On TAP: A Theatre and Performance Studies Podcast: Recent Episodes
On TAP
On TAP is a three-headed, freewheeling conversation about topics of current interest to graduate students, professors, independent scholars, and all those interested in academic Theatre and Performance Studies. Each edition features established scholars in Theatre and Performance Studies chatting about several topics of field-wide interest, including trends in ideas and scholarly methods, pedagogy, career development, notable developments in research, publishing and hiring, and news-worthy events. Something like a cross between a casual faculty seminar and an impromptu conversation at a conference hotel bar, On TAP features knowledgeable scholars discussing a rapidly evolving field of knowledge. It is not peer-reviewed.
Pannill, Miriam, and Brian welcome Helen Shaw, chief theatre critic for the New York Times, for a conversation about theatre criticism, journalism, and pedagogy.
Pannill, Brian, and Shayoni discuss Wallace Shawn's new play, What We Did Before Our Moth Days, currently playing at the Greenwich House Theatre, Milo Rau's talk, "The Second Coming," and innovations in live performance supertitles and other technologies that join accessibility and artistry.
On this episode, On TAP emeritae Sarah Bay-Cheng and Kareem Khubchandani join Pannill to discuss Annie Dorsen's essay on generative AI as theatre, Chris Grobe's new essay in Critical Inquiry on imitations of robots or "botface," and the looksmaxxing phenomenon.
Pannill welcomes Branislav Jakovljevic of Stanford University and Kimberly Jannarone of the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale to talk about the points of contact between their two new books. Branislav Jakovljevic's book is entitled The Performance Apparatus: On Ideological Production of Behaviors, and Kimberly Jannarone's book is entitled Mass Performance: Systems and Citizens. Both are published by University of Michigan Press.
Pannill, Miriam, and Harvey discuss Carla Neuss's Theatre Journal article on gender reveals, James Bundy's retirement from leading the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, and the PBS stream of The Public Theater's free production of Twelfth Night in Central Park.
On this episode, Pannill, Brian, and Leticia discuss Patrick McKelvey's new article about seeing-eye-dogs and disability performance, the resurgence of clowns on stage, including Courtney Pauroso's streaming show, Vanessa 5000, and the prospect of AI "actors."
We welcome special guests Jacob Gallagher-Ross of University of Toronto and Caden Manson of Big Art Group to talk about "interface theatre," an emerging genre of works that examine the way contemporary life is mediated by apps, devices, and data. Shayoni, Miriam, and Pannill then take stock of the political attacks on higher education and freedom of expression in recent months.Intro music: Sunday Morning, by podington bear, found on Free Music Archive (CC BY-NC)
Pannill and Harvey welcome Jill Dolan, Annan Professor of English and Professor of Theater in the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University, to talk about theater and performance studies scholars in university administration, and the challenges of the current political moment.
Recorded live at the María Irene Fornés Institute Symposium at Princeton University's Lewis Arts Complex. Brian and Pannill welcome Anne García-Romero to talk about María Irene Fornés in Context, a new book soon to be published by Cambridge University Press; Jaqueline Flores discusses the Latinx Theatre Commons, of which the Fornés Institute is a major initiative; Gwendolyn Alker discusses biographical research on Fornés; Fornés Institute members reflect upon the symposium.
Pannill, Jordan, and Leticia discuss Rhaisa Williams' new article about Mamie Till Bradley's NAACP tour and "grief capital," the second Trump administration's efforts to reshape federal arts funding, and the documentary film about Taylor Mac's 24-Decade History of Popular Music.
A special edition of the podcast on Dance Data and Dramaturgy. Pannill, Brian, and Shayoni welcome Harmony Bench and Kate Elswit to talk about their data visualizations that are part of the Edges of Ailey exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and Katherine Profeta to talk about her collaborations with Ralph Lemon, who is currently the subject of a major exhibition, Ceremonies Out of the Air: Ralph Lemon, at MOMA/PS1.
Pannill, Jordan, and Shayoni discuss Joshua Chambers-Letson's recent essay on the "studies protocols" of performance studies, performing arts in carceral institutions, and 11Reflections: San Francisco, a devised piece reflecting on the experience of Arab-American identity in post 9/11 America.
Recorded in-person at ASTR 2024 in Seattle, Washington, Sarah Bay-Cheng, Pannill Camp, and Harvey Young discuss what a second Trump term might mean for arts and academia, the final edition of PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, and a recording of the classic Split Britches piece, Belle Reprieve.
Pannill, Miriam and Brian discuss Shane Boyle's book, The Arts of Logistics: Artistic Production in Supply Chain Capitalism, then are joined by Doug Eacho of University of Toronto to talk about reading Marx's Capital with performance in mind. Finally, we talk about Theater in Quarantine's remote theater production, Nosferatu.
Pannill, Brian, and Shayoni discuss the concept paper for Archiving Latine theater published by the Latinx Theater Commons on Howlround, recent stories about academic department closings, and the continuing efforts to regulate political expression on campuses.
Back from summer hiatus, Pannill and the Daughters of Lorraine, a.k.a Jordan Ealey and Leticia Ridley discuss Diana Taylor's new article on digital presence, Raygun's controversial performance in the Olympic breaking competition, and the unionization of off-Broadway theater.
Pannill, Brian, and Shayoni discuss Alisa Zhulina's new book, Theater of Capital, the Wilma Theatre's production of My Mama and the Full-Scale Invasion by Sasha Denisova, and the 10th anniversary convening of the Latinx Theatre Commons.
Pannill, Leticia, and Miriam discuss Suhaila Meera's article about "Little Amal," the large scale puppet drawing attention to the plight of displaced children, the trend toward earlier curtain times for theatre, and Faye Driscoll's dance performance work, including Thank You for Coming and Come On In.
Pannill and Brian discuss Eric Mayer-Garcia's recent article, "Theorizing Performance Archives through the Critic's Labor," Alexis Soloski's novel Here in the Dark, and the 2024 musical film Mean Girls.
Pannill, Miriam, and Shayoni discuss Rustom Bharucha's recent book, The Second Wave, about cultural responses to the pandemic, speech and protest on campus regarding the war in Israel and Gaza, and the essay Decomposition Instead of Collapse - Dear Theatre, Be Like Soil.
Recorded in Providence, Rhode Island, site of ASTR 2023, Sarah, Harvey and Pannill discuss “The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Commodification,” a forthcoming essay by Annie Dorsen and Sam Gill, the current moment in conservative cultural politics and what it means for theatre makers and scholars in the US, and the legacy of Matthew Perry.
Pannill and Brian welcome Sean Metzger and Laura Edmondson, outgoing and incoming editors of Theatre Journal, to discuss the 75th anniversary of the journal, and the forthcoming special issue commemorating that milestone. We discuss some of the pieces in the anniversary issue, the 1980s as a watershed era for the field, and what we hope the future will bring.
Sarah returns and we welcome Sydney Skybetter to tell us about his soon-to-be-revealed podcast, Dances with Robots, and other matters choreorobotic. We also discuss Anna Watkins Fisher's book, The Play in the System, and revisit the 2014 sci-fi film, Ex Machina.
On this episode, Pannill, Jordan, Leticia, and Miriam talk about Kevin Landis' new book, One Public, about the Oskar Eustis era at The Public Theater, financial difficulties at the Dallas Theater Center, and the recent Guggenheim Fellowships awarded to theatre and performance scholars.
Pannill and Brian welcome Shayoni Mitra to the roster of On TAP regular co-hosts! We talk about Vaibhav Saria's book, Hijras, Brothers, Lovers, the bans on drag performance in US state legislatures, and the wins for Asian-American performers at the Academy Awards.
Pannill talks to Jaswinder Blackwell-Pal and Shane Boyle of Queen Mary University of London about the strikes by academic workers in the United Kingdom.
Pannill, Miriam, and Leticia discuss Patrick Anderson and Patricia Ybarra's article, "Is this Ballroom a Bathhouse?" in the new edition of Theatre Journal, text-generating AI as a performance phenomenon, and a performance of Hamlet done in the video game Grand Theft Auto Online.
Brian and Pannill welcome Madeline Sayet and Bethany Hughes for an episode dedicated to Indigenous Performance. We discuss the notion of sovereignty and its importance to Native Theatre since the 1970s, Stephanie Teves's 2018 article The Theorist and the Theorized, and Sayet's solo show, Where We Belong.
Recorded in New Orleans at the meeting of the American Society for Theatre Research, Pannill, Jordan, Miriam, Brian, and Leticia talk about the recent NPR series of reports on the American regional theatre, the Dramatists Legal Defense Fund's Toolkit for college theatre productions, and the ASTR 2022 conference on the theme of Catastrophe.
Pannill, Brian, and Jordan discuss The City We Make Together, a new book by Mallory Catlett and Aaron Landsman about the participatory theatre piece City Council Meeting, Nathan Fielder's show The Rehearsal, and a recent Wired article about Nordic Larp.
Sarah, Harvey, and Pannill ring in the new academic year with a special edition of the podcast, and some fond farewells. Recording in person on the campus of York University in Toronto, the original co-hosts discuss Nikki Yeboah’s award-winning article, All the Nation’s a Stage, the Jordan Peele movie Nope, and Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road concert.
In an unusual "two-hander" edition of the podcast, Pannill and Brian discuss Patrick Anderson's recent TJ article, "Dramaturgies of Policing," the meaning of awards in theatre and more broadly, and the Spring Awakening documentary.
Pannill, Harvey, and Sarah are joined by Molly Flynn of Birkbeck, University of London to talk about Ukrainian theatre artists' responses to the ongoing war with Russia. Plus the co-hosts discuss David Savran's ASTR address about the field later published in Theater in 2001, and the TV series Station Eleven.
Sarah, Jen Pierce, and The Daughters of Lorraine discuss the new film version of Macbeth, Esther Kim Lee's talk at Duke on "cosmetic yellowface," and the Immersive Storytelling Lab at National Theater in London.
Pannill, Kareem, and Miriam talk about Vivian L. Huang's article, "Sparking Joy, Serving Mess" in The Journal of Popular Culture, the state of NYC theatre festivals amidst the Omicron wave, and some recent streaming shows, including Addressless at Rattlestick, and gloria rehearsal at the Baryishnikov Arts Center.
On TAP takes on the metaverse! Sarah, Brian, and special guests Ian Garrett and Elizabeth Hunter evaluate the hype regarding facebook's recent announcement on the metaverse, explore the performance studies implications of experimental immersive social media, and discuss its accessibility and equity dimensions. Plus, our first ever bleeped utterance!
Recorded in-person at ASTR 2021 in San Diego, Pannill, Sarah, Leticia, and Jordan discuss the Journal of Dramatic Criticism special section on uses and abuses of the term performative, the sessions on feminist theatre past and present hosted by Cornell University, and ASTR 2021 itself.
Pannill, Harvey, and Miriam discuss Miriam's research into book publishing in theatre and performance studies, the movement to improve working conditions in theatre, and the New York Times Magazine story, “Who Is the Bad Art Friend?”
And we're back. Sarah, Brian, and Kareem discuss Trevor Boffone’s book, Renegades: Digital Dance Cultures from Dubsmash to TikTok, teaching TAPS in the ongoing pandemic era, and the Netflix series, The Chair.
Pannill, Sarah, and Harvey reunite to talk about Fake Friends' new internet production, This American Wife, and to read and discuss each others' published writing.
Sarah, Miriam, and The Daughters of Lorraine, aka Jordan Ealey and Leticia Ridley, discuss NFTs, reflections on teaching through the pandemic, and a scientific study of theatre's effects on empathy.
Pannill, Harvey, and Brian talk about post-pandemic future of academic work, welcome Kate Bredeson back to the podcast to talk about the ongoing occupation of theatre buildings in France, and discuss Rahda Blank's film The Forty-Year-Old Version.
Harvey, Jen, and Kareem talk about LaDonna Forsgren's article on The Wiz and Black feminist spectatorship, Ike Holter's audio play, I Hate It Here, and AI applications that replicate the voices of dead vocalists. Plus Pannill drops in to share fun facts about On TAP to mark five years of podcasting.
Pannill welcomes Tracy Davis of Northwestern University and Peter Marx of the University of Cologne to discuss their recent co-edited book, The Routledge Companion to Theatre and Performance Historiography.
Sarah, Harvey, and new regular co-hosts Leticia Ridley and Jordan Ealey (also known as the Daughters of Lorraine) talk about EDI work in theatre and performance studies, Ratatouille the TikTok musical, and Race and Performance After Repetition, the new multi-author volume edited by Soyica Diggs Colbert, Douglas A. Jones, and Shane Vogel.
Pannill and new regular co-hosts Brian Herrera and Miriam Felton-Dansky discuss Lindsay Brandon Hunter's article, "We Are Not Making a Movie," streaming presentations of works by Adrienne Kennedy and Luis Alfaro, and new experimental works available online by Split Britches and Marike Splint.
Sarah (in the lead co-host role!), Pannill, and new regular co-host Jen Pierce talk about the multiple threats to arts, humanities, and TAPS career opportunities in higher education, alt-ac career pathways in the tech sector for theatre and performance students, and the streamed multi-media play, Circle Jerk.
Harvey, Pannill, and Kareem Khubchandani discuss José Esteban Muñoz's The Sense of Brown, the current impediments to TAPS research, and Basil Kreimendahl's 2016 essay about cis playwrights and trans characters.
Justine Nakase and Kate Bredeson join the co-hosts to share their perspectives on the protests for Black lives in Portland, Oregon. Plus Harvey, Sarah, and Pannill discuss the pandemic's effects on performing arts education and research, and share some news about the future of the podcast.
Sarah Bay-Cheng interviews Anthony Sargent, CEO of Toronto's Luminato arts festival, about the challenges for live arts in the present and the future.
Miriam Felton-Dansky joins us to talk about the artistic and institutional responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, plus Sarah, Harvey, and Pannill talk about the reactions inside higher education, and revisit Waiting for Guffman (1996), which we all watched last week.
Live at the Conference for Research on Choreographic Interfaces at Brown University. We discuss the impact of coronavirus on arts and higher education both near and long term, the recent issue of TDR dedicated to algorithms and performance, and thoughts on the ways colleges prepare students for arts careers in the 21st century. This edition features 4th chair contributions from Ian Garrett, Ashley Ferro-Murray, Elise Morrison, and Brandon Powers. Many thanks to Sydney Skybetter and the team at CRCI 2020!
Soraya Nadia McDonald of The Undefeated joins the co-hosts to talk about theatre criticism, plus Harvey, Sarah, and Pannill discuss Stephen Scott-Bottoms' new article on "Modern Water," and the Es Devlin episode of the Netflix show Abstract.
Sarah, Harvey, and Pannill discuss Cats, Practical cats, Dramatical cats Pragmatical cats, Fanatical cats Oratorical cats, Delphic-oracle cats Skeptical cats, Dispeptical cats Romantical cats, Pedantical cats Critical cats, Parasitical cats Allegorical cats, Metaphorical cats Statistical cats and Mystical cats Political cats, Hypocritical cats Clerical cats, Hysterical cats Cynical cats, Rabbinical cats
Sarah, Pannill, and Harvey discuss Fred Moten's essay on Othello, E. Patrick Johnson's documentary, Making Sweet Tea, and the upside of the field of theatre and performance studies in the twenty-first century.
Recorded at ASTR, Sarah, Pannill, and Elizabeth Hunter (subbing in for Harvey) talk about Sharon Marcus's new book The Drama of Celebrity, meritocracy in academia, and ASTR 2019 including the demo of the VESPACE virtual reality eighteenth-century theatre project.
Sarah, Pannill, and Harvey talk about the decline of movie theatre audiences, theatre etiquette, and Waterwell Theater Company's new project, The Flores Exhibits.
In the first edition of the new academic year, Harvey, Pannill, and the now-Canadian Sarah talk about Rebecca Kastleman's article about Gertrude Stein's Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights in the new Modern Drama, recent perspectives on the job market, and ATHE 2019 in Orlando. Plus Harvey recounts witnessing a protest at a recent production of Little Shop of Horrors.
Sarah, Pannill, and Harvey discuss the new book, Postdramatic Theatre and Form, Patrick McKelvey's article, A Disabled Actor Prepares, and the uses and abuses of the term performative.
In this edition Sarah, Harvey, and Pannill talk about slavery in contemporary plays by Suzan-Lori Parks and Jeremy O. Harris, the recent essay in the Chronicle about academic books that won't die, and Big Dance Theater's 2016 piece Short Form. Plus Sarah explains Heidi to Harvey and Pannill.
Live from the Conference for Research on Choreographic Interfaces at Brown University, Sarah, Harvey, and Pannill talk about Simone Browne's book Dark Matters, John Fletcher's article on deepfake videos, and the Netflix interactive film Bandersnatch. The co-hosts are joined in the fourth chair by conference participants including Nick Porcino of Facebook Reality Labs and Kamal Sinclair of the Sundance Institute's New Frontier Labs Program.
In the first edition of 2019, Harvey, Sarah, and Pannill discuss Michelle Carriger's article on Gothic Lolita fashion communities, Fortnite, the floss, and choreographic intellectual property, and the state of the market for paper editions of plays.
This edition of On TAP is dedicated to ASTR 2018. Sarah, Pannill, and Harvey talk about what led up to the decision to replace the conference with a scaled-back forum in San Diego, and we host a virtual awards ceremony to honor the recipients of ASTR's annual awards. We also share our drafts.
In this edition, Sarah, Pannill, and Harvey discuss Bess Rowen's article about affective stage directions in the new Theatre Journal, Noe Montez's recent report on job market statistics, and the prospect of a digital model for a major conference in our field. We also talk about the ASTR 2018 conference jeopardy.
The co-hosts discuss the virtues and drawbacks of peer review, the NTLive streaming presentation of Julie, directed by Carrie Cracknell, and the ethics of training undergraduate students for the arts in today's job market.
Sarah, Pannill, and Harvey discuss Amelia Jones' article on the conceptual body in the new TDR, the first part of the Goodman Theatre's stage adaptation of Roberto Bolaño's 2666, and advice for graduate students starting this fall.
From ATHE in Boston, our first live recording in front of an audience! Sarah and Pannill are joined by guest co-host Kareem Khubchandani to talk about Patricia Ybarra's book, Latinx Theater in the Times of Neoliberalism, and the ATHE 2018 conference itself. Plus, Harvey joins in as we share stories of our professional failures, and of course, our drafts. Note: this recording ends abruptly before the Q and A, which will be released separately later...
In this end-of-year edition, Sarah, Pannill, and Harvey talk about the Black Performance and Reproduction section in the new TDR, apps for theatre audiences, and NBC's Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert.
Sarah, Harvey, and Pannill talk about Derek Miller's 2016 article, Average Broadway, Jesse Green's controversial Brief History of Gay Theater essay in the New York Times Style Mag, and TAPS gateway classes.
Harvey, Sarah, and Pannill talk about the 2018 Olympics with Walter Byongsok Chon, plus Adrienne Kennedy's new play, and notable retirements in theatre and performance studies.
Harvey is back, and the co-hosts talk about patriarchy in theatre departments, the Contemporary Performance network, and Sarah Wilbur's article about the NEA in the latest edition of TDR.
Paige McGinley joins Sarah and Pannill for a special Holiday Season edition of On TAP. We talk about conservative theatre, Kate Elswit's book Theatre & Dance, and Okwui Okpokwasili's performance piece Bronx Gothic, which we watched via ontheboards.tv
In this edition, Sarah, Pannill, and Harvey discuss the status of the Indiana University PhD program in theatre and drama, video games and theatre and performance studies, and ASTR 2017 in Atlanta.
From Chicago! Sarah, Harvey, and Pannill discuss Bloomsbury's A Cultural History of Theatre, Wallace Shawn's Evening at the Talk House, and American Theatre Magazine's list of the 10 most produced playwrights.
Sarah Bay-Cheng talks to Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Paula Vogel about Vogel's PhD, theatre critics, and teaching young playwrights.
On this edition, Sarah, Pannill, and Harvey discuss Jessica Berson's award-winning book, The Naked Result, plus Confederate monument removal, and our favorite TV shows.
In this edition, Sarah, Pannill, and Harvey welcome Noe Montez of Tufts University to talk about the quantitative features of the TAPS job market. We also discuss the Aesthetic Perspectives framework published by Americans for the Arts and Heiner Goebbels' essay Research or Craftsmanship.
Sarah, Pannill, and Harvey respond to listener questions. We share some of our biggest writing influences, opine on peer-review, and offer advice for emerging scholars. Plus, one tweet makes Harvey giggle, and a lucky listener wins an On TAP coffee mug!
The co-hosts talk about Lisa Freeman's book, Antitheatricality and the Body Public, and MOOCs, plus Maaike Bleeker of University of Utrecht joins us to talk about TAPS in Europe.
Sarah Bay-Cheng talks to Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director of The Public Theater, about the state of non-profit theatres, market thinking in theatre and academia, and what stories should be the next to be told on American stages.
In this episode, Sarah, Pannill, and Harvey discuss Julia Walker and Glenn Odom's article about Performance Studies and Modernist Studies, the place of applied theatre in TAPS, and 2017-18 season announcements from regional theatres. We also end up talking about the movie Arrival.
The hosts welcome Jennifer Parker-Starbuck of the University of Roehampton in London to talk about TAPS in the UK. We also discuss arts funding in the Trump era, and David Hare's condemnation of European director's theatre.
In this first edition of 2017, Sarah, Pannill, and Harvey discuss Branislav Jakovljevic's book, Alienation Effects, the publication TheTheatreTimes.com, and uses of social media in theatre and performance academia.
With special guest Henry Bial of KU, the co-hosts talk about Theatre Studies vs. Performance Studies in 2016, the ramifications of the Presidential Election for the profession, and the statistical tools administrators use to gauge academic output.
Sarah, Pannill, and Harvey get together to discuss the 2016 job market, Emma Rice's departure from Shakespeare's Globe in London, and the ASTR conference in Minneapolis. This edition was recorded in Minneapolis, just before the 2016 election in the US.
Pannill Camp talks to P Carl of Emerson College and Howlround about gender and casting in academic theatre.
In this edition, Sarah, Pannill, and Harvey discuss Nicolas Ridout's book, Theatre and Ethics, trigger warnings in performance pedagogy, and issues related to race and casting in college theatre productions.
In this edition, the co-hosts discuss dramaturgy on the campaign trail, the Call for the Future section of essays in Theatre Survey, and the classes they are currently teaching in the new term.
Sarah Bay-Cheng talks to Sara Warner of Cornell University about Paula Vogel's recent completion of a PhD degree.
Our ATHE Special! In this edition, Sarah, Harvey, and Pannill discuss PSi 22 in Melbourne, Australia and the keynotes given by Bruno Latour and Rebecca Schneider, and past ATHE conferences. Plus, in our first live recording, the co-hosts welcome Brian Herrera, Charlotte Canning, and D.J. Hopkins to talk about their favorite texts for introductory courses.
Sarah Bay-Cheng, Pannill Camp, and Harvey Young discuss the future of On TAP, Beyoncé's visual album, Lemonade, and the Comedie-Francaise Registers Project in light of criticism of Digital Humanities initiatives.
In this edition, special guest Patricia Ybarra, ATHE President, discusses adjunct and contingent labor, plus live vs. mediated performance spectatorship, and the costs of an MFA degree.
In this edition, Sarah, Pannill, and Harvey discuss the Scalar/Hemispherica "What is Performance Studies?" ebook, performance practice in PhD training, and scholarly criticism of Hamilton.
In this edition, Sarah Bay-Cheng, Harvey Young, and Pannill Camp discuss the new podcast, the twentieth anniversary of Joseph Roach's Cities of the Dead, and the 2016 job market.