Podcast! Talking About Chicago, Theatre, History, and My Job

I haven’t been posting much because I’ve been busy with things like writing a new play, chasing my two year old, and actually working. At my actual J-O-B. We’re hosting a Symposium on Chicago Theatre History: Past, Present, and Future that starts this week.

I’ll be honest. The whole thing has been kind of a… headache. I mean, I’m a historiographer, not a historian. (That’s a fancy way of saying I’m interested in the history of history, or that I think history is a series of really partial stories told for very specific social, cultural, and political purposes.) And on top of being a historiographer, I’m also an artist who specializes in community-based performance, and am not that interested in so-called “mainstream” performance (unless it is opening night and open bar… bring it on!) So, anything that talks about “a” Chicago Theatre Community or “a” Chicago Theatre History is already on my nerves, which is a problem because I’m on the planning committee. And always saying things like… “WHO are these people? WHY do we care about them?” And then “these people” turn out to be the founders of Steppenwolf or, like, the winners of a million Tony Awards or Pulitzers. I’m exaggerating, of course. And learning a lot about Chicago Theatre in the process. And – I hope- pushing some questions that get left off the table. Here’s an example:

TheatreInChicago Weekly Podcast

In Which I Turn Out To Have a Husky Voice and Be Real Crabby. In a disarming way, because I laugh a lot.

The conference is THIS WEEK, so come on over. Here’s a link.