Daniella Ignacio

3 days ago | americantheatre.org | Daniella Ignacio

Summer stock—the time-honored tradition of professional theatres that primarily operate from early through late summer, with repertory companies that rehearse and perform simultaneously—is still very much a thing.

1 week ago | americantheatre.org | Daniella Ignacio |Rob Weinert-Kendt

Call it a Friday night massacre: On the evening of May 2—just hours after the Trump administration released a proposed budget that would entirely eliminate the both the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), among dozens of other federal agencies—hundreds of arts organizations of all sizes and kinds across the U.S. received emails from the NEA withdrawing pending grants and terminating existing ones, in amounts ranging from $10,000 to...

2 weeks ago | dctheaterarts.org | Daniella Ignacio

If I were to describe Young Artists of America’s (YAA) gala production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame at Strathmore Music Center in five words, it would be: huge, crazy talented, comfortably mature. I never thought I would see a production of Disney’s Hunchback in the DC area; I couldn’t think of a DC theater with the space and resources to do it justice.

1 month ago | americantheatre.org | Daniella Ignacio

On Jan. 7, 60 students at California’s Altadena Arts and Eliot Arts magnet schools began rehearsals for their production of Shrek, Jr. That same night, while the young artists were soundly asleep, the Eaton fires began to ravage their region of Los Angeles. In the ensuing week, as the Pacific Palisades fire simultaneously raged in West L.A., the Easton fire destroyed much of their school, including their theatre, which lost its roof.

2 months ago | dctheaterarts.org | Daniella Ignacio

Uprooted: On my dance backgroundI gave up on hardcore classical ballet midway through elementary school because I didn’t want to leave my house on Saturday mornings anymore. When I got to middle school, I would get up at 6 a.m. on Saturdays to get to 7 a.m. synchronized skating practice. (It might have been even earlier.) Little mover Daniella…had her priorities in order. Something about the pressure, gliding, and fluid motions of skating made me feel freer.