"Duty managers are also equipped with bodycams, which – along with the training – often helps to lower the temperature when customer interactions become heated." - The Stage
"The owners of 54 Below, a popular forum for both Broadway stars and rising performers and composers, say they intend to raise close to 20 percent of an annual budget approaching $10 million from supporters ... to offer discounted tickets and subsidize artists' production costs (and) livestreaming." - The New York Times
"The defamation lawsuit Paradise Square producer Garth Drabinsky filed against Actors' Equity has been dismissed with prejudice. … Drabinsky sued the union, claiming defamation, after it placed him on its 'Do Not Work' list following his production of (the musical on Broadway)." - The Hollywood Reporter
The author of the Pulitzer-winning Fat Ham was one of a trio of revolving artistic directors who succeeded Wilma cofounder Blanka Zizka in 2020. When Ijames departs this summer, Lindsay Smiling will join Morgan Green and Yury Urnov as co-artistic directors. - MSN (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
"I got the gig of a lifetime. There's no other way to describe it," says Richard Poole, who's been a member of the ensemble, playing small roles, for almost 25 years. - NPR
"The audience, which included Lin-Manuel Miranda, cheered not only the entrance of each principal performer, but also the first sightings of signature props, including the monkey music box and, of course, the chandelier." - The New York Times
"CTG seems to have received the message that local knowledge of a sprawling, culturally complex city is necessary to rebuilding the communal connection that had been fraying for years." - Los Angeles Times
"It’s meant to give people that beautiful release and time together as an audience, getting to have a really good time in the theatre. But then also, to choose your metaphor, to have the uranium rods for afterwards. ... I’m trying to make these things all exist together." - American Theatre
How is the DC theatre doing? Well, each production is "either a boffo hit, with tons and tons of people, or it’s small audiences." Some shows are good, "but they weren’t events. That seems to be the thing that’s drawing people out of their pajamas right now." - American Theatre
The recent stories about Williamstown and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival have thrown some serious structural issues into relief. "Quality theatre ... is not in question, but whether quality theatre is enough of a reason for an organization to be nonprofit in any particular community is." - Wratchford Group
"The deal comes after the union, which represents more than 51,000 stage managers and actors, had announced a strike threat against the Broadway League, which represents industry producers, presenters and general managers, on April 3, at which time a resolution seemed far off." - The Hollywood Reporter
This fall, Columbia College Chicago will begin a yearlong, graduate-level program in stage and screen intimacy, leading to a certificate — the first of its kind, it says, offered at an accredited American college or university. - Chicago Sun-Times
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival announced a campaign Tuesday to raise $2.5 million to “save” the season set to begin later this month and said it was suspending its planning for 2024 as it seeks to stabilize its finances. - The Oregonian
Editor Gemma Jones said the Fringe launched a “rival” review website with “an almost identical format and functionality as our ‘Tiser Fringe Adviser”, a decision she said undermined “our ability to find an audience” for similar content. - Crikey
"Dallas Theater Center will lay off an undisclosed number of staff, it announced Tuesday, a cost-cutting measure that comes as the organization has struggled to rebound from the pandemic and its chilling effect on attendance. The layoffs take effect in May." - MSN (The Dallas Morning News)
