HowlRound Theatre Commons Announces Publication of a New Anthology

After celebrating its ten-year anniversary in 2021, HowlRound Theatre Commons announces its first published anthology, featuring essays from each year of the last decade, available for preorder now. Join us for a virtual launch celebration featuring readings from the book and a conversation with Nicole Brewer, Will Davis, Lauren Gunderson, and Michael Rohd on Tuesday, 21 June at 3pmET. Learn more and watch here!

The anthology celebrates a decade of publishing essays, livestreaming events, and bringing theatre practitioners together to amplify pogressive and disruptive ideas, and exists as a result of the thousands of theatremakers who have shared their collective wisdom through contributions to this commons-based free and open platform. In publishing this anthology, HowlRound hopes to further its vision of a theatre field where resources and power are shared equitably in all directions, contributing to a more just and sustainable world. The writing highlighted offers a much-needed reminder that alternatives to the status quo are possible, and we are making them together by practicing otherwise everyday.

Nelson T. Eusebio III, anthology contributor and Associate Artistic Director of Kansas City Repertory Theatre, says, "It's an honor to be included in the HowlRound book that I will totally be buying a copy of (whether I was included or not). HowlRound has become the theatre conversation center of our industry, of our country, and now - our bookshelves."

HowlRound Theatre Commons: Essays and Conversations from the First Ten Years (2011-2020) was co-curated by former HowlRound content editor May Antaki, HowlRound associate producer Deen Rawlins-Harris, HowlRound creative producer Abigail Vega, and HowlRound co-founder and director Jamie Gahlon, and includes 50 written pieces representative of HowlRound's core values; cognizant of the diversity and positionality of its contributors (including age, gender, geography, affiliation within the field, race and ethnicity, sexual orientation); and with the awareness that some of HowlRound's most impactful content is not always synonymous with the most read, or clicked, or commented on.

HowlRound Director and Co-Founder Jamie Gahlon shares: "This anthology is a love letter to those who contributed to HowlRound over the past decade. HowlRound and the theatre field are better for it. I hope that theatremakers around the globe will benefit and learn from seeing themselves and the last decade of theatre practice reflected in this book."

Authors include artists and thought leaders Nicole Brewer, P. Carl, Larissa Fasthorse, Robert C. Goodwin, Lauren Gunderson, Mike Lew, Mary Kathryn Nagle, Mickey Rowe, and Madeline Sayet. Find a full list of writers below. Gunderson reflects, "This anthology is not just a reminiscence of all HowlRound has become but a catalyst for a more holistic and intentional international theatre community, an offering to future and current theatremakers. It's a big honor to be a small part of it. HowlRound has been the thoughtful, joyful disruption theatre has needed to see itself, and see its powerful future."

Essay and conversation topics include theatre and the climate crisis; racial, gender, and disability justice; practices and aesthetics from non-U.S. based theatremakers; new play development and innovations for the art form; leadership and programming; criticism; civic and community engagement; theatre for young audiences, and more.

"What an honor to have been selected to be included in this anthology. So many good things have happened (and still are happening) because of my The Ugly Truth About Arts Institutions Led By Women of Color essay in HowlRound. This opportunity is another highlight," writes Teresa Coleman Wash, Executive Artistic Director of the Bishop Arts Theatre Center.

As a companion to the anthology, HowlRound will publish lesson plans created by curriculum writers Meg Greene and Emi Aguilar aimed at teachers who want to use the anthology in their high school and college classrooms. These will be available for free here beginning on 21 June.

Full List of Authors

Claudia Alick, Lindz Amer, Chantal Bilodeau, Marshall Botvinick, Nicole Brewer, P. Carl, Dudley Cocke, Shebana Coelho, Hanna Cormick, Will Davis, Gabriel Jason Dean, Holly L. Derr, Kelvin Dinkins, Jr., Elizabeth Doud, Timothy Douglas, David Dower, Adam Ashraf Elsayigh, Nelson T. Eusebio III, Larissa Fasthorse, Annah Feinberg, Robert Goodwin, Lauren Gunderson, Miranda Haymon, verity healey, Al Heartley, Elsa Hiltner, Mike Lew, Todd London, Taylor Mac, Asif Majid, Jonathan Mandell, James McMaster, Mary Kathryn Nagle, Rob Onorato, A. Rey Pamatmat, Amelia Parenteau, christopher oscar peña, Ralph Peña, Melisa Pererya, Josh Platt, Jack Reuler, Michael Rohd, Mickey Rowe, Madeline Sayet, Helen Schultz, Sharanya, Jess K. Smith, Josh Sobel, Sayda Trujillo, Lauren E. Turner, David Valdes, Meiyin Wang, Teresa Coleman Wash, Jaan Whitehead.