Why is sex on stage still a taboo? Why is it that when a play has a realistic depiction of sex it becomes a huge issue? Why are we as theatre artists still afraid to approach this in our work? Those were some of the questions I asked myself about the work I was doing, so I decided to explore the taboo of sex on stage in the work I was creating.

Every once in a while you meet someone you can call magical, someone who is able to create and bring light into the world; Diana Oh is one of those people. From the first moment I saw her on stage in Mariah McCarthy’s The Foreplay Play, I knew I was in the presence of a very special person. As I have gotten to know Diana better, I have come to learn how talented, creative, fearless, giving, and loving she is.

What is a theatrical home? That is something I have been asking myself for a long time. Like many of the small theatre start-ups that get a season-long residency, and even the more established companies that have built their spaces over time, I too, started my career as a director/producer in the Chicago Off-Loop scene. With so many companies housed there, I have always admired those companies that found that one perfect space and were able to make every show they produced fit the space. But I never thought that was something I wanted.

“If music be the food of love, play on…” and they did! For their Public Works initiative this summer, The Public Theater presented a new musical adaption of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night that was an all-around joy!

It’s 2008 and we are just on the verge of President Obamas’ historic election, but for Roderick and Tuffer the best friends in J.Stephen Brantley’s rock star new play The Jamb the aspect of turning 40 is truly the historic event.

Maybe Burke is truly a one-person theatre company in themselves. As an actor, playwright, director, choreographer, stage manager, activist, etc. they can do it all (I’ve seen them hold multiple of those roles at once) and still manage to always give warmth, love, and a smile to those around them. Now with the premiere of their solo show Love Letters to Nobody, or Insignificant Others which is Part of The Trans Theatre Festival at The Brick, we are getting to see so much more of the wonder of Maybe Burke.

“Do you want to come do some plays on the beach in San Francisco?” That was what Daniel Talbott asked me when I was visiting Los Angeles during the run of his playSlipping. Daniel had this idea to commission five playwrights to write plays specifically for a beach in San Fran, and then have five directors and a company of actors to perform them. We would rehearse for a week and then perform them for three performances, very much in the style of Rising Phoenix Rep’s Cino Nights.  The idea sounded exciting and terrifying at the same time, especially when Daniel asked me to direct one of the plays and co-produce the whole thing with my company Kid Brooklyn Productions.  This sounds like too good of an opportunity and too much fun to say no to. Please, I would get to hang out with some of my best friends in San Francisco, and I was in!