Description
Literary Nonfiction. Drama. African & African American Studies. LGBTQIA Studies. Middle Eastern Studies. Performance Studies. Women's Studies. Is it possible—is it even ethical?—to make hopeful art in an unjust and chaotic world? In the tradition of artist-essayists such as James Baldwin, Anne Lamott, and Adrienne Rich, Sandberg-Zakian looks to her own socially-engaged theater-making practice alongside a diverse array of cultural influences (from slave narratives to popular musicals, Batman to "This American Life"), considering how we might reconcile our desire for hope and possibility, connection and transformation, with the necessity of navigating darkness, despair, hate and violence. The artistic coming-of-age journey of a contemporary theater artist in ten essays, THERE MUST BE HAPPY ENDINGS: ON A THEATER OF OPTIMISM & HONESTY is a smart, engaging and gently humorous contribution to the discussion of how we face art-making—and living—with hope and optimism, and an elegant, accessible, and satisfying companion to practical work in the world.
"At a time of so much uncertainty, director Megan Sandberg-Zakian’s new collection of essays appears
like a desperately needed balm."—Terry Byrne, The Boston Globe
"Sandberg-Zakian holds herself to the directorial responsibility to create space and opportunity for that uncertainty while making artistic decisions."—Katherine Ouellette, WBUR
"Sandberg-Zakian's book, THERE MUST BE HAPPY ENDINGS is the type of book we all need to read right now, an honest consideration of how hope drives the stories we tell; even perhaps, how hope is the whole point."—Niki Hatzidis, OnStage
"A deep and thrilling meditation on theater and the subtext of the roles we play both on and off stage. Sandberg-Zakian's thinking is uncompromisingly idealistic. I recommend this book to anyone who is writing, directing, acting or just plain living in our 'chaotic and unjust world.'"—Eric Bogosian
"THERE MUST BE HAPPY ENDINGS is a personal odyssey through the American theater landscape. Megan Sandberg-Zakian eloquently and generously shares her experiences, her insights and associations, weaving together perspectives on artistic process with performance theory, history with aesthetics, philosophical and ethical conundrums with lived experience."—Anne Bogart
"This jewel of a book offers a brilliant and insightful exploration of our tendencies toward happy endings. It dares us to contextualize our perspectives to include the nuances of race, gender, and cultural history without fixation or limitation. It opens us to a quality of tenderness that only the intimate embrace of complexity makes possible. A rare voice of embodied multiplicity, Megan Sanberg-Zakian transfigures happy endings to honest endings, even beginnings, that bring us into contact with the creative chaos of 'live' life."—Ruth King
"Essential reading for anyone interested in the stage director's craft, anyone interrogating the relevance of this form, anyone wrestling with their place in a swiftly changing world. It makes the case that out of our complex lived experiences...comes that most vital, always shifting, sometimes confounding, tool of a great director: a point of view."—Eric Ting
"A poignant, intimate, stunningly honest book that offers both method and memoir, revealing how a thoughtful, socially committed life arrives at thoughtful, socially committed art. Sandberg-Zakian treats theatre as an agnostic faith, a ritual in which to demonstrate the potential of the possible and the 'as if,' rather than just the 'as is.' Directing is often private; Megan bursts it open with revelation. From August Wilson to Brecht, Sondheim to superheroes, THERE MUST BE HAPPY ENDINGS excavates what it means to construct happy endings in theatre that become honest, generative beginnings in life."—Jill Dolan
"As I read THERE MUST BE HAPPY ENDINGS, I am grateful for the voice of Megan Sandberg-Zakian. Megan's multidimensional voice is colored by her brave witnessing, her unsentimental soul-searching, and her practice of calling beyond the limits of caging philosophies and practices. She offers readers granular evidence of how, with honesty, presence, and persistence, we can harness the power of live art to change our habits of seeing, making, and being with one another for the better."—Daniel Alexander Jones
"A gift: a gorgeously written, poetic, evocative account of what theatre is, what theatre has been, and what theatre might be...Sandberg-Zakian voices an artist and a human who is deeply compassionate, deeply political, and unwavering in her belief that theatre matters. She makes us feel like we're in the room with her and her various interlocutors—playwrights, actors, designers, directors, and critics—and over a glass of wine or cup of coffee or bowl of ice cream, she allows us to think with her, muse with her, feel with her, imagine with her. Each essay in the book is a gem, its writing polished and its emotion raw; as a whole, they capture the nuances of a theatre artist's life, her creative processes, her influences, inspirations, worries, frustrations, and most of all, joys."—Stacy Wolf
Author Bio
Megan Sandberg-Zakian is a freelance theater director based in Jamaica Plain, MA, and a co-founder of Maia Directors, a consulting group for artists and organizations engaging with stories from the Middle East and beyond. She is a graduate of Brown University and holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College.
Author City: BOSTON, MA USA