Amrou Al-Kadhi: “When I started doing drag, it felt like the ultimate rejection of everything I was taught in the Middle East. … I felt like I was lying. I was trying to live out things that I didn’t actually believe about myself. Everyone was looking to me as this voice of liberation. And I just wasn’t that … Whenever the drag came off, I would have a nervous breakdown.” – The Guardian
Author: Matthew Westphal
Who’s The Father Of Today’s Black Theater Renaissance? August Wilson? No, It’s Tyler Perry
Wesley Morris: “Maybe it’s not immediately obvious. But it makes sense. He’s the biggest black playwright in America. If you were a kid, teenager or barely an adult in the 2000s, living in a black city and attracted to the stage, it would be hard for Perry not to become someone to revere, reckon with or resist.” – The New York Times Magazine
The Play That Made Me Understand Why ‘Porgy And Bess’ Can Be Stifling
Soraya Nadia McDonald: “Does it still make sense to present an opera written by [four whites] as the opera about black American life? Is it a collection of insulting stereotypes set against gorgeous orchestrations, or something more? Attending a performance of Porgy and Bess helped clarify some of those questions for me. But it was another show altogether that helped me reframe how to think about them: Keith Hamilton Cobb’s American Moor.” – The Undefeated
Jeffrey Epstein Gets Dragged Into $200 Million Battle Over Brancusi Sculpture
“In court filings, John H. McFadden — scion of one of the founding families behind the Philadelphia Museum of Art — denied claims that he stole a bronze cast of one of … Brancusi’s most famous works from Stuart Pivar, a prolific Manhattan art buyer and onetime friend of Andy Warhol. Instead, McFadden maintained, Pivar agreed to sell the work, which the collector valued at $100 million, for a pittance because he needed quick cash and could not attract another buyer, due in part to his longtime friendship with Epstein.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Piece So Hard Even Barbara Hannigan Couldn’t Sing It
“On paper, John Zorn’s Jumalattaret … looks impossible: breathless vocalise; abrupt transitions from head-spinning complexity to folk-song simplicity; and, within the span of a single measure, whispering, squeaking and throat-singing like a winter storm. It’s the kind of piece that leaves you asking, repeatedly, over the course of its 25 minutes: Can a voice even do this? The answer, for Ms. Hannigan, is yes. It took a lot of practice, a thwarted summer vacation, and a well-timed email to get there.” – The New York Times
Lost Section Of Oldest Manuscript Of ‘Tale Of Genji’ Discovered
“The original manuscript of the story no longer exists, with the oldest versions of the story believed to have been transcribed by the poet Teika, who died in 1241. Until now, just four chapters of the 54-chapter story are confirmed to be Teika’s transcriptions, but now a fifth chapter, which depicts Genji’s encounter with the girl who becomes his wife, Murasaki, has also been identified as Teika’s. The manuscript had been kept in an oblong chest in a storeroom at the Tokyo home of Motofuyu Okochi, a descendant of [a] former feudal lord.” – The Guardian
Why Peter Handke’s Nobel Prize Has Made Many People Furious
Social media lit up with outrage when Handke’s win was announced, and criticism came from some (seemingly) surprising quarters. Albania’s acting foreign minister said the award was “an ignoble and shameful act.” PEN America, in an unprecedented move, publicly condemned the Swedish Academy for its choice. What’s the reason for all the anger? It goes back to the post-Yugoslav wars. – Slate
Public Radio’s ‘Studio 360’ To Cease Production
“The final episode of Studio 360 will air in February, … [and] host Kurt Andersen’s role with the program will end later this month. … John Barth, PRX’s chief content officer, would not discuss details about why the program is ending … [and] PRX spokesperson David Cotrone said only that Studio 360 is being canceled ‘for a variety of factors.'” – Current
Helen Shaw Is New Theater Critic At New York Magazine And Vulture
“Shaw was most recently theater critic at Time Out New York and 4Columns.org, and was awarded the 2018 George Jean Nathan Award for theater criticism. (The previous year’s winner was Sara Holdren, her predecessor in the job, who is leaving the magazine to return to full-time directing.)” – New York Magazine
‘I Wanted To Form An Orchestra Of People Like Me’: An Ensemble For Musicians With Mental Illness
“The [Me2/Orchestra’s] beginnings were humble — seven people showed up to the first rehearsal in Burlington, Vt., in 2011. Yet it has grown — almost entirely by word of mouth, [Ronald] Braunstein said proudly — to an extent that the Boston-based orchestra numbers some 60 people. In addition to the Boston and Burlington orchestras, affiliated ensembles also exist in Manchester, N.H., and Portland, Ore. ‘That’s what a need there is for people who live with mental illness and play instruments,’ Braunstein said.” – The Boston Globe