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THEATRE

Actual, Good Theatre News

"On April 21 of the cursed year of 2020, the Upright Citizens Brigade — New York’s premier improv-comedy venue — announced it was closing its Hell’s Kitchen theater and training center permanently." But now, UCB has announced a new theatre will open in Manhattan this fall. - Vulture

The Special, Brutal Sums That Underlie Chicago Theatre

"The desire to tell beautiful stories is still there, but the funding to support fair and livable compensation is not. Operating out of rental venues and struggling to regain audiences post-pandemic, Chicago storefronts find themselves at a crossroads." - American Theatre

What Theatre Audiences Want Now

"Theaters must think more expansively of themselves as communal spaces, not merely entertainment venues for stage presentations to ticket buyers; what does it mean to be a civic space, a public space, a 'third place'? No, really." - Culturebot

COVID Broke The Habit Of Going To The Theatre

Can anything - musicals, serious plays, popular actors, dramatic cuts to staff, or great bundles of tickets - fix this issue? Who knows? "Audiences haven’t fundamentally changed since they started gathering at dramatic festivals in ancient Greece." - Los Angeles Times

And Another Theatre! Chicago’s LookingGlass Theatre Lays Off Staff, “Pauses” Productions

The ensemble-driven theater, founded by a close-knit group of Northwestern University classmates and friends in 1988, famously has produced original work for the last 35 years, typically with a strong visual sensibility. - Chicago Tribune

Maxine Peake’s New Theatre Company Is Staging An Artists’ Dystopia In A Manchester Library

Kay Dick's 1977 novel They depicts a world in which any painter who creates beyond an official limit is blinded, any musician deafened, etc. Peake, an audience favorite in Britain, is co-founder of Maat (Music, Art, Activism and Theatre), which is translating the novel into live performance. - The Guardian

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

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