Today, Sutterfield is the department chair for the theater and film department at Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School in Little Rock. His work there is exemplary enough to have caught the eye of the education department at TheatreSquared. On May 12, Sutterfield will be honored as T2’s Educator of the Year at the 2022 Gala for Access and Education.
Read MoreThe show is called “The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity”, but when the lights come up at the top of Act 1, the professional wrestling ring on the T2 stage is lit with a simple spotlight on a single character: Macedonio Guerra. Guerra, played in T2’s production—directed by Dexter J. Singleton— by Cedric Leiba, Jr., is slight of build but fierce of soul; a wrestler gifted enough to make untalented—but more charismatic—competitors shine in the ring. As he does for Chad Deity, for example, whose savvy business sense and outsized charisma have taken him to the top of THE Wrestling organization. But where Chad is the cold, hard reality of professional wrestling, Macedonio is its promise—what it could be, in a different world.
Read MoreWhen Shon Middlebrooks strides on stage as the titular role in T2’s production of the Pulitzer Prize finalist “The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity”, written by Kristoffer Diaz and directed by Dexter J. Singleton, it’s hard to separate the man from the character: Middlebrooks embodies Deity’s bombastic swagger so fully, you’re tempted to assume he’s just being himself on stage. But on the contrary—as it turns out, Middlebrooks is one of the kindest, most gentle human beings you’re likely to meet, his thoughtfulness and insight as far from Deity’s brash braggadocio as you can possibly imagine. We talked to Middlebrooks about how he found the core of Chad Deity and what it’s like performing in a show with such rigorous physical demands.
Read More“I knew that TheatreSquared has been a real asset to the Northwest Arkansas community for over 15 years now, and, through my wife's work and studies as a therapist, I know that the performing arts benefits our community way beyond just entertainment,” he says. “I'm also a fan of their outreach programs—in that way, I think their mission mirrors my own to build community in Northwest Arkansas."
Read MoreKristoffer Diaz, the New York-based playwright behind the Pulitzer Prize finalist “The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity”—opening at TheatreSquared stage this week—sounds excited when he talks about the prospect of his show opening on stages outside of major urban centers.
Read MoreThis is part 3 of a 3-part series celebrating the woman of T2’s production team. Studies show that most production-related positions lack gender parity—but women make up 50 percent of TheatreSquared’s production staff. In this series, these talented women tell us a little bit about what their job is like and the path that brought them here.
Read MoreIt’s in this arena that TheatreSquared is determined to buck the trend. A little over 50 percent of T2’s permanent production staff are women. Of course, gender parity is not the only area where T2 strives to make advancements. Its recently launched apprenticeship program aims to give opportunities to underrepresented voices, and its website is clear about its hiring objectives.
Read MoreT2 Tiger Style! scenic designer Chika Shimizu says she had never been to a play before she went to college in California. Raised “in the countryside” in Japan by a family whose business was an embroidery factory, she did already have a deep love for music, reading, drawing and writing, but access to stage performances was nowhere to be found. Her passion for writing led her to pursue a career in writing children’s books. Then, she saw that college production, and she was hooked.
Read More“It just makes me feel so peaceful being here,” said Tiger Style! costume designer Yuan Yuan Ling . “I wish that all my work was this easy. I have worked with so many theaters, and this is the first theater I feel I really love. I feel like everybody is not just professional but also passionate with whatever they're doing. And this is something that's so important to me, because it makes me trust theater again. For a while, I almost didn’t trust theater anymore — financially, a lot of theaters are not running powerfully enough. Even when I work for LA theaters that have so many employees, [you get] people just coming for a paycheck, they're not passionate. Being here, I’m just really moved by the passion.”
Read MoreFor people interested in a career in the arts, TheatreSquared’s apprenticeship program can be enormously beneficial. The current class of T2 apprentices told us a little bit about themselves and what they hope to get out of the program — and what they’ve already gotten out of it, two months in.
Read More“It’s specifically focused on under-represented voices — that’s in the grant language, and that’s also deeply tied to the reason the apprenticeship program was [conceived],” says Dike, who says it was T2’s General Manager Shannon Jones who first raised the idea of reaching out to that community.
“One of the best ways we can make an impact as an organization is to build a population of traditionally underrepresented theater makers,” notes Jones. “In launching an early career, BIPOC-focused apprentice program, we can not only provide opportunities, we can also strengthen our core of professional artists in Northwest Arkansas. Also, whether someone stays on with us here, or whether they move on to other opportunities in the field, we're staying true not only to our mission of broadening access, we're also helping to educate and cultivate future leaders in the American theater. Building that base at our theater and here in Northwest Arkansas can have a great impact, and also helps us to learn about ourselves as an organization and how we want to advance our community.”
Read More
