What Kind of Content Can I Find on HowlRound?

HowlRound Theatre Commons publishes three main kinds of content: written essays in the HowlRound Journal, livestreams and video through HowlRound TV, and podcasts. All of it comes from people in the theatre community who choose to contribute, rather than from a paid editorial staff, and the platform describes itself as free and open. If you want criticism, first-person reflections, documentation of events, or recorded conversations about theatre practice, this is the shape that content takes.

HowlRound Journal: essays from practitioners

The Journal is the written core of the site. Pieces are essays rather than news reports or reviews in a traditional sense, and they tend to be reflective and argument-driven. Recent examples from the site show the range:

• "On the Quiet Revolutions of Tender Asian American Theatre" by Yashmita — asks who profits when marginalized experiences become legible enough to sell, working through the experience of viewing an Off-Broadway production about Asian immigrant family dynamics.
• "A Rehearsal to Save Our Humanity" by Giselle Byrd — reflects on the Theater Offensive's Creative Labor, Creative Conditions activations in Boston, which brought together cultural figures, people fighting oppression, and youth.
• "What Kānaka Maoli Artists Need to Thrive" by Christopher Kaui Morgan — examines the current arts ecosystem to define what Native Hawaiian artists need to experience abundance.
• "Canton Waterfront Is Not for Scavengers" by Taylor Leigh Lamb — discusses a play set in Baltimore across two time periods and its development in a lab at Baltimore Center Stage.
• "Experiencing a Protactile Performance of Touch of Slavery" by Marjan Moosavi — describes attending a Protactile performance about five Black Deafblind enslaved individuals, tracing how meaning emerged through embodied exchange.

The pattern: a practitioner writes about a specific production, project, or condition in the field, and uses it to make a broader point. If you are looking for practical documentation of how theatre gets made and argued about, this is where it lives.

HowlRound TV: livestreams and recorded video

HowlRound TV carries livestreamed events and video content. The homepage points to a concrete case: a livestream of Creative Labor: A Boston Cultural Policy Summit, paired with essays and videos documenting the Duke Foundation's Creative Labor, Creative Conditions campaign. That pairing is typical — a live event plus written and recorded material around the same subject.

Use HowlRound TV when you want to watch a summit, panel, or convening as it happens or afterward, rather than read about it.

Podcasts

Podcasts are listed as one of the platform's content types alongside essays and videos. They follow the same community-contributed model as the rest of the site.

What ties the content together

Two things are worth knowing before you dig in:

It is contributed, not commissioned. The site states plainly that all content — essays, videos, podcasts — comes from the theatre community that chooses to participate. That means the range of topics reflects whoever submits, and quality and perspective vary accordingly. It also means you can contribute; the platform frames itself as a commons inviting open participation around shared values.

It leans toward progressive and disruptive ideas. The stated aim is to amplify progressive, disruptive ideas about theatre and connect diverse practitioners. Expect essays that take positions on labor, equity, access, and who gets to make and profit from theatre — not neutral coverage.

How to decide whether it fits your need

If you need breaking news, box-office data, or formal reviews, this is not that kind of site. If you want practitioners writing in their own voices about the conditions and ideas shaping theatre worldwide, it is.