On a hilltop miles away from the city I love, I’ve decided to look at Paul Taylor & Company — An Artist and his Work, a 1968 film directed by Ted Steeg. 1968! My choice was partly personal … – Deborah Jowitt
Author: Matthew Westphal
Introducing the Hilary Teachout Grant
To help artists who, because of the coronavirus havoc, are finding it ever harder to stay afloat, the painter Makoto Fujimura and his International Arts Movement have launched the Hilary Teachout Grant (named after my beloved wife), an emergency relief grant for performing and other artists. – Terry Teachout
Lee Konitz, 1927-2020
Using aspects of phrasing, rhythm and tonal quality adapted from the great Lester Young, Konitz in the 1940s developed into one of the most distinctive saxophonists in jazz. – Doug Ramsey
Watching Mark Morris Create And Rehearse A Piece For Zoom
“What is a choreographer without a stage but a sad clown of God at a time like this? So Morris has retooled himself as a filmmaker. … There is a certain hallucinatory, Fellini-esque quality to this scene, where a giant of the dance world struggles to master the same awkward video technology that remote office workers are using to teleconference. And where top dancers are limited to a few feet of floor space and bad lighting, using bathroom doors as stage wings.” – The Washington Post
Who Are American Theatre’s Hardworking Heroes During The Corona-Crisis? Finance Directors
“Theatre finance departments have been in an all-hands-on-deck mode as they gather payroll reports and compile the information needed for [CARES Act aid] applications. It’s been a round-the-clock undertaking, with some portals to loan applications opening as late as midnight, others in the early morning hours. Work-from-home days are stacked with meetings and calls with bankers, investors, and board members. Funds are being awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.” – American Theatre
What Hope Is There For Rebuilding Notre-Dame Amid The COVID Economic Disaster? Another Cathedral May Provide An Answer
However difficult things may be once the coronavirus is under control, they likely won’t be as bad as in Germany just after World War II. Cologne Cathedral had been hit 14 times by Allied bombs. Yet it was rebuilt and reopened. Here’s a look at how. – National Geographic
Germany Will Provide Money And Craftspeople To Rebuild Notre-Dame’s Upper Windows
“The exact scope and nature of Germany’s contribution will be determined in the coming months on the basis of studies on the ground, [a] statement said, adding that three glass workshops at German cathedrals have the extensive expertise and experience necessary to undertake the restoration of the clerestory windows.” – The Art Newspaper
Wynn Handman, Revered Director And Acting Teacher, Dead Of COVID At 97
His American Place Theater staged important early work by the likes of Sam Shepard, Maria Irene Fornés, Eric Bogosian, and the poet Robert Lowell, but “his greatest hits, it might be said, were the actors who came through his classes, which he began teaching in the 1950s” — among the many were James Caan, Joel Grey, Faye Dunaway, Richard Gere, Dustin Hoffman, and John Leguizamo. Even at age 97, he was still leading classes. – The New York Times
How’s The Bolshoi Handling The Epidemic And Shutdown? Nervously
In an extensive Q&A, Bolshoi general director Vladimir Urin talks about how the dancers, singers and instrumentalists are and aren’t continuing to get paid, how everyone is trying to stay in shape, trying to plan for a very uncertain future, what the Bolshoi’s (and the arts’) relationship with audiences will be (including the prices they’ll be willing to pay) post-COVID, and the best- and worst-case scenarios for Russia’s flagship ballet/opera house (“if we don’t open in September, it could go as far as the destruction of the theatre”). – Kommersant (Moscow) via Melmoth
Some Cities With Closed Libraries Are Making Librarians Come To The Buildings To Work
“Though many libraries have sent workers home, with pay, several systems in states like Texas, Massachusetts and Colorado have required at least some staff members to keep coming to work. This has prompted criticism from some librarians, including those whose systems have made different arrangements.” – The New York Times