Herbert Sigüenza, a founding member of the Chicano sketch company Culture Clash and playwright-in-residence at San Diego Rep (which premiered his latest script, Bad Hombres/Good Wives) talks to dramaturg Matthew McMahan about “the unique dynamics of bicultural comedy. He frames the comic writer as a type of diplomat whose plays yoke together divergent ideas, jokes, characters, and languages, while managing to get a diverse group of people to laugh at it all the same.” – HowlRound
Woolly Mammoth Theatre’s New Leader Pushes To Be Artistic Leader In Fighting For Social Justice
To survive long-term, companies such as Woolly need to convince social-justice-minded, cash-challenged millennials to buy tickets. The crucial challenge: Can they do this without alienating a crowd who, liberal as they may be, might also be slower to get with the times? Or do you have to, in effect, fire one audience to lure the other? – Washingtonian
Why Wampanoags Are Looking Forward To Mayflower 400 Events
“Native Americans whose ancestors suffered at the hands of 17th-century European settlers and adventurers are hoping commemorative events marking the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower’s journey will reveal their story to the whole world – and even lead to the recovery of one their long-lost treasures.” – The Guardian
Edinburghers Are Rising Up To Resist ‘Disneyfication’ Of Their City
“On one side is Underbelly, the London events company which claims to have taken Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations to another level. It is backed by a city council which has gleefully watched the numbers rise in those indexes that confer tourism superstardom: unique-users, profits and exposure. Facing them is a rebel alliance … [called] Citizen, launched last April to bring together local groups seeking to restore Edinburgh as ‘a place for people rather than profit’.” – The Observer (UK)
JFK’s Cold War Cultural Dogma — and Where It Came From
During the cultural Cold War, President John F. Kennedy delivered eloquent speeches claiming that only “free societies” fostered great creative art. But no one scanning centuries of Western literature and music could possibly believe that. Where did this Cold War dogma come from? One Nicolas Nabokov. – Joseph Horowitz
No Picture This Time, at the New Year
No picture this time because food was so bad. The kitchen, which prepared the takeaway in front of me, tried hard and worked like crazy, getting it hot and out. – Jeff Weinstein
Notre Dame’s Survival Far From Certain
“Today we can say there is maybe a 50% chance that it will be saved. There is also a 50% chance of the scaffolding falling on the three vaults, so as you can see the building is still very fragile.” – The Guardian
Book Clubs Sprang Up Across The Country After The Death Of A Cultural Icon
After Nipsey Hussle was killed on an L.A. street in front of his shop last March, fans wanted to figure out how to honor him. Shop at his store? Paint his face as murals on walls? Yes, and start book clubs around the country, founded to read Nipsey’s favorite books. “A 31-year-old fan from Wisconsin created a meme listing all of the books that Hussle had mentioned in interviews, songs and motivational messages that she had been compiling for years. It includes self-help bestsellers, cult classics and little-known books by black authors.” – Los Angeles Times
The Heart Of Reggae Still Beats In The Bronx
And Lloyd Barnes, the founder of Wackie’s, wants his reggae studio and label to live on after he retires – but more than that, the sound and the style. “His concerns now are ensuring that his studio carries on the traditions of roots reggae and lovers rock — the primary styles he works in — and sharing his knowledge with the younger people who populate it.” – The New York Times
The V&A Discovers The Dangers Of Turn-Of-The-20th-Century Hats
The V&A’s collection of women’s hats from the time has a lot of feathers, and those feathers were preserved in arsenic salt. Yikes. – The Guardian (UK)
Hikers Recently Found The Skeleton Of An Artist Who Went On A Painting Walk Out From A WWII Japanese American Internment Camp
Giichi Matsumura died during a freak summer snowstorm when other members of his hiking group went on to fish in a lake, and he stayed back to paint. Though the family knew roughly where his grave was, the area is remote – and hikers stumbled across the cairn of stones atop the grave in October of 2019, bringing it to the attention of local authorities. – NBC (AP)
When Writers Become Perfume Consultants On Twitter
Well, one writer: Rachel Syme, who, every once in a while, calls herself the Perfume Genie – and people on Twitter ask her for recommendations. She thinks, “When people are saying, I want to smell like this, they’re actually thinking, I want to appear like this to myself, which is a really interesting prompt because I think a lot of people are saying, oh, I want everybody to think I’m glamorous or take me seriously – but people aren’t going to know that through your perfume.” – NPR
Comedian Kate McKinnon’s Golden Globes Speech Was Raw And Honest About Lesbian Representation On TV
The speech, which introduced Ellen DeGeneres as that comedian won the Carol Burnett Award, made it clear that Ellen was a trailblazer. McKinnon said, “She risked her entire life and her entire career in order to tell the truth, and she suffered greatly for it. Of course, attitudes change, but only because brave people like Ellen jump into the fire to make them change.” – The New York Times
How Can Theatre Move Into A New Decade With Any Hope Of Success?
Christopher Acebo, who spent 14 years working with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, starting the Latinx Play Project and and helping found the Latinx Theatre Commons, says the only way forward is through serious commitment to equity – extending the invitation to underrepresented groups in theatre, and following through. – Oregon ArtsWatch
In A Series Of Tweets, The U.S. President Threatens Major Cultural Heritage Sites In Iran
Legal observers warn that the tweets themselves could be considered threats of war crimes; “the 1954 Hague Convention, of which the US is a party, bars any military from ‘direct hostilities against cultural property.'” – EuroNews (AP/AFP)
John Baldessari, Conceptual Artist Who Helped Transform Los Angeles, Has Died At 88
Baldessari’s decades of teaching and witty art-making in Los Angeles helped define it as a visual arts cultural capital. “Inspired by the spirit of Marcel Duchamp, who overturned traditional definitions of art in the early 20th century, and by L.A. artist Edward Ruscha’s imaginative combinations of pictures and words, Baldessari explored language and mass media culture in text-and-image paintings and photo compositions derived from film stills, magazines and other sources.” – Los Angeles Times
Awkwafina Is First Asian American Woman To Win Best Actress At Golden Globes
She won for The Farewell, the film’s only win of the night. She thanked director Lulu Wang – who was not nominated, one of several snubs to women from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association – and to the woman who plays her character’s grandmother in the film. Part of her speech: “I’d like to dedicate this to my dad, Wally. I told you I’d get a job, Dad.” – The New York Times
Netflix Did Not Conquer The Golden Globes
Netflix had 34 nominations, but HBO – and Sony – topped the list. – Los Angeles Times
The Art Of Moving 120 Pieces Of Monet’s Work
Says the chief registrar at the Denver Art Museum, “It’s a lot. … There are many, many spreadsheets.” – NPR
What To Watch For At The Golden Globes
Will Netflix rule the night? How terrible will Ricky Gervais be? Who will win Best Actor? And why, why, why are all of the Best Director nominees men, AGAIN? – NBC