THEATRE

A Kentucky High School’s Production Of “Ragtime: Was Abruptly Cancelled. Then Broadway Spoke Up.

Last week the principal of Louisville’s performing arts high school told the cast and crew that the school district had cancelled their production due to community concerns about subject matter. The students posted a video online; it quickly tallied a million views — including by members of the current Broadway team. - Playbill

Georgia Ensemble Theatre In Metro Atlanta Quietly Shuts Down

“The company opened in 1992 at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center, served thousands of patrons over the years and collaborated with a ‘who’s who’ of area performers. On April 19 of this year, the Board of Trustees decided to close the company with no fanfare and no public statement.” - ArtsATL

Could More Movie-Theatre Versions Of Broadway Shows Fix The Bottom Line?

While filmed Broadway shows have long been the province of PBS’ Great Performances, cinematic releases of stage shows is a growing trend. - Playbill

Jonathan Bailey Follows Ariana Grande In Withdrawing From West End Revival Of “Sunday In The Park With George”

In January, London’s Barbican Centre and Empire Street Productions confirmed plans to stage the Sondheim musical, with Marianne Elliott directing these two stars, in summer 2027. Grande announced last month that she was pulling out; with Bailey following her lead, the future of the production is uncertain. - Deadline

Today in Great Jobs: Casting Director Who Chooses The Series Of Actors Starring In “Oh, Mary!”

Henry Russell Bergstein: “I think all these performers that we've had play the role are very different. But at heart, they have a sort of … I don't know if the word wacky and access to wackiness is the right thing, but they also all have incredible acting chops.” - NPR

Is Regional Theatre Really In Trouble?

The idea has taken root that venues outside of London are in perpetual crisis. Standstill funding has affected all theatres but the retreat by local authorities from funding the arts has had a significant impact on theatres outside the capital. - The Stage

How Being A Theatre Usher Changed Me

Looking back, having lived and experienced life and now nearing 40, that place felt like a cradle. Being an usher cracked open my heart to the beauty of humans experiencing art and I had the privilege of watching along with them. - The Guardian

Why Silicon Valley Has Embraced Theatre

Silicon Valley’s embrace of improvisation and theater is also part of its much bigger and more longstanding philosophical tendency to treat reality, play, perception and performance as essentially interchangeable. - The New York Times

Edinburgh Fringe Attendance Figures Are Nearing Pre-COVID Levels

The festival sold or distributed over 2.8 million tickets in 2026, up nearly 8% from last year and approaching the 3 million sold in 2019. This despite the fact that attendance fell sharply during the festival’s final week. Saturday 17 August set an all-time record for single-day attendance — more than 164,000. - BBC (Yahoo!)

“Six” To Close On Broadway After Five-Year Run

Attendance and grosses have fallen from the show’s early highs, with the show playing to 50- to 60-percent capacity this spring, but the production has seen a relatively long, healthy run on Broadway, as the 40th longest running show in its history. - The Hollywood Reporter

How An Aging Actor With Dementia Does Samuel Beckett

One might argue that Beckett is the perfect playwright for an actor with that condition to perform — especially when the play is Krapp’s Last Tape, which Peter Marinker is preparing to do this week. Here’s how he, along with the director and crew at London’s Cockpit Theatre, are making it work. - BBC (MSN)

A Ukrainian “Odyssey” — Kyiv Theater Reimagines Homer Amid Today’s War

The play, titled Odysseus, Maeotis (an ancient name for the Sea of Azov), is performed by a mix of professional actors and active-duty soldiers. Says serviceman Daniil Mireshkin, who plays Odysseus. “This combination of myth and modernity allows us to … understand just how critical the question of return is.” - AP

Worries Over The Unrealities Of Social Media Echo Ancient Greek Fears Over Theatre

As research, including my own, into this breadth of ancient media production has developed over time, one theme has emerged again and again: as theatrical performance grew into a cultural staple, it was accompanied by the fear that just as art imitates life, so art could overcome reality itself. - The Conversation

For Its Latest Production, Berlin’s “People’s Stage” Installed A Public Pool. It Became A Culture-War Flashpoint.

“In less than a month (at the Volksbühne), the pool has become a window to the rising power of right-wing online media outlets in Germany, underscored debates over who has the right to cool off in public, … and revealed fundamental changes in Berlin’s working class.” - The New York Times

The NEA Has Survived. But At What Cost?

The generally inoffensive nature of these selections seems to reveal an agency that has trimmed its sails (not only financially) and ceded ground to conservative demands in order to survive. - American Theatre

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