by Judith Sebesta Stephen Schwartz has contributed music and/or lyrics to Godspell, Pippin, The Magic Show, The Baker’s Wife,Working (which he also adapted and directed), Personals, Rags, Children of Eden, and the current Broadway hit, Wicked. Most recently, he has contributed songs to Mit Eventyr, a musical about Hans Christian Andersen currently playing in Denmark. He collaborated with Leonard Bernstein on the English texts for
Interview with Stephen Schwartz
Interview with Reverend Billy and Savitri D.
by Dan Venning Bill Talen is the performance artist who created and portrays the pseudo-revivalist preacher Reverend Billy. Together with his director/partner Savitri D and the “Life after Shopping Gospel Choir,” Reverend Billy preaches against rampant consumerism and the corporate destruction of the environment, among other social issues. Together, they founded the “Church of Stop
Interview with Tim Miller
by Wendy Clupper Since before 1980 performance artist Tim Miller has been exploring, engaging, and disrupting the lines between religion, politics, and sexuality. As one of the founders of P.S. 122 in New York City and as one of the NEA Four, Miller has taken on the religious right and conservative governments, and fought to draw
Interview with Fr. James Martin, SJ
by Amber Jackson Father James Martin is an ordained priest and member of the Society of Jesus, better known as the Jesuits. He has authored many books including The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life(2010) and My Life with the Saints, which, in 2007, was named by Publisher’s Weekly as one of the “Best Books of the
Interview with Ron Marasco
by Carolyn Roark Ron Marasco has said that acting is “as close as I get to religion in terms of a quest of understanding other forces besides one’s self” (Nash par. 11). So one can easily see why he might be preoccupied with the spiritual dimensions of acting as an artistic practice. His new book, Notes
Interview with Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl
by Christy Stanlake Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl is a well-known Honolulu playwright and author. She holds a master’s degree in drama and theatre from the University of Hawai`i. Her plays have been performed in Hawai`i and the continental United States and have toured to Britain, Asia, and the Pacific. An anthology of her work,Hawai`i Nei: Island
Interview with Eve Ensler
by Carolyn Roark Eve Ensler, performer and writer of the Obie award-winning Vagina Monologues, is an active advocate for the rights of women and girls, especially in international efforts to end the violence of assault, domestic abuse, genital mutilation, and other forms of oppression. The organization Ensler founded, V-Day, helps to raise funds and awareness for
Interview with Fr. Rick Curry, SJ
Kevin J. Wetmore: Since last we spoke, you have been ordained as a priest. You have said you did so because you were asked by veterans? How has it been being a priest (instead of a Jesuit brother) and has it affected your theatre work at all? Rick Curry, SJ: It’s very interesting. When you’re a brother,
Interview with Ysrael Campbell
Thomas Donnaruma sat down to talk with American-born, Catholic-raised Yisrael Campbell, who now resides in Israel and is a three-time convert to Judaism. His play, a one man show entitled Circumcise Me, ran at The Bleecker Street Theatre through 16 May 2010. As the show’s website extols, “Campbell is your average Irish, Italian Catholic kid from
Excerpt from “Spark” by Caridad Svich
Winner of the 2013 Latino Playwriting Award The flames of passion that stir the desire toward moral accountability in society—toward, for example, the indictment for war criminals that live quite comfortably among us with no shame attached to their names—seem to flicker in burning embers, as another election year is upon us. The talk all