ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

THEATRE

Technology Is Changing The Ways Theatre Artists Develop Ideas

"A lot of artists have digital records now online and the quality might not be great but you can to see just a little bit of where things originated. And that’s so important given how ephemeral theatre is." - ArtsHub

What’s A Poor Stage Director To Do When The Script Calls For Eyeballs Coming From The Floorboards Or The Entire Set On A Steep...

Michael Longhurst, Ned Bennett, Milli Bhatia, and Nadia Latif talk about meeting the challenge of staging the (presumably) unstageable. - The Guardian

“A Strange Loop” Will Have The Shortest Run Of Any Recent Best Musical Winner

"(The Tony and Pulitzer winner) will close on Broadway on Jan. 15, after a short run that reflects the industry's ongoing pandemic-related struggles and the challenges of marketing an unconventional musical that wrestles with complex themes." - The New York Times

A Leading Philadelphia Indie Theatre Company Has A New Artistic Director

"Inis Nua Theatre Co., a Philadelphia-based company that draws its material from England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, has named longtime Philly theater director Kathryn 'KC' MacMillan as artistic director. MacMillan doesn’t hesitate answering the obvious question about Inis Nua." - The Philadelphia Inquirer

How A High School’s Gender-Neutral Production Of “Jesus Christ Superstar” Went Off The Rails

Members from the Union County chapter of Moms for Liberty were quick to voice their horror at the gender-diverse casting and the fact the school’s logo had been colored rainbow and was being used to advertise the show. - The Daily Beast

How Do You Translate A Word-Heavy Show Like “Hamilton” Into German?

In "Hamilton," those words go by at breakneck speed, full of English idioms and the rapping rhymes and rhythms of the musical's hip-hop roots. Also, U.S. Founding Father Alexander Hamilton isn't exactly a household name abroad. - NPR

Defining The Nonbinary Play

A nonbinary playwright takes a crack at it. "There will be many holes in this amorphous theatrical survey, and I hope other non-binary creators will fill them. ... However, the impossibility of completion is no excuse to shy away from the urgency of starting." - American Theatre

Inside The Transformation Of Cameron Crowe’s “Almost Famous” From Movie To Stage

Derailed by COVID-19 for two years, Almost Famous is set to open on Broadway at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater in November. - Vanity Fair

Second City To Open A Branch In Brooklyn

"The improv stage and training center, based in Chicago since 1959, announced on Thursday that it would open a location in New York City for the first time."  The theater and classroom facility will begin operating next summer in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood. - The New York Times

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Aspects Of Love” Is Being Reworked Again

Beyond the initial version, successful in the West End in 1989 but not on Broadway in 1990, the show has had at least three major revivals with various revisions to the script.  (Lloyd Webber released a "definitive script" in 2014.)  Next spring's West End revival will be a "chamber" version. - Playbill

Five Of Eight Staff At Shakespeare Dallas Quit In One Week

“What happened? There’s not a smoking gun to produce,” says board chair Lauren York, who will lead exit interviews of the departed staff members They include the managers of development, education and marketing. - Dallas Morning News

Theatre Community Defends Oregon Shakespeare Festival Director After Death Threats

“If, by producing writers of the global majority, an artist like Nataki Garrett can be subjected to death threats, what does that say about the precarious situation our theater industry is in?" - The Hollywood Reporter

“Suzan-Lori Parks Does Not Like To Be Policed!”

"We (Black people) have to wake up to the ways we are policing each other to our detriment. 'No more trauma-based writing!' These are rules. And Suzan-Lori Parks does not like to be policed. Any policing cuts me off from hearing the spirit." - The New York Times

Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s New Director Has Been Making Major Changes (And Some Folks Are Not Happy)

Nataki Garrett has reduced the amount of Shakespeare in the company's programming, introduced color- and sometimes gender-blind casting as well as non-traditional stagings, made staff working hours more humane, and lowered ticket prices.  And she's gotten death threats. - NPR

Here’s Meta For You: A Play About Whether And How Working-Class People Can Do Professional Theatre

Class Act, based loosely on Shaw's Pygmalion and Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady, is inspired by lead actor Mish Gregor's "bogan" (that's Australian for "white trash") background and how she changed as a person as she crossed class boundaries as a theatre professional. - ArtsHub (Australia)

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