The Changing Of The Guard At ‘The Band’s Visit’: Tony Shalhoub Hands Off The (Actual) Baton
"'It was beautiful. You brought your own character to the role,' Sasson Gabay is telling Tony Shalhoub, who recently won a Tony for starring in the musical The Band's Visit. Gabay is the Israeli actor who originated the character of the stern and melancholy police officer Tewfiq, playing the role in the 2007 film from which the musical is adapted. 'I stole your performance,' Shalhoub replies genially. 'Acting is thievery.' ... We got the two Tewfiqs together to discuss why such a small film has had such impact and what the actors have learned, and can learn, from each other." … Read More
World Health Organization Classifies Video Game Addiction As A Disorder
The 11th International Classification of Diseases (ICD) will include the condition "gaming disorder". The draft document describes it as a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behaviour so severe that it takes "precedence over other life interests". Some countries had already identified it as a major public health issue. … Read More
Proposed EU Copyright Law Alarms Free Speech Advocates
By requiring Internet platforms to perform automatic filtering all of the content that their users upload, Article 13 takes an unprecedented step towards the transformation of the Internet from an open platform for sharing and innovation, into a tool for the automated surveillance and control of its users. The damage that this may do to the free and open Internet as we know it is hard to predict, but in our opinions could be substantial. … Read More
Reconstructing The Lost Musical Instruments Of Indigenous Communities
When Caleb Byerly was a young Christian missionary in the jungles of the Philippines, the indigenous tribe among which he lived told him about their old, traditional music - which had faded away after a previous generation of missionaries had told them it was profane. "'I felt that if it was my people who helped destroy this music, my people would be the ones to help redeem it,' Byerly says. ... Based on his restoration work, Byerly and his wife started Evergreen Missions, a non-profit that helps indigenous peoples re-create their lost ancestral music." … Read More
AI Debates Humans… And Wins
IBM's Project Debater sparred with two world-class human debaters in front of an audience, which later ranked each debater's performance. Based on voting, the first debate was a wash. But in the second, the computer changed the minds of nine undecided audience members, while its human opponent didn't change any. It even cracked some self-deprecating jokes about its artificial nature along the way. … Read More
Exploring The Wild Costumes In Ted Shawn’s And Ruth St. Denis’s Touring Trunk
"The modern dance tree has abundant roots, and two of its thickest and oldest belong to Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn. Their Denishawn company and school in Los Angeles, which lasted from 1914 to '29, toured the world with a new spirit of dance — barefoot and weighted, exotic and spiritual. They were celebrities of their day. Their costumes were often extravagant and the opposite of Coco Chanel's dictum: 'Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off.' That was the cue, at least for St. Denis, to add another bauble." … Read More
A New New Wave Of Queer Cinema
"This year's strong queer showing [at Cannes] was indicative of a larger watershed moment for LGBT cinema across the industry, as stories and artists once confined to rarefied corners of the arthouse are being gradually welcomed into the mainstream. ... The last couple of years, however, have kicked that evolution into fast-forward, helped along by real-world advances in LGBT rights, and the Twitter-assisted revolution in identity politics awareness. The world, in other words, is a very different place for gay and trans people than it was even a decade ago, and cinema is feeling the change." … Read More
Indianapolis’s Phoenix Theatre, Having Gotten A New Building, Dumps Its Founder-Director
"Bryan Fonseca, who founded the Phoenix Theatre in 1983, is leaving the organization after 35 years of serving as the group's principal director and main artistic force ... The stunning move comes in the midst of a major transition for the theater, which just moved into a newly built, $11 million downtown facility." A press release quotes Fonseca as saying, "The board of directors believe that the institution now needs to redirect its energy to a solid fiscal focus, that there are other leaders more capable of putting their energies into meeting the [company's] remaining financial demands." … Read More
Are Americans Really Reading Less And Less?
Caleb Crain: "A little more than a decade ago, I wrote an article for The New Yorker about American reading habits, which a number of studies then indicated might be in decline. ... I'll go out on a limb and say that I don't think that I got this part wrong. But I've often wondered whether I was right about the underlying trend, too. Were Americans in fact reading less back then? And are they reading even less today? Whenever I happen across a news article on the topic, I wonder if I'm about to find out whether I was Cassandra or Chicken Little." So Crain looked into the data. … Read More
Sculptor Anish Kapoor Sues NRA For Copyright Infringement
"Anish Kapoor is going after the National Rifle Association (NRA), filing a copyright infringement lawsuit in the US in response to a 2017 NRA ad featuring Cloud Gate, his famed public sculpture [known popularly as 'The Bean'] in Chicago's Millennium Park. ... The NRA advertisement, titled 'The Clenched Fist of Truth' or 'The Violence of Lies,' denounced the US media and its “liberal agenda” in an effort to recruit new members and solicit donations." … Read More
Lynn Nottage And Christopher Wheeldon To Create Michael Jackson Broadway Bio-Musical
"The pop singer's estate, along with Columbia Live Stage, said Tuesday that it had agreed to develop a stage musical about his life, aiming for Broadway in 2020. ... The book is to be written by Lynn Nottage, a playwright who has won two Pulitzers, for Ruined and Sweat. And the show is to be directed and choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, the artistic associate of the Royal Ballet in London, who won a Tony Award for An American in Paris." … Read More
Knight Foundation Launches Program To Fund New Performing Arts Work In Miami
"Tuesday, the foundation announced it will invest $500,000 in Knight New Work Miami, an open call for 'ground-breaking, innovative works of dance, theater and music.' Choreographers, playwrights and composers based in Miami and those with with strong Miami connections are eligible to apply. The caveat: The works must premiere in Miami." … Read More
International Art Dealers Slam Proposed EU Import Licensing Rules
"The European Union is considering stringent new import licence regulations on cultural goods over 250 years old in order to help fight the funding of terrorism through illicit trade. The proposal as it stands is being fiercely opposed by international dealer associations, whose lobbyists argue that it is ill thought out and will damage the market." … Read More
Is This Claim By Italian Authorities Of Looted Antiquities Bogus?
"Last month, the Carabinieri, Italy's military police, unveiled a cache of antiquities seized from a Roman property developer. The objects, which include two Greek vases as well as a bull's and a horse's head, both in terracotta, are worth €900,000, the Carabinieri's cultural protection squad says. ... But when we sent this picture to five independent experts, all of them questioned the objects' authenticity. Although the specialists said they could not offer a definitive opinion based on a photograph, all of them expressed grave doubts." … Read More
A New American History Prize In Honor Of David McCullough
"Looking ahead to its 300th anniversary year in 2024, Philadelphia's Carpenters' Company" - to this day the city's union guild for carpenters - "has announced it will inaugurate the David McCullough Prize for Excellence in American Public History, to be awarded annually starting next year." … Read More
Premium Classifieds
Executive Director, Dance Heginbotham
Dance Heginbotham seeks an Executive Director to provide vision, leadership, motivation and direction to the Board, staff, and supporters of this growing contemporary dance company. DANCE … [Read More]
Director of Development, Arts Everywhere at UNC-Chapel Hill
UNC’s Arts Everywhere Initiative seeks Dir. of Development to lead efforts to secure external funding from individual & institutional donors to advance Arts Everywhere’s campus-wide mission – to … [Read More]
India’s First Trans-Led Dance Company
There's a long tradition in India of intersex and trans women called hijras who show up at weddings and other celebrations and dance for money. Except for those special occasions, however, hijras are severely marginalized in Indian society, and many must turn to begging or sex work to survive. But one group in Mumbai has banded together to create a performing company called Dancing Queens. Reporter Priti Salian meets them. … [Read More]
You’ve Heard Of K-Pop, Now Meet K-Drama: South Korea Exports Its Version Of Telenovelas
"'The industry's tripled in size since the early 2000s,'" says [producer] Ma Jung-hoon. ... 'Half of our income comes from international sales." Says an American executive who distributes K-drama, "I think that the format of Korean dramas is very digestible. So instead of having these long, 20-episode, multi-series shows like we have in the US and other parts of the world, Korean dramas are [up to] 16 episodes. That's it, you only have one season." … [Read More]
I Was Almost Never Asked To Review Books By Women. Why?
"Besides embarrassment, I also feel curiosity. What could explain the strange fact that it took seven years for an editor to assign me a female writer? I’m a liberal critic writing for liberal publications. How did this go on for so long? I suspect there are at least two possible explanations here." … [Read More]
A Devoted Reader Breaks Up With James Joyce
In many ways, Joyce has been my longest long-term relationship. We met when I was sixteen and have been sweethearts ever since. I would have liked to say that about a living man, the way famous writers do in their acknowledgements of their latest novel, thanking their ‘loving husband, without whose unceasing patience and support etc,etc’. For years I thought it was their fault – the blokes. Until I realised how annoying it must be to live in the shadow of another man, and a dead one at that. … [Read More]
Celebrated Children’s Book Writer Slams Publishers For Their Language Obsessions
Geraldine McCaughrean was named winner on Monday of this year’s CILIP Carnegie medal for her historical adventure novel Where the World Ends, 30 years after she first took the prize, the UK’s most esteemed children’s literature award. She used her winner’s speech to attack publishers’ fixation on accessible language, which she called “a euphemism for something desperate”. … [Read More]
Battle For A Vision Of The Future Of Orchestras
“Our thesis for a lot of this work is that there is no future without the past,” Andrew Balio tells me. “I don’t think that’s a controversial statement.” He’s correct, and there’s no doubt that the Future Symphony Institute was born out of a real love for, and desire to share, the rich tradition of classical music. What the genre—and the wider arts world—found itself facing in the 20th century, however, was a challenging of the notion of a singular beauty, and a distrust of its pursuit. … [Read More]
Peter Oundjian Talks About His Toronto Symphony Years: The TSO Is Underrated
With some of Karajan’s advice in mind (“guide the orchestra, don’t impose yourself”) Oundjian steadily rebuilt the band while adding big late- and post-romantic scores to his personal repertoire. More than half of TSO players, and two-thirds of principals, are Oundjian picks. While few would question Oundjian’s authority in choosing strings, he seems also to have an ear for wind, brass and percussion, and how they work together. … [Read More]
Festivals Have Become Expert At “Experiential” Marketing
Festivals are an ideal setting for experiential marketing campaigns as brands try to blend in seamlessly with the mood-altering atmosphere of a communal celebration. “The trend is no longer just marketing,” said Joe Lucchese, founder and owner of Pro-Ject, a 5-year-old, Chicago-based experiential marketing agency that manages sponsorships for Spring Awakening. “Their goal is to sell as much product, in a thoughtful and unique way, as possible at each festival.” … [Read More]
Check Out These Jokes From ‘The Simpsons’ That Never Made It On Air
In an excerpt from his book Springfield Confidential: Jokes, Secrets, and Outright Lies from a Lifetime Writing for 'The Simpsons', writer/producer/showrunner Mike Reiss shares a few of the bits that were just too weird even for this show (or that didn't make the cut just by happenstance). … [Read More]
Leonard Bernstein, As Remembered By His Daughter
As the daughters of great men go, Jamie Bernstein has had a happy fate: the existence of this well-written book, with its poignancy and its shuddery detail—her father’s fragrance in the morning—is a mark of sanity and survival. In telling his story, she got to write her own. … [Read More]