Author: Matthew Westphal

The World’s First Computer-Generated Musical

“They have become brilliant at chess, had music performed by one of the world’s leading orchestras and seen their art enter major collections. But could a computer also generate a hit West End musical? The answer may be provided next year with the announcement of the world’s first computer musical, getting a run at the Arts Theatre accompanied by a TV series on Sky Arts.” (The music composition software used is called Android Lloyd Webber.)

Now *This* Is How To Do A Theatre Conference

“During the day, audience members could choose to attend one of three deeply audience-centric experiences, which took place variously in a pool, a bed and a cupboard. They came together for a group experience in the evening, set up to look like a panel discussion – and then a show that is usually staged by surprise in classrooms happened. By surprise.”

Here’s The Oldest Known Biography Of An African Woman – Written By Other African Women, No Less

“Walatta Petros was an Ethiopian religious leader who lived from 1592 to 1642. A noblewoman, she left her husband to lead the struggle against the Jesuits’ mission to convert Ethiopian Christians to Roman Catholicism. It was for this that the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwaḥədo Church elevated her to sainthood. [Her] story was written by her disciples in the Gəˁəz language in 1672, after her death.”

One Of Hollywood’s Very First Power Duos Was Female

“Mary Pickford was America’s original sweetheart, the ‘girl with the golden curls,’ who became an international superstar playing plucky children filled with innocent wonder. Frances Marion was a patrician sophisticate, ‘just as beautiful as the stars she wrote for,’ who was continually told that she was wasting her looks on writing. Together, they would become one of the powerhouse teams of silent Hollywood.”

How Jane Vonnegut Made Kurt A Writer

“Jane knew what her husband should do with his life: he should write. And she seems to have made it her first mission as his spouse to convince him of that. … Many of the ideas and themes that characterize Vonnegut were born in the conversation between Kurt and Jane, and throughout his career she remained a voice in the text. She was there: that was her.”

Twyla On Twyla: The 50th Anniversary Tour Wrap-Up

“After the final show on Sunday night I slept 12 hours and took Monday off. But Tuesday was time to think again about being in the studio. There is absolutely nothing glamorous about starting over again. One foot down, next foot up. Find two ideas to rub together. No judgment, just get it down. But this small daily practice is, for me, sanity, and to begin constructing a new phrase of movement is my connection to the world.”