ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

THEATRE

Slave Play Was Shut Out Of The Tonys

Playwright Jeremy Harris tweeted that the play had a massive impact anyway. He added, "I told my mom this was gonna happen this morning bc we knew who these folx were when we put the play on stage in nyc." - The Hollywood Reporter

Jagged Little Pill’s Producers Apologize For Problems With Trans And Nonbinary Actors

The producers apologized and said they had "hired a new dramaturgical team (which includes nonbinary, transgender and BIPOC representation), to revisit and deepen the script" before the musical reopens on Broadway. - The New York Times

When GBBO Met Billy Elliott

Their sensibilities, plus a true story of a Liverpool bakery's travails, ended up as Home Baked: The Musical. - BBC

The New York Times’ Tonys Live Blog

The awards, as they happen. - The New York Times

The Tonys Are Part Streaming, Part Network, And After 27 Months, May Be Completely Wild

Buckle up, theatre buttercups: "There are several unusual aspects to this season’s Tonys race." Understatement of the year, NYT. - The New York Times

Karen Olivo Exits Broadway And Works For Something Better

Olivo, an alum of In the Heights, left the Moulin Rouge production over issues including industry silence about Scott Rudin's alleged abuse. She says, "I realized I can actually help my industry in a different way, by caring about the people who are suffering in silence." - Los Angeles Times

What’s Going On With Jagged Little Pill On Broadway?

Trans and nonbinary actors have recently made a range of claims about the show, including a claim from one actor saying that "multiple higher-ups" pressured the actor to postpone a critical surgery. - Vulture

How Have Theatres Specifically By And For BIPOC Folks Weathered The Pandemic?

And not just the pandemic - all that the protests over George Floyd's death wrought, supposedly, in the world? Hm. One AD wonders, "What is meaningful action, and what is simply pandering to patrons?" - American Theatre

The Battle To Change The Williamstown Theatre Festival’s ‘Broken’ Culture

Yikes: "Interviews with 25 current and former festival staffers, department heads, apprentices and interns reveal not a professional springboard but a development program that exposes artists-in-training to repeated safety hazards and a toxic work culture under the guise of prestige." - Los Angeles Times

A Preview Guide To The Oddest Tony Awards Anyone Can Remember

"Originally scheduled for June 7, 2020, the awards have been delayed — and delayed again, after nominations were announced last October — in an attempt to bolster a pandemic-hobbled industry. Here's a look at how we got here after so much uncertainty." - The New York Times

Big Changes In Theatre During The Pandemic, Right? Well…

In many interviews I’ve included a simple question: Apart from a pandemic-necessitated lockdown and now a tentative reopening, have you actually seen change in the industry over the past year? Too often the answer has been a simple “no.” - American Theatre

Twitter As A Critical Medium?

I learned a lot about myself as a critic while live-tweeting, and a lot about criticism: about how and when opinions are formed, and about the effort we critics often put into shaping our initial reaction into more polished and professional forms. - American Theatre

Elia Kazan’s Annotated Script For The First Stage Production Of “A Streetcar Named Desire”

The script, along with 100 pages of unusually detailed notes for the actors, comes from the pre-Broadway New Haven tryout in the fall of 1947. - Gothamist

When Did America’s First Black Theater Open? Exactly 200 Years Ago

"For the price of 25 cents — or, for a nicer seat, a hefty 50 cents — the African Theater" (which opened on Sept. 17, 1821 with Richard III) "entertained hundreds of Black New Yorkers with both classic and original work, alongside operas and ballets." - The New York Times

Five Small Theaters Sue City Of New York Over Vaccine Requirements

The issue: the venues must require audiences to wear masks and be vaccinated, but similar buildings, or even the same one, are exempt from those rules when used for church services. The mandate "applies differently to venues depending on who is speaking and what they are saying." - Gothamist

Our Free Newsletter

Join our 30,000 subscribers

Latest

Don't Miss

function my_excerpt_length($length){ return 200; } add_filter('excerpt_length', 'my_excerpt_length');