“Under the new deal, three exhibitions of works drawn from Tate will be held at the Pudong Museum of Art. Tate will also assist with visitor services, operations, art handling, exhibition management, audience development and learning.” – The Art Newspaper
Author: Matthew Westphal
Samoa Bans Elton John Biopic For Gay Content; Activists Say To Samoa, “Oh Puh-Leeze, Miss Thing’
“The banning of Rocketman, a biographic film about the life of musician Elton John, in Samoa has prompted criticism by human rights activists of ‘selective morality’ in a country where transgender women are widely accepted.” – The Guardian
‘Arts & …’ — New Cross-Sector Impact Grants From South Arts, Inc.
“Cross-Sector Impact Grants is a new program of grantmaking, open to all art forms, for partnership projects taking place in one of South Arts’ nine member states. For FY20, eligible projects will feature ‘Arts & …’, for example, arts and the military, arts and aging, arts and community revitalization.” – South Arts
Robert Kelley On 50 Years Of Running TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, This Year’s Regional Tony Award Winner
“Actually, our growth curve as a company parallels almost exactly the growth of Silicon Valley as a thing. And I credit our success and durability as a company with the fact that we were in this unique area that was changing rather dramatically over time over this same period. It was becoming one of the most international and diverse places on earth, really. And diversity is one of the big commitments of TheatreWorks, one of our core values, and that was something that made the company, we think, increasingly attractive to people in the region.” – American Theatre
David Lang holds no prisoners in his new, gloves-off opera
David Lang’s music is too pleasurable to be called experimental – it’s the message, not the music, that may make some listeners uncomfortable. – David Patrick Stearns
Propwatch: the seeds in ‘King Hedley II’
Some props haul their own metaphors on stage with them. – David Jays
Let’s Twist Again: partying with the Don and the Donald
The first two new productions in Garsington Opera’s 30th anniversary season both feature wild parties with lots of on-stage dancing. – Paul Levy
There’s One Corner Of Hollywood Where Women Are Making Real Progress: Animation
“Women hold half of the leadership positions at the major film animation companies, new research has found. And, of the top 120 animated films over the last dozen years, nearly four in 10 had female producers, which is more than double the number of women who produced live-action films in that time.” (Things don’t look as good for nonwhite women, though.) – The New York Times
How Sacha Baron Cohen Tricked Dick Cheney Into Signing A Waterboarding Kit On-Camera
On pretending to be a bogus Israeli anti-terrorism expert for his film Who Is America?: “The character creation is a reverse character creation. You have to think, Okay, we got Dick Cheney, he’s agreed to do this. How am I going to convince one of the most cynical, suspicious, brilliant minds that I’m real? How am I going to get him to say things he’s ultimately going to regret? That becomes the process of fully learning your character and making sure there are no holes in your character.” – Vulture
Twin Cities’ Theater Mu Hires New Artistic Director To ‘Reunite’ Company Following #MeToo Scandal
Lily Tung Crystal began her career as a news journalist who did stage acting on the side. She now says that “theater is the hobby that became a job” — in 2010, she co-founded the Bay Area Asian-American theater company Ferocious Lotus. She comes to Theater Mu following last December’s dismissal of artistic director Randy Reyes. – The Star Tribune (Minneapolis)