The year 2025 begins with some short-term questions about theater – the fate of “Warriors,” the effect of “Wicked”?– and more long-term ones – what new leadership will mean to Off-Broadway. - New York Theatre
"Young artists ... have always had to promote themselves, but the balance between that element of the job and the actual art feels worryingly lopsided in our current digital age. The stigma of selling out is long gone, now replaced by the guilt of not doing it, constantly." - The New York Times
"Two decades after theatre’s funding taps were turned off, editor Alistair Smith embarked on a tour from the tip to the toe of the United Kingdom, taking in productions across the four nations and speaking to those behind them, to discover how this period has shaped the industry we see today." - The Stage
“Their first round of collective auditions took place last January and drew representatives from about 20 statewide companies. The auditions made it possible for casting directors to see actors from across the region and be introduced to talent outside of their organization’s existing roster.” - Baltimore Magazine
Adam Moss sits in on rehearsals and talks with the five-time Tony-winning director and his actors (including Audra McDonald and Joy Woods, of course) on how much Wolfe changed the show while changing so little of it. (And no, it's not all about race, though that's certainly part of it.) - New York Magazine
Sarah Bahr: "For me, watching fictional journalists scheme their way to scoops is akin to what I imagine it must feel like for doctors to watch Grey’s Anatomy. … So, let me share how some stage scenarios would most likely unfold in a real newsroom." - The New York Times
While Jimmy Kimmel cries and Jon Stewart rants, the right wing in the U.S. has successfully depicted itself as the new home for free speech and cutting edge comedy. - The Conversation
The Citizens Theatre is returning to its historic playhouse next September after a seven-year renovation, the first overhaul the facility has had since it opened as a working theatre in 1878. - The Guardian
Broadway returned to boom times, and several commercially produced shows did gangbusters business in smaller theatres, but Off Broadway’s nonprofit companies continued to struggle. Yet a lot of what made the city artistically exciting this year required that all parts of the ecosystem flourish. - The New Yorker
Like the drama series about the Post Office scandal aired a year ago, “Mr Bates vs The Post Office,” dramatizations of the news can often draw more attention to an event. They can also build public pressure for injustices to be addressed.
"(A) series of listening sessions, held this past summer, helped the (NEA theater) team to learn more about evolving challenges, successful strategies, and potential pathways to future sustainability of the field. Those conversations have now been distilled and analyzed in a new report." - National Endowment for the Arts
"Dead Outlaw, a rambunctious musical that tells the hard-to-believe-it’s-true story of a bandit’s corpse that became a spectacle in early-20th-century America, will open on Broadway next spring. The show … will be the first developed by Audible to make it to Broadway." - The New York Times
Two weeks ago, comedian Steph Broadbridge cancelled Raygun: The Musical just before its Sydney premiere after notorious-Olympic-breaker-and-viral-sensation Dr. Rachael Gunn's lawyers sent a cease-and-desist notice. Then the producer got a demand for $10,000 for Gunn's legal fees, and Broadbridge had another idea. - The Sydney Morning Herald (MSN)
"The ensemble of the 25-year-old Congo Square Theatre Company … has told the Tribune it has 'unanimously decided to not participate in any production, artistic curating and programming for the upcoming 2025 season until the current board president has been removed from the board.'" - Chicago Tribune
