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THEATRE

Brooke Shields Is Actors Equity’s New President. Here’s What She Wants To Do.

Shields’s music director suggested she consider the opening, and soon enough, she had tossed her hat in the ring, and in May she won the vote by members, defeating two more-seasoned labor activists. - The New York Times

Producer Garth Drabinsky’s Antitrust Lawsuit Against Actors’ Equity Is Thrown Out

"The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled that the producer could not continue with his $50 million lawsuit alleging that the Actors’ Equity Association violated antitrust and various state laws, including defamation," and illegally prevented him from producing Broadway shows by boycotting him. - AP

Ian McKellen Withdraws From Falstaff Tour

Two weeks after the 85-year-old actor fell from the stage during a London performance of Player Kings, an abridged version of Shakespeare's Henry IV Parts One and Two in which he played Falstaff, McKellen announced his withdrawal from the regional tour of the production "to protect my full recovery." - BBC

Between Netflix And TikTok, Comedy Is Booming

But comedians are exhausted. - CBC

Bay Area’s Throckmorton Theatre Goes Up For Sale

This could go well, or it could go very wrong: “The building spans 9,300 square feet and includes the Throckmorton Theatre, which currently serves as the home for Mill Valley LiveArts, the area's only multidisciplinary performing arts organization.” - San Francisco Chronicle

The Great Leadership Turnover At Broadway’s Nonprofit Theaters Begins With Second Stage

Artistic director Carole Rothman is leaving Second Stage after 45 years; her successor is Evan Cabnet, currently leader of LCT3, Lincoln Center Theater's emerging-artists program. "The leadership of the four Broadway nonprofits has not changed for decades, and the industry is closely watching (for the) new generation." - The New York Times

The Traditional Chinese Art Of Acting And Singing With Boar Tusks In Your Mouth

"It could be the most terrifying folk art in China. It is called shua ya, which literally means 'teeth playing'. … Performers need to manipulate four to 10 tusks in their mouths, using their lips, teeth, and breath to make them move, conveying the emotions of characters." - South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)

Their Play Is A Cautionary Tale About Terrorism. Now Putin’s Government Is Prosecuting Them For Promoting It.

"Cultural figures supporting the women" — director Yevgenia Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk, two highly decorated fixtures of contemporary Russian theater — "say this is the first time in Russia’s post-Soviet era that a work of art is effectively being put on trial." - The New York Times

American Repertory Theater Begins Construction On New Theater Complex One Town Over From Cambridge

"The multimillion-dollar (facility) in Allston will expand the A.R.T.’s performance capabilities and meet rigorous standards for sustainability. The 80,000-square-foot building ... has been in the works since 2019, when a $100 million gift jumpstarted plans to move the theater from its longtime home at the Loeb Drama Center in Harvard Square." - WBUR (Boston)

Britain’s Snap Election Caused An Unexpected Problem For The Edinburgh Fringe

"Most of the country expected the election would be called in autumn, so when the announcement came that it would be done and dusted less than a month before the Fringe opens, comedians who dared to tackle politics in this volatile year were suddenly faced with serious rewrites." - The Observer (UK)

Suffice It To Say Stephen Sondheim’s Auctioneer Did Not Understand Theatre Kids

“There was a customer on the phone who said something along the lines of 'Just throw out $20,000,' and reported to our staff member to shout that out into the room. And boy did it work, because the first time it came up, it stunned the room and silenced the room.” - Slate

In 1968, Arena Stage’s Leader Needed A ‘Confidential Plan’ In Order To Integrate Both Its Acting Company And Its Audience

Zelda Fichandler, a month before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated: "When I look around, however, beyond our too-perfected technique and … the ‘canons of our craft,’ a deep, visceral intuition tells me that the power of our art is being blunted, deadened, and caged.” - American Theatre

Shakespeare Finally Gets A Library Worthy Of His Name

“By opening itself more forthrightly to a wider audience, the library is doing something that Henry Clay Folger could probably never have imagined would be necessary: assert the importance of Shakespeare to public life, from scholars to laymen, passersby and politicians.” - Washington Post

Your Off-Broadway Show Is A Hit. Should You Move It To Broadway?

With production costs soaring, is it even worth moving a hit off-Broadway show to Broadway anymore? - TheatreMania

Sophocles In A Maximum-Security Greek Prison

A photo essay on a production of Antigone, with a cast almost entirely of inmates, at the Korydallos prison in Athens. - Reuters

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