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Best of This Week's Theatre Blogs - 16 Oct 2009

This week Time Out New York took up the challenge which was set by 99 Seats blog and looked at black playwrights in America. Their assertion that they "don't see this as a story right now" was met with some degree of incredulity by 99 Seats who suggested that something more than a list of black playwrights might have been in order.

It was a blog post by British playwright Roy Williams that started the debate in America and the process of creating Williams' new play, Days of Significance, continues to be blogged by the RSC. This week actor Luke Norris wrote about an accident in the rehearsal room which left him with an unexpected haircut.

Elsewhere, Matt Trueman responded to an article in The Stage which had questioned the validity of "interactive theatre", in the process Trueman making a strong case for the importance of audience members being participants.

If that was all too much disagreement for your liking then there was a nice reminder from TheaterStory.com of what a difference the theatre community can make when it comes together. Ashley Mas blogged about a very different kind of Sunday as Broadway Impact marched in Washington.

Time Out New York Upstaged, Adam Feldman - Theater in Black and White

"Frankly, if you're not seeing enough "black theater" right now, you're not seeing enough theater, period. The writers and shows mentioned above represent a wide variety of styles and subject matter. Would there be much to gain by grouping these shows together in a think piece based on the color of their authors' skin?"

99 Seats - Challenge This

"The thing that I love about Roy Williams' piece is that, that's what he's saying about English theatre: it's flourishing and diversified, but he's wondering what is it about. I'm wondering the same thing: what is it all about?"

RSC, Days of Significance Blog, Luke Norris - Fifteen Days

"I started sporting a new hairstyle over the weekend- don't worry, this is relevant- after smashing my head into the rehearsal room bench during Friday morning's fight rehearsal. And before I get Malcom (Ranson, our Fight Director) into trouble I hasten to add it was totally my fault; a few of us went for an 'extra-curricular bonding session' (read: beer) the night before and I think it clouded my depth perception a little"

Carousel of Fantasies - Fussing Over Foss

"The fact is that we are not citizen-actors or performers, but participants. We are not living-art, we are taking part in art. The game, the concept, the structures are the art. The taking part is the experience of it - just as looking at a painting is not itself a work of art - and this experience is itself a product of the art".

TheaterStory.com, Ashley Mas - All You Need Is Love

"On Sunday, I was so proud to be a part of the group of almost 1,500 people from the NY theater community that caravaned in 25 buses to be part of the 2009 march on Washington for marriage equality and LGBT rights. Broadway Impact joined approximately 200,000 other activists from every walk of life from all across the country to march from the White House to the National Mall in this generation's civil rights movement".

- by Corinne Furness - Theatregoer Reporter

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