When he moves to Houston in August to take on that role, he'll become one of the first Black men to lead a major arts organization in the city. Dereck Charles Livingston is taking over the role from current artistic director Kenn McLaughlin, who is retiring after 18 seasons in the role and 25 seasons at the theater. - Houston...
"Seattle Rep, the city’s preeminent regional theater company, is eliminating 17 staff positions over the course of the next several months, including the majority of its artistic, arts engagement and Public Works departments." - The Seattle Times
No matter if it's a local stage show or a major Broadway production — or if it's a comedy, musical, or drama — these long-held theater traditions and superstitions are still going strong. - Interesting Facts
And for worse. “The world of the McKittrick, we believed (or let ourselves pretend to believe), was an enchanted one; not just by the witches who herald Macbeth’s downfall, but by a stranger and more widely suffused magic.” - Slate
“‘To be a stand-up comedian in today’s world, you have to be a content machine,’ said Gianmarco Soresi, a New York-based comic with about 700,000 TikTok followers.” - The New York Times
Can funding struggling theatre help solve our disconnect? Sarah Ruhl: "We are facing a public health emergency—and we need funding from the National Institutes of Health immediately. Let’s treat theatre as a proven method to stem the tide of debilitating isolation in this country.” - American Theatre
For Hello, I’m Dolly (some of us would get tickets simply based on the title), “the star is writing new songs to go along with some of her past hits and co-writing a stage story inspired by her life.” - The Guardian (UK) (AP)
For over 20 years, co-founders Bob and Anita Farley successfully ran the company in an inner suburb of Atlanta, and they made plans to pass the reins and retire 18 months apart. But Bob suddenly died, and his successor as artistic director left town before starting the job. Then came the pandemic. - ArtsATL
Striving for a high-level experience also means embedding accuracy into the menu itself. For The Great Murder Mystery, the team at the Lost Estate spent hours researching the cuisine and cooking styles of the 1800s, with the big inspiration coming in the form of the “Gordon Ramsay of the day”, the French chef Alexis Soyer. - The Stage
Seattle’s ACT Contemporary Theatre and Seattle Shakespeare Company — two of the city’s most enduring theater companies — may soon become one entity, the companies announced Wednesday. - Seattle Times
"'Every year our expenses go up at least five percent, if not more, because we so outpace inflation,' says Ken Davenport, producer of the Neil Diamond musical A Beautiful Noise. 'So flat is terrible.'" - The Hollywood Reporter
Are subscriptions in free fall, and if so, what does that mean for the continuing health of theatres? Are subscriptions still a viable model, for either audiences or companies? - American Theatre
"(Hallie) Flanagan and her colleagues made theater an important expression of the American democratic experiment through force of will, passion, and ingenuity. And although that experiment was destroyed through a mix of reactionary perfidy and liberal wimpiness, the meaning of its story is not solely contained in its ending." - The Atlantic (MSN)
For every rave like Entertainment Weekly's ("jaw-droppingly gorgeous from start to finish"), there's a critique like this from The New York Times ("too often a misguided attempt to resuscitate the show breaks its ribs"). Director Rebecca Frecknall and stars Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin consider why. - The Washington Post (MSN)
One nonbinary Black actor who played Belle says, “I was really encouraged to do my own interpretation, ... and I got to have a say in my costumes—like, I wasn’t in a blue dress, I was in a blue jumpsuit, and wore red Doc Martens boots.” - American Theatre
