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THEATRE

Lin-Manuel Miranda And Phylicia Rashad Head To Capitol Hill To Lobby For Theatre

The event, hosted by the Professional Non-Profit Theater Coalition, is poised to “shine a spotlight on the challenges facing the theater industry, showcase the value and importance of professional non-profit theater, and call on Congress to save American theater.” - The Hill

Leading Avant-Garde Theater Directors Are Turning To The Musicals Of Andrew Lloyd Webber (?!?)

Ivo van Hove is bringing his video-heavy style to Jesus Christ Superstar in Amsterdam. Jamie Lloyd (loves Pinter, hates scenery) is staging Sunset Boulevard in London. Sammi Cannold's feminist Evita played Boston and D.C. Bill Rauch and Zhailon Levingston are turning Cats into a queer drag ball. - The New York Times

Juilliard’s Acting MFA Program Will Become Tuition-Free

The change, which takes effect in fall 2024, "follows other acting programs that have stopped charging tuition, including the Yale School of Drama, which became tuition free for all students in the school starting in 2021 after a $150 million gift from David Geffen." - The Hollywood Reporter

How Sondheim’s Last (Incomplete) Musical Made It To The Stage

How did a show that Team Sondheim suggested was incomplete at the time of his death get to a point where it was ready for public consumption? - The New York Times

Frank Lloyd Wright Designed Only One Theatre. It’s Fallen Into Disrepair

The building represents Wright’s decades-long fascination with a concept he called the “New Theatre.” It involved eschewing the traditional setup, with a proscenium stage—in which audiences stare straight ahead with a single, framed view—and instead creating a circular, revolving stage that joined the actors and audience in a more unified space. - Texas Monthly

Some US Regional Theater Companies Are Bouncing Back Well From The Pandemic. Here’s Why.

How the Barter Theatre in rural southwestern Virginia, Signature Theatre in metro DC, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, and TheatreSquared in Fayetteville, Arkansas kept up contact and engagement with their communities through the lockdowns and afterward. - AP

Portland’s Artist Repertory Theatre Pauses – Audiences Down 20-50 Percent

“So when people attend, they engage, they connect and then they give. So when the audience isn’t coming back, isn’t seeing the shows, then they’re not as motivated or connected to make that additional donation.” - Oregon Public Broadcasting

Actors’ Equity Moves To Unionize Broadway Production Assistants

"Many PAs, the union (says), are early-career stage managers, and PAs 'are among the only Broadway workers without current union representation.' The new bargaining unit includes both current PAs working on about ten productions as well as about 100 who have worked on Broadway the last two years." - Deadline

After 33 Years, André Bishop Announces Retirement From Lincoln Center Theater

"Bishop, 74, said he is choosing to leave at the end of the 2024-25 season because that is when his current contract (as producing artistic director) ends, and because that will allow him to join in that season's celebrations of Lincoln Center Theater’s 40th anniversary." - The New York Times

David Mamet Famously Can’t Stand Critics

Actor Shia LaBeouf personally invited critics to a new Mamet production anyway. - Los Angeles Times

The Babysitting Nonprofit Helping Parents Go To Broadway Shows

"Helping people in theater take care of their children is part of core mission — an early initiative was hiring babysitters to watch children at auditions. Then the leadership realized that theater artists need audiences." - NPR

Female Comics Say Russell Brand Is The Tip Of The Iceberg In Comedy

Six years on from the #MeToo movement, they say there remains a culture of misogyny and male privilege in the comedy industry that emboldens predators and prevents women from speaking out. - The Guardian

After Going Dark This Year, Cal Shakes Will Be Back In 2024 For Its Golden Anniversary

"California Shakespeare Theater plans to produce a show of its own in 2024, after operating exclusively as a rental house this year. The production, As You Like It, ... will mark the company's 50th anniversary and run Sept. 12-29 at the Bruns Amphitheater in Orinda." - MSN (San Francisco Chronicle)

The Eddie Redmayne “Cabaret” Will Be Broadway’s Most Expensive Revival Ever

The budget is $24.25 million, and the box office will have to take in $1,2 million a week just to pay running costs — an intimidating prospect even for a Kander & Ebb revival, and their shows (e.g., Chicago) tend to do very well on Broadway. - Broadway Journal

The Critic Who Was Repeatedly Bopped On The Head With A Playbill (And Other Tales Of Audience Members Acting Out)

In yet another article pegged to Lauren Boebert getting thrown out of Beetlejuice: The Musical in Denver this month, former Chicago Tribune critics Nina Metz and Michael Phillips trade anecdotes and offer don't-do-this behavior tips for patrons. - Yahoo! (Chicago Tribune)

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