“In 1964, exactly a decade after creating his original Muppets for Sesame Street predecessor Sam + Friends, Jim Henson wrote, produced, directed, and starred in a short experimental film titled Time Piece, exploring in a visceral way the effect time-keeping has on all of us.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Philadelphia Orchestra To Return To Major-Label Recording
During Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s announcement of the orchestra’s 2012-13 season, his first as music director, he revealed that he would be making recordings with the Philadelphians (among other orchestras) as part of his contract with Deutsche Grammophon.
Actor Nicol Williamson, 75
“[He] was considered ‘the greatest since Marlon Brando’ by John Osborne and reckoned by Samuel Beckett to be ‘touched by genius’; but his prickly temperament helped derail what might have been one of the great theatrical careers.”
Publisher To Black Out Mein Kampf Text After German Court Ruling
“Extracts from Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf will go on sale in kiosks in Germany on Thursday, but with the text blacked out after a court ruled that reprinting the Nazi manifesto broke copyright laws.”
Theatre, EU-Style: The Prospero Project
“With its subtitle – six towns, one project, one joint theatre – this four-year programme funded by EU money grew out of an observation ‘that the tragedy of Europe is that it built itself starting with the common market. If only we had started with culture’.”
Ailey Foundation Director To Step Down After 16 Years
“Since taking the reins in 1995, Sharon Gersten Luckman racked up a list of accomplishments that have made the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater one of the city’s most solid, well-managed modern dance companies.”
Oregon Symphony Players Accept Three-Year Contract
“After playing without a contract since August, Oregon Symphony musicians agreed to a new three-year contract with management. … The contract also loosens previous restrictions on broadcasting Oregon Symphony concerts.”
Filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos, 77, Killed In Road Accident
“[He] was working on a new film, The Other Sea, when he was hit by a motorcycle [in Piraeus] and sustained serious head injuries. He died later in hospital.”
The Mysteries Of Editing Poetry
“Often seen as the most personal and mysterious of literary forms – and therefore least likely to be guided by an outside hand – poetry is, in fact, strikingly indebted to invisible creators. What, we might ask, are the effects and risks of this little-understood practice on the nation’s verse?”
Short Plays – Underappreciated, Just Like Short Stories
“[It] is a fugitive form, lacking a permanent home, rarely available on the page. Yet for all that it seems to me a very good way into any writer’s work – released from the armature of plot, the playwright is compelled to invest the moment with intense theatrical energy. In those precious minutes the dramatist’s toolkit of rhythm, voice and image is ruthlessly exposed.”