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THEATRE

Royal Shakespeare Co. To Use TikTok To Market Low-Price Tickets To Young People

The "TikTok tickets" scheme will offer ÂŁ10 seats, along with subsidized travel to Stratford-upon-Avon, to people aged 14 to 25 for this summer's productions of Richard III and All's Well That Ends Well. - BBC

How “Sleep No More” Has Changed New York Theater — And Itself

As the loose, famously immersive adaptation of Macbeth restarts after two years of COVID, Alexis Soloski considers the influence the show has had on Punchdrunk (the British troupe that produced it) and other companies — and the script alterations that audience behavior has forced on it. - The New York Times

For The First Time, The RSC Casts A Disabled Actor As Richard III

Playing the last Plantagenet king will be Arthur Hughes, 30 years old and born with radial dysplasia. (He identifies as "limb-different".) The production opens at Stratford-upon-Avon in June. - The Guardian

Tracking Broadway’s Uneven Reopening: Winners And Losers

The quick upshot: While the formerly $15 billion industry was still recovering, many shows made up much, if not all, lost momentum. But the gains were uneven; established brands saw strong sales while newer work, especially plays, struggled. - Forbes

One Way Singapore’s Theatre Actors Have Kept Busy During The Pandemic

Would you believe that interactive Zoom mystery theatre is a thing? Actor Bright Ong says, "The tectonic plates under have shifted, and the industry is changing." - BBC

What To Do On Broadway When Your Leads And Nearly A Third Of The Rest Of Your Cast Test Positive

As Music Man showed, you shut down for days; keep paying everyone; and hire great swings. "We had swings covering seven roles and trying to hold up that show. And they did." One swing "is 10 years old, and she was covering three tracks." - The New York Times

Following A Difficult Summer And A Staff Revolt, Williamstown Theater Festival Is Making Big Changes

Those changes include better pay equity and HR, safety training, hour caps, and, crucially, ending the ambitious seven-production summer season. The Festival's statement says its programming henceforth "will match its capacity to support the staff and trainees who make the Festival possible." - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)

A Crossroads For LA’s Largest Theatre

This Los Angeles cultural institution is at a crossroads as it goes through its first leadership change in 17 years, and confronts questions about its mission, programming and appeal in a changing city, all amid a debilitating pandemic. - The New York Times

Where Method Acting Was Born

In an excerpt from his new history of Method acting, Isaac Butler looks at the American Laboratory Theatre, where, in the 1920s, two of Stanislavski's students at the Moscow Art Theatre, Richard Boleslavsky and Maira Ouspenskaya, began teaching what they called Stanislavski's "system." - American Theatre

The Most Important School Subject For Future Tech Workers?  Would You Believe It’s Drama?

So argues one business-oriented demographer. Why drama? Because you learn how to work closely in groups and to fill a variety of roles, onstage and off. - ArtsHub (Australia)

How Broadway’s “The Music Man” Has Worked Its Way Through A COVID Nightmare

Since the revival began rehearsals in October, five dozen cast and crew members have tested positive for the virus; at one point producers had to cancel 11 performances. Here, six company members (including stars Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster) tell us how they've gotten through it. - The New York Times

Broadway Box Office Down Again Last week

In all, the total attendance of 139,584 indicates that about 74% of available seats were filled. Average ticket price was stayed at a modest $108, same as the previous week. - Deadline

Greece Is Restoring Its Ancient Amphitheatres And Returning Them To Use

From Epiros in the north down to Sparta and beyond, the outdoor venues where classical drama was born are being rediscovered: 25 are hosting events, with another 20 under renovation. A second, smaller arena has even been uncovered in Epidavros, which hosts the famous drama festival. - The Guardian

How Method Acting Made Me Mad

The idea that an actor must authentically experience and feel the lived reality of the character he is playing—and therefore be infinitely present and malleable—now underpins almost everything that Americans deem to be “good” acting. - The Atlantic

Broadway’s Reopening Last Fall Did Not Go As Expected, Even Before December’s Omicron Spike

"During the months when the pandemic kept Broadway shuttered, a hypothesis took hold: Once theaters reopened, the audience would include more New Yorkers and fewer tourists, and the result could be a more receptive marketplace for ambitious new plays. It did not turn out that way." - The New York Times

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