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Playwright Christopher Durang Diagnosed With Progressive Aphasia

Specifically, logopenic primary progressive aphasia, a form of Alzheimer's disease described thus by one of Durang's medical specialists: "instead of starting in the memory parts of the brain, it's starting in the language parts of the brain."  His long-term memory and executive function are, so far, unaffected. - Broadway News

Russian Feminist-Queer Artist-Activist Acquitted Of Pornography Charges

"Yulia Tsvetkova, 29, spent months under house arrest after authorities in the remote city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur launched a criminal case into the 'spread of pornographic material' in 2019. She faced six years in prison for featuring abstract illustrations of female sexual organs of varying shapes and sizes." - The Moscow Times

2022 Kennedy Center Honors: Tania León, Gladys Knight, George Clooney, U2, Amy Grant

"The performing artists recognized for their lifetime contributions to American culture include actor and filmmaker George Clooney; contemporary Christian and pop singer Amy Grant; venerable gospel, soul and R&B star Gladys Knight; Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, conductor and educator Tania León; and four Irish musicians you may know as U2." - NPR

“He Is France Incarnate, In All Its Glory And Awfulness” — On Gérard Depardieu (And Why The French Put Up With Him)

"(He) is firmly woven into the fabric of French cultural identity. As such, to condemn Depardieu amounts to a kind of self-harm. ... 'He is like a symbol of France, even the way Depardieu disregards and criticises his own country is so French.'" - The Guardian

Claes Oldenburg, 93

Mr. Oldenburg entered the New York art scene in earnest in the late 1950s, embracing the audience-participation “Happenings” then in vogue and expanding the boundaries of art with shows that incorporated things like street signs, wire-and-plaster clothing and even pieces of pie. - The New York Times

Jerome Eisenberg, Antiquities Expert, Has Died At 92

Eisenberg was "a leading New York antiquities dealer who in the murky world of tomb raiders and smugglers held himself up as a guardian against the illegal importation and sale of ancient art." - The New York Times

Crazy Rich Asians Star Constance Wu Says She Attempted Suicide After Social Media Backlash

Wu wrote that during the backlash to a tweet, "I started feeling like I didn’t even deserve to live anymore. That I was a disgrace to AsAms, and they’d be better off without me. ... Luckily, a friend found me and rushed me to the ER." - Variety

What Led Josephine Baker To Become A Spy And A French War Hero?

It wasn't only loyalty to France for having accepted her and taken her to heart.  She had some personal experience with Nazism. - Literary Hub

Janeane Garofalo, True To The Gen-X Ethos, Never Sold Out

A trailblazer for years, "Garofalo didn’t just help shift the comedy scene away from clubs. Her style represented a sea change from the polished, tight and desperately relatable bits ready-made to translate into a sitcom or a late-night appearance." - The New York Times

Meryl Streep’s One Weird Trick

You can never unsee this, so only click if you dare. - The New York Times

The Charming Actor Whose Star Power Has Grown Along With India’s

Why is Shah Rukh Khan so celebrated as he marks 30 years in the Hindi film industry? "He shows us a glimpse of a prosperous, plural and humane region - one that can laugh at itself without the inflamed nostrils of pious outrage." And he's the poster child for growth. - BBC

Beloved Conductor Bramwell Tovey Dead At 69

Artistic leader of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, BBC Concert Orchestra, and, as of the coming season, the Sarasota Orchestra, Tovey spent widely admired tenures at the Winnipeg and Vancouver Symphonies and was a regular visitor to the top American orchestras, known especially for his rapport with audiences. - CBC

Kevin Spacey Pleads Not Guilty To Sexual Assault In London; Trial Date Set

"(The actor) appeared at the U.K.'s historic Old Bailey criminal court on Thursday morning, where he pleaded not guilty to all five counts of sexual assault. His U.K. trial will begin on June 6, 2023, and is expected to last for three to four weeks." - Variety

Meow Wolf Co-Founder Matt King Has Died At 37

"King was an instrumental figure behind a company that The New York Times Magazine once described as 'the Disney of the experience economy.' … During the group's early years, King played an instrumental role in coming up with some of the surreal environments the company would become renowned for." - Artnet

Margaret Keane, Whose Paintings Were Claimed To By Her Husband To Be His, Has Died At 94

"Her husband Walter Keane fraudulently took artistic credit, while she painted for 16 hours a day to satisfy demand for the work, originally presented publicly as a joint effort, and always signed simply 'Keane.'" - The Guardian (UK)

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