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Woolly Mammoth Theatre Calls On Other Theatres To Protect Artists And Artistic Mission

The Victory Gardens crisis was unsettling enough to spark conversations among board members at other nonprofit theaters, worried about the message sent to artists and staff members who might be wondering about their own companies’ loyalties. - Washington Post

Award For Playwright Caryl Churchill Is Withdrawn Because Of Her Pro-Palestinian Views

Last April, a theatre in Stuttgart named Churchill the winner of its 2022 European Drama Award, worth €75,000. When the jury discovered that she's a vocal critic of Israel and supporter of the BDS movement, it cancelled this year's award entirely. - The Guardian

Inside The Museum Of Broadway

“Through the history on the timeline, we have tried to show the idea of Broadway’s consciousness and American consciousness. The issues are all there, whether actively in protest or inherently in the story.” - Artnet

How Will Arbery Writes Plays That Appeal To All Sides In A Deeply Divided Country

"The key is Arbery's ear. He is one of the theater's greatest listeners, able to hear and reproduce the subtle and deeply specific ways individuals reveal themselves and their relationships to others with language." - The New York Times Magazine

The Gestation And Birth Of “The Lion King” — An Oral History

"In interviews over the last few weeks, many of those involved in bringing The Lion King to Broadway in 1997 spoke about the show's genesis. This oral history contains edited excerpts from those interviews." - The New York Times

Does Australia Have Any Classic Plays Of Its Own? Yes, Though You Wouldn’t Know It

The working definition of a "classic play" here is one that's revived repeatedly through the years and reinterpreted over time.  What happens in Australia, argues Anthony Nocera, is that the plays which get that treatment are famous British and American titles, though there are plenty of deserving Australian scripts. - The Guardian

“Cine-Theatre”: Australia’s Hottest Young Director On How He Integrates Live Video Into Stage Performance

Says Kip Williams, who won't pre-record video and insists that his actors perform before the cameras live, "It takes the best of cinema and the essence of theatre and combines them into a new space. ... I want audiences to get lost in that blurred area between film and stage.'" - The Guardian

The Secret Of Mike Birbiglia’s Power

"One of Mike Birbiglia's simplest and best talents is his instinct for leaping from sprawling existential ideas to prosaic little experiences. ... (His) power is to make that leap seem easy without undermining its magic: Here's the small thing that illuminates the big abstraction." - Vulture

Inflation, Changing Audience Behavior Are Muting A Broadway Rebound

Amid the spate of new shows, producers are facing higher costs due to inflation and extra understudies, as well as the added stressors of unpredictable and changing audience behavior. - The Hollywood Reporter

The Plays Of Henrik Ibsen, Where Women, Philosophy, And Theater Intertwine

"The male philosophers in Ibsen's plays do not fare well. In fact, they are a bunch of ramshackle figures – either adding sheer comedy or making audiences cringe. ... His women characters play out ideas and positions on stage, and often pay the costs of their male counterparts' rigidly conceived projects." - Psyche

Philadelphia’s Merriam Theater Was, Well, Problematic. As The Miller Theater, It’s Getting Fixed

Well, partially fixed: even the planned $30 million renovation can't address all the issues from decades of deferred maintenance.  But leaks will be fixed, bathrooms updated, murals cleaned, seats replaced. And you won't have to walk through offices to gets to some of the seats anymore. - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Securities & Exchange Commission Investigates Hedge Fund That Invests In Broadway Shows

A marketing document from the Broadway Strategic Return Fund claims that the fund's value quadrupled from January 2016 through September 2021, a period that included the COVID shutdowns — this in an industry notorious for losing investors' money.  And now the SEC has noticed this. - Broadway Journal

One-Person Shows Are Having A(nother) Boom — And Not Just Because They’re Cheap To Produce

There have been other periods when stage monologues were big on New York stages.  The difference this time is the audiobook and podcast boom; solo shows are easy to adapt, and companies such as Audible are actively producing such pieces to record them. - TheWrap

Remembering The Groundbreaking Lincoln Center Directors Lab

 In its 25 years, the Lab welcomed more than 1,600 directors through its doors. It was an enormously popular, productive, and competitive program, and one that will be sorely missed by its alumni, and, if it is not revived, missed-out-upon by thousands of artists worldwide in years to come. - American Theatre

Unknown Translation Of Molière By “Clockwork Orange” Author Anthony Burgess Is Discovered

"Miser! Miser! is a complete translation of L'Avare (The Miser) of 1668 ... that Burgess wrote in the early 1990s, yet it has never been performed or published. But now it could finally be staged as it will published for the first time in a forthcoming book." - The Guardian

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