ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

THEATRE

This Standup Comic Specializes In A Very Niche Audience: Nurses. And He’s A Huge Hit

Nurse Blake, "(a) 31-year-old standup whose real name is Blake Lynch, is a genuine phenomenon, a social media star with millions of followers, which he leveraged to become a popular touring comic selling out theaters across the country." - The New York Times

Is “The Music Man”, And Is Broadway, Really #SoWhite?  Not These Days, Writes John McWhorter

"(The current Broadway revival has) many Black cast members, such that Blackness becomes more than any cartoonish notion of African-esque masculinity. We have moved on. In this production of The Music Man, Black people just are."  And there's an unusually large Black presence on Broadway this season. - The New York Times

Theatre’s Biases About Larger People

"I am a woman performer who wears pant/dress size 10-12. In the eyes of directors, producers, choreographers, and theatre’s other decisionmakers, that means I am undeserving of romantic love, real friendships, dignity, and accurate representation in the characters I play." - Howlround

Donmar Warehouse, A Dynamo Of London’s Theatre Scene, Loses All National Funding

Arts Council England has cut 100% of its grant to the company, which is known for small-scale productions that often go on to successful runs in the West End and on Broadway and for launching the careers of leading directors and actors. - WhatsOnStage (London)

Toronto’s Habourfront Theatre: Exec Director Leaves, Board Resigns, So What’s Next?

Last week, mere days after long-time director Gaëtane Verna left for a bigger job in the United States, board members resigned en masse, saying interference from Harbourfront made it impossible to fulfill its duties. - The Globe & Mail (Canada)

People Actually Do Want To Wear Masks At The Theatre

At least, they do in Washington, D.C. - and the lack of a mask requirement is, many say, why they're not returning. - American Theatre

The Women Adapting And Changing The Scottish Play

Making Mackers modern is a way for some writers - and actors - to get more into Shakespeare's work. One actor says that now she feels "included in a part of the literary canon that she’s always felt excluded from." - The New York Times

Critic Takes His 30-Year-Old Daughter To “Lion King” 25 Years After They First Saw It

I thought about the astonishing durability of the show, how many others in attendance like them were not even born when Lizzie and I visited a quarter-century ago — even members of the cast. - Washington Post

One Of Kabuki’s Top Actors Wants To Expand The Tradition And Work With Other Genres

"As the 13th successor — and top performer — in the Ichikawa family, Ichikawa Danjuro XIII shoulders a heavy responsibility to keep alive the traditional performing art that started around 1600. But he says just protecting the tradition is not enough." - Yahoo! (AP)

This Pulitzer- And Tony-Winning Playwright Decided She Had To Take Four Years Away From Theater.  Now She’s Back.

By 2018, Quiara Alegría Hudes found that the field she loved was causing more stress and heartbreak than joy and satisfaction. Last year, she published a memoir, My Broken Language; recording the audiobook, she realized that it sounded like monologue.  So she's turned it into a play. - The New York Times

The Lena Horne Theater: Finally, There’s A Broadway House Named After A Black Woman

"Horne, called a 'fearless agent for change' by New York's governor, was a Brooklyn-born singer and actress whose career spanned decades and broke barriers. The (theater) was built in 1926 as the Mansfield Theatre and got its first renaming in 1960 to pay tribute to New York Times drama critic Brooks Atkinson." - CBS News

Arguments About Backstage Racism Are Getting Out-Of-Hand: John McWhorter

"But here and now: non-Black people of color mad that they weren't consulted about Black American slavery? ... Calling it an affront to mental health to have white bigots use the N-word in a play about the Freedom Riders? Folks, this is less antiracism than performance." - The New York Times

Shakespeare: A Fascinating Debate About National Culture In New Zealand

Behind the row lay an unanswered question: how does a post-settler, multicultural society create a national identity? This latest case put a spotlight on the performance arts in this evolving cultural debate. This raises its own question: what can theatre contribute to the nurturing of our national identity? - The Conversation

Adding Up Hurricane Damage To Florida Theatres

Part of the roof caved in on the 393-seat main auditorium of the Rep’s historic Arcade Theatre. The orchestra pit was under six feet of water, which nearly reached the edge of the seats. Three inches of thick black sludge covered the administrative offices, rehearsal halls, and storage areas. - American Theatre

New York Theatre’s Supply Chain Problem

“Scene shops and lighting and sound shops got rid of a lot of their equipment during the shutdown. They sold it or did other things, so there’s literally not enough equipment on the shelves to go around.” - Hyperallergic

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