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THEATRE

A 30-Hour, Three-Day Theatre Piece Staged On A Three-Ton Ice Block Suspended Over Sydney Harbor

The work, titled Thaw and conceived by physical theatre company Legs on the Wall and Alaskan composer Matthew Burtner, "features an acrobatic performer balancing, grasping and watching her frozen home melt away." (Yes, it's about climate change.) - The Sydney Morning Herald

A New Molière Play (?!) At The Comédie-Française For The Playwright’s 400th Anniversary

The world's oldest operating theatre company has pieced together what it says is the original version of Tartuffe, premiered in 1664 and promptly suppressed by the enraged Catholic Church; it was the playwright's overhauled version of 1669 which became the classic we know today. - The Guardian

American Shakespeare Center Names A New Director

Brandon Carter, a resident actor with ASC since 2018, assumes the directorship in a new management structure that the company describes as “a coequal group of individuals” running other departments such as operations, production and engagement. - Washington Post

Broadway Producers And Unions Are Not On The Same Page About Omicron Cancellations

We're not all in this together, clearly. The Broadway League "proposed to the unions representing Broadway workers that those workers take a 50 percent pay cut during so-called 'COVID pauses.'" That's not going well. - The Daily Beast

Oscar Winning Actor Mark Rylance Very Much Prefers Theatre To Film

Hey, there's money, and then there's art. Rylance: "Theatre is so flexible and it’s so different from being an actor in a film. It’s a thousand times more enjoyable." - The Guardian (UK)

Starring In ‘Wit’ While Dealing With Terminal Cancer

Erin Cronican says, "It’s a very complicated acting challenge. In rehearsals when I open up, I just start crying. We don’t want to create that situation where I’m so fragile all the time." And omicron has made it all so much more fraught. - American Theatre

When A Critic Can’t Resist The Pull Of One Favorite Play

This New York Times critic didn't set out to see Caroline, or Change seven times. It just kind of happened. - The New York Times

Sidney Poitier Changed Hollywood, But Also Broadway

"When he returned to Broadway in 1959 for the premiere of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, he was already famous" - and the play might not have been mounted without him. - Los Angeles Times

What It’s Like To Be A Chicago Software Engineer Dropped Into An Emergency Role On Broadway

File this under Covid stories: A woman who performed with Wicked's national tour and Broadway ensemble as Elphaba's understudy but left theatre in 2015 got the call in late December, flew to New York, and stepped into the cast. - Vulture

Why Lynn Nottage Looks On The Bright Side

"The two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (Ruined, Sweat, Clyde's) breaks down her remarkable career and shares how, as an optimist at heart, she finds the light and resilience in unexpected stories." (audio) - WNYC (New York City)

Two New York Times Theater Critics Butt Heads (Their Term) Over The Fall Season

To be sure, Jesse Green and Maya Phillips disagree in a most collegial and cordial manner. Indeed, they value their disagreement (not least because it took them a while to find some). - The New York Times

Broadway Box Office Rebounds but Still Struggling

Box office rebounded, climbing to $26 million from Christmas Week’s grim, Covid-decimated $14 million. That’s an overall, week-to-week increase of 87%, and reflects a tally largely in keeping with recent pre-Christmas Week figures. - Deadline

Actors’ Equity Has A New Union Organizer, And She’s Got Plans

The union didn't even have an organizing department until 2017, and it has just created the post of Mobilization Director. Stefanie Frey, a stage manager by trade, has been involved in many of the gains Equity has negotiated in recent years. - Observer (New York City)

Why Are Some Comedians In China Performing In English?

It's not (or not just) to try to fly under the censors' radar. (video) - BBC

Under The Radar Festival Is Canceled

The Public announced the cancellation on Twitter today. Considered one of the top international theater festivals focusing on new work, Under The Radar 2022 had been set to run from Jan. 12-30. - Deadline

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