The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
Publications & Research
Theatre as Delivery System: New Paradise Laboratories’ FATEBOOK
The following case study chronicles FATEBOOK, a 2009 production by New Paradise Laboratories. FATEBOOK was innovative in form, creative process and content: a show developed and experienced partly online and partly live. PTI commissioned arts journalist Charlotte Stoudt to research and follow the show in the hope that theatre professionals around the country might find the methodology behind FATEBOOK useful in their own work. (Photos by Jacques-Jean Tiziou/www.jjtiziou.net)
Panel Discussion on Touring
The transcript below comes from a panel discussion on touring hosted by the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative (PTI) at The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage on February 23, 2009. The panelists included Bruce Allardice of Ping Chong & Company, Barbara Hogue of ARTWork, and Kim Whitener of HERE Arts Center. PTI’s Director, Fran Kumin, served as moderator. Among the topics covered were the following:
- Showcasing
- Building relationships with presenters
- Touring contracts and contract riders
- Booking agents and management companies
- Budgeting for tours
- The value of a DVD.
Transcript of Touring Panel (PDF)
Showcasing Opportunities (PDF)
Robert Prosky Discusses his Career as a Theatre and Film Actor
Theatre and film actor Robert Prosky spoke to members of Philadelphia’s professional theatre community while in town to perform Arthur Miller’s THE PRICE in March 2008. Mr. Prosky discussed his working-class upbringing, his decades performing at Arena Stage under Zelda Fichandler, and the film career he launched with a bull’s eye.
Philadelphia’s Professional Theatres: A Snapshot
This report is a project of the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, with funding, guidance and support from The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage through the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative and additional funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. The report analyzes data from theatres that participated in the Pennsylvania Cultural Data Project (PACDP) to offer details and insights in the following areas:
- Programs and Attendance
- Revenues, Expenses, Attendance Trends, Balance Sheet
- Big Picture Takeaways.
Kate Valk Talks about THE EMPEROR JONES and her Work with the Wooster Group
Kate Valk, one of the founding members of the Wooster Group, spoke to Philadelphia theatre professionals on September 7, 2007, about THE EMPEROR JONES and other works made by the internationally renowned ensemble. The discussion was hosted by the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative and the Pew Fellowships in the Arts. Tom Sellar, editor of THEATER magazine and an assistant professor of dramaturgy and dramatic criticism at the Yale School of Drama, interviewed the actor. In discussing her performance in the title role of THE EMPEROR JONES, as performed at the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, Valk discusses O’Neill’s “operatic, expressionistic” language, the influence of Noh tradition on the production, and her choice to commit her life to a theatre of “hugeness…, pageantry” [and] emotion of gigantic proportion.”