Author: Matthew Westphal

‘No Brits, No Chekhov Translations, No Classics’ – Broadway’s Smallest Theater Begins New American Plays Program With Nine (Diverse!) Commissions

That unequivocal statement came from Carole Rothman, the artistic director of Second Stage Theater, which, reports Michael Paulson, commissioned new works by the nine playwrights – seven of them women, three of them African-American, and one of them Asian-American – with the intention of bringing the shows to Broadway.”

‘Really Galvanised To Make Work’ – Director Sam Gold On American Theater In The Trump Era

“I think it’s made the whole community feel braver about making work that pushes people harder and gives voice to subject matter and to people that we can see being silenced under this administration. The second he was elected, the theatre community got energy and it’s a really great thing that we have a place to put our anger and our fear.”

‘The Diva Whisperer’ – Yannick Nézet-Séguin Starts Settling In At The Met

“We [conductors] are the ears of the singer. But if we tell singers to please fit into a little box that I’m trying to create … then the conductor is like a teacher, and that is not what it should be.” David Patrick Stearns does a Q&A with YNS as he prepares for the opening of The Flying Dutchman, his first production at the Metropolitan Opera since becoming music director-designate.

Neighbors Sue Tate Modern Under European Convention For Human Rights (Yes, Really)

One unexpected sight at the London museum’s new Switch House extension is a view straight into the glass-walled condos of the Neo Bankside complex, just 20 meters across the street. And visitors have been taking full advantage of that view, sharing photos of it all over social media, much to the residents’ chagrin. (The Tate has not been sympathetic.) Now five plaintiffs “claim their high-rise homes have been turned into ‘goldfish bowls’ while they have become ‘public exhibits'” – a violation of their human rights, they say.