Resources
Moving towards more inclusive practices is a continual process that requires a commitment to ongoing learning. Here you will find resources to help you delve deeper into the issues discussed in MTF, as well as links to practical resources. This page will be updated regularly. Please contact jkirchert@unimelb.edu.au if you would like to offer a contribution to this page.
Toolkits and Practical Resources
The Creative Equity Toolkit
The Creative Equity Toolkit provides an action-oriented approach to increasing cultural diversity in the arts.
This site features dozens of implementable actions, from simple to complex, along with hundreds of links to tools and resources developed around the world to help put these actions into practice.
Internationally there are remarkable differences in how arts organisations approach the question of diversity. This site brings together ideas, research and best practice from around the world into one place. We’ve extracted the solutions and recommendations from research and case studies, and provided short introductions to key concepts to help inform debate.
Includes info on:
- Anti-racism
- Cultural consultation
- Programming and commissioning
- Policy
Visit: https://creativeequitytoolkit.org/
Respectful Workplaces
The Creative Victoria website has a page that lists an overview of how to create Respectful Workplaces. It includes lots of information on:
- Mental health and wellbeing
- Resources for mental health and wellbeing
- Codes of Conduct from peak bodies
- Links to other organisations that can help with building Respectful Workplaces such as MEAA, Arts Wellbeing Collective, Entertainment Assist and more
Visit: https://creative.vic.gov.au/resources/Respectful-Workplaces
The Directory by The People of Cabaret
The Directory offers a service for both producers/directors etc. looking for artists of colour and for artists of colour looking to be connected with opportunities.
For those looking for artists of colour to work with, the Directory is a paid service.
Visit: https://www.thepeopleofcabaret.com/the-directory
The Equity Wellness Challenge
A free, daily re-charge challenge booklet to help you learn more about your personal mental health and wellbeing https://www.meaa.org/download/equity-wellness-challenge-2020/
The MEAA Intimacy Guidelines for Stage and Screen
Guidelines for the industry to help make scenes with intimate content clear, professional and safe for all involved. These have been specifically developed for the Australian industry https://www.meaa.org/campaigns/intimacy-guidelines/
Resources, links and further reading from sessions
- Monday sessions
Setting The Scene With A First Nation's Perspective
Present Traces: ASIO Makes A Movie
A short video about the story Tiriki told us, of 21-year-old Aboriginal man Ray Peckham and 32-year-old Indigenous activist Faith Bandler, on their way to a Berlin peace festival.
Balam Ajpu
The Mayan hip-hop group Tiriki mentioned.
Acknowledgement of Country and Aboriginal Australia
What it is and why it's important: https://www.fya.org.au/2019/10/15/acknowledgement-of-country-your-go-to-guide/
AIATSIS map of Aboriginal Australia: https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/map-indigenous-australia
Acknowledging Country in the digital age with Tiriki Onus: https://youtu.be/dNNk0ed42Sc
Boon Wurrung Foundation (a great organisational resource with links to Corporate support): https://www.boonwurrung.org/
Challenging Casting Norms: Where Do You Begin?
Advocacy resources
Learn about the MEAA Equity Diversity Committee – who they are and what they do https://www.meaa.org/meaa-equity/diversity-committee/
Learn about the Municipal Association of Victoria and how you can get involved wth advocacy through your local government to make positive grass roots change via https://www.mav.asn.au/what-we-do/policy-advocacy/social-community/arts-culture
Learn about the #justnotthatmany campaign and get an insight into the diversity of Australian artists that are doing great work https://twitter.com/justnotthatmany
- Tuesday sessions
Gestural Economies and Production Pedagogies in Deaf West’s Broadway Revival of Spring Awakening
Article
Videos
"How To Make a Musical for the Deaf"July 6, 2015Buzzfeed video[accessed 12/7/20]70th annual Tony Awards 'Spring Awakening’Marlee Maitlin, introduction of the cast[accessed 12/7/20]PodcastFrom Intention to Impact: creating practical guidelines for culturally safer practices in music theatre trainingBen Shapiro, "Music Theory and White Supremacy"Margot mentioned this video in the presentation:Inclusion in mainstage contexts: discussions with Malthouse Theatre, STC and Sydney FestivalSydney Theatre Company's Cultural Representation PledgeRead the whole thing here: https://www.sydneytheatre.com.au/about/stc-commitments/cultural-representation-pledgeConversations: Producer Michael CasselCultural Leave policyHere is a link to more info on the landmark Cultural Leave Policy the Michael Cassel Group announced as part of its EBA this year. The MCG worked with the ICMEAA (Indigenous Committee, Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance) together on this: https://aussietheatre.com.au/news/michael-cassel-group-and-icmeaa-come-to-new-negotiations-for-first-nations-employeesThe Michael Cassel GroupIf you'd like to learn more about the MCG they have a podcast and videos about their projects and people: https://michaelcassel.com/videos/We The IndustryHere is the website for Callum Francis' new initiative We The Industry: https://wetheindustry.com/Make sure you follow We The Industry on social media @wetheindustry and help spread the word! - Wednesday sessions
How Much Do You Know About Race and Racism?
Website for workshop facilitator
Get these anti-racism workshops in your organisation or institution now! Also check out the range of services Hue offer: https://www.hue.org.au/
Intimacy Coordination: What is it and Why Does It Matter For Your Practice?
Find out more about Intimacy Coordinators in Australia: https://www.intimacycoordinatorsaustralia.com/
MEAA Intimacy guidelines are above
Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Performing Arts Industries
Arts Wellbeing Collective: https://www.artswellbeingcollective.com.au/
- Thursday sessions
Conversations: Broadway Director Daniel Fish
Daniel Fish’s website: https://www.danielfish.net/
This article about the German theatre company he spoke about provides a terrific picture of why that work was so influential: https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/14/theater/14sall.html
Other articles useful to understanding Daniel's work:
New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/27/theater/daniel-fish-oklahoma.html
Daily Northwestern: https://dailynorthwestern.com/2020/01/22/ae/everythings-goin-his-way-how-daniel-fish-made-oklahoma-cool-again/
The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/04/oklahoma-daniel-fishs-dark-new-broadway-production/586684/
Choreography in music theatre: moving into the future
NY Times article
Ross mentioned this article about West Side Story around the issue of appropriation: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/22/magazine/west-side-story.html
Dear Music Theatre: We Love You, You're Perfect But Climate Change
Ecoscenography
This is the recording of Tanja Beer's online talk about ecoscenography
http://www.tanjabeer.com
https://ecoscenography.com
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ecoscenography
https://ecoscenography.com/2020/11/24/opera-production-the-circular-economy-interview-with-thierry-leonardi-lyon-operahttps://www.synconset.com/home/customer-resources/synconset-for-costumes/Theatre DesignerDonyale Werle: http://www.donyalewerle.com/Circular EconomiesCoreo: https://coreo.com.au/
Directors In Australian Music Theatre: Should We Start Again?Queering Brechtian Feminisms - Friday sessions
How Do You Make New Music Theatre After 2020?
Vidya Makan
Website of her work and projects: https://www.vidyamakan.com/
Candy Bowers
Website of her work and projects: https://candybowers.com/
Pete's & Jayde's new project
Here is the Spotify link to our EP for our new show The 100 Year Revue (thanks to the Pratt Foundation and Monash University, this EP was created through the Monash University Jeanne Pratt Artists In Residence program)
Conversations: Wrapping up and Looking To The Future
We See You White American Theater
A website with a collective statement from the BIPOC community in American theater, outlining demands for change: https://www.weseeyouwat.com/statement
Academic Reading List
This list contains readings that are either directly relevant to critically engaging with Music Theatre and/or may help attendees better understand or unpack concepts or ideas raised throughout the inaugural event.
- View here
Ahmed, Sara. Queer Phenomenology: Orientations, Objects, Others. Durham: Duke University Press, 2006.
Anderson, Virginia. “Set, Costumes, Lights, and Spectacle.” In The Oxford Handbook of the American Musical, edited by Raymond Knapp, Mitchell Morris and Stacy Wolf. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.
Blair, Kelsey. “Broomsticks and barricades: Performance, empowerment, and feeling in Wicked and Les Misérables.” Studies in Musical Theatre, Vol. 10, 1 (2016): 55-67.
Bryer J R, and Davidson R A, eds. The Art of the American Musical: Conversations with the Creators. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2005.
Butler, Judith. “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory.” In Performing Feminisms: feminist critical theory and theatre, edited by Sue-Ellen Case, 270-282. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press,1990.
Coyne, Sarah, Jennifer Linder, Eric Rasmussen, David Nelson and Victoria Birbeck. “Pretty as a Princess: Longitudinal Effects of Engagement With Disney Princesses on Gender Stereotypes, Body Esteem, and Prosocial Behavior in Children.” Child Development Vol. 87, 6 (2016): 1909-1925.
Decker, Todd. "Race, Ethnicity, Performance." In The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical, edited by Raymond Knapp, Mitchell Morris, and Stacy Wolf. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195385946.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780195385946-e-15.
Diamond, Elin. “Brechtian Theory/Feminist Theory: Towards a Gestic Feminist Criticism.” TDR, vol, 32, 1 (1988): 82-94.
Dolan, Jill. Utopia in Performance: Finding Hope at the Theater. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2005.
Dolan, Jill. The Feminist Spectator In Action: Feminist Criticism for the Stage & Screen. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
Glenn, Susan A. Female Spectacle: The Theatrical Roots of Modern Feminism. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000.
Gow, Sherrill. “Queering Brechtian feminism: Breaking down gender binaries in musical theatre pedagogical performance practices”, Studies in Musical Theatre, Vol 12, 3 (2018): 343-353.
Hausam, Wiley. The new American musical : an anthology from the end of the century : Floyd Collins, Rent, Parade, The Wild Party. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2003.
Higgs, Sam. 2016. “Damsels in Development: Representation, Transition and the Disney Princess.” Screen Education No. 83 (2016): 63-69.
Hoffman, Warren. The Great White Way: race and the Broadway musical. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2014.
Hurley, Erin. Theatre & feeling. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
Jones J.B 2003, Our Musicals, Ourselves: A Social History of the American Musical Theater, Hanover: Brandeis University Press, 2004.
Knapp, Raymond. "Performance, Authenticity, and the Reflexive Idealism of the American Musical." In The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical, edited by Raymond Knapp, Mitchell Morris, and Stacy Wolf. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195385946.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780195385946-e-30.
Knapp, Raymond. The American Musical and the Formation of National Identity. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2005.
Lee, Hyunjun. “Between Broadway and the Local: Arts Communication International (ACOM), Seol & Company, and the South Korean Musical Industry. In MacDonald, Laura and William A. Everett (eds). The Palgrave Handbook of Musical Theatre Producers. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.
Lee, HyunJung. “Broadway as the Superior ‘Other’: Situating South Korean Theater in the Era of Globalisation.” Journal of Popular Culture Vol. 45, 2 (2012): 320 – 339.
MacDonald, Laura and William A. Everett. The Palgrave Handbook of Musical Theatre Producers. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.
Monteiro, Lyra D. “Race-Conscious Casting and the Erasure of the Black Past in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton.” Review of Hamilton: An American Musical by Thomas Kail, Sander Jacobs, Jill Furman, Jeffrey Seller, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Ron Chernow. The Public Historian Vol. 38, No. 1 (Feb 2016): 89-98.
Mulvey, Laura. "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema," Screen, Vol 16, 3 (1975): 6-18.
Murray, Nubia. “Our faces on Broadway: Black shows see revival alongside colorblind casting of Mermaid.” Ebony Vol. 64, 1 (2008): 138-141.
Pao, Angela C. No Safe Spaces: Re-Casting Race, Ethnicity, and Nationality In American Theater. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2010, p42-63.
Prece, Paul and William Everett. “The megamusical: the creation, internationalisation and impact of a genre.” In The Cambridge Companion to the Musical, edited by William Everett and Paul Laird. Cambridge: Cambridge Univeristy Press, 2002.
Roesner, David. “Introduction: Composed Theatre in Context.” In Composed Theatre: Aesthetics, Practices, Processes, edited by David Roesner and Matthias Rebstock, 9-14. Bristol: Intellect Books Ltd, 2012.
Rudloff, Maja. “(Post)Feminist Paradoxes: The Sensibilities of Gender Representation in Disney’s Frozen.” Outskirts: Feminisms along the Edge Vol. 35 (2016): 1-20.
Savran, David. "Class and Culture." In The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical, edited by Raymond Knapp, Mitchell Morris, and Stacy Wolf. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195385946.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780195385946-e-18.
Schlossman, David. Actors and Activists: Politics, Performance, and Exchange Among Social Worlds. New York: Routledge, 2002.
Smith, Kristin. “Rent: Constructing Community.” International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics Vol. 11, 2 (2015): 225-238.
Sternfeld, Jessica. The Megamusical. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006.
Sternfeld, Jessican and Elizabeth Wollman “After the Golden Age” and Symonds, Dominic. "Orchestration and Arrangement: Creating the Broadway Sound." In The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical, edited by Raymond Knapp, Mitchell Morris, and Stacy Wolf. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195385946.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780195385946-e-20.
Viertel, Jack. "Fun with Race and the Media." American Theatre Vol. 25, 4 (2008): 60-61.
Wilbur, Sarah. “Gestural economies and production in pedagogies in Deaf West’s Spring Awakening.” TDR Vol. 60, 2 (2016): 145-153.
Wolf, Stacy. “Hamilton’s Women.” Studies in Musical Theatre Vol. 12, 2 (2018): 167-180.
Wolf, Stacy. Changed For Good: A feminist history of the Broadway musical. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Wolf, Stacy. A problem like Maria: gender and sexuality in the American Musical. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2002.
Wollman, Elizabeth Lara. The Theater Will Rock: a history of the rock musical from Hair to Hedwig. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2010.
Vermette, Margaret. The musical world of Boublil and Schonberg : the creators of les miserables, miss Saigon, Martin Guerre, and the pirate queen. New York: Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, 2006.
Viertel, Jack. The secret life of the American musical : how Broadway shows are built. New York: Sarah Crichton Books, 2016.