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THEATRE

Prague Summit Debates The Future Of Theatre

59 countries and regions were represented. It is unsurprising that at a festival that asks how design can respond to the most pressing issues of our world, the climate emergency dominated. Almost as persistent were ideas of cultural heritage and of social inequality. - The Stage

Jeremy O. Harris Gets 36 Minutes On “Fresh Air”

The playwright talks about producing Lorraine Hansberry's The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window, the awkward conversation with a straight guy that inspired Slave Play, the easy way to become an in-demand actor (write a hit play), and why he turned down the chance to be a rich man's boytoy. - NPR

Theater Development Fund Executive Director Victoria Bailey: The Exit Interview

"A few months after she took the job, the booth was shut down because of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and in the time since it has been closed by a blackout, a hurricane, a strike and a pandemic. It's been an eventful 22 years for Bailey." - The New York Times

TKTS, Times Square’s Famous Half-Price Ticket Booth, Marks 50 Years

"Some 68.6 million tickets have been sold from the booth during its 50 years, with more than $2.6 billion going back to the shows. Despite the rise of ... apps hawking discounted theater tickets, lining up at the booth is as fundamental as cooing over the Statue of Liberty." - AP

Seattle’s Book-It Theatre To Close After 33 Years

A majority of the staff of 18 was told they’d be laid off Tuesday; six people will stay on for three to six more months to wrap up operations. Also affected are the roughly 300 people who work on Book-It’s productions throughout a given year. - Seattle Times

California’s Struggling Theater Companies Hope Desperately For Bailout Money From Sacramento

"'The general consensus is that we’re all dying,' Demson said. 'No hyperbole.' As California finalizes its state budget, advocates are hoping for millions of dollars to help keep the live performing arts sector — which also includes music, dance, magic shows and circus acts — afloat." - Yahoo! (The Wrap)

Britain’s Culture Secretary Wants To Move Theatre’s “Balance Of Power” From Broadway To The West End

"The plans for growing the U.K.'s theater sector are part of the government's $63 billion vision for the creative industries. 'We want the Creative Industries Vision to be something that paves the way for a shift in the balance of power from Broadway to the West End,' Frazer said." - Variety

Why LA’s Center Theatre Pressed Pause On The Mark Taper Forum

“Taper shows lose the most money. That’s always been true. But right now they’re costing us twice as much as they would have before. Donations are down. Ultimately, we just can’t afford to continue to lose a million dollars a show at the Taper. We had to pause.” - Los Angeles Times

Meredith Monk At 80, In Amsterdam And Everywhere

"An interdisciplinary artist who doesn’t dabble in composition, performance, filmmaking and choreography so much as create from a Gesamtkunstwerk state of mind, ... Monk is both a holdout of New York’s 'downtown' past and a sui generis American master." - The New York Times

How A One-Person Play About Drinking Helped Its Actor Get Sober

André Royo (Bubbles in The Wire) on Drinking in America, sober: "My daughter never saw me act on stage before, so it was the first time for her. You've got to show her the reasons why dad's been away for moments in her life because of the craft." - Salon

In The UK, Giving More Little Kids Skills Through Shakespeare

"One nine-year-old girl is heard saying to her teacher: 'I'm absolutely sluggardized." A few weeks before, her year five class had been deciphering the word - meaning made lazy or idle - in one of Shakespeare's plays. Now she was using it correctly, to emphasise how exhausted she felt." - BBC

A Century Ago, This So-Called ‘Female Impersonator’ Made Broadway Men Swoon

Julian Eltinge "represented a unique form of the art, one that emphasized fidelity to femininity instead of risqué repartee, outlandish outfits or high-energy lip syncing. He made a mint onstage and toured the world, sometimes while wearing a 23-inch corset and ... high-heeled shoes." - Washington Post

What It’s Like To Be A Genderqueer Actor In A Theatre World That’s Often Binary

Treasure Lunan, who's playing Lysander at Portland Center Stage's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, says they feel welcome there. PCS Associate Artistic Director Chip Miller says, "When you have someone so talented, why would you limit what roles they could play?" - Oregon ArtsWatch

Experiments In Sustainable Theatre Design

The structure consists of a 26-metre-long timber frame, shaped roughly like the number six with one long wall clad in mycelium – a biomaterial grown from the root structure of fungi that is increasingly being explored as a natural insulator and fire retardant. - Dezeen

How They Turned The Broadway Theater Into A Disco For “Here Lies Love”

"Scenic designer David Korins, … , who worked on Beetlejuice and Hamilton, put it this way: 'I've done some complicated and ambitious work on Broadway, and this is 100 times more complicated.'" - New York Magazine

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