HowlRound Theatre Commons

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Channel • 11 Shows

Performing Arts

Performing Arts

Updated Biweekly
Performing Arts

Performing Arts

Updated Biweekly
Performing Arts

Performing Arts

Updated 2023-09-26
Performing Arts

Performing Arts

Updated 2025-10-28
Performing Arts

Performing Arts

Updated Weekly
Performing Arts

Performing Arts

Updated Weekly
Performing Arts

Performing Arts

Updated Weekly

2022-07-06

Working Her Own Tune: Revisiting the Life, Legacy, and Work of Micki Grant

This episode honors the life and work of composer, writer, and performer Micki Grant, who passed away in August 2021. Grant was the first Black woman to write and compose a musical that made it to Broadway, and she is also the subject of Jordan's dissertation.

2022-07-06

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49 min
2025-05-27

Black Queer “Mess” and A Strange Loop

In today’s episode, Leticia and Jordan discuss the Canadian premiere of A Strange Loop—a co-production between The Musical Stage Company, Soulpepper Theatre, Crow’s Theatre, and TO Live. They re-appraise the musical’s impact in today’s sociopolitical climate.

2025-05-27

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1h 4m
2019-10-28

A Conversation on Fairview

On this first episode of Daughters of Lorraine Podcast, Leticia Ridley and Jordan Ealey discuss Woolly Mammoth's production of Fairview by Jackie Sibbilies Drury, its theoretical and theatrical interventions, as well as situate it in the historical and cultural contexts of Black theatre.

2019-10-28

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31 min
2019-11-25

Riding Along with "Jitney"

On this episode of the Daughters of Lorraine Podcast, Jordan Ealey and Leticia Ridley review Arena Stage's production of August Wilson’s "Jitney", directed by Black theatre legend, Ruben Santiago-Hudson.

2019-11-25

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47 min
2021-04-14

Drama Therapy: The Work of Zeina Daccache

On this weeks episode of Kunafa and Shay, join Marina and Nabra as they discuss Zeina Daccache's work using drama therapy in Lebanon to empower inmates in the carceral system. Kunafa and Shay is a podcast produced for HowlRound Theatre Commons by co-hosts Nabra Nelson and Marina Johnson. Kunafa and Shay discusses and analyzes contemporary and historical Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) and Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) theatre from across the region. Kunafa and Shay highlights MENA/SWANA plays and theatremakers, spotlights community-engaged work in the region and diaspora, and analyzes the past, present, and future of MENA/SWANA theatre in the United States and beyond. Theatre artists and scholars Nabra Nelson and Marina Johnson bring their own perspectives, research, and special guests in order to start a dialogue and encourage further learning and discussion. The name, Kunafa and Shay, invites you into the discussion in the best way we know how: with complex and delicious sweets like kunafa, and perfectly warm tea (or, in Arabic, shay). Kunafa and Shay is a place to share experiences, discuss ideas, and sometimes engage with our differences. In each country in the region, you’ll find kunafa made differently. In that way, we also lean into the diversity, complexity, and robust flavors of MENA/SWANA theatre.

2021-04-14

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33 min
2020-01-08

The Ritual of "What to Send Up When it Goes Down"

Jordan Ealey and Leticia Ridley discuss the transformative power of Aleshea Harris' What to Send Up When it Goes Down by centering Black rage, ritual, and healing on this episode of the Daughters of Lorraine podcast.

2020-01-08

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40 min
2021-04-21

The Power of Verbatim Theatre with Jen Marlowe

On this weeks episode of Kunafa and Shay, join Marina and Nabra as they interview Jen Marlowe about her her company Donkeysaddle Productions, conducted interviews for 15 years to create the verbatim piece There is a Field, a play about Aseel Asleh, a 17-year old Palestinian citizen of Israel killed by police in October 2000. Donkeysaddle used this piece to connect communities in the way the piece was subsequently performed and then documented. Listen to find out how this piece came to be. Kunafa and Shay is a podcast produced for HowlRound Theatre Commons by co-hosts Nabra Nelson and Marina Johnson. Kunafa and Shay discusses and analyzes contemporary and historical Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) and Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) theatre from across the region. Kunafa and Shay highlights MENA/SWANA plays and theatremakers, spotlights community-engaged work in the region and diaspora, and analyzes the past, present, and future of MENA/SWANA theatre in the United States and beyond. Theatre artists and scholars Nabra Nelson and Marina Johnson bring their own perspectives, research, and special guests in order to start a dialogue and encourage further learning and discussion. The name, Kunafa and Shay, invites you into the discussion in the best way we know how: with complex and delicious sweets like kunafa, and perfectly warm tea (or, in Arabic, shay). Kunafa and Shay is a place to share experiences, discuss ideas, and sometimes engage with our differences. In each country in the region, you’ll find kunafa made differently. In that way, we also lean into the diversity, complexity, and robust flavors of MENA/SWANA theatre.

2021-04-21

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55 min
2020-10-07

Shakespeare in Black with Renea Brown

Daughters of Lorraine Podcast hosts Jordan Ealey and Leticia Ridley interview actress Renea Brown on the interactions between Black theatre and Shakespeare, as well as her experience as a Black Shakespearean performer.

2020-10-07

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1h 2m
2021-04-07

Representation 101: Trends of Contemporary MENA Theatre in the U.S.

Join Nabra and Marina as they discuss how MENA theatre in the United States was affected by 9/11, analyze post-9/11 trends in MENA theatre from their own perspectives, and also examine popular MENA plays of the twenty-first century. Setting the stage for future episodes, this discussion illuminates how theatre has contributed to representation of Arabs in popular media and highlights the playwrights who have fought against the stereotypes that were made mainstream by the widespread racism and xenophobia following 9/11, which continue to this day.Kunafa and Shay is a podcast produced for HowlRound Theatre Commons by co-hosts Nabra Nelson and Marina Johnson. Kunafa and Shay discusses and analyzes contemporary and historical Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) and Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) theatre from across the region. Kunafa and Shay highlights MENA/SWANA plays and theatremakers, spotlights community-engaged work in the region and diaspora, and analyzes the past, present, and future of MENA/SWANA theatre in the United States and beyond. Theatre artists and scholars Nabra Nelson and Marina Johnson bring their own perspectives, research, and special guests in order to start a dialogue and encourage further learning and discussion. The name, Kunafa and Shay, invites you into the discussion in the best way we know how: with complex and delicious sweets like kunafa, and perfectly warm tea (or, in Arabic, shay). Kunafa and Shay is a place to share experiences, discuss ideas, and sometimes engage with our differences. In each country in the region, you’ll find kunafa made differently. In that way, we also lean into the diversity, complexity, and robust flavors of MENA/SWANA theatre.

2021-04-07

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55 min
2023-11-15

Digging for Bones with Topdog/Underdog

Hosts Leticia Ridley and Jordan Ealey dig into the dramaturgies and theories of Suzan-Lori Parks and discuss Canadian Stage’s production of Parks’s Topdog/Underdog.

2023-11-15

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57 min

We're a free and open platform for theatremakers worldwide, and we've been amplifying progressive and disruptive ideas about theatre and facilitating connections between diverse practitioners for the past decade. We function as a “commons”—a social structure that invites open participation around shared values.

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