In the Next Room (or the vibrator play), Sarah Ruhl’s new work about the use of mechanical devices to treat female “hysteria” in the late 1800s, will be presented this fall on Broadway (at the Shubert) by Lincoln Center Theater. The play had a successful premiere last month at the Berkeley Repertory Theater in California.
Author: Matthew Westphal
New Yorker, GQ, New York, Nat’l Geographic Lead Ellie Noms
“The New Yorker led the pack of nominees for the 2009 National Magazine Awards, garnering 10 nominations in categories including General Excellence, Reporting and Feature Writing.” GQ received eight nods, New York six, Esquire and National Geographic five each. “Ironically, Best Life, recently shuttered by Rodale, was nominated for an award for best magazine section.”
The Primitive Portraitist
Morgan Monceaux, a troubled Vietnam vet, walked into a Long Island gallery one day in 1992, looked at the American primitive paintings on the wall, and said “I can do this.” Within a few weeks his portraits of 40 U.S. presidents were on that wall. It’s been a bumpy ride since, but he now has a one-man show in Baltimore and three paintings in the National Portrait Gallery.
Natasha Richardson Dies At 45 Following Skiing Accident
“The luminous British actress from one of the world’s great acting families [the Redgraves], whose performances ranged from the high-brow drama The Handmaid’s Tale to the lightweight comedy The Parent Trap and the Tony-winning Broadway production of Cabaret,” suffered a head injury on a beginner’s ski slope, in a fall from which she apparently walked away.
Baltimore Symphony Goes To The Circus
“The orchestra’s 2009-10 season… will culminate in a four-week circus festival involving actual circus performers such as the Cirque de la Symphonie.” The repertoire for “BSO Under the Big Top” next March includes Corigliano’s Third Symphony (subtitled “Circus Maximus”), “an evening of concert operas by Barber and Gershwin and Stravinsky’s ballet Pulcinella.”
Subscription Tickets In Baltimore Still $25
“The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will keep its $25 tickets for the third year in a row in spite of financial pressures that have strained the organization in a sour economy. In addition, one-quarter of its premium orchestra level and box seats will sell for $50 next season.”
Could Artists Save The Business World?
“Artists know how to look at the world – and problem solve – with fresh eyes. If businesses regularly invited photographers, crafters and writers to participate in brainstorming sessions and hold employee workshops, some new solutions and strategies might arise.” Andrea Hammer offers as possible examples photographer Art Wolfe and dance company Pilobolus.
Hip-Hop Dance As A Discipline (À La Française)
“Parkour is defined as the art of movement but it’s more about using the concrete block or staircase as a brace or vault to get over, around or through to the next step or block.” The discipline, whose practitioners are called traceurs, was developed in France and now has a solid foothold in the U.S.
A Seattle Indie Rocker Tries Lobbying
“But raging ignorance and deep ambivalence didn’t stop me from doing a day’s lobbying work last week, in actual Senate and House office buildings, concerning an actual bill that’s actually before the first session of the actual 111th Congress and that actually affects me and most musicians I know. And of course, by ‘affects me’ I mean ‘promises to earn me more money.'”
Baker’s Keyboard Lounge, Famed Detroit Jazz Club, On The Brink
“Owner John Colbert said on Tuesday that without a significant uptick in business, he has only enough money and wherewithal to keep the club afloat for about two months. His major goal is to keep the doors open through the club’s 75th anniversary in early May.”