“Polish police say Elżbieta Podlesna put up posters of the revered Black Madonna that showed the Virgin Mary and Jesus with rainbows from the LGBT flag as the halos. Now she could face two years in prison for [the crime of] offending religious feelings.” – CNN
Blog
Ballet Memphis Finds Its New Artistic Director In-House
“Steven McMahon, 34, was named Artistic Director on Tuesday, taking over half the role occupied by company founder Dorothy Gunther Pugh since 1986. While Pugh will stay on as C.E.O., McMahon will take charge of the artistic and programming decisions and continue to choreograph new works.” He has been with the company as dancer and choreographer for 15 years. – KUAF (Memphis)
Woolly Mammoth’s Howard Shalwitz Checks Out Russia’s Contemporary Theatre Scene
The co-founder and recently retired director of DC’s famed theatre company reports from this year’s Golden Mask Festival, where selected companies from all over the vast country meet to show their best work. – HowlRound
Hong Kong’s Long-Delayed New Arts Mecca Is About To Start Hemorrhaging Executives
Five key high-level staffers of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority didn’t renew their contracts and are leaving between now and the fall. And one much-anticipated venue in the WKCD, a flexible theatre called The Box at Freespace, did not open as scheduled last month; another, the contemporary visual art center M+, was supposed to open two years ago and may not open for another two. – South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
How Do You Bring Hong Kongers Back To Boring Old Cantonese Opera? Write One About Donald Trump, Zombies, And ‘The Sound Of Music’
Trump on Show, which ran for four days last month at the city’s last commercial Cantonese opera theater, “tells a story of Mr. Trump’s long-lost twin, Chuan Pu, who was raised in China and works at a crematory. There he meets the undead corpse of Liu Shaoqi, the Chinese leader who died during the Cultural Revolution. The opera includes a Ping-Pong game between Mao and Nixon, who later gets stumbling drunk at a state banquet; a visit to the White House by a scheming Kim Jong-un; the ghost of Lincoln; Mr. Trump’s disappearance on an extraterrestrial spacecraft; and multiple singings of ‘Edelweiss.'” – The New York Times
Activists Conduct A Tour Of “Stolen Goods” At The British Museum
The unofficial tour featured talks by Palestinian, Iraqi, Greek, and Indigenous Australian activists. Around 300 people attended the tour, including those who came especially for the event and museum visitors who decided to listen in. – Hyperallergic
Does What I’m Doing Right Now Count As Writing?
Making lists of ideas, reading novels, scheduling time to sit down at your computer, researching new coffee shops at which to work, and establishing weekly word goals may seem like parts of writing, but they are not. They are procrastination, which, if you think about it, is actually writing in its purest form. – The New Yorker
Nicholas Hytner To Open New 600-Seat Theatre In Kings Cross
Former National Theatre bosses Sir Nicholas Hytner and Nick Starr will run the venue, which is under construction and is set to open in winter 2021. It will be based on the Bridge Theatre, which the pair opened in October 2017. – BBC
Study: Participating In Arts Boosts Sense Of Wellbeing
Commissioned by BBC Arts, it represents the first time that researchers have explored how creative activities, such as acting in a play, singing in a choir, or playing an instrument or painting, can help manage emotions and mood. It found three main ways in which people use creativity as coping mechanisms to control emotions. – The Stage
LA MoCA Announces A New Senior Curator, Says No To A New Chief Curator
The museum will announce Wednesday that its new senior curator and head of new initiatives will be Mia Locks, co-curator of the 2017 Whitney Biennial. She is an independent curator based in New York who had been an assistant curator at New York’s MoMA PS1, the Museum of Modern Art’s affiliate in Queens. – Los Angeles Times