The dance festival in the Berkshires is coming back from last summer’s cancellation, the first in its 89-year history, and the destruction of its Doris Duke Theater by fire last November, while its other theater, the Ted Shawn, is under renovation. – MSN (Washington Post)
The Wild Box Office For An Action Movie Says Movie Theatres Are Making A Comeback
For Universal Pictures, which raked in an oddly normal (thus deeply robust) box office total over the weekend for F9, “the opening success is vindication for a studio that in the early days of the pandemic decided to delay its potential blockbuster by an entire year — a move that was considered excessive when it was announced in early March 2020.” – The New York Times
Visiting Artist Who Was Handcuffed By Columbia Police At His Apartment Gets An Apology
Artist John Sims, who was asleep when officers entered his apartment, says, “I could have easily been shot and killed that night. … Now what if I was armed legally and fired on the intruders not knowing if they were police? Would this ‘stand-your-ground’ law apply to me? … And more importantly, why are Black people consistently profiled to be a suspect, an intruder, a thief, in the wrong place, assumed to be guilty first?” – The Post and Courier (South Carolina)
Paulo Mendes Da Rocha, A Brazilian Brutalist With A Light Touch, 92
Da Rocha was one of Brazil’s most well-known architects, despite being blacklisted by a brutal military regime for 20 years. “‘Concrete acrobatics’ is how many architecture writers described his work. He called concrete, his material of choice, ‘liquid stone.'” – The New York Times
Aaron Flagg talks about effective racial equity work
The Chair & Associate Director of Juilliard Jazz talks about effective racial equity work in the arts and his sources of strength and inspiration. – Aaron Dworkin
Even In Pride Month, Hollywood Steers Away From Asian American LGBTQIA Stories
Director Quentin Lee: “Creating queer Asian content is hard because you’re really hitting on two major issues of America that are challenging.” But he and director Fawzia Mirza are two of many trying to change the (truly terrible) numbers. – NBC News
The Writers Trying To Save The World Through Fiction
The novelists hope: “As long as we continue to think and to tell stories, we are not necessarily doomed.” Perhaps. – The Guardian (UK)
Violinist Jeanne Lamon, Who Led Tafelmusik For 33 Years, Has Died At 71
In Canada, she brought Baroque music played on period instruments into the modern era. “Under her guidance — and with her often leading from the first-violin chair — the group developed an international reputation, performing all over the world in major concert halls, at universities, in churches, even in pubs” — not to mention the recordings. – The New York Times
The Author Who Wanted To Write A New King Lear
Anne Enright on The Green Road on having a plan for her plot, her idea to write a new King Lear: “The children had other needs. I followed them, let them grow up and, really, given the circumstances – the mother’s vanity, the father’s silence – there was a limit to how far and whether they could get away.” – The Guardian (UK)
Gaming May Actually Benefit Your Brain
For one thing, “action games in particular—games where reflexes, reaction time, and hand-eye coordination are challenged, like in the now-retro classics Doom and Team Fortress Classic—provided tangible cognitive advantages that help us in everyday life.” – Wired