On August 15, 2013, the Polish dramatist, writer, and cartoonist Sławomir Mrożek died at the age of 83 in Nice, France, his home since 2008. Throughout his long and rich career, Mrożek created a diverse body of work, consisting of plays, short stories, and cartoons, all characterized by a very particular sense of irony, often […]
Category Articles
5 August 2018
The Comic Frame of Sławomir Mrożek: Or, How to Tell if You Live in a Totalitarian Country
Today, we are launching The Spotlight on Poland. Here’s the context….. Following the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union and its regime in Eastern Europe, Polish theatre found itself without a subject. Always political during the forty years of communist rule, and with a clearly defined objective, Polish […]
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Emerson College’s plan to reconfigure the historic Colonial Theatre into a multipurpose space, including a student cafeteria, has shocked the arts community. Meanwhile, other theaters in Boston are also facing closure. The arts are in crisis we are told, and it’s true. But the arts have always been in crisis in some way, and we […]
During the last week of June, I chaired the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA) conference, which took place in Boston and was hosted by Emerson College, my home institution. The annual gathering is a chance for dramaturgs across the U.S. and Canada to come together and exchange ideas about their craft and the […]
The court jester is a universal character. He can be found in ancient Rome and in China, in Renaissance Europe and in czarist Russia, at the courts of the Middle East and in classical Sanskrit plays of ancient India. Although there were a few known female jesters, historical studies show that the majority of jesters […]
A provocative blog post making one case for a National American Theater. Magda Romanska posts a wide-ranging, historic, international perspective on American theater vs. national theater traditions. Mitt Romney’s offhanded crusade against Big Bird, announced in a presidential debate with President Obama during the last election cycle, put naked fear in the hearts of children, puppets, […]
During the ten years of its run, when asked what I thought of Mabou Mines’s Dollhouse, I’ve always responded that based on the reviews, and the video of the production, I felt ambivalent about it. Now that the show is finally closing forever, and after finally being able to see it live here in Boston, […]
“The regime was harsh, the system absurd but rules made up in Moscow were no match for the individualistic Poles. Magda Romanska’s delightful short story shows us how it was done. Elegantly, of course.” “The Solidarity period in Poland lasted from August 1980 until December 1981. While it was a period of relative freedom in […]
2 April 2012
Theatre Blog: “Café Variations” – A Constellation of Moments. On Making Meaning in Theatre
Magda Romanska, Emerson professor and dramaturg for Café Variations provides behind the scenes insight into the production… The trouble is I can’t make sense of my life at all. I can’t see a beginning and a middle and an end It seems to me to be just a bunch of random vivid moments I think, […]
I am a dramaturg for the upcoming production of Café Variations, a collaboration between the SITI Company, ArtsEmerson and Emerson Stage. I am also a faculty member at Emerson, teaching courses in dramaturgy and theatre history. The first brainstorming rehearsals for the production have already begun in New York City, just as the Spring semester […]
Polish theatre has gained world renown thanks to its innovative and bold experimental style. In international theatre circles, it is often enough to mention the names of Grotowski, Kantor, Witkacy, and Gombrowicz to elicit profound nods of approval. One aspect of Polish theatre that is well known but rarely analyzed is that its greats often […]
Florence and Milan The first thing I noticed in Milan were, anomalous to my Americanized eyes, hordes of clean shaved metrosexuals in perfectly tailored Armani jackets and Gucci shoes. If it weren’t for the American men, happily touristing the city in stretched-out t-shirts and Birkenstocks, my gaydar would go completely out of whack. Indeed, both […]
Latest Posts
"Slave Play": Can a Subaltern Consent
September 29, 2019
The Comic Frame of Sławomir Mrożek: Or, How to Tell if You Live in a Totalitarian Country
August 05, 2018
The Wooster Group's "A Pink Chair" - Can You Ever Return?
May 01, 2018
The Context of Contemporary Polish Theatre: Spotlight on Poland
March 27, 2018