Evansville Dance Theatre has filed a legal action against its former artistic director and ballet mistress for violating a non-compete clause in a contract. Keith Martin and B.J. Martin resigned from the company on June 8, claiming “artistic interference from the organization’s board of directors,” and opened a dance studio in the city.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Sorting Out What Miracles Are (Or Would Be) And Are Not
“These days most people think it unscientific to believe in ‘miracles’, and irreligious not to believe in them. But would the occurrence of miracles really violate the principles of science? And would their non-occurrence really undermine religion?”
Central Park Great Lawn Events Must Limit Crowds: Report
“An independent report released Tuesday recommends a 55,000-person limit for events on the Great Lawn in Central Park – essentially supporting the city’s current regulations. The report is the latest twist in a saga extending back to 2004.”
Novelist And Screenwriter Budd Schulberg Dies At 95
He “wrote the award-winning screenplay for On the Waterfront and created a classic American archetype of naked ambition, Sammy Glick, in his novel What Makes Sammy Run? … Mr. Schulberg also wrote journalism, short stories, novels and biographies. He collaborated with F. Scott Fitzgerald, arrested the Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl and named names before a Communist-hunting Congressional committee.”
Wait, That Obama-In-Whiteface Image Is Supposed To Be The Joker?
“[T]he image of President Obama in Heath Ledger Joker-face is especially disturbing because it is completely devoid of context – literary, political or otherwise. The image seems to have emerged from nowhere and was created by no one. Deracinated from authorial intent, Obama-as-Joker becomes a free-floating cipher that can be appropriated and re-appropriated by everyone.”
A.O. Scott And Michael Phillips Move Into Siskel’s And Ebert’s Chairs On At The Movies
“A.O. Scott, co-chief film critic of The New York Times, and Michael Phillips, film critic of The Chicago Tribune, will take over the seats made famous by Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel on At the Movies, the Chicago-based syndicated television program.”
Take Your Pick: E-Books Will Revolutionize/Destroy/Simply Alter The Publishing Industry
“Many in the book industry believe that paper books are destined to go the way of compact disks, made obsolete by a new, much cheaper digital platform.” Others argue that “E-books will take their place as a format … but there’s no reason for e-books to replace paper books. There are always going to be a large number of people who don’t want to read a screen, no matter how good it is.”
A Critic’s Yelp: New York In Summer Has Too Much Theater!
Alexis Soloski: “[T]he [NY] International Fringe Festival begins on 14 August, and I’ve been planning my schedule for the opening weekend. In two and a half days I’ll see more than a dozen shows, and, if this year is anything like the last 10, I’ll also have to deal with too little sleep, too much pizza, freezing air conditioning, boiling sun, torrential rain and several of the worst plays I will see all year.”
Tilda Swinton Drags Art Cinema – Literally – To The Scottish Highlands
“A year after she and [director Mark] Cousins staged a celebration of independent cinema in an old bingo hall in her home town of Nairn, near Inverness, on Saturday the pair launched their latest adventure. On their journey across the Highlands back to Nairn the pair will screen Iranian, Icelandic and Hollywood road movies, Akira Kurosawa’s samurai version of Macbeth – Throne of Blood – in Cawdor, and a drama-documentary on the battle of Culloden in 1746 at Culloden battlefield.”
Regie-Ballet Comes To Korea: A Seoul Giselle Features Incest And Prostitution
In James Jeon’s She, Giselle, “The characters are the same, but the story takes a turn when Giselle realizes that her lover, Albrecht, is actually her half-brother … [and then] runs away without telling Albrecht that she’s pregnant. The lonely Giselle … ends up in a brothel … and finally dies of AIDS.”