Magic and mystery are what make jokes funny and creativity so tantalizing. Revealing how a magic trick is done or giving away a punchline will not win you any friends. So, as much as we profess interest in divining the “secret” to creative thinking, we’re also wary. - Washington Post
The many languages spoken here, though mostly belonging to the Indo-European family, still more narrowly to the Dardic sub-family within the Indo-Aryan group, are so different from each other that the people of one linguistic community have to rely on a third language. - Aeon
“Maybe writing this book would make my father’s … catastrophic personality, seem beautiful to me. … And … maybe … I would seem interesting and modern to him.” - Washington Post
It’s curious that booing is absent from modern theatre, because it’s as old as European drama. The earliest reports of audience booing were recorded at the annual festival of Dionysus in Athens where playwrights competed to win prizes for their efforts. - The Spectator
Horgan explained that British Columbians were unwilling to accept an $800-million price tag for the project while the province faces a doctor shortage, an increasing cost of living and other critical issues coming out of the pandemic. - CBC
"Polonius isn't a good father. Good fathers don't make good drama. But he's a good character, more complex than critics usually recognize. Polonius is a single father struggling with work-life balance who sadly chooses his career over his daughter's well-being." And his pompous speeches? Big ol' dad jokes. - JSTOR Daily
Looking at the data revealed in The Stage’s West End ticketing survey this week, it appears producers are trying to straddle both horses, with top prices rising at rates above inflation but bottom prices rising at a rate lower than inflation. - The Stage
In 1789, Erasmus Darwin — physician, pathologist, abolitionist, and botanist as well as poet — published a strange set of cantos under the title The Loves of the Plants, using mythical creatures and deities of antiquity to make then-new scientific concepts more accessible. And in one of his footnotes ... - Literary Hub
Credible reports have been published about atrocities committed by Russian soldiers in Ukrainian cities. But is music the same as weapons? Can musicians stand for Ukraine without becoming propaganda tools? - Van
It's an inventive — and animal-free — bunch of troupes with names like A Good Catch and Gravity and Other Myths. But they're not big or rich, and the combination of local lockdowns and the inability to tour overseas hit them hard. Now they're hard at work on a revival. - ArtsHub (Australia)
"To be honest, no one I know under 30 cares or knows much about Elvis. The classic version of rock ’n’ roll just doesn't exist the way it once did, and that's in large part because younger audiences are less interested in it." - Yahoo
In 1992, in a Manhattan gay club, eight hunky dancers did stripteases on the bar to raise money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Thus was born the annual benefit Broadway Bares. Here's how Broadway babes rip off their clothes for charity. The big question: Velcro or snaps? - The New York Times
With a larger-than-life personality and a taste for extravagance, she built a loyal fan base and was sometimes called classical music’s answer to Beyoncé. Now she hopes to persuade the cultural world to look beyond her ties to Putin. - The New York Times
"The artist recalls asking his grandmother what they were meant to do inside the meetinghouse, to which she replied: 'We're going inside to greet the light.'" - Artnet
"The Philadelphia Cultural Fund, the main vehicle for supporting arts organizations in the city..., saw its budget increase to $3.5 million for fiscal 2023, a far cry from the first pandemic budget that initially sought to zero out the fund and eventually settled at $1 million." - MSN (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
