“It was a ragged little affair, taking place at first dark, after an afternoon of beer and hot dogs and participatory firecrackers and bottle rockets, ending with a bonfire of cleared brush. People liked it. I resolved to top it the next year, and that became a rule: ever bigger, ever better. (The final show, in 2015, was colossal. Ask anybody.)”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Oslo’s Opera House In Financial Crisis
“Playing out behind the sleek, elegant lines of Oslo’s Opera House is a financial crisis so dramatic that it prompted Opera management to close the publicly owned building to the public itself last weekend, in order to rent it out for a ‘considerable’ sum for a private wedding. Now that’s stirring additional drama as well.”
Too Darn Hot: Why White-Hero-In-The-Jungle Movies Just Won’t Go Away (It’s Not Only About Colonialist Myth)
“Jungle films have never really toed the ideological line of these colonial creation myths, however. They’ve always been more interested in getting bums on seats – and on screens, if possible. When pondering Tarzan’s enduring screen popularity, the potential for depicting male beefcake cannot be discounted. Acting skills are a bonus for the role; a great physique is non-negotiable.”
‘In The Zone’: When ADHD Becomes ‘Flow
“Writers, entrepreneurs, and creative leaders of all types know that intense focus that happens when you’re ‘in the zone’: You’re feeling empowered, productive, and engaged. Psychologists might call this flow, the experience of zeroing in so closely on some activity that you lose yourself in it. And this immersive state, as it turns out, also happens to be something that some adults with ADHD commonly experience.”
Samurai Spirit: The Exit Interview Of Signature Theater’s Founding Artistic Director
“On his last day as the leader of Signature, [James] Houghton – his voice raspy from recent chemotherapy but still suffused with passion – sat down to reflect on the origins and evolution of his theater. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.”
Can A Neon Mural Help Clean Up A High-Crime Alley? South Philly’s Finding Out
“The Electric Street [is] an illuminated neon mural … down the block from the iconic cheesesteak spots Pat’s and Geno’s, in an alleyway hidden by the unusual curve of the block. … Sam Albright, who owns one of the houses covered by the mural … said he’s already noticing more people on the block – to take pictures, not to buy drugs.”
Fifth-Century Mosaics Of Bible Scenes Found In Ancient Synagogue
“Archaeologists excavating a Roman-era synagogue at the site of Huqoq, Israel, have uncovered two new panels of a mosaic floor with instantly identifiable subjects – Noah’s ark, and the parting of the Red Sea during the Israelite exodus from Egypt.”
It’s Time To Start Performing Operas With Cuts Again, Say David Gockley And Esa-Pekka Salonen (Among Others)
Performing operas with cuts was common practice until the mid-20th century, as performing Shakespeare, for instance, is today. So, the argument goes, returning to the practice now is hardly as heretical as it might seem. “I don’t think we can any longer fail to hear what our audience is saying about length,” says Gockley.
Opera Omaha Music Director Pleads No Contest To Stealing $113K From His Mother
John C. Gawf had power of attorney for his mother, who suffers from dementia, and he wrote himself checks from her account to pay gambling debts and credit card bills.
Actors With Disabilities Say It’s Time To Start Casting Them In Disabled Roles
“Recent conversations around this issue, in film and television as well as in theater, have become more contentious, with comparisons often drawn to traditions of blackface. As the journalist Frances Ryan wrote … last year, ‘Perhaps it is time to think before we next applaud ‘cripping up.’ Disabled people’s lives are more than something for non-disabled actors to play at.'”