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THEATRE

Can The Edinburgh Fringe Be Saved?

Whether it is the spiralling cost of attending and the inequality that engenders, or the persistent abuse of low-paid labour, or the event’s environmental impact, or the damage it does to its host city, it frequently feels as if the world’s largest arts festival is falling apart at the seams. - The Stage

The Incredibly Complicated Cultural Calculations Of Broadway’s “Here Lies Love”

Yes, the show is certainly a flag for innovative theatre in its use of space and immersivity. But there have been persistent critiques in both the Philippines and U.S. media that Here Lies Love is not only authored by a white man, but that it essentially glorifies tyranny and Imelda. - American Theatre

Historical Novelist Philippa Gregory Is Writing Her First Play, A Rehabilitation Of Richard III

"Gregory's play opens, aptly enough, with Richard bursting up from his grave in a Leicester car park to challenge the way his reputation has been smeared. Tackling his notoriety head-on, the maligned king at last has the chance to explain his reign." - The Observer (UK)

Well, There’s One Big Show Business Event Unscathed By The Hollywood Strikes: Montreal’s Just For Laughs Festival

"To be sure, stand-up artists gathered in Montreal like summer camp for their industry have been looking with great interest to the stalled contract talks in Hollywood between actors and writers and North American producers for settlements. But their livelihoods aren't necessarily riding on the outcomes." - The Hollywood Reporter

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley Names New Director

Giovanna Sardelli will serve as the company’s artistic director, after a brief turn in the position on an interim basis following the departure of artistic director Tim Bond, who left to take the reins of Oregon Shakespeare Festival. - American Theatre

NYT’s Michael Paulson Talks About What He Found About The State Of Theatre In Talking To 72 Theatre Leaders

Theater has some particular vulnerabilities — it’s a niche art form, and a lot of nonprofits pride themselves on developing new work, which means a show sometimes has a title or is by an artist that audiences don’t yet know. - The New York Times

Here’s One Market Where Theaters Aren’t Giving Up On The Subscription Model

"Yet despite these (shrinking) numbers, subscriptions are here to stay, say Bay Area theater leaders, partly because the basic numbers don't tell the whole story." - MSN (San Francisco Chronicle)

Emperor Nero’s Theater Has Been Discovered In Rome

"Archaeologists said Wednesday that the ruins of Nero’s Theater, an imperial theater referred to in ancient Roman texts but never found, have been discovered under the garden of a future Four Seasons Hotel steps from the Vatican." - AP

“Here Lies Love”: Inside The 20-Year Journey Of David Byrne’s Imelda Marcos Disco Musical To Broadway

"Democracy, it's been said, isn't easy. Neither is examining its terrible fragility through the form of a deeply fun, fairly avant-garde song-and-dance show. … Does real democracy stand a chance, if old-school authoritarianism has a good beat and you can dance to it?" - Variety

America’s Theatre Crisis – Why Now?

So why has our theatre field contracted so precipitously in the past few months, with casualties recorded at every kind of theatre while at the same time many theatres, and not just on Broadway, continue to post encouraging box-office numbers and seem to be carrying on more or less as before? - American Theatre

Seattle Repertory Theatre Hires A New Artistic Director

Dámaso Rodríguez was artistic director at Portland’s Artists Repertory Theatre for nine years before stepping down in 2021. He co-founded Los Angeles troupe Furious Theatre in 2002 and worked as associate artistic director at Pasadena Playhouse, where Furious Theatre had a longtime residency. - Seattle Times

It Costs Performers Thousands To Play The Edinburgh Fringe

A reporter talks to an independent theatre company director, a standup comedian, and an acting duo; they're spending between £7,746 (the solo comic) and £22,000. They won't earn it back, but says one, "We should end up with tour dates for 2024. That’s why you go. It's an investment." - The Guardian

Can Cirque Du Soleil Make Itself Exciting To Gen Z? And Can It Move Merch?

"After filing for bankruptcy protection in 2020, Cirque decided it had to be more than just a circus. It wanted to be a brand, something that could sell perfumes, sunglasses, tote bags and video games. So over the past year the circus brought in consultants ..." - The New York Times

The Deep Crisis In The United States’s Regional Theatres

"'It’s impossible not to be distraught about the state of the field,' said Christopher Moses, an artistic director of the Alliance Theater in Atlanta. 'It’s clear this is the hardest time to be producing nonprofit theater, maybe in the history of the nonprofit movement.'" - The New York Times

The Camelot Star Transmitting Shakespeare Skills Between The Acts

"The earliest of Matthews’s Shakespeare workshops for fellow cast members was in 2001, for ... Romeo and Juliet in Los Angeles. He also held the classes for the Broadway production of To Kill a Mockingbird and has led them for the Actors Center in New York." - The New York Times

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