Says Precious Adams about her decision to wear brown tights henceforth, “It changes the aesthetic, you want there to be continuation between your upper and lower body and there’s a big disconnect if I put pink tights on. … I’m not colourblind and I think it ruins the line of my body.” She’s getting pushback from traditionalists, but her colleagues are entirely supportive.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Cultural Theorist Paul Virilio Dead At 86
“In many ways [he was] the last of the generation of French intellectuals that emerged from the new possibilities opened up after the events of May ’68. While not as famous (or infamous) as Foucault, Deleuze, Baudrillard and Derrida, Virilio leaves us with a body of work that seems to grow in importance in the 21st century as we deal with the ‘pace of change’ in technology and international politics.”
China Bans Foreign TV During Prime Time
“According to a new set of draft rules released Thursday, Beijing regulators will outlaw the broadcast of foreign TV shows during prime time and limit the volume of imported content that streams on China’s fast-growing video platforms. As justification for the rules, regulators cited the ‘protection of social stability’ and the need to guard against content that ‘deviates from core socialist values.'”
Choreographer Ralph Lemon Wins $250,000 Heinz Award
The dance-theater-visual artist won the prize in the Arts and Humanities category, one of six. “During more than four decades of performance-making, Lemon has explored race and memory, as well as experiences of grief and spirituality, through nonhierarchical movement and language.”
What Are America’s Ten Most-Produced Plays Of The Coming Season?
Lucas Hnath’s A Doll’s House, Part 2 leads the list, well ahead of the runner-up, Lynn Nottage’s Sweat. Female playwrights lead males on the list by three to one, and, with Shakespeare and A Christmas Carol not included (by design), all of the titles are by living writers (though two are adapted from Pride and Prejudice).
America’s 20 Most-Produced Playwrights In 2018-19
With his A Doll’s House, Part 2 the most-produced play, Lucas Hnath leads the list (excluding Shakespeare, of course) with 33 productions, edging out last season’s leader, Lauren Gunderson, who has 29. This year’s list is the most diverse in its 25-year history, with 11 female playwrights and six nonwhite ones. 17 of the 20 are American (including one immigrant), and all but three (August Wilson, Tennessee Williams, and Sam Shepard) are living.
Details Emerge Of Harassment Lawsuit Against Baltimore Symphony
Tim Smith reports on the lawsuit filed by principal oboist Katherine Needleman against the orchestra and concertmaster Jonathan Carney and on an attorney’s investigation into sexual harassment and the workenvironment at the BSO. “The two documents brim with details of unprofessional behavior inside the orchestra, onstage and off – propositioning in a hotel room and a women’s restroom, discussion of ‘pesones‘ (Spanish for nipples), making faces and mocking gestures during rehearsals or concerts.”
New York Times Book Critics Dish About The Nobel Lit Prize That’s Not Being Given This Year
Times daily books editor John Williams: “To help fill the void of conversation around the prize itself, I recently spoke with The New York Times‘s staff book critics — Dwight Garner, Parul Sehgal and Jennifer Szalai — about what the prize has meant (or not meant) to their own reading habits; their opinions of past winners (and past snubs); and whom they would bestow the honor upon this year if they could.”
At Long Last, MOCA Toronto Is Opening In A New Home
“It’s been a roller-coaster three years for [the Museum of Contemporary Art], amid setbacks, leaps ahead and everything in between. But the long-mothballed museum is finally, actually, happening this weekend. … What do the final few days before opening look like? Let’s let five of [MOCA’s key figures] talk about persisting through a long, sometimes messy journey.”
MOCA Toronto’s Long, Twisted, 25-Year Journey To Its New HQ
“MOCA — or the Art Gallery of North York, or MOCCA, all of which figure into the plucky museum’s patchwork history — has covered miles and years from Mel Lastman Square all the way, finally, to its stately, spanking new home on Sterling Road. … Here it is, [that history,] step by step.”