“The theatre is, of course, halfway through a world tour of Hamlet, which it hopes will visit every country on the planet … [The DPRK government] apparently contacted Shakespeare’s Globe to say its production could go ahead, but only if the play involved music, dancing and acrobatics.” Says artistic director Dominic Dromgoole, “There is a limited amount of music, dancing and acrobatics in Hamlet.”
Archaeologists Unearth 2,300-Year-Old Board Game In China
The game, called bo or liubo, “includes a 14-face die carved from an animal tooth, 21 rectangular game pieces featuring painted numbers, and a broken tile – ‘decorated with two eyes, which are surrounded by cloud-and-thunder patterns’ – that once made up part of the game board.”
Why I Believed That Dumb Thomas-Pynchon-Is-Dead Hoax
Scott Timberg: “A sudden, unexplained announcement of just about anything involving Pynchon makes more sense than the equivalent involving almost any other writer. The most obvious reason is because Pynchon is a recluse: The details of his life are better known today … but for a long time, even Pynchon zealots were not quite sure where he was. … The Internet’s combination of mystery and conspiratorial nonsense makes it the perfect vehicle for puzzling news about the writer.”
Miami City Ballet Turns 30, And Here’s How It Has Grown
“Today it’s one of America’s leading companies: together with San Francisco, Pacific Northwest and Boston—Houston, some would say—it ranks in artistic success and national recognition right behind The Big Two: New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. In other words, it’s a miracle.”
How Freeways Destroyed American Cities
Urban freeways displaced communities and created air and noise pollution in downtown areas. They made it easier for suburban commuters to “zip to their suburban homes at the end of the work day, encouraging those with means to abandon the urban core.”
Renowned Artist: Digital Images Lie
“Don McCullin, one of the world’s finest photographers of war and disaster, said the digital revolution meant viewers could no longer trust the truthfulness of images they see.”
How Adele Got Millions Of People To Buy Her New Album
Adele appears to have activated millions of customers for whom making a purchase is viewed as a sign of devotion and support for the artist they love.
Safety Issue: Portland School Cancels Dance
A Portland Public Schools official says dancing has made some students feel unsafe.
Lack Of Diversity: Women Playwrights
In San Diego last summer, at the national conference of the Dramatists Guild, the results of a major research project called “The Count” found that of some 2,500 productions sampled nationwide, only about 22 percent were of works by female writers.
How Many Books In The NY Public Library?
In just the past decade, vexingly different figures have been reported — 1.8 million in The New York Times in 2009, four million by The Associated Press in 2013.
The Precarious Lot Of Museum Education Workers
“Perhaps the most glaring incongruity to educators’ employment is that while they are crucial to the museums’ long-term public engagement, these are freelancers, hourly waged workers-for-hire who lack the job security of a full-time, salaried position.”
When Will TV Get Terrorism Right?
“There’s been no shortage of writers and actors who have been willing to go to difficult places and wrestle with moral quandaries in the past decade or two, but when will TV begin to robustly confront the evils that ideological struggles have brought us in recent months and years?”
Project Aims To Recreate Famous Art In 3D For Blind People
The Unseen Art project aims to approach 3D artists to contribute interpretations of famous artworks, which could then be downloaded for free and printed out anywhere there is a 3D printer.
Why Are People Paying For Adele’s New Album?
“Album sales are profitable, but they are not the future of the music business—streaming is. Could it be possible that the record business, pursuing a strategy of inflating sales by keeping an album off Spotify, Apple Music, or Deezer, is choosing short-term profits over long-term growth?”
Funding Shift: UK Arts Orgs Now Raising Almost As Much From Donations As From Government
Fundraising income is catching up with public funding as a source of income for Arts Council England’s (ACE) National Portfolio Organisations.
Do Arts Workers Need A Union?
“When the choice comes down to sacrificing the quality of a product, or sacrificing the physical and mental well-being of the laborers who make that product, there needs to be someone looking out for the workers.”
Reinventing A Venerable Venue For Musicals
Although the organization is financially stable (thanks in no small part to a $23 million endowment, one of the largest for a regional theater in America), the size of the main theater (398 seats) severely limits how much the theater can generate in ticket sales, even though it has the largest subscription base in the state at 15,000. So it has to depend on other revenue streams.
Subscribers Deserting Disney TV Networks
“Disney’s cable TV channels in general have been losing subscribers for two years running, presumably as consumers cord-cut or cord-shave, taking much of their viewing online with Hulu, Netflix and others.”
Met Museum Reconcieves The Whitney’s Old Home
“On March 18, the museum will unveil the Met Breuer, better known as the former home of the Whitney Museum of American Art. The Met’s annexation of the building prompted an initial burst of skepticism.”
Canadian TV Is Screwed
“For now. The old advertising model has been shattered and nobody knows what the looming pick-and-pay change is going to do to the specialty channel menu.”
Diversity Check: The Politics Are Changing
“With growing public awareness and news stories about transgender people, an online petition to boycott the film had gathered 10,000 signatures by Tuesday morning, saying the “cartoonish mockery… was the modern equivalent of using blackface” – white people blacking up to mock black people.”