JCA Signature Series: Rachel Chavkin: Upstage: Fusing Avant-Garde and Commercial Theatre

For over a decade, Rachel Chavkin has been making enormously inventive, and often wildly experimental work by drawing from multiple genres and fusing them with traditional Broadway conventions to create aesthetically unique shows, such as Hadestown and Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812.

In this talk, Rachel will explain the sources of her inspiration and reveal how she blends seemingly disparate elements into work that is unlike anything else in commercial theater. She will share how she manages her notoriously busy work schedule, managing multiple projects at a time, and how she chooses her next creative endeavor. Rachel will also reflect on the refinement of her work over the course of hundreds of shows; recasting, re-staging, and rethinking until she gets it right.

Photo credit: Erik Tanner

The Jordan College of the Arts would like to thank the following donors for their generous support of the Spring 2021 JCA Signature Series:

William and Susan Kleinman

Dr. Marianne Williams Tobias