The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
Publications & Research
Václav Havel Speaks to Theatre Professionals
Václav Havel, renowned playwright and former President of the Czech Republic, visited The Wilma Theater in May 2010 to see the American premiere of his first play in 20 years, Leaving, a wry political tragicomedy about a recently retired chancellor of an unnamed European country who struggles with questions of truth and power. The Philadelphia Theatre Initiative hosted President Havel at the Wilma for an interview conducted in front of an audience made up primarily of theatre professionals.
Click here to watch a video excerpt or complete footage of the interview >
Download the interview transcript (PDF) >
Photo by Karl Seifert.
Creating New Work for Theatre
Read the complete transcript of a panel discussion between Todd London of New Dramatists, Victoria Bailey of Theatre Development Fund, David Dower of Arena Stage, Diane Ragsdale of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and moderator Ben Pesner as they describe their research findings about our national system of new play development: what’s working, what’s not working, and how to fix it.
Download Creating New Work for Theatre transcript (PDF) >
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. The Philadelphia Theatre Initiative 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.)
Theatre As Delivery System: New Paradise Laboratories’ Fatebook (PDF) >
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) >
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 & 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
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.
Robert Prosky Discussion Transcript (PDF) >
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.”