How can we fix this? Gloucester, England, has one (extremely dreamy) idea - give artists money, and tell them you don’t expect an outcome. “This is about dreaming and developing and forming relationships and partnerships, and those things take time.” - The Stage (UK)
During the 1930s, the Communist regime in Moscow set up Russian-style puppet theaters in the republics as a way to impart Socialist principles to children. In the Kazakh SSR, puppets caught on, especially when doing traditional stories, and the troupe in Almaty, no longer Communist, survives to this day. - History Today
“At a time when costs for Broadway shows continue to rise … the necessity is producers so committed to projects and their potential to find audience favour that they will fight conventional wisdom to give shows the opportunity for recognition and financial success.” - The Stage (UK)
The Bristol Old Vic says its ticket sales are up one third over last year, but ever-rising costs and the loss of grants from Bristol City Council (not to mention uncertainty over Arts Council England funding) mean it may need to cut back both its mainstage productions and community/educational work. - BBC
That is, until it opened. “The muted response to the show itself suggests that fewer British people are riled by the debate than the media coverage implies — or at least that when activists engage with potentially inflammatory art, outrage can quickly vanish.” - The New York Times
He says he stockpiled plays during the COVID lockdowns; he's had readings of two in the past two years, has another getting a full staging next year, and yet another sketched out for 2026. "I guess the full total is getting near to 100." - The Guardian
“I basically grew up watching this theatre, in many different inner iterations, creating work along the way, especially the new plays, which is what kept me here. It was too good of an opportunity to leave. To meet with living playwrights? Come on! It was the best.” - American Theatre
How did The Great Gatsby get excitement for its cast album flowing? TikTok, of course - and also YouTube, Instagram, and X/Twitter, not to mention a party for influencers on all of these channels. Brand strategy: Snag the kids now, and it’ll pay off later. - The New York Times
One program delivered lazy, sexist jokes and couldn’t be trained out of its ways. So that’s going great - but researchers keep saying it will improve. - BBC
David Henry Hwang wondered that, too. Yet he's part of an impressive team working on a show about the Large Hadron Collider and the discovery of the Higgs boson. "It took a year to get my head around how to tell this story," Hwang said. - The New York Times
This past weekend, the Goodman Theatre called off two performances of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil just before curtain time. On Saturday they couldn't round up enough understudies to cover all the sick cast members; on Sunday they had the same problem with backstage crew. - Chicago Tribune
Domingo wanted someone rooted in stagecraft to help as he made the film. Specifically, he “wanted his best friend, his San Francisco theatrical co-conspirator Sean San José, a San Mateo resident who co-founded Campo Santo ... and is currently director of San Francisco’s Magic Theatre.” - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
Ashley Park is now in-demand on Netflix - but says the theatre’s the thing, even if it’s not Broadway. “I love community theater and high school theater youth groups — really any time I get to witness storytelling in its most pure and honest form.” - The New York Times
