We sit on a single row of seats, backs against a wall, hands on a railing before a drop. Beneath us is the main audience, and ahead of that is a curtained stage littered along the front with scrap metal. At first glance that’s all it appears to be, but there are a few distinguishable…
Shakespeare on the Page: A Better Way
I was recently rereading Manga Shakespeare: Twelfth Night, and found myself surprised all over again by how much I like it, and how well it works. The Manga Shakespeare series, published by Amulet/Abrams in the US & Canada or SelfMadeHero in the UK, uses a “manga” drawing style (but the western left to right reading…
Fun Home On the Page and the Stage
Small and Big, Close and Far, Same and Different The award winning Broadway musical Fun Home, based on Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir of the same name, is now on tour. By the time this goes to press, the production will most likely be in Schenectady. Or Providence. And somewhere else after that. Whenever shows go…
Diversifying British Theatre’s Shakespeare Productions Isn’t As Easy As We Think
For all but the wilfully obtuse, the need to diversify our theatres is obvious. Great strides have been made over the last few years, but inclusivity in theatre largely remains a case of two steps forward, one step back. While audiences may be seeing increasingly diverse casts on stage, institutional discrimination behind the scenes means…
Malvolia in Yellow: Reflecting on National Theatre’s Twelfth Night
I wasn’t the only one who missed her step on the London Underground, when the screens switch one poster to another even faster than the escalator pulls you down, because Tamsin Greig was standing in a tuxedo and high heels. One louche hand on hip and a champagne bottle by her feet, a couple of…
“Are You a Good Witch or a Bad Witch?” – How Fictional Witches Shaped My Identity as a Woman
October is here! The month of All Hallow’s Eve, Halloween, Samhain, of witches, ghouls, and delighting in the macabre. At WWAC, we are exploring the archetype of the witch and what she means to us. Starting us off, Stephanie Tran asks, “Are you a good witch or a bad witch?”
Dita Von Teese’s Opium Den: Consuming Problematic Media
My partner recently surprised me with tickets to see Dita Von Teese’s Burlesque: Strip, Strip, Hooray!, purported to be a revue of high production-value, best-of-the-best burlesque performed by Dita and a cast of striptease superstars. Though I’d never seen Dita in person before, many of the supporting cast were performers I had seen in the…
The Music of Hamilton: WWAC Shares the Songs That Blew Us All Away
It’s safe to say that if you haven’t heard about the hit musical Hamilton by now, you will soon. Grammy performance aside, the show has been capturing attention outside of theatre circles since it premiered on Broadway last summer. The core of Hamilton’s story is told through forty-six evocative and creative tracks, all written by Lin-Manuel…
Stripping Down the Patriarchy with Bechdel Test Burlesque
Bechdel Test Burlesque, October 2015 Produced by Jo Jo Stiletto, Sailor St. Claire, Sophie Maltease, Scarlett O’Hairdye, and Sin de la Rosa in association with GeekGirlCon Disclaimer: A ticket to the performance was provided in exchange for an honest review. My dear Women Write About Comics readers: I really, truly wish all of you could…
Get Your Dance Fix: 13 Dance Documentaries On Netflix
Like many a young girl, I wanted to be a ballerina. Scratch that, I really wanted to be a figure skater, but there were no ice skating rinks where I grew up, and ballet was the closest I could get to the graceful athleticism of figure skating. However, financial limitations prevented me from officially studying…
Nerdlesque Will Make Your Geek Heart Dance: an Interview with Jo Jo Stiletto and Sailor St. Claire
When I caught wind of Emerald City Comicon’s special event, “Guardians of the Sexy: a Geeky Celebration in Burlesque,” my heart soared. Geeky burlesque, aka “nerdlesque”? Yes! I am so there! And then I tried to buy tickets and discovered they were sold out, and I was sad. When I heard how awesome the show was, I wept salty…
Misty Copeland: The First African-American Principal Dancer at the American Ballet Theatre
On June 30, 2015, something historic happened: The American Ballet Theatre (ABT) named their first African-American principal ballerina. It may not be comic-related news, but it is big news for diversity and representation which we are all about here at WWAC. Also, I am a total geek for ballet so #justified. The ballerina is Misty…