The money-saving measure is "not as grim as it sounds," the comedian says. But performers are almost entirely priced out of the city - how will this end? - BBC
The abrupt closure comes less than three weeks after the theater, known for adapting beloved books into short musicals and for devising dance parties and shows for toddlers and even infants, canceled one production and announced an emergency fundraising campaign with the goal of raising $750,000 by July 1. - San Francisco Chronicle
"Public speaking is always ranked in polls as among our greatest fears. Stand-up must be worse. But 'The Naked Comedy Show'? This monthly showcase represents the Everest of anxiety." - The New York Times
Aa a joint project of the La Jolla Playhouse and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, designer David Israel Reynoso and theater company Optika Moderna have created a walk-through piece about lucha libre, the flamboyant freestyle wrestling circuit. - KPBS (San Diego)
As I’ve argued before, the habit of reducing the complexities of identity and culture to a matter of ownership is an artifact of our own property-rights-obsessed culture. We’ll do better to talk about “disrespect,” and disrespect isn’t the issue here. - The New York Times
The auditorium, carved out of a hillside in Syracuse on Sicily's southeastern coast, "seats 5,000. The stage is 27 metres wide and 44 deep; acting, direction and design are correspondingly epic. Yet ... psychological detail is still achievable even in this vast arena." - The Guardian
"Organizers 'are altering this year’s show to conform with specific requests from the WGA, and therefore the WGA will not be picketing the show.' What is being altered was not clear, but it may be to allow a non-scripted version of the Tonys to go on." - AP
This isn't great for theatre: "The Tonys have long been a prestigious event for CBS, but the show itself is more important to Broadway producers, who rely on the exposure on the national network to market their productions." And they're struggling, post-COVID-19. - Los Angeles Times
The strike’s possible impact on this year’s Tonys, set to air and stream Sunday, June 11 on CBS and Paramount+ from the United Palace in New York City’s Washington Heights, could be huge. - Deadline
“When you recognize the potential for something to shift, and you can see the path, then the question becomes, how do you implement a strategy where that is possible in an environment that sees any shift as radical change?" - Ashland News
A new play based on Annie Proulx's story (not the 2005 film adaptation), starring Lucas Hedges as Ennis and Mike Faist as Jack, is in previews in London. Playwright Ashley Robinson has framed the story as a memory play set 30 years after the relationship ends. - The New York Times
"Cinderella" was greeted on Broadway by hostile reviews, garnered zero Tony nominations and struggled at the box office. Last week it played to houses that were only 54 percent full and grossed just $326,303, which made it the lowest-grossing musical on Broadway. - The New York Times
"Investigators opened a case this week against Yevgenia (Zhenya) Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk, alleging that Petriychuk's Finist, the Brave Falcon, which premiered in 2020 under Berkovich's direction, had broken the law. … (The play) won two Golden Mask national theatre awards last year." - Reuters
"Where modern theatre takes bold, controversial steps in some directions, on the matter of the monarchy, dissenting voices rarely make their way to a mainstream stage. Instead, recent dramatisations of royal life are almost universally positive and rarely, if ever, directly political." - Whynow (UK)
"Sanaz Toossi’s English has won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Set in an English language class in Karaj, Iran, the drama quietly unpacks the aspirations and disappointments of Iranians living under the Islamic Republic in the months leading up to the 2009 Green Movement." - TheaterMania
