theatre

We talk with politics reporter Simon Schuster about divides within the Michigan GOP going into the August primary. Then, we met with a University of Michigan professor to hear about drag as performance art in American culture. And, one photographer's artistic journey after her mom's cancer diagnosis.

The latest on the UAW strike, a new documentary on a Muslim-American who perished while saving lives on 9-11, and the opioid crisis in the Upper Peninsula dramatized on stage.

New state legislation from a busy session, preservation and propagation of ancient trees, and a new one-woman show about menopause.

Plowshares Theatre Company returns to the stage with the world premier of Hastings Street, a musical "set on the cusp of change in Detroit." We speak with the writer and composer of the musical, and we hear from the director of Plowshares about the company's return to in-person theatre.

Today on Stateside, a new report highlights how candidates preferred by Black voters are unlikely to win primary elections due to redistricting. Then, Plowshares Theatre producing artistic director talks about future of live theatre after the pandemic. Also, the shutdown of the Abbott baby formula factory that kicked off a nationwide shortage stemmed from an incident with a stun gun. Finally, two treaties made by the US could lead to drastically different outcomes for Line 5.

In the 1950s, a thriving Black neighborhood in Detroit was demolished under the guise of urban renewal. More than 60 years later, the new musical Hastings Street sets out to tell the story of the Black Bottom neighborhood and its people.

Today on Stateside, the effects of a Michigan judge's ruling on minimum wage and paid sick leave. Then, Plowshares Theatre brings back its New Griots Initiative. Also, a new children's book tells the story of mushroom house builder Earl Young. Finally, Republican candidate Garrett Soldano on what he’d do if elected Governor.

For some Black people in the 19th and 20th centuries, "passing" meant living part or all of your life as non-Black. Recent creative works — Lovecraft Country, Passing, and The Vanishing Half — have brought the idea of passing back to the forefront. This month on Stateside, we discuss the life of a Detroiter who passed as white in the '40s and return to historical, pop culture references to passing in America.

In 1914, Elsie Roxborough was born into a wealthy, Black family in Detroit. But when she died in 1949, her death certificate listed her as white. Her life was rich, curious and at times, troubled, all while attempting a sort of high-wire-act of living multiple lives, between cities and names and races.

Michigan-born playwright Noah Haidle’s Broadway debut was just about to happen — in 2020, the year COVID doused the stage lights. But now, Birthday Candles, is back, and he’s here to tell us about it.