“Tutors at both drama centres have raised their glasses in anticipation on the eve of the ceremony in California and are ready to toast the theatrical tradition that prepares actors to work at the highest level.”
“First, the theatre-makers must ensure they reflect those communities. Second, they need to be trained to work alongside the communities, to channel their lived experience into art, with skill and authenticity and often for community members themselves to perform. And third, the whole theatre industry needs to be open to members of different communities becoming new theatre artists themselves, and commit to supporting and encouraging that.”
“The claim, submitted last month, sets out to ‘address a steady erosion of pay rates in the sector,’ which BECTU says has seen incomes fall by more than 12% in some cases since 2010.”
“Theater stages represent ecological niches that provide narcissists with an opportunity to fulfill their desire for admiration.”
“A survey by the industry group Stage Directors UK found the average salary for directors in subsidised theatres was £10,759, far below the average national wage of £26,500. Some were being paid the equivalent of less than £1 an hour.”
Lyn Gardner: “Because although this is about money, it’s not just about money, it’s about the relationships between artists and venues and producers, and a proper and equal relationship between them that is not just a transaction but something that benefits and enriches all.”
“Khan Bonfils, who played key villains in two recent James Bond films and Jedi master Saesee Tiin in Star Wars: Episode 1 The Phantom Menace as well as the King of Siam in the 2000 revival of The King and I at the London Palladium, collapsed during rehearsals for the Craft Theatre Company’s upcoming production at The Rag Factory.
“Instead of our crafting a list, which invariably will leave off names that others feel should be included, an Edit-a-Thon empowers anyone to jump in as an editor. It allows all of us to fulfill a New Year’s resolution to make greater strides towards diversity and parity in American Theatre in 2015.”
Matt Trueman: “Theatre – and I write this with admiration and awe – is full of freaks and weirdos. Brilliant freaks and weirdos, yes, but freaks and weirdos nonetheless. Birdman totally gets that. … It nails that slippage between on- and off-stage, between fiction and reality; the way a play can bleed into an actor’s life … and appreciates the catatonic terror of stepping out in front of an audience.”
The total take was a 14 percent uptick over last year boosted by premium pricing, making 2014 the highest grossing calendar year on Broadway. And there was a 13 percent increase in attendance over 2013.
“Like most plays by 1927, this production features just a few actors and live musicians. A multitude of other people, animals and eerie, stylized scenes are part of the show. But they are all animated, projected onto a blank white sheet behind the live performers.”
“The Broadway musical The Last Ship will close on Jan. 24 despite an unusual attempt by Sting, its composer, to try to increase ticket sales and spread word about the show by joining its cast last month.”
He had his first successes in made-for-TV plays, but once shows like Playhouse 90 ended, he was unable for decades to get theaters to consider his plays. Even his lauded screenplays for To Kill a Mockingbird and Tender Mercies didn’t help his theater career. How did he find the strength to keep at it?
“In 2013, more than a quarter of all theatre tickets sold in Northern Ireland (27%) were for pantomime shows, with the north-east close behind at 24%. Pantomime was proportionally least popular in London (2%) and the north-west (11%).”
“More than 1,000 people watching Les Miserables and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time were evacuated on to the streets.”
“For hungry playwrights, TV presents financial offers difficult to refuse, and the medium grows more prestigious and creative every year. And for TV writers used to the difficulties of collaborating on a script, the theater offers them a chance to have the final say on their own words.”
“Over time, I’ve narrowed it down or finessed it to: A puppet is an inanimate object that’s manipulated in such a way that an audience believes it is alive and thinking.”
Topping The Stage 100 for the sixth year running are the co-founders and co-CEOs of Ambassador Theatre Group, Howard Panter and Rosemary Squire. In fact, eight of the top ten slots are held by duos rather than individuals.
“The Théâtre de la Ville and the Théâtre du Châtelet … will close for extensive renovations at the end of the 2016 season, darkening the houses for one and a half to two years. The theaters, which face each other on the Place du Châtelet, next to the Seine in the heart of the city, were designed by Gabriel Davioud and constructed between 1860 and 1862.”
“Whether it’s the sexed-up photograph of Neil Patrick Harris on Broadway or the pared-down treatment of a domestic drama in a regional theater, the best posters convey the conceptual complexities of the plays they serve.”
“We think it’s a good thing to aspire to, and we’re able to pay that. Our staff work long hours, often unsociable hours, and they work very hard. They’ve been key to the success of the Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall in recent years, and we think it’s only right that is recognised.”
“Art was done the same way for a long time — you were young, you came, you watched a lot of other people and you started to struggle to make your own work, and eventually people came to see you and you made a little bit of money. Now that economic structure is totally broken. Young people only go to see a few other people; they only go to see people whose careers they want to emulate. And they mostly stay within their own age group. So you have tons of people who are all 22 who make their work with other 22-year-olds. You can’t get much mileage out of that. You need the inter-generational thing, I believe: the energy of the young and the wisdom and experience of the old.”
She and Beryl Reid played the leads in the first British play about lesbians, touring the country to stone-silent audiences (when they weren’t walking out). Then they got to London.
“For all the changes that have come to Broadway, where the only thing more drastic than the astronomical ticket prices are the astronomical rents for apartments in the area, the Whitby has largely remained a bastion for performers and their patrons. But rather than being a haven for struggling artists, the building is now much more a home for successful ones.”
“The Broadway League said Monday that shows on the Great White Way pulled in $40,993,950 for the week ending Sunday, better than the same week last year when 30 shows attracted $38,783,854. Attendance also went from 290,386 in 2013 to 318,721 this year, with crowds taking advantage of mild New York weather and Christmas falling on a Thursday.”
“As holiday traditions go, the play Burning Bluebeard doesn’t exactly seem like a natural: no Cratchits, no elves, no Grinches, no sugarplum fairies. Its place in the season is all about timing. It’s based on the real-life story of a fatal fire that happened in the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day – and it’s told by clowns.”
“New audiences, however, have sparked new security needs, particularly around the stage door that cast members use to enter and exit the theater. Fans, sometimes ones who didn’t attend the production, flock to them, so that most Broadway stage doors are now flanked by steel barricades.”
“It depicted what to me was a fantasy as attractive as any I’d ever seen: that you could be in your twenties, living in New York City, surrounded not by the family you’d left behind but by the ones you’d made. That you could pursue above all else art and love. At its end, I leapt to my feet in applause.”
“Terrible things happen, wonderful ones, too. There are big events, big emotions and the occasional influx of lobsters or Nazis. Her characters have juicier things to bite than their tongues.”
“The Reillys founded and are the creative force behind the American Irish Repertory Ensemble, the Portland-based theater company better known as AIRE. Both actors also worked with other theater companies. The news of the accident has devastated the Portland theater community.”