Theatre

A Broadway stage manager who’s now in graduate school for (logically) organizational leadership project management: “I initially thought, well, I’ll get a class or two under my belt and then we’ll be back. Well, now it appears that I will be graduated before.” – NPR

Ethan McSweeny has served as artistic director of the American Shakespeare Center since 2018. He announced his resignation effective Feb. 11, 2021. – Washington Post

“Following his enlistment in the military in World War II, only ten days before he would age out of eligibility for active service, Wilder reported for training in Miami, Florida, on June 27, 1942, having completed the screenplay for Shadow of a Doubt. In what was surely a most unusual training exercise, Wilder quickly participated in what was referred to as Act 4 of Our Town for the program Contact, broadcast out of WKAT in Miami on July 8.” – Literary Hub

Chris Jones: “The issue now is the future of an institution that is not just a major tourist draw to Chicago but one of the very few avenues for diverse, Chicago-based comedic talent to move to a national stage. A decades-long success record needs no reiteration here, nor does the entertainment-industry dominance asserted by the coastal cities that typically see Chicago as a market or a location, not a generator of content.” – Yahoo! (Chicago Tribune)

“This present moment places us in an exciting crossroad between former traditions and the emergence of technical and multi-platformed storytelling. I do not believe we are in a purgatory until we return to in-person venues, but instead that we are on the precipice of incredible innovation. The future of our art form will be deeply impacted by the ways in which we respond to the present situation today.” – Howlround

Yes, it’s because of Brexit: a statement from a company spokesperson said that “the potential additional costs for visas and current uncertainty around social security contributions mean regrettably it is currently not financially viable. We hope that in future we’ll return to tour in Europe. However, that will not be possible until we have further clarity on these points.” – The Guardian

Last summer, after the pandemic led to the layoff of two-thirds of the company’s staff and accusations by alumni of color of serious race issues, co-owner and executive producer Andrew Alexander resigned; in October, he put Second City up for sale. Final purchase negotiations are now reportedly underway with private equity firm ZMC, which is owned by the CEO of the video-game company behind Grand Theft Auto. – Financial Times

A British employment tribunal unanimously rejected Seyi Omooba’s claims of breach of contract and religious discrimination, finding that “there is no breach of contract because the claimant was in prior repudiatory breach … the contract was empty because the claimant would not have played the part, and her conduct, pulling out at a late stage, had she not been dropped when she was, would have wrecked the production.” – WhatsOnStage (UK)

In the last seven months, there has been a groundswell of support for Black-owned businesses and nonprofits that are focused on specifically and directly helping the Black community. People have recognized that to dismantle a flawed system, we need to invest in a new one. After decades of talk about funding theatres and artists of color, some are finally stepping up with the money. – American Theatre

“The result is a worldwide swarm of approaches that have profoundly opened up the possibilities of the form, most likely for good. The word ‘theatre’ stands at the starting post, all but outgrown. It now applies as much to something happening in the palm of your hand as it does to an event beamed to you from a thousand miles away. It is hard to think of an art form at any time in history so radically reconsidered and swiftly reformed.” – The Stage

Lyn Gardner: “At their best, [theatre buildings] are creative powerhouses, community hubs, a place of inspiration, succour and sanctuary. But often they come with self-perpetuating, top-down hierarchies” — not to mention burdensome running costs — “and fuel a self-importance around that building that keeps it from connecting with local networks, unknown artists, and from practices that do not conform to the norm. … They are not the only show in town, and maybe their dominance needs to be reconsidered.” – The Stage

Comedian Mike Ward made a bad joke about a teenager with a disability back in 2010. The victim sued and the case is now in the Supreme Court. Many comedians are supporting Ward. “The support comes amid concern in stand-up comedy circles that it’s found itself pulled into the debate around political correctness, free speech, censorship, and cancel culture. There’s a fear of a chilling effect on comedy.” – BBC

All of this is true: “An effort to keep the industry alive has major stars taking to the virtual stage and much-lauded past productions available for streaming. These productions can’t compare with the energy of a full theater, but what they make up in accessibility is something that can’t be underestimated.” – The New York Times

Of course, “The British weather does not always help. A valiant ‘drive-through’ production of La Bohème staged in a car park by English National Opera last year did encounter problems owing to high winds: sometimes the elements cannot be entirely outfoxed. Nevertheless, the more sagacious arts organisations are looking ahead to alfresco possibilities.” – The Guardian (UK)

First there was Ratatouille: The Musical or Ratatousical, which raised more than a million dollars for actors, with the no doubt bemused blessing of Disney. Then TikTok went sea chanty. Now? It’s Bridgerton: The Musical. (Bridgertousical?) “Barlow and Bear’s frequent postings on social media have drawn lots of attention, including from Bridgerton cast members. And the pair says they’ve been approached by several people in the entertainment industry about developing the project professionally.” – NPR

Well, that sounds hokey. But it’s powerful, a program from Georgetown that, a co-founder says, shows “there is a particular power that performance has, to allow us to listen deeply, bear witness and ultimately empathize with each other.” – Washington Post

What you get is writer-performer Kris Andersson’s Dixie’s Happy Hour, “a 95-minute performance streamed to patrons of 21 arts centers and theaters across the country. … A year into the pandemic, streaming shows are nothing new, but Andersson’s approach of a touring schedule rather than a one-off with a particular theater is novel. As is his profit-sharing model: Hosting theaters keep 80% of their ticket sales, and 20% goes to Andersson for the cost of the production and royalties owed to the crew who filmed the show, which was recorded with an eye toward making it appear live.” – Los Angeles Times

“We are thinking that we will have a slate of work with both digital and in-person opportunities. Because digital is not going away. We’re in a digital space. There’s a lot to figure out from a union standpoint, an actors’ standpoint from all sorts of things about how we stay in the space, but I believe that it’s here to stay for us and gives us an incredible opportunity to be flexible.” Kenn McGlaughlin notes that the company has not had to lay off any staff and has actually employed more than 100 artists, including some types they’ve never hired before such as video editors. – ACTX

“The mobs that descended on Washington, D.C., last month have intellectual roots in many places, going back to the bloody beginnings of this country. But they also have roots in specific areas of modern culture, including Facebook, BuzzFeed, and the increasingly online world of comedy. All the forces that incubated the rioters are still there, unchanged, chugging along as normal. The rot goes much deeper than you might expect.” – The New Republic

Rereading “Hamlet” after the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, I was struck by how fears of insurrection permeate the play. Every age sees itself in Shakespeare’s tragedy, but little did I expect to be reminded of the recent uprising and its poisonous politics when returning to this most philosophical of revenge dramas. – Los Angeles Times