What is Medieval Times? Well: "Queens, knights, squires and stablehands at the Lyndhurst castle voted on Friday to unionize." Audience members get rowdy; horses can be dangerous; and the pay is far too low for skilled weapons work, they say. - The New York Times
And yes, theatre folks on social media absolutely lost it. "All of this getting out so soon made what could have been a difficult-but-privately-handled situation into a messy, public shitshow." - Slate
How useful is sanctuary theatre anymore? "The confessional genre of sanctuary theater places a labor demand—for a coherent, affectively productive story—on an already distressed migrant. This gig becomes only the latest in an endless string of temporary, contingent jobs." - Public Books
"The Victory Gardens train wreck brings to the fore important questions of where the primacy in institutional theatres lies when dissension grows too great: Is it with the professional leadership, the volunteer board, the affiliated artists, the donors, or the audience?" - The Stage (UK)
It's a deliberate process. "We are not starved for folks being able to select shows and communicate with artists and keep those programs running. ... But the thing we’re predominately lacking in the role of the artistic leader is a singular point of truth." - Yahoo (Los Angeles Times)
Lily Janiak: "Brook sympathizes with artists' complaints about critics — they're wrong; they're mean-spirited and 'disapproving' — but then he issues a warning: 'An art without critics would be constantly menaced by far greater dangers. For instance, a critic is always serving the theatre when he is hounding out incompetence.'" - San Francisco Chronicle
"The actors and stage managers of (Paradise Square) asked for Drabinsky to be put on the 'Do Not Work' list due to 'outstanding payments and benefits, and a continued pattern of abuse and neglect that created an unsafe and toxic work environment.'" - The Hollywood Reporter
The town of Prescot, a few miles from Liverpool, was once home to the only freestanding Elizabethan theatre outside London. That's the case once again, with the opening of Shakespeare North, a near-copy of the Royal Cockpit theatre that once stood in 16th-century London. - BBC
In 2012, Serebrennikov took over the stultified Gogol Theater, rechristened it the Gogol Center, and made it Moscow's most daring stage, regularly irking the government. Now, after years fighting trumped-up embezzlement charges, he's in exile, and the city has ousted the leadership and restored the old name. - The Moscow Times
"Actors' Equity and the union representing theatrical designers are separately taking Broadway musical Paradise Square to court for close to $350,000 total in owed benefit contributions, wages and other fees." - The Hollywood Reporter
The apparent strife between the theater's board and its staff and artists has culminated (unless things get still worse) in playwright Erika Dickerson-Despenza withdrawing permission to finish the run of her "cullud wattah," about the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. - Chicago Sun-Times
Founded in 1986 to focus on new plays from and about the South, the company moved into a new space in 2018 that raised its expenses by 50%; shortly before the pandemic shutdown, Southern Rep cancelled a production and laid off six staffers. - The Times-Picayune / New Orleans Advocate
After Labor Day, Lea Michele, who has famously wanted the role for years, will play Fanny Brice, and Tovah Feldshuh will play her mother, Lynch's role. In August, Feldstein's understudy, Julie Benko, will take the title role, and she'll continue it on Thursdays after Michele's arrival. - The New York Times
"Playing Fanny Brice on Broadway has been a lifelong dream of mine, and doing so ... has been a great joy and true honor. Once the production decided to take the show in a different direction, I made the ... difficult decision to step away sooner than anticipated." - The New York Times
"Friends and colleagues who worked with him on this side of the Atlantic, and theater makers who never met him but look reflexively to his tenets — including openness and presence in the moment — spoke ... about Brook’s impact as an artist and a human being." - The New York Times
