I have been told that staff, tasked to phone up lifelong supporters and subscribers who didn’t renew for the first time, had to be given counselling after hearing the harrowing explanations they were told for why. - The Stage
Six-thirty may not be a traditional starting time for theatre. But then in the 16th and early 17th-century, before the advent of the indoor playhouse, afternoon performances were the norm; in the interwar-period 8.30pm was common. - The Stage
That's the gambit being tried with a new adaptation, co-directed by Tony Goldwyn and Savion Glover, that's getting a five-day run in New York this week. (Another change: the addition of tap-dancing ancestral spirits called the Griots.) - The New York Times
It’s certainly arguable that the company overreached in pursuing such an extensive rebuild, rather than limping along in what was left of the old space. - Oregon Arts Watch
It's not easy to get one of the slots at the National Alliance for Musical Theatre's Festival of New Music, but this countries-spanning musical beat hundreds of others on its way to the show. - KLCC (Oregon)
In Jeton Neziraj’s Negotiating Peace, "vain generals can only be lured to the negotiating table by promises of Hollywood films celebrating their actions. Opposing parties get drunk while negotiating demilitarised zones, mix up drafts of ceasefire agreements and sign on the wrong dotted line." - The Guardian
"We weathered our own shutdown of sorts, pausing our print publication in May 2020. Now that we’re back on ink and paper, I have frequently been asked: Why now? Isn’t this a counterintuitive move, given the state of the American theatre, let alone of publishing?" - American Theatre
Early Monday morning, thieves stole a U-Haul containing the hundreds of puppets, costumes, and equipment used in Hamid Rahmanian's Persian-style shadow-puppet show Song of the North. The truck was located in Richmond on Wednesday; most of the puppets were there, though the costumes and electronics were gone. - The New York Times
Hampshire High School in the Chicago suburbs had been planning to stage "The Prom" — about, ironically, a school that tries to cancel a dance rather than letting a gay couple attend — when district officials "postponed" the show for "safety" reasons. The ensuing uproar changed their minds. - MSN (Chicago Tribune)
"You have to consider the fact that he was in his 80s working on a musical about going into a room that you can't get out of. And I think that subconsciously it must have preyed upon him." - NPR
At the Royal Exchange in Manchester, "the new creative director will not be expected to direct shows but will take on a more strategic role, as part of a trio of 'creative voices' in senior leadership positions. This will include a new associate director ... and incumbent dramaturg Suzanne Bell." - The Stage
The Indicator podcast from NPR's Planet Money features a tech exec-turned-Broadway producer who says that "the industry fully functions like venture capital. If you fail, it just goes (whooshing sound) to zero." The crucial difference is in how you scale up. (audio plus transcript) - NPR
"The stolen U-Haul truck contained 500 shadow puppets, props, costumes, projectors and other items used to stage puppet master Hamid Rahmanian’s Persian epic Song of the North, … leaving the production company empty-handed after four San Francisco shows." - MSN (San Francisco Chronicle)
The company is facing a $2.5 million budget shortfall, managing director Danny Williams said. It will need to raise the money through ticket sales and philanthropy by the end of 2023 in order to present the productions scheduled for the second half of this season, he said. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
