Jocelyn Allgood, who participates in several community theatres near her in Texas, says that “it’s our small contribution to humanity — to ease the burden of life, to make you laugh, to stir that emotion burning inside of you — be it jeers for the villains, tears or cheers for the heroes and (we hope) applause for the cast.” – Dallas Morning News
Author: ArtsJournal2
London’s Smallest Stages Are Hosting Wagner
The artistic director of the Fulham Opera (which is doing Die Meistersinger this summer) says there’s good reason for smaller opera halls: “The immediacy, the storytelling, the quality of the voices up close and personal … the joy that radiates off the stage. I don’t think people fall asleep in our shows.” – The Stage (UK)
The Short Story Author Inspired By 19th Century Abolitionists – And The Current U.S. President
Nafissa Thompson-Spires’ first book, the short story collection The Heads of Colored People, is short-listed for the Gordon Burn Prize (a prize for a book that follows Burn’s “bold footsteps” and “enters history and dares to interrogate the past”). But why write about painful topics? The author: “I think the goal of a writer should be to tell the truth in some way, even if it’s to tell it slant – or to imagine a better version of the truth. We have to find ways to confront difficult subjects.” – The Guardian (UK)
Phil Hynes, Backstage Lighting Force For ‘Saturday Night Live,’ Has Died At 96
Lorne Michaels: “He was a force to be reckoned with, and his presence and strength were something I came to rely on. … He will be missed, but if God has him now, despite all the arguing, heaven will be much better lit.” – The New York Times
After Forty Years Of Marketing Broadway, A Legend Retires
Sam Rudy, an actual farm boy who moved to the city and made good, has created publicity for everything from the deeply bad musical Shogun to Edward Albee’s The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, and he’s going out on Hamilton, which he says is in a class of its own. – The New York Times
The UK Is Having A Jazz Renaissance, Sparked By Young Fans
One DJ explains it this rather charming way: “If you’re 21 now, you can get all kinds of music much faster. You can stream it or listen to it via YouTube … My generation had to buy the records and that took a while to get to a certain point … so inevitably people get to jazz as it is the holy grail when it comes to music.” – The Guardian (UK)
It’s That Weird Moment, Butter Sculpture Season, In The United States
And this time, one butter sculptor decided to honor the 50th anniversary of the first moonwalk. But how to explain those cows looking on? – Space
The Paris Bookstore That Gets Unrivaled Tourist Attention
The foot traffic to Shakespeare and Company has only increased since nearby Notre Dame closed for fire repairs. But the bookstore is a monument in and of itself. “Through the narrow aisles and hairpin turns, we hear ‘ah’ and ‘oh’ as in the Louvre before the Mona Lisa. The only difference from the work of Leonardo da Vinci: No forest of selfie poles in front of the shelves because, here, we are not supposed to take pictures inside.” – Le Monde
Location Sharing Apps Were Supposed To Be Cool
Instead, we’re all living in an age of terrible anxiety over constant surveillance. What went wrong? – Wired
The Writers Guild Is Deadlocked In An Argument With Agencies – And Now Some Want New Leadership
The upheaval hasn’t ended – it’s barely begun: “Shonda Rhimes, Ryan Murphy and Ava DuVernay are among more than 300 writers who have declared their support for dissidents in upcoming board elections, injecting a new level of drama into a conflict that has created widespread unease across the film and TV business.” – Los Angeles Times