug…
Bathsheba Doran's lovely new play is a meditation on community and the unlikely ways in which it forms and dissolves across time. With a light touch and moving, smart insights, Doran paints…
Caryl Churchill's 1983 play, Fen, represents the British feminist playwright at her best, even though the play is rarely produced. In this revival at London's Finborough Theatre, director R…
When I heard that Keira Knightley and Elisabeth Moss would star in a revival of Lillian Hellman's classic realist play The Children's Hour in London this spring, my first thought was, "Why n…
Every year, I settle in to watch the Academy Awards show, and every year, I come away disappointed. Last night's show promised something a little different"young co-hosts Anne Hathaway and …
Austin Pendleton directs Paul Schmidt's translation of Chekhov's play with verve and surprising wit, giving the play a hint of contemporary relevance while maintaining a light touch over the…
I missed the Public's production of Merchant in the Park last summer, and so was happy for an unexpected chance to see it last weekend on Broadway. I'd heard various responses to Al Pacino …
