“[W]ithin his body of often-dismissed films there is a submerged narrative of unrealized potential and unexplored talent. Amid the flotsam are films with talented directors and actors in which Presley showed glimpses of startling sincerity and emotion, a true actor in the making.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
An Endowment At Last For American Conservatory Theater
Last year, the San Francisco theatre “cut its budget by approximately $1.5 million … and eliminated three high-level positions, including its associate artistic director.” But “ACT said today that it has established its first-ever endowment — the result of a five-year effort,” which “has raised close to $31 million.”
P.D. James Politely Eviscerates BBC Honcho On The Air
“[T]he 89-year-old crime writer’s forensic questions about his executives’ pay packets reduced [BBC director-general Mark Thompson] to a ‘stuttering wreck’, as one observer put it. … The writer may be elderly but her mind is, by one account, ‘as sharp as a cleaver’.”
Does Boston’s MFA Have A Newly Discovered Da Vinci?
“Art experts say it’s the equivalent of stumbling upon a surprise Shakespeare play or a lost Homeric epic. At this point, we have only a tantalizing mystery — perhaps the unspooling of a new Da Vinci code — dangling on the slender thread of secrets and a handful of clues….”
What Differentiates Publishers From E-Book Distributors
“In this increasingly virtual age of open access and universal availability, it’s important for readers to keep in mind what it is that a publisher does for an author. A publisher … selects, nurtures, positions and promotes the writer’s work. An e-book distributor is not a publisher, but rather a purveyor of work that has already been created.”
Cleveland Orchestra May Strike
“On the eve of 2010, the orchestra’s administration announced that the musicians had terminated the month-to-month extension under which they’ve been playing since September, and that as of midnight, no plan would be in place to pay the artists for work scheduled to begin Tuesday.”
Rule #1: ‘If You Want To Be A Great Writer, Be A Man’
How to change the fact that male writers and subjects are seen as inherently more laudable than female writers and subjects? “First, we have to see prejudice. The top prizes’ discrimination against women has been largely ignored. We can’t ignore it any longer. PW hasn’t yet owned up. Neither has the Pulitzer committee — though there’s hope.”
Is Balanchine Weighing Down Ballet?
A dozen dance professionals offer opinions, including this from Virginia Johnson, Dance Theatre of Harlem’s new artistic director: “Balanchine is the gold standard, but we have to let some green shoots come up somewhere.”
Michael Kaiser: If We Lower Prices, Audiences Will Come
“When we increase prices, typically at budget time, we hope that a small increase will not be noticeable and we need the added revenue to break even. However, we have been doing this for so long that tickets prices are now too high for many people to afford regularly. … No wonder so many people have stopped going to performances.”
Katherine Paterson To Be Named Ambassador Of Kid Lit
As national ambassador for young people’s literature, the Newbery Medal-winning author of “Bridge to Terabithia” “will travel the country to speak to children, parents, teachers and librarians. The main advice she’ll be giving adults: Read aloud to your children.”