The ways three major productions this summer have cast the role — a disabled white actor (England's Royal Shakespeare Co.), an able-bodied Black actress (New York's Shakespeare in the Park), and an admired white male Shakespearean (Canada's Stratford Festival) — feed right into current debates. - The New York Times
When the reporters approached him and asked about his performance, a woman sitting beside him said they didn't speak English. As the man was holding his violin down, with his bow away from the strings, violin music began playing from his speaker. - KOMO
The money from the bonds, to be paid back over 30 years from a property tax increase, would go toward capital projects, including artist and staff housing, for 15 institutions, including the Bass Museum, Miami City Ballet, the New World Symphony, and the Fillmore and Colony Theaters. - MSN (Miami Herald)
The Austrian-Iranian Alexander Ali Rahbari took to Instagram to announce the news stating that he was appointed by Putin supporter Valery Gergiev and will conduct 10 performances next season. - OperaWire
"(It's) a powerful exploration of the harshness of the rural landscape, with an ecological message that still resonates. ... In many ways, it defined a particular branch of US cinema – one that became particularly popular in the 1970s, and expressed an abject fear of those who lived outside of cities." - BBC
As Smithsonian officials celebrated the deaccessioning of works held by its African Art museum, they ignored another 21 Benin sculptures in the collection of the National Museum of Natural History. - Washington Post
"Uh, no. I've resisted various things, one of which is the writerly idea that you have to write something profound about your termination. I have no intention of doing that, nor any compulsion to write some mock-heroic thing." - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
"There are others out there, too, crisscrossing the country, living on the lower slopes, and sometimes on the summits, of show business. We are the last wandering minstrels, racing town to town, big clubs and small, piano player to piano player. (I had nine this year.)" - The New York Times
A user screennamed @sibusheva posted a images of her skin before and after tanning, wrote that "fair skin in (ballroom) competitions is bad form", and asked for people's thoughts. That post has now been viewed more than 7 million times, and, well, thoughts have been offered. - The Daily Dot
Hulagu, who led the notorious sack of Baghdad in 1258, conquered Damascus and Persia, and founded the Ilkhanid Empire, built himself a fabled summer palace in what's now Çaldıran in eastern Turkey. While archaeologists stress that there's no solid confirmation, they think they may have located the site. - Live Science
"The final episode (of Neighbours) airs in Australia on Thursday and in Britain on Friday. It will be the swan song for a show that has lasted nearly 9,000 episodes over 38 seasons, and became appointment viewing every weekday for many Australians and Britons." - The New York Times
Ecologists worry that, if not deployed very carefully, the inventive (and expensive) set of barriers called MOSE (as in Moses parting the sea), built to protect the historic city from worsening tidal floods, could ruin the salt marshes on which the Venetian Lagoon's entire ecosystem depends. - National Geographic
"Incheon Airport is considering building a 300-square-meter exhibition space within the airport, after a recent study found that plans to establish a satellite museum of one of Europe's top-tier museums, such as the Centre Pompidou or the Louvre, were unfeasible." - The Korea Herald
The enormous footwear, attached to an enormous leg, appeared to be slung over the roof of the theater where Sondheim's musical opened. The inflatable appendage was "the beacon that called us all to the theater," and the producers of the new Broadway revival want it back. - The New York Times
