"The (company is) offering 25,000 tickets at £25 as the theatre’s new artistic directors aim to 'throw open the doors' to a more diverse crowd. … The ticketing plan will be on offer for the entire season and sit alongside the existing TikTok £10 scheme for 14- to 25-year-olds." - The Guardian
Both, evidently. Some longtime standups are saying it's worse than it used to be; others say it's happened for the entire history of the profession. What consequences can be suffered for getting caught joke-thieving when jokes can't usually be copyrighted? - The Hollywood Reporter
"In a surprise announcement, Charlotte St. Martin ... said she would be stepping down from her current role next month. As the leader of the league, a trade association representing producers and theater owners ..., Martin has held one of the most pivotal positions in the theater industry." - The New York Times
"The more straight-faced, incendiary boo of displeasure has been all but silenced, bar lone tuts or harrumphs. But for centuries, theatregoing etiquette allowed for heckles and hisses alongside cheers and whistles, all permissible within the great debating chamber of drama." - The Guardian
The link between Albee's best-known play and artists Marie Menken and Willard Maas isn't undisputed although they "were notorious for drunkenly arguing in front of guests at their parties" - and Andy Warhol shot a version of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf starring the couple. - The New York Times
Stop clapping so much! Stop drinking so much! Don't use your phone's flashlight to find your seats! And for pity's sake, stop eating potato chips during a movie or play! (And other possibly cranky advice from critics.) - The Guardian (UK)
When unions post "Strikes work" on social media, this is what they mean: "Negotiations had dragged on for almost two years before the union announced a strike date last week." - Chicago Sun-Times
The hottest ticket on the Great White Way at the moment, judging from what people are willing to pay for it, is Sondheim's notoriously troubled musical-that-goes-backwards, Merrily We Roll Along. The hottest ticket Off-Broadway, and already the longest running show ever to play at Manhattan's new venue The Shed, is Here We Are, the musical Sondheim was still working...
Under new artistic director Jon Tracy, Marin Shakespeare is undertaking a slew of new initiatives: adding nine artistic associates, hosting other stage companies in its space, a "dramaturgy university", the theater equivalent of a book club, and, four-hours-a-day-three-days-a-week, letting anyone use its facilities. - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
Crying live is the standard challenge, but these actors have also had to simulate coughing, sneezing, climaxing and even vomiting in front of an audience. - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
"Unionized teachers and others at the Second City Training Center said Tuesday they have authorized a strike and will set up a picket line proximate to the comedy company’s theaters if their employer refuses to bargain further, with the strike and pickets beginning Jan. 16." - Chicago Tribune
"Jeremy McCarter, the former New York magazine drama critic and co-author with Lin-Manuel Miranda of the behind-the-scenes book Hamilton: The Revolution, has been named Literary Executor of the Wilder Family LLC … (with a brief) 'to devote special time and energy to the adaptation possibilities in Wilder’s full range of works.'" - Deadline
An actor travelled more than 150 miles to ensure a performance of the musical Evita could go ahead after the lead and understudy became ill and could not perform. - The Guardian
"Loss of local support for the arts is a symptom of the increasing number of councils facing bankruptcy after more than a decade of central funding cuts. … Arts campaigners and performers fear the lights will soon go out in a string of venues across England, Wales and Northern Ireland." - The Guardian
