The new book ‘Theater Artists Making Theatre With No Theater’ is an emotional check-in with scores of writers locked out of live performance.
NATIONWIDE: Sheila Callaghan, Meg Miroshnik, and Kelly Miller have announced the release of Theater Artists Making Theatre With No Theater, a book reflecting on what it means to make theatre at a time when live performance is effectively halted. The three playwrights, founding members of the feminist collective the Kilroys, put out a call to theatre artists and leaders in May and received 148 submissions of poetry, photographs, monologues, shopping lists, and more.
“The three of us were coping with our own devastation at the overnight loss of our profession,” said Callaghan, noting that the book took five months to compile. “This was our attempt to create community in a void, and also check in with beloved colleagues and artists we didn’t even know. Our grief made us long for playfulness and invention, or some other of strange yet welcome respite from our daily heartbreak. And a brief hiatus from all the Zooming! For me personally, Zoom theatre has felt like an endless memorial service for a very beloved, very deceased family member. We wanted this experience to be the opposite of that.”
“As I write this, I’m still kinda shocked we pulled it off,” Callaghan said in an email. “For a while we had a shared Google doc filled with book-related tasks entitled ‘if we make a book but no pressure!’ The whole project seemed too big, too delicate, and we were too busy/stressed/rage-filled/hopeless to stay focused on it. However, back in April I heard this interview with the Dalai Lama about how a compassionate or constructive act has the potential to provide tremendous relief during the most challenging times. He wasn’t just talking about physical illness. He was referring to our own individual and existential fears. The effort of doing something positive for our community became such a balm for us during our worst moments. I’m so grateful for it, and also for having a community worth holding onto during our darkest times. It’s a gorgeous reminder that even when our literal spaces are inoperable, we can still hold the ghost lights up for one another.”
Proceeds of book sales will be split among the first 148 theatre artists, one for every piece of artwork in the book, who fill out this form.
Theater Artists Making Theatre With No Theater features works by Liz Duffy Adams, Nayna Agrawal, Tessa Albertson, Jazmine Aluma, Liz Appel, Mallery Avidon, Rachel Axler, Jenny Lyn Bader, Kari Bentley-Quinn, Kate Bergstrom, Susan Bernfield, Larry Biederman, Rachel Bonds, Amy Boratko, Mattie Brickman, Eleanor Burgess, Adrienne Campbell-Holt, Jonathan Caren, Marisa Carr, Jaime Castañeda, Jo Cattell, Jennifer Chambers, Jackie Chung, Carmela Corbett, Adam D. Crain, Cusi Cram, Migdalia Cruz, Francisca Da Silveira, Mashuq Deen, Steph Del Rosso, Kristoffer Diaz, Julie Felise Dubiner, Erik Ehn, Larissa FastHorse, Annah Feinberg, Liz Frankel, Gibson Frazier, Matt Freeman, Edith Freni, Jeremy Gable, Joanna Glum, Emma Goidel, Jacqueline Goldfinger, Isaac Gómez, Tasha Gordon-Solmon, Kirsten Greenidge, Rinne Groff, Jason Grote, Lauren M. Gunderson, April Dawn Guthrie, Mary Elizabeth Hamilton, Adrien-Alice Hansel, Elizabeth Harper, Julie Hébert, Justice Hehir, Laura Heisler, Alex Henrikson, Deb Hiett, Daniel Hirsch, Lily Holleman, Jess Honovich, Scott Horstein, Andy Horwitz, Emma Horwitz, Lily Houghton, Lindsay Brandon Hunter, Kristin Idaszak, Naomi Iizuka, Rachel Jendrzejewski, Kate Jopson, Lila Rose Kaplan, MJ Kaufman, Lucas Kavner, Lisa Kenner Grissom, Callie Kimball, Ramona Rose King, Krista Knight, Andrea Kuchlewska, Jenni Lamb, Jacqueline E. Lawton, Jer Adrianne Lelliott, Sarah Rose Leonard, Sofya Levitsky-Weitz, Danielle Levsky, Mike Lew, Jerry Lieblich, Katie Lindsay, Craig Lucas, Kirk Lynn, Wendy MacLeod, Jennifer Maisel, Chelsea Marcantel, Kelly Miller, Winter Miller, Rehana Lew Mirza, Michael Mitnick, Anne G. Morgan, Matt Moses, Allie Moss, Gregory S. Moss, Rebecca Mozo, Nick Hadikwa Mwaluko, Katie Locke O’Brien, Kira Obolensky, Laurel Ollstein, Matthew Paul Olmos, Julie Oullette, Kristen Palmer, Lina Patel, Christopher O. Peña, Roxie Perkins, Eric Pfeffinger, Rebecca Phillips Epstein, Daria Polatin, Christina Quintana (CQ), Stella Fawn Ragsdale, Molly Rice, Anya Richkind, Colette Robert, Alexis Roblan, Ashley Lauren Rogers, Elaine Romero, Whitney Rowland, Zoe Sarnak, Matt Schatz, Dana Schwartz, Betty Shamieh, Mike Shapiro, Alexandra Shilling, Jen Silverman, Jessy Lauren Smith, Elizabeth Spreen, Matt Stadelmann, Ellen Steves, Caridad Svich, Adam Szymkowicz, Kate Tarker, Ashley Teague, Melisa Tien, Ken Urban, Kathryn Walat, John Walch, Molly Ward, Seanan Palmero Waugh, Tatiana Wechsler, Jenny Rachel Weiner, Calamity West, Deborah Yarchun, Mackenzie Yeager, and Gina Young.
