Lark Community Perspectives: Artist as Leader
This year, we’re focusing in depth on what Lark community members have to say about where we’re headed as a society and the tools we’ll need to get there. Every month we are inviting a guest essayist—theater artists as well as people from fields outside theater—to share a unique perspective on some important strategic questions we’ve been asking ourselves lately about the purpose of live theater in the twenty-first century, what the field has to offer society as a whole, and what we can learn about how to shape the theater of the future.
Zach Calhoun: People You Should Know
May Adrales has worked extensively with many of America’s most innovative and provocative playwrights including Tom Bradshaw, Tommy Smith, Dael Orlandersmith, A. Rey Pamatmat, Lauren Yee, David Henry Hwang, Lisa Ramirez, Ashlin Halfnight and Betty Shamieh. She helmed the world premieres of EDITH CAN SHOOT THINGS AND HIT THEM at Actors Theater of Louisville and MARY at The Goodman Theatre
Works by Women
May Adrales is currently directing OLIVES AND BLOOD, Michael Bradford’s memory play about Federico Garcia Lorca’s presumed murderer at HERE in New York City. Cultural Capitol raves that the play is “a hymn to the power of dramatic poetry to endure and overcome the prosaic power of angry men and sclerotic social conventions.
NPR Interview: Edith Can Shoot Things and HIt Them
Edith is “too old to be talking to a stuffed frog and too young to be carrying a gun.”
That’s how Rey Pamatmat describes the main character — who carries both items — in his play Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them.
Pamatmat’s play premiered at the prestigious Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville, Kentucky last year. Since then, it’s been playing at regional theaters around the country.
On Milwaukee feature: The Mountaintop
Although she may not be on track for law school anymore and her foreign policy days are long over, it would seem that May Adrales was destined to enact social change after all. She gravitates to plays that illustrate societal injustices, works that challenge the audience to examine themselves and their culture – like “The Mountaintop,” premiering this Friday at The Rep’s Stiemke Studio.
Redemption and Empathy: NPR’s Lake Effect
County Executive Chris Abele joins us to discuss details of his proposed $1.3 billion county budget. The budget calls for a freeze in taxes, increases for the sheriff’s department and behavioral health division, but no raises for county employees. Later, a show premiering tonight on Milwaukee Public TV looks at bridging the divide that still exists in Milwaukee, more than four decades after the end of the Vietnam War. A new play at the Milwaukee Rep explores bullying, apology, and forgiveness. And Milwaukee Magazine asks people what they love about the city.
Deathtrap: Kiss Heard Around The World – Fox News
SALT LAKE CITY — A play about murder containing a brief moment of romance has sparked a conversation among patrons of Pioneer Theatre Company, the professional company located on the campus of the University of Utah.
Stage Buddy: May Adrales on directing LUCE
May Adrales is one of the most sought-after directors in the business. Most recently, she has directed “Luce” at Lincoln Center and David Henry Hwang’s “The Dance and the Railroad”. She has also led several successful world premieres, including “Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them” at Actors Theater of Louisville, “Mary” at the The Goodman Theatre, “In this House” at Two River Theater Company, and Katori Hall’s “Whaddabloodclot” at Williamstown Theater Festival. A recipient of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation’s inaugural Denham Fellowship and the Paul Green Directing Award, she is also a recipient of TCG New Generations Grant.
Diversity and Storytelling: Beholdr Online Interview
New York based theater director, May Adrales, talks about the art of storytelling in theater and how it can change people’s perception of the world.
LATimes feature: Poor Yella Rednecks
The young Asian woman pauses, surveying items in her grocery shopping cart. Realizing she doesn’t have enough money to pay for everything, she curses under her breath, quickly glances over her shoulder, then stuffs a loaf of bread into her purse.
Out of nowhere, a store employee appears. “Robber dodger!” he yells. She tries to evade him, but another man sneaks up behind her, yelling, “Stop!” She’s surrounded. Undeterred, she swings her purse at one man, then turns with a high kick to the other. In a flash, she’s in full martial arts mode, spinning, kicking, jumping, then seizing a mop that she wields like a kendo fighting stick to fend off her pursuers. A cop enters, gun drawn: “Drop the bread!”
