Laura Collins-Hughes interviews four young performers who were just about to start living their dream when COVID shut Broadway down. (The youngest of them, now 13, spent months worrying that his voice would change or he would outgrow his role.) - The New York Times
"Their work is just as dangerous and exciting as the bull riders they're employed to protect. Working in teams, their job is to distract an enraged bull from attacking the rider who's just been catapulted to the dirt." - Texas Highways
Charles McNulty, in Los Angeles, says yes, but: "Anticipating the stress of the new COVID-19 protocols, I forgot the old stresses, the lunatic driving at Hollywood and Vine, the $25 parking fee ('credit card only, please'). The woman sitting behind me returned after intermission with a bag of potato chips." - Los Angeles Times
Winfrey is narrator for the audio and video components of a multi-million-dollar campaign across print, broadcast, and social media to convince COVID-wary audience members to go ahead and see a show. - The New York Times
With the Delta variant on the rise in the city, many Melbourne-based actors who had been performing in Sydney were contractually obligated to their shows. Now theatres are closed, the border between New South Wales and Victoria states has slammed shut, and they're stuck. - The Guardian
"The GPT-3 system argued (in the article) that humans had nothing to fear from robots. Kwame Kwei-Armah, artistic director of the Young Vic, read it and felt inspired." A year later, GPT-3 is now co-author and co-star of the Young Vic's current show. - The Guardian
“A theater is best expressed by the work it initiates. I think it’s really important that we not just bring in the great work but that we make the great work. We haven’t even begun to express the city and its fullness.” - Los Angeles Times
"And so the question looms: How much longer can these companies stay afloat financially? With pandemic funding drying up, 99-seat theaters are scrambling to stay on track with reopenings that were planned during better days." - Los Angeles Times
"The Edinburgh festival fringe has launched a £7.5m emergency appeal after it lost millions of pounds during the COVID pandemic. … (The Fringe) was entirely shut down in 2020 and this year has operated at a fifth of its normal size." - The Guardian
"The laser focus on a director’s vision is problematic. It sets the director up as a prophet rather than a leader. It focuses on a destination, an imagined end goal, and not on the journey." - Howlround
The Free Southern Theater was founded by members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee to travel around 1960s Mississippi, performing for poor Black farmers to let them know about the battle to secure their right to vote. - American Theatre
The agreement commits Broadway and its touring productions not only to the types of diversity training and mentorship programs that have become common in many industries, but also to a variety of sector-specific changes. The New York Times
Yeah, hello, déjà vu: "Signature Theater, a prominent Off Broadway nonprofit, has postponed its return to the stage over concerns about the persistent coronavirus pandemic, becoming the first major New York theater to take such a step." - The New York Times
