Broadway returned to boom times, and several commercially produced shows did gangbusters business in smaller theatres, but Off Broadway’s nonprofit companies continued to struggle. Yet a lot of what made the city artistically exciting this year required that all parts of the ecosystem flourish. - The New Yorker
Like the drama series about the Post Office scandal aired a year ago, “Mr Bates vs The Post Office,” dramatizations of the news can often draw more attention to an event. They can also build public pressure for injustices to be addressed.
"(A) series of listening sessions, held this past summer, helped the (NEA theater) team to learn more about evolving challenges, successful strategies, and potential pathways to future sustainability of the field. Those conversations have now been distilled and analyzed in a new report." - National Endowment for the Arts
"Dead Outlaw, a rambunctious musical that tells the hard-to-believe-it’s-true story of a bandit’s corpse that became a spectacle in early-20th-century America, will open on Broadway next spring. The show … will be the first developed by Audible to make it to Broadway." - The New York Times
Two weeks ago, comedian Steph Broadbridge cancelled Raygun: The Musical just before its Sydney premiere after notorious-Olympic-breaker-and-viral-sensation Dr. Rachael Gunn's lawyers sent a cease-and-desist notice. Then the producer got a demand for $10,000 for Gunn's legal fees, and Broadbridge had another idea. - The Sydney Morning Herald (MSN)
"The ensemble of the 25-year-old Congo Square Theatre Company … has told the Tribune it has 'unanimously decided to not participate in any production, artistic curating and programming for the upcoming 2025 season until the current board president has been removed from the board.'" - Chicago Tribune
"The company says it has 'ceased to exist' following the loss of all its Arts Council Wales funding in 2023. … The company will now evolve into TEAM (Theatre, Engagement, Music, Arts), focusing on the grassroots work it has always done within the community and education." - BBC
Or, to put it another way, the show is having to take too many breaks. Tennant, Cush Jumbo, and their colleagues have had to leave the stage mid-show twice this week: once due to an audience disturbance and once because a colleague lost her voice. - The Standard (London)
The decision to pause all productions in 2025 will have a significant impact on performance opportunities for young people. It also means a major loss for the region’s theatre professionals, who have regularly been employed. - ArtsHub
Next month, LAMDA (London Academy of Musical and Dramatic Art) will open a location in midtown Manhattan with both office and flexible studio space. While there won't be full courses there, LAMDA will offer a set of short courses and masterclasses as well as New York auditions for its London program. - BroadwayWorld
To add sense memory to the penultimate scene, the prop crew cooks two pounds of bacon during every performance, using a box fan to blow the aroma onto the stage and into the audience. And every Wednesday there's a BLT party to use it all up. - The New York Times
"Gurira set up Almasi (Collaborative Arts) with film and theatre producer Patience Tawengwa to give Zimbabwean creatives access to the sort of training and skills that she has benefited from since being in the US." - The Guardian
The theater symbolizes the many eccentrics and geniuses that abound in this country. It’s an enabler of dreamers and risk-takers. It’s a place where winners and losers are decided by neighbors, peers and curious tourists — not a panel of elites or know-it-alls. The Apollo Theater is an American temple of memories and untapped possibilities. - Washington Post
UK Theatre joint chief executive Claire Walker warned that “unplanned increases in staffing costs” were adding to a theatre sector already at “risk”. - The Stage
“Morgan was like meeting, not a saint, but the … Muse of Curiosity. 'Ingenuity is always worth a read,' was one of her oft-repeated mantras. In essence, she viewed the act of creativity as inherently good. Something worthy of digging into.” - American Theatre
