"O'Rourke was one of the most quoted writers in America, dissecting US politics and culture with a withering disdain and a powerful line in put-downs – often laced with a warm, self-deprecating humanity." A frequent magazine contributor and talk-show guest, he was once Rolling Stone's foreign affairs correspondent. - The Guardian
A research report titled "Future Fringe" says that the world's biggest theatre and arts festival suffers from a lack of clear lines of authority and accountability, no "common set of standards", a growth-at-all-costs mentality, and a "pay-to-perform landscape." - The Scotsman
"The family of Halyna Hutchins … has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Alec Baldwin, the film's production companies, its producers, and other members of the crew. Hutchins was fatally shot last October during a rehearsal … when Baldwin practiced a draw with a revolver and fired the weapon." - CNN
The extravaganza, prosaically titled American Song Contest, will see musicians from all 50 states, five US territories and Washington DC compete against each other, in a format borrowed from its long-running European cousin. - The Guardian
The Kennedy Center’s mission statement says that one of its three pillars is “presenting, producing, and curating world-class art.” In theater, it’s relying these days far more on curating. - Washington Post
The story of what happened when costumers tried to instigate reform is a tale of the frustrations and barriers to progress that exist in many Hollywood unions. But it also offers glimmers of hope. - Los Angeles Times
From the perspective of psychology, there have also been many studies on the role of outer and inner speech in our thinking processes. An interesting case has to do with the effect language production seems to have on a task called spatial reorientation. - 3 Quarks Daily
Arts Commons sees the new project as a means of engaging a larger set of Calgarians and providing space for everyday gatherings and informal performances, CEO Alex Sarian said in an interview. - The Globe and Mail (Canada)
Olivia Hartzell, who spent nearly a decade at Pennsylvania Ballet and the Royal Ballet of Flanders and is now a PhD student at Harvard, has some ideas about applying the field of market design to some of the dysfunction in the recruiting of dancers as it currently happens. - Dance Magazine
The city of Chicago has designated 2022 the Year of Chicago Dance in recognition of an art form that is ubiquitous, burgeoning, diverse—and precarious. - Chicago Reader
The scripts, 110 already uploaded and the rest coming later this year, "join Drama Online's award-winning digital library, an online research tool for drama and literature students, professors, and teachers. … The collection includes work by David Henry Hwang, Tony Kushner, Dael Orlandersmith, and Anne Washburn, among others." - Playbill
But there’s a hitch: The valuable paintings, including a Caravaggio said to be worth millions, cannot physically be moved from their location due to national heritage laws. - Artnet
Niamh Campbell: "In all the best erotic writing I've read – not a lot really, but the most accurate and enviably sexy examples have stayed with me – a certain pleasant darkness is revealed. Not the darkness of ordinary misogyny, but of idiot pleasure or exquisite tenderness." - The Guardian
For much of history, the nature of consciousness was the purview almost exclusively of philosophers and poets. It was not taken seriously as a legitimate subject for scientific inquiry because it was difficult, if not impossible, to do experiments. - Nautilus
The six-inch statuette of an oddly-shaped nude woman dates from about 600 years after the battle at the site, near the Baltic coast of Germany. It might have been a religious object, a good-luck talisman, or a weight for a balance scale (if not all three). - The New York Times
