“Last year, Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s Her Naked Skin became the first play by a living female playwright ever to be staged in the National’s largest auditorium, the Olivier – a fact that, understandably, caused a stir. This year, the number of twenty something British female writers coming up through the ranks suggests the venerable theatre could soon be hosting a slew of exciting new plays by women.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
British Film Institute Restores Cache Of Films Lost 50 Years
“For some 50 years, the reels of film lay forgotten in a London garage. Now a cache of more than 30 has been discovered, showing the first performances by young actors who would go on to become some of Britain’s greatest comedians, including Peter Sellers, Prunella Scales and Ronnie Corbett. The movies, all shot in the early 1950s when Britain was trying to turn its film industry into a mini-Hollywood, have now been given to the British Film Institute (BFI) to restore.”
The Second Death Star’s ‘Return To Classical Symmetry’
“Star-Wars creator and amateur architect George Lucas has been accused of rather too closely following the designs of media magnate William Randolph Hearst’s ‘Xanadu’ Castle. He should have looked closer to home for inspiration: his Star Wars films are full of wonderful architecture. Here the Architects’ Journal selects its top ten Star Wars buildings.”
PBS Bans New (But Grandfathers Existing) Religious Shows
“The Public Broadcasting Service agreed yesterday to ban its member stations from airing new religious TV programs, but permitted the handful of stations that already carry ‘sectarian’ shows to continue doing so. The vote by PBS’s board was a compromise from a proposed ban on all religious programming.” The network had already required stations’ programming to be nonsectarian, but it had not strictly enforced that rule.
Who Ever Thought Holden Caulfield Would Make It To 76?
“’60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye,’ by J. D. California, a 33-year-old humor writer from Sweden who uses that gimmicky nom de plume, might be read as an update of sorts to [J.D.] Salinger’s 1951 classic, ‘The Catcher in the Rye,’ which has sold more than 35 million copies. The new work centers on a 76-year-old ‘Mr. C,’ the creation of a writer named Mr. Salinger.”
Endowment Deflated, NY’s Guggenheim Cuts 8% Of Staff
“The foundation that runs the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum said on Tuesday that despite record attendance, it will cut 25 positions, or 8 percent of the institution’s full-time staff. The cuts, which will involve both laying off employees and leaving positions vacant, will be made across all departments, including curators.”
Picasso Museum Director: Notebook Worthless On Market
“Anne Baldassari, the director of the Picasso Museum in Paris, has appealed for thieves to return a sketchbook by the artist that was stolen last week. ‘It’s an interesting notebook from a scholarly standpoint, as documentation,’ she said in an interview. ‘On the market, it’s worth nothing, especially since it was stolen.'”
Marketing Guru: History’s No Excuse For Cramped Seating
“Adam Kenwright, managing director of leading marketing and promotions agency AKA, has warned that London’s ‘inconvenient and deeply uncomfortable’ older theatres are deterring customers from buying tickets for West End shows. Kenwright, who has devised campaigns for hit shows including Billy Elliot the Musical, Dirty Dancing and Jersey Boys, criticised venue owners for using the historic status of buildings as an excuse for not improving the theatregoing experience for audiences.”
Legal Brief: Salinger ‘Sequel’ Author Says It’s Not A Sequel
“An author who is being sued for a coming novel that J.D. Salinger says is ‘a rip-off pure and simple’ of ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ will argue that his book is a legally protected literary commentary on Mr. Salinger’s original novel.” The author “says that his novel is not a sequel … but rather ‘a complex and undeniably transformative exposition about one of our nation’s most famous authors, J.D. Salinger, and his best known creation, Holden Caulfield.'”
Troubled Oregon Ballet Theatre Nears Fund-Raising Goal
“A special all-dance benefit has raised approximately $710,000 for the financially troubled Oregon Ballet Theater. … The ballet has until the end of its fiscal year, June 30, to raise the $750,000 it needs to close a funding gap caused by a dramatic reduction in donations and a series of Christmas-time storms that decimated crowds for its most important production, ‘The Nutcracker.'”