Matthew Westphal – Page 789 – ArtsJournal Wayback

Despite Turmoil There And Protests Here, Philadelphia Orchestra Is Resolute About Its Tour To Israel

Yes, there’s certainly concern over the controversial and deadly events of this week in Israel, and for weeks pro-Palestinian activists have been protesting before the orchestra’s concerts at its home hall. Even so, Philadelphia Orchestra officials insist there is no political element to the tour, and music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin says, “We’re not going to these countries for the government, but to bring music to the people.”

Lucian Pintilie, Romanian Director Who Defied Communists And Inspired Country’s Cinematic ‘New Wave’, Dead At 84

“Pintilie directed plays at the prestigious Bulandra Theater in Bucharest in the ’60s and early 70s. However, his work was censored by the communists and one film was personally banned by Communist leader Nicolae Ceaușescu. … U.S. theatre director Andrei Serban, who was born in Romania, told Pintilie last year: ‘You were the first person to give me the courage right from the start, that with courage and theatre you can do anything.'”

From A Soundproof Garage In California, Round-The-Clock Afghan Variety Shows

Haroon Ebrat is both the impresario and the star of Afghan Theatre TV, which streams online in Dari (the Afghan variant of Persian) to a million viewers each month. The program mixes music videos with call-in shows and televised sketches, created and performed by Ebrat and his adult children, that have attracted more than a little controversy in the Afghan diaspora – despite the fact that the channel largely stays clear of politics.

Director Of South Africa’s New Contemporary Art Museum Resigns Following ‘Inquiry Into Professional Conduct’

The trustees of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, which opened in Cape Town last September, suspended executive director and chief curator Mark Coetzee had just been suspended pending an investigation after he “failed to respond to questions about the institutional practices at Zeitz MOCAA.” There had been reports of concerns about “an alliance between Scheryn Art Collection, a fund that works with collectors to purchase works, and the museum and Coetzee.”

How Queer Are The Movies In The Current LGBT Cinema Boom?

Not queer enough, argues E. Alex Jung: “There have been Oscar-validated prestige pictures (Milk, The Kids Are All Right, The Dallas Buyers Club, Call Me by Your Name), and corresponding flops (Stonewall, Freeheld), indie films (Princess Cyd, Tangerine), and commercial middlebrow ones (Love, Simon). While these films vary in intent, provenance, and quality, they encapsulate a similar catholic spirit: rather than assert difference, they point out similarities. They apply salve instead of salt. They’re safe, often boring, and sentimental, following familiar emotional arcs to tell a ‘universal story.’ In short, we’re in a movie moment defined by the political sensibility of the gay-marriage movement.”

James Baldwin’s Nearly Forgotten Final Book (Whose Time May Now Have Come)

“Arguably no single work by Baldwin is as connected to the issues animating Black Lives Matter as his final nonfiction book, The Evidence of Things Not Seen (1985), but the work was written long after Baldwin had lost the public’s affection. … Written in response to what came to be known as the Atlanta child murders, Baldwin’s book is a piercing examination of anti-black violence in the United States, why it persisted after the ‘gains’ of the civil rights era, and why it would likely continue unless deep-rooted structural and psychic changes occurred.”

What Does ‘Excellence’ In Theatre Really Mean? Theatre Professionals Hash It Out

Chad Bauman, managing director of Milwaukee Rep: “After a career in theatre management and multiple stints as a producer or judge for theatrical awards in major metropolitan areas, I’ve become increasingly convinced that as a field we do not have a cohesive definition of excellence. In an admittedly informal attempt to discover commonality, I contacted several hundred colleagues and asked them [to define excellence]. I received more than 50 responses from a wide cross section of diverse people; below is an attempt at aggregating their thoughts.”

Fact-Checking Of Nonfiction Books (There’s A Lot Less Of It Than You May Think)

Recent controversies over Sally Kohn’s The Opposite of Hate and Amy Chozick’s Chasing Hillary – not to mention Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury – “have raised concerns about the accuracy and standards of published books. … But what anyone who has never published a book might not realize is that the bar for factchecking books during the editing process is low, if it even exists at all. Not only that, it’s common for publishers to never have a conversation with authors about the issue of factchecking and to assume that getting it right is entirely on the author.”

In A Rehearsal Room When Everyone Has A Say On Everything’ – At Michelle Terry’s Radically Egalitarian Shakespeare’s Globe

Reporter Bridget Minamore watches the company at work – six women and six men who decide together who plays which roles (yes, there’s gender-swapping, and Terry is playing Hamlet), what costumes to wear, the sound and music design, and even the sign-language sign for “Hamlet.”

Author: Matthew Westphal