09.Apr.2010 IRT Playwright-in-Residence James Still to be invested into the College of Fellows of the American Theatre
April 6, 2010 Contact: Jon Whitmore President, San José State University Secretary, College of Fellows of the American Theatre One Washington Square San José, CA 95192-0002 Telephone: (408) 924-1177 Email: sjsupres@sjsu.edu FOUR THEATRE LEADERS TO BE INVESTED AS FELLOWS OF THE COLLEGE OF THE AMERICAN THEATRE APRIL 17, 2010, AT THE KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE [...]
08.Oct.2009 From James Still: TORNADOES AND NUCLEAR FUSION
I’ve noticed a trend on the IRT blogs: whenever we get into tech and previews, the artists are eerily silent. It isn’t that we’ve lost interest in posting here, it isn’t that we’ve lost hope in the production — it’s that the transition from the rehearsal room to getting on stage and teching the show [...]
05.Oct.2009 From James Still: THE ROLE OF THE AUDIENCE
If you write a blog and nobody reads it, was it ever really a blog? It would be a disappointment, but something to shrug off at the most. If you write a play and no one comes, was it ever really a play? That would be harder (er, impossible) to shrug off. I’ll just put [...]
02.Oct.2009 Fiction Meets Fact: Characters in The Heavens Are Hung in Black
The world of The Heavens Are Hung in Black includes both figures who were part of Lincoln’s life in 1862 and others long dead or even fictional who appear in Lincoln’s dreams. John Hay (1838-1905) was one of two private secretaries working for the president, and it was said that Lincoln treated him as one [...]
Program Notes/James Still: My Own Private Abraham
While I’m not certain it can be verified, several sources claim Abraham Lincoln to be the most written about American of all time, and second only to Jesus as the most written about person throughout all of history. Having fallen (willingly) down into the rabbit hole of research in the pursuit of all things Lincoln, [...]
Program Notes/Janet Allen: Living with Lincoln
There hasn’t been a better time in a hundred years to be a Lincoln enthusiast than in this year of the bicentennial celebration of his birth. History lovers, Civil War buffs, travelers to famous Lincoln sites, students of the presidency and of oratory, even our current president himself have joined in gatherings of people across [...]
01.Oct.2009 James Still: FROM ITALY TO INDIANA
When Ford’s Theatre first contacted me in the summer of 2005, they were talking to many writers about their idea of commissioning a new play about Abraham Lincoln to commemorate the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth. Do you know how far away 2009 sounded back then? Writing any play on deadline changes your relationship to time [...]
25.Sep.2009 A Post from James Still: 9-25-09
“HI. MY NAME IS…” (PLAY TITLES: MYSTERIES AND INTRODUCTIONS) What does the title of a play mean? It’s a fair question even though the question still surprises me. For this writer, titles come fully formed with the play and when it happens it’s something like being struck by lightning. I never spend two or three [...]
22.Sep.2009 Washington Reviews of The Heavens are Hung in Black
From review written by Tom Avila, Metro Weekly: “Heavens are Hung in Black is a beautifully realized new work” “a monumental and creatively-fueled exploration of the mind and character of Abraham Lincoln. This ambitious agenda is well-supported by the decision to focus on the narrow but critical five-month span between late spring and summer of [...]