Tori Sampson is "one of the many, many writers who love the theater but who make a lot of their living in TV." She was in rehearsals for her Off-Broadway show This Land Was Made when the WGA strike began. - Variety
Post COVID-19 shutdowns, theatres everywhere are "fighting to keep doors open despite dwindling ticket sales, increased production costs and hesitant, recession-wary donors. The result: drastic cuts to programming, layoffs, candid pleas to subscribers." And this disaster in L.A. - Los Angeles Times
"The new venture, called Hollywood.com Live, has acquired the theater-focused media company Theatrely. Under the Hollywood.com Live banner, the venture has begun selling tickets online to Broadway, London’s West End and regional theaters." - Deadline
"Facing a significant budget shortfall, Center Theatre Group on Thursday announced that it would lay off about 10% of its full-time staff and pause season programming at the Mark Taper Forum ... through the 2023-24 season, (although) there is no confirmed end date yet." - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
"His time in charge (has) seen 10 Culture Secretaries come and five Prime Ministers come and go as well as the impact of Brexit and the pandemic. 'It's a blessed relief to see how we're emerging intact after the most challenging time in our history,' he added." - London Evening Standard
Over a third of the audience of the major theater companies uses mass transit, as do half the artists and staff; the percentage is likely higher for smaller companies. If the severe cuts BART and Muni are warning of go through, theater there will be hobbled. - MSN (San Francisco Chronicle)
In Britain, that is: Glastonbury has a cabaret tent that seats 2,000. "The memories you make doing zany things is why you come to music festivals," says one comic. "Come for Lil Nas X, stay for a clown who drops their trousers in a tent at 2am." - The Guardian
As someone who's monitored the performing arts industry for decades, I've seen dozens of talented, up-and-coming artists leave the profession. Or rather, I likely haven't seen them. They've just disappeared, quietly pursuing other work away from the spotlight. - Toronto Star
Ironically, the script-free ceremony was one of the most soulful Tony Awards in history, because there were no intermediaries brought in by the network to check off boxes that executives deemed necessary. - Los Angeles Times
They were the 2022 version, not this year's show. Since Ariana DeBose hosted both, that added to the confusion. "The problem, it turns out, stems from confusion over Paramount+ subscription levels." Or from CBS never bothering to explain the distinction, of course. - Los Angeles Times
Alex Newell became the first out nonbinary actor to win a Tony, for their performance in Shucked - "and less than an hour later, Some Like It Hot star J. Harrison Ghee became the second for their lead performance as a musician on a journey of gender discovery." - Washington Post
Kimberly Akimbo for new musical, Leopoldstadt for play, and Topdog/Underdog for play revival. The whole list is at the link. And Ariana DeBose hosted it all without a script. "In the end the telecast aired without pickets, without scripted banter and without a hitch." - The New York Times
Corey Hawkins was nominated "for leading actor in a play alongside co-star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. The duo played brothers in Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog. 'We had to trust each other implicitly, because there’s no other lifeline on that stage.'" - Variety
Rehearsal, of course. And then, one photographer of a thousand Broadway shows says some of her favorite shots are never seen. "It's not just reporting what the show is. It's like what's going to sell the show, too. So, it's not a totally pure aesthetic." - NPR
