As we prepare to open our 46th season this Sunday, I’m packing up my office. With the Capitol Steps on their way in this Sunday, I’m on my way out this Tuesday. I’m…

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   The Broadway cast of Disney’s The Lion King has it easier than their counterparts on the road if for no other reason than they don’t have to learn a new theater every few…

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If you invited 1,975 people to your house, you'd lay down some rules, wouldn't you? We do. The hard part for us at Popejoy Hall is to create rules that don't restrict people's ability to have fun. Some of the rules we have do cause a few grimaces, so I thought an explanation might help.

We…

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Without a little dramaturgy, you won’t know where you are. Dramaturgy — which sounds far too much like a major affliction — is the process of establishing physical, social, political and other contexts for a given play.

There are other functions of dramaturgy, too,…

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About 20 years ago, I wrote a play for Mystery Cafe called "Guns and Poses." The show required an actor to cross-dress as the female cabaret singer, Bella.

The Sunday before we opened the show at La Posada (now Hotel Andaluz) where…

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We do love our extravaganzas, don’t we? Especially when accompanied by outrageous sums of money spent in their making. For example, Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark, Broadway’s latest budget buster, will cost $65 million by the…

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We live in a time of great tension. Some of us want it just the way it was. Some of us understand why that can’t be.

Martha Graham always looked forward. In the 1970s, when she was no longer dancing she began to confer roles closely associated with her on new company…

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Do you know what a director does for a show?

Mark Bruni (above), director for the touring production of Legally Blonde coming to Popejoy Hall next weekend, described the job simplistically as “standing up in…

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I grew up marvelling at the music of The Music Man. It was my father’s favorite musical, so it was a frequent addition to the stack of LPs my parents…

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I have always been intrigued by sources, the inspirations for artistic creativity. When I applied to the UNM Theatre Department for admission into its MFA in Dramatic Writing program, I told them that I wanted to better understand the sources of theatrical…

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Mack and Mabel fell off the ledger.

Mack and Mabel was to be Jerry Herman’s next big hit after Hello, Dolly and Mame. A Golden Era-style musical, the show had 41 people on stage. Then the production hit the realities of the floundering economy of 1974. Ticket…

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I expect the calls to start any minute now, from people who ask if there might be any way they could just peek in on a rehearsal of Wicked, or maybe bring their class to see a dress rehearsal.

If you were thinking about making that call, know this: rehearsals are rarely open to the public. Rehearsals are where actors work out any problems before they show their work to the public. Also, …

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We’ve been trying for months to adequately describe a show coming to Popejoy in ten weeks,…

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Is it an oxymoron to talk about focused nervous energy? That’s what I see almost every time I watch a rehearsal. Performers have a specific set of goals for their shows and a limited amount of time in which to accomplish them. That’ll make anyone nervous. Artists who focus the energy from their nerves on the tasks ahead create great shows.



For example, I caught the company for DRUMLine… Continue

Ed Asner is pretty much what you expect him to be: a very straightforward human being. The man known to many as Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and to a new generation as the voice of Carl Fredricksen in the movie Up doesn't pull many punches.



I met Mr. Asner in Sarasota, Florida, following a performance of FDR, which he is performing across the country. As he entered the room and sat down, he asked me how I liked the performance. Before I could say a… Continue