ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

THEATRE

Adding Live Theatre To Movies Is A Hit In Western Australia

Evidently, this new blend of live theatre and film may be just what the cinema industry needs to help fight back against at-home streaming and floor-to-ceiling TVs. - ArtsHub

It’s The Playwrights Who Saved This Year’s Tony Awards

Many leading playwrights also work as screenwriters — and are thus members of the striking Writers Guild of America. When that union refused to grant a waiver for the Tony ceremony, Tony Kushner, Jeremy O. Harris, Lynn Nottage, Martyna Majok, and colleagues started working the phones. - The New York Times

Steven Spielberg Want To Make Tom Stoppard’s “Leopoldstadt” Into A Miniseries

Spielberg and his production company, Amblin Partners, "are shopping it with Patrick Marber adapting (the Closer writer/director was the play's original director when it opened in London and he directed the current Broadway incarnation also), and the series will be directed by Stephen Daldry." - Deadline

Why Naked Standup Comedy Is Finding An Audience

The most surprising aspect of “The Naked Comedy Show” might be how asexual it is. The audience is meticulously polite, quick to laugh. The jokes were less bawdy than what you might find at the Comedy Cellar. There’s even an incongruous innocence to some of the sets. - The New York Times

Upending A Sacred Broadway Tradition Brought One Musical To A Much Wider Audience

That is to say, fan videos of Six made it a megahit. The closing number was "written specifically to be recorded and shared on social media ... and turns musical theater into a full-on pop concert." - Los Angeles Times

At Least One Performer Camps All Month For The Edinburgh Fringe Fest

The money-saving measure is "not as grim as it sounds," the comedian says. But performers are almost entirely priced out of the city - how will this end? - BBC

Bay Area Children’s Theatre Suddenly Closes

The abrupt closure comes less than three weeks after the theater, known for adapting beloved books into short musicals and for devising dance parties and shows for toddlers and even infants, canceled one production and announced an emergency fundraising campaign with the goal of raising $750,000 by July 1. - San Francisco Chronicle

The Art And Practice Of Nude Standup Comedy

"Public speaking is always ranked in polls as among our greatest fears. Stand-up must be worse. But 'The Naked Comedy Show'? This monthly showcase represents the Everest of anxiety." - The New York Times

Immersive Theater Meets Mexican Masked Wrestling

Aa a joint project of the La Jolla Playhouse and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, designer David Israel Reynoso and theater company Optika Moderna have created a walk-through piece about lucha libre, the flamboyant freestyle wrestling circuit. - KPBS (San Diego)

The Ethicist: Is A Colorblind “Fiddler On The Roof” Cultural Appropriation?

As I’ve argued before, the habit of reducing the complexities of identity and culture to a matter of ownership is an artifact of our own property-rights-obsessed culture. We’ll do better to talk about “disrespect,” and disrespect isn’t the issue here. - The New York Times

This Ancient Amphitheatre Stages The Classics Of Greek Drama In Grand Style

The auditorium, carved out of a hillside in Syracuse on Sicily's southeastern coast, "seats 5,000. The stage is 27 metres wide and 44 deep; acting, direction and design are correspondingly epic. Yet ... psychological detail is still achievable even in this vast arena." - The Guardian

Tony Awards Broadcast Will Go Ahead, But Not As Usual, With OK From Writers’ Guild

"Organizers 'are altering this year’s show to conform with specific requests from the WGA, and therefore the WGA will not be picketing the show.' What is being altered was not clear, but it may be to allow a non-scripted version of the Tonys to go on." - AP

Live Tony Awards Are A Truly Depressing Casualty Of The Writers’ Strike

This isn't great for theatre: "The Tonys have long been a prestigious event for CBS, but the show itself is more important to Broadway producers, who rely on the exposure on the national network to market their productions." And they're struggling, post-COVID-19. - Los Angeles Times

Tony Awards Committee In Emergency Meetings About Writers Strike

The strike’s possible impact on this year’s Tonys, set to air and stream Sunday, June 11 on CBS and Paramount+ from the United Palace in New York City’s Washington Heights, could be huge. - Deadline

Nataki Garrett On Trying To Make Change At The Oregon Shakespeare Festival

“When you recognize the potential for something to shift, and you can see the path, then the question becomes, how do you implement a strategy where that is possible in an environment that sees any shift as radical change?" - Ashland News

Our Free Newsletter

Join our 30,000 subscribers

Latest

Don't Miss