“Findings from the Ruderman Family Foundation’s just released effort, Disability Inclusion in Movies and Television, show that … 55% would like to see characters with disabilities portrayed authentically. … [The study also found that] viewers rank ‘diversity’ in the top five most valuable characteristics for content when disability is included in the definition.” – Los Angeles Times
Month: September 2019
Orchestras Struggling? These Regional Groups Are Doing Just Fine, Says Anne Midgette
“Are orchestras dying? These smaller groups are alive and well … The … orchestras presented below offer perhaps five programs a year, with freelance professional players, on a fraction of that budget. Yet their programming tends to be strikingly diverse in comparison with some of their larger brethren, and they all maintain strong education and outreach programs in local schools.” – The Washington Post
At 94, Director Peter Brook Still Keeps A Schedule That’s ‘Terrifying’
His career goes all the way back to 1946 at Stratford, through a 1970 Midsummer Night’s Dream and a nine-hour Mahabharata from the ’80s that arguably changed theatre history, to a new book this fall and a new stage piece, titled Why?, that he’s taking to three continents. Ben Brantley talks with the stage legend about his extraordinary career. – The New York Times
A New City-Wide Dance Festival Is Coming To Los Angeles
“Dance moguls Debbie Allen and Nigel Lythgoe are organizing a new two-week festival next spring” — titled, simply, the Los Angeles International Dance Festival — “featuring local and global companies including Ailey II, Bodytraffic, Syncopated Ladies and Heidi Duckler Dance, performing at venues across L.A. County.” – Los Angeles Times
How Problematic Is ‘Porgy And Bess’ In 2019?
Is it a sensitive portrait of a segregated Black community? Or is it a parade of stereotypes performed in embarrassing dialect? Is it a triumph of the American melting pot, with the sons of Russian Jews teaming with white Southern WASPs to tell an African-American story? Or is it a very model of cultural appropriation? Has it given Black singers valuable and (too) rare opportunities? Or has it caused them to be pigeonholed? Or is the answer to all these questions yes? – The New York Times
Eight Operas About The Black American Experience That Are By Black Composers
“Though they’ve been ignored or underheard, African-American composers have long been crafting ambitious music dramas. Some of the works cited below exist in complete editions, ready to be programmed. Others are still emerging, thanks to the work of scholars reversing decades of neglect.” – The New York Times
For The Second Time, Thieves Try And Fail To Steal An Anselm Kiefer Sculpture
Two burglars cut through a fence at the artist’s Paris property and tried to take apart one of his sculptures made from the now-removed old lead roof of Cologne Cathedral, probably to sell the metal; they were scared away by a security guard. (In 2016, thieves tried to steal another Kiefer sculpture at his suburban Paris warehouse; they didn’t cart it away, but they did serious damage.) – Yahoo! (AFP)
The Ten (Actually 14) Most-Produced Plays In The U.S. For 2019-20
It’s a list packed with ties this season: A Doll’s House, Part 2 by Lucas Hnath and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time lead with a dozen productions each, there’s a two-way tie for third place, and nine plays with eight productions each complete the roster. – American Theatre
America’s 20 Most-Produced Playwrights In 2019-20
Lauren Gunderson leads the list for the second time, this year with 33 productions. Lauren Yee is runner-up with 18, while Lucas Hnath is tied with Tennessee Williams for the third slot (17 each). In a sign of progress, women outnumber men on the list 11 to 9. – American Theatre
Silent Discos Are A Scourge!
“Much like the bubonic plague of 1347, silent disco is a blood-curdling infection that spreads across the city, carried on the back of headphone-wearing fleas! Fleas! Its biggest problem is the performed transgression of the whole experience, for which you pay a princely sum of £15. I’m not mad at the individuals taking part, for they know not what they do. I’m incensed that we live in a society where stumbling through the streets of Edinburgh half-yowling the words to YMCA (because nobody knows all the words) is someone’s idea of a good time and a rebellion. Whatever happened to imagination?” – The Guardian