Matthew Westphal – Page 1846 – ArtsJournal Wayback

Helen Macdonald’s “H Is For Hawk” Wins Costa Book Prize (And £30,000)

“[The memoir] tells of how the Cambridge historian, illustrator and naturalist was so overcome by grief after the death of her father that she went almost mad and decided to train the most untameable of raptors, the goshawk.”

D.C. Theaters Expand Helen Hayes Awards Into “Helens” And “Hayeses”

“The split generally falls along professional lines. If most of a show’s performers are Equity (union) actors, that’s a Hayes show. If they aren’t, it’s a Helen, regardless of theater. Got it? … Illustrating how the ‘Helen’ and ‘Hayes’ distinctions really go show by show, not theater by theater, is the case of Arena Stage.”

Is Washington, D.C. Oversupplied With Serious Theater? Arena Stage And The Shakespeare Worry

“The town is so crowded … that even voices from the small independent sector have begun to wonder aloud whether the city is oversaturated. Washington also teems with competition for audiences increasingly lured by a burgeoning restaurant scene and the cyber circus of online diversions. All this adds to the special pressure faced by big troupes: They have the most seats to sell, night after night.”

Male-Female Inequality Is Still A “Dangerous Subject” In The Arts, Says London’s Top Arts Exec

Jude Kelly, artistic director of the Southbank Centre: “I think cultural spaces are the places to talk about dangerous subjects, and gender equality is still a dangerous subject, and it’s just as relevant in the arts as anywhere else.”

Why Scientology Appeals to Aspiring Actors

Lawrence Wright, author of Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief, and Alex Gibney, director of the book’s film adaptation, explain. (video)

This Opera Company Just Got A Regular Gig At Versailles

“Opera Atelier is already the busiest touring opera company in North America, but its 30th season will enhance that reputation even further. Already a regular guest at the Opera Royal at the Palace of Versailles in France, the Toronto company will now make it official, appearing at Versailles every other season.”

Who Was Chaucer, Really? We Know More Than We Think

“In Chaucer’s case, the division between life and art is especially glaring: 494 different ‘records’ of his life survive, including matters such as courtly and civic posts he held, awards he received, and at least one place he lived … but not one of them mentions that he was a poet. Why, then, bother to look at these records? What had Chaucer’s busy London life and world of work to do with his poems, other than preventing their completion?”

How “Hedwig” Transformed My Life

“In Hedwig’s story, I found a message of resilience and self-expression. Keep going, the film screamed at me. Let your freak flag fly, no matter how much shit people throw at you. This experience was shared by millions of queer and trans kids around the world, for whom the movie and stage show became a kind of modern Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

Why Do All American Movies Have Scenes In Diners?

Okay, not absolutely every one, but the roadside eatery is so common in films that American viewers have long taken a diner scene for granted. As it turns out, a diner serves a couple of very useful purposes in a screenplay.

Author: Matthew Westphal