Author: ArtsJournal2

Why Are Audiobooks Booming So Much Right Now?

And are they OK for the brain? Some studies show that people retain information from a printed page much more than from an audiobook. “it might be that the particular cadences and timbre of an actor’s voice in audiobooks provide musical information that helps longer-term recall, just as the visual and tactile information of where a passage lies in a printed book can.” – The Guardian (UK)

Theatre Criticism Is At A Crossroads

Theatre criticism, like every other kind of critique in the age of the internet, appears to be booming, but that’s not really true. “How is the average theatregoer to sort quality from digital noise and (perhaps more importantly) support those who create high level critiques? Education is key—not just for the would-be theatre critics but for audience members in general.” – Howlround

Dear Musicians, Pay Your Dancers

Yeah, doing work “for the exposure” and vague promises of pay isn’t really great. “Some dancers were going for that because it was a good opportunity and gives you more of a profile and helps to build your CV, but it’s not a good deal. It’s not fair. At the end of the day we deserve fair payment.” – The Guardian (UK)

The Opera Star Who Says Twitter Has Been A Real Lifesaver

Sure, Twitter has issues. And then it has this: “At 58, [Karita] Mattila, who is currently onstage here at the Aix Festival in Weill and Brecht’s “Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny,” is having something of a late-career renaissance: a newly expanding repertoire and newfound celebrity on Twitter, where she is beloved by some of opera’s most ardent fans. And she loves them right back.” – The New York Times

Will Finding Shakespeare’s London Home Tell Us More About His Plays?

That’s the idea of the search, truly. Historian Geoff Marsh “concluded from cross-referencing various tax and leasehold documents of the time … that the playwright – then in his early 30s – almost certainly lodged in St Helen’s Place, Bishopsgate, just south of Liverpool Street station. It was one of the City’s more affluent parishes, and he would have been living among well-travelled physicians, merchants, lawyers, musicians and writers.” – The Stage (UK)

Sci-Fi Is Trying To Prepare Us For An Uncertain Future (And Present)

A contingent of science fiction writers – that is, novelists, to be clear – are being hired by companies to predict the future. Yes, really. “Mega consulting firm Price Waterhouse Cooper published a guide on how to use sci-fi to ‘explore innovation.’ The New Yorker has touted ‘better business through sci-fi.’ As writer Brian Merchant put it, ‘Welcome to the Sci-Fi industrial complex.'” – Wired

As Playwright Luis Alfaro Adapts Immigration Stories, He Says Greek Dramas Are The Primal, Perfect Canvas

Alfaro met a 13-year-old promising playwright in 1999, but she was in a program for felons: She had killed her mother, who had put a hit out on her father. Then he started re-reading Electra, by Sophocles, and it hit him – he could retell Greek tragedies, but set in Chicanx and Latinx communities in Los Angeles. “‘The Greeks are so primal,’ Mr. Alfaro said. ‘They get to the essence: why we hurt each other, this inability to forgive.'” – The New York Times

The New Bookstore In Chicago That’s Also Showcasing Original Art

In her new bookstore in Chicago – the only one owned by a Black woman – owner and curator DL Mullen has more than books. “What might be most visually striking about the space is the art itself, like the mural which dominates the shop’s north wall. Street artist Ahmad Lee painted it in one 11-hour stretch, vividly depicting two of Mullen’s favorite artists: Frida Kahlo and Jean-Michel Basquiat.” There’s more art upstairs, and the books are also curated in a grand book and art experiment. – Chicago Magazine

The Uber Driver Whose Opera Singing Videos Went Viral

Actually, he’s an opera singer by training and design and only an Uber driver – in Durban, South Africa – by economic necessity. Still, though, the viral videos taken by a passenger were a welcome surprise. “The exposure has rocketed Mngoma to semi-stardom. He has since been interviewed by radio and TV stations across the country and auditioned for the Cape Town Opera. He has even been invited to participate in iPop, an international talent contest in L.A. this December — a step toward his dream of international stardom.” – NPR