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THEATRE

Lincoln Center Theater Appoints Lear deBessonet And Bartlett Sher Its Next Leaders

The new directors will take up their posts when current artistic director André Bishop retires next summer after 33 years. Sher, as executive producer (a new position at LCT), will focus on international partnerships, brand expansion, and fundraising; as artistic director, deBessonet will oversee programming, artist relations, and day-to-day operations. - Deadline

Orlando Fringe Opts For Group Therapy

The new leadership structure is dubbed a "tri-directorate model" with three equal directors at the top each with distinct areas of specialization, as opposed to a single Executive Director. - Orlando Weekly

In Staging A Script About Sri Lanka’s Civil War, A Playwright Suddenly Learns About His Own Family’s History

S. Shakthidharan, born a Sri Lankan Tamil, was a toddler when his family fled the fighting and settled in Australia. When he asked his mother about their old life on the island, she angrily refused to discuss it — until she saw a workshop of his play, Counting and Cracking. - The New York Times

If You Don’t Know Whether Someone Is Really A Theatre Kid, Check This List

For one thing (guilty over here at AJ), "Do they spell it t-h-e-a-t-r-e instead of t-h-e-a-t-e-r? That’s a good one. Only a true theatre kid spells it ‘theatre.’ A ‘theater’ is where you watch ‘theatre.’ You see?” - American Theatre

A Docu-Play About Hamas’s October 7 Terror Attack

October 7, a verbatim play along the lines of The Laramie Project and Anna Deavere Smith's works, is drawn from interviews with more than 20 survivors of the atrocities by Irish journalists Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney. - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

Seattle Theatres In Disarray And Downsizing

There’s been a lot of bad news: Seattle theater companies are launching emergency fundraisers, exploring mergers, furloughing or laying people off, and cutting back on — or even postponing — shows and downsizing casts. Workers are worried about the future of the field. - Seattle Times

US Playwright Ken Ludwig Gives £1 Million To Preserve Shakespeare Family Home

The author of the farce Lend Me a Tenor and the book for the Gershwin musical Crazy for You donated in order to fund desperately-needed preservation work on Hall's Croft, the home of Shakespeare's daughter Susannah and a very rare example of intact Jacobean architecture. - Time Out UK

After A Big Broadway Theatre Merger… Big Profits

Taking over ownership of Jujamcyn’s five Broadway venues, including the August Wilson and Walter Kerr theatres – a deal finalised in summer 2023 – pulled in £75.5 million in revenue and profit of £18.2 million. - The Stage

Auditions For Drama School: Fair Or Unfair?

They're certainly difficult, especially since COVID. High school drama programs rarely prepare students well for conservatory work, including the audition process, and a small (and pricey) industry has developed solely in coaching young applicants for their auditions. - ArtsHub

This Fall On Broadway: Bring On The Divas

Theater stages are the diva’s holy playground, where complex characters and powerful performances ask audiences to question their received ideas. A new slate of shows this fall promises both rapture and reexamination. - Washington Post

Carole Rothman, Founder Of Broadway’s Second Stage Theater: Exit Interview

As she approaches her not-entirely-amicable departure after 45 years, the 73-year-old artistic director discusses the challenges she faced as a woman in the industry, her favorite memories (and her biggest disaster) and what her future in the theater may look like. - The New York Times

What Netflix Standup Specials Say About The State Of Today’s Comedy

Like other performers in our Balkanized, make-your-own-prime-time-entertainment landscape, many comedians act less like artists or court jesters than like notionally humorous leaders of affinity groups or of minor, mostly harmless cults. - The New Yorker

How Policing Audience Phones Changes Meaning In The Theatre

The “Starbucks!” sticker is an effort to physically prevent photography and videos circulating online. But this seemingly innocuous action creates a ripple effect about the meanings created within the production and the social aspect of theatre-going. - The Conversation

“Nutritious Work”: What Tarell Alvin McCraney Wants To Make Happen At The Geffen Playhouse

"When we get folks in from every walk of our community, they can start having a conversation differently than, 'Get out of my way, I’m headed to the store' or 'Move, I need that parking spot.' … People start walking out and go, 'Wait. You saw that? What did you think?'" - Los Angeles Times

Edinburgh Themes This Year: Theatre Of Wellness

A conspicuous number of shows were themed around psychological maladies. These included plays about grief, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and gambling addiction. I had thought I was going to a festival, but this sounded more like a wellness convention. - The New York Times

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