Wait, Why Are Latino Playwrights Writing Asian-American Characters? (Um, Why Not?) "Latino writers are asked to write 'rice and beans' plays about immigration, drug cartels, and the working class. That expectation assumes we're all the same, and--most problematically for me--it creates a theatrical culture of inauthenticity. There are amazing Latino playwrights writing about these subjects; they're true and important to them. But when you force me to do that, you're perpetuating a lie." HowlRound 05/19/13

email this story | Posted 05/19/13@08:53PM

Bring Your Own Canoe To the Theatre In Minnesota "Eighteen voyageur canoes, each holding nine audience members and a guide, paddled the 13-mile theater route." Minnesota Public Radio 05/19/13

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Man Falls From Broadway Window To Marquee "The victim was leaning against a window about 2:50 p.m. when he tumbled out onto the ornate limestone marquee just before the start of the matinee performance of 'The Nance,' starring Nathan Lane, officials said." New York Daily News 05/19/13

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Shut Up, Big Theatres: Summer Is For The Fringe (Or The Beach) "Some smaller theaters are heeding the sage words of the old-time baseball player 'Wee Willie'Keeler, whose advice to batters was 'Hit 'em where they ain't.''' The Boston Globe 05/18/13

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Does Britain Need Any More Theatres? Will new playhouses create new activity and help regenerate their neighborhoods and towns? Will they just be yet more parties in the never-ending scramble for public and private funding? Lyn Gardner starts the discussion. The Guardian (UK) 05/16/13

email this story | Posted 05/17/13@12:53AM

Audience Member Takes Cellphone Use During Performance Into His Own Hands (Literally) "I asked her whether I had missed something during the very pointed announcements to please turn off your phones, perhaps a special exemption granted for her. She suggested that I should mind my own business." National Review 05/15/13

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Attendance At Broadway Touring Shows Down Again "Attendance at touring Broadway shows nationwide dropped for the second straight season, according to a newly released report from the Broadway League. ... The attendance for touring shows is the lowest since the 2003-04 season. In the last 10 years, attendance peaked at 15.9 million in 2009-10." Los Angeles Times 05/13/13

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Mies Julie Director Takes On Delhi Gang Rape Yael Farber, who adapted Strindberg's mistress/servant drama into a powerful piece about post-apartheid South Africa, is leading an all-Indian cast in developing Nirbhaya, a new theatre piece inspired by the rape and fatal beating of a 23-year-old student by six men on a bus in Delhi last December. The Guardian (UK) 05/14/13

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Drury Lane Theatre Restored To 'Original Georgian Splendor' By Andrew Lloyd Webber "Theatre Royal, Drury Lane has completed a multi-million pound restoration to improve its rotunda, royal staircases and Grand Saloon in the year of its 350th anniversary. The upgraded areas, which date back to 1812 when the current theatre at the site was built, have been refurbished to fit its Georgian style." The Stage (UK) 05/15/13

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Putting The Kite Runner Onstage Khaled Hosseini's novel and its film adaptation have become emblems of present-day Afghanistan. "Now it has been adapted for stage - and the cast and crew are, unsurprisingly, feeling the weight of expectation." The Guardian (UK) 05/14/13

email this story | Posted 05/15/13@12:52AM

Unburied: Tamerlan Tsarnaev And The Lessons Of Greek Tragedy "'Bury this terrorist on U.S. soil and we will unbury him.' So ran the bitter slogan on one of the signs borne last week by enraged protesters" at the funeral home keeping the body of the Boston Marathon bomber - "a cadaver seemingly so morally polluted that his own widow would not claim it, that no funeral director would touch it, that no cemetery would bury it." Sophocles, of course, wrote about a similar situation. The New Yorker 05/14/13

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No One Wants To Succeed Nicholas Hytner At The National Theatre Oscar-winner Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) follows Michael Grandage, Marianne Elliott and Dominic Cooke in ruling out the artistic directorship of Great Britain's flagship playhouse. The Guardian (UK) 05/10/13

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Showgirls! The Musical! - It's High Camp And Therapy! "Elizabeth Berkley played the lead role with such vulgarity that it parodied itself; to outdo her requires an inventory of something deeper and more manic. April Kidwell has that in her" - and the theatrical spoof of the notorious film flop "has become an unlikely form of personal redemption for her." Slate 05/13/13

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Closing An Equity Theatre, Devastating The Theatrical Landscape "The more theater we have, the more audience we have. When you lose a major house, everybody loses. In the long run, I don't think it's good for anybody. It's a real kick in the shins." Kansas City Star 05/10/13

email this story | Posted 05/12/13@10:31AM

When Kickstarter Goes Very, Very Wrong (And Hurts The Arts It's Supposed To Be Helping) "No children will go hungry because Amazon Payments has dropped our account into some antiquated pneumatic tube. The show will still go on. But I've had to restage because we couldn't afford to build all of the platforms we had hoped, and a tiny, overextended staff is reaching ever farther with less." 2amt 05/12/13

email this story | Posted 05/12/13@09:50AM

Speed-Performing Beckett, Or, The Nine-Minute Play "It's absolutely terrifying and it doesn't get any easier, but it's almost the most exhilarating role I've ever known." BBC 05/11/13

email this story | Posted 05/12/13@09:01AM