Irish playwright Gary Mitchell finds that it’s difficult getting his plays performed because they’re set in Ireland, and they include political themes. “There are political reasons that prevent certain plays and films from being performed. Would a script about Jesus written by a born-again Christian be produced today? Would a political play written by a member of the Monster Raving Loony Party or the Conservative Party be turned down because it was dreadful – or would it be because the politics of the piece were not popular, or conflicted with the sensibilities of the theatre’s board, or the agenda of the artistic director?”
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Stupidity As Science
Did you know that: crosswalks increase pedestrian accidents, many tanning lotions contain carcinogens, computers vastly increase the consumption of paper, and that better hygiene creates susceptibility to bacteria? A new book catalogs stupidity and the detriments of ideas that were supposed to help.
Only 200 US Colleges Reject More Students Than They Accept
“In the ongoing debate about affirmative action, with the Supreme Court expecting to decide a case involving admissions procedures at the University of Michigan, the term meritocracy is a canard. American education is not meritocratic, and it never has been. Merit, defined as quantifiable aptitude and achievement, is just one of the variables that decide educational outcomes. Success in college admissions, as in almost every sphere of life, is a function of some combination of ability, connections, persistence, wealth, and special markers?that is, attributes valued for the difference they make to the mix. There are more than two thousand four-year colleges in the United States. Only about two hundred reject more students than they accept. The vast majority of American colleges accept eighty per cent or more of those who apply.”
US Government Investigating Artists Who Protest?
The family of an outspoken member of a San Francisco hip hop band says the musician has allegedly been investigated by the US government. “The mother, whom Michale Franti declined to name for her safety, said plainclothes investigators appeared at her door on March 16, showing pictures of the band performing at an anti-war demonstration the previous day in San Francisco, Franti said. They questioned her about entries made in her son’s checking account, his travel records for the past several months, and his general whereabouts.”
San Diego Sushi Stale After AD Resigns
Vicki Wolf, longtime director of Sushi, San Diego’s leading cutting-edge performance venue, has resigned. Wolf’s departure, which is said to be motivated by “personal reasons,” leaves Sushi “artistically rudderless at a crucial point in its 24-year history. Sushi’s home, the distinctive and historically designated Carnation Building, has been sold to housing developers who plan to build high-rise condominiums on the footprint where artists now do their work.”
Embedded Critics – Coming Soon To Your Local Theatre
If you can have embedded war correspondents, why not embedded critics? Dominic Papatola investigates a “new” CNN program: “The writer, G. Ima Toady, will receive unprecedented access to the theater’s production process, including rehearsals, literary department briefings, budget meetings and the twice-weekly castigations of former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura by artistic director Joe Dowling. The arrangement ‘will allow CNN viewers to view, up-close, the difficult and sometimes bloody process involved in creating theater,’ said Sid Bedingfield, executive editor of the CNN News Group. ‘No journalistic institution has ever been this close to the action’.”
But It’ll Be Real Pretty When It’s Done!
“The Denver Art Museum’s new wing is like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle strewn on a table, waiting to be assembled. Some of the pieces: It’s still unknown how much the 146,000-square-foot wing will cost, though money in hand would suggest a price of at least $70 million. Museum officials won’t say how much they have raised (or want to raise) in a capital campaign to augment bond money approved by Denver voters in 1999. There isn’t a precise start date for construction, other than late June or early July. The opening date – first 2004, then 2005 – now hovers in 2006.”
DanceCleveland Makes Unexpected Cuts
DanceCleveland, Cleveland’s leading modern dance company, has cancelled the final show of its season, laid off its staff, and cut next season’s plans to the bone, in a move which shocked even close observers of the city’s arts scene. The company is looking into the possibility of partnering with other local arts groups in an effort to stay afloat, but at this point, everything seems to be up in the air.
Synergy By Necessity
Back in 2000, Cleveland’s public TV and radio stations, which had always been completely separate entities, decided to merge most of their operations in an effort to cut costs and better serve the community. The partnership, called “ideastream,” was a logistical nightmare at first, and staff nerves on both sides seemed to be constantly frayed. But the public response has been overwhelmingly positive, and now, ideastream is making its mark with a strong, independent, and local (all the other TV stations in town are owned by out-of-town companies) voice which neither station had prior to the merger.
Hollywood and Washington: Fatal Disconnect or Forever Bound Together?
“It is times like these that have prompted John McCain to observe, ‘If Washington is a Hollywood for ugly people, Hollywood is a Washington for the simple-minded…’ Everywhere you turn there are sightings of a nationwide backlash against celebrities.” But Frank Rich argues that, while celbrity liberals may seem (and probably are) awfully out-of-touch with reality, the verbal grenades they’re lobbing at the Bush administration aren’t any more absurd than those regularly being heaved the opposite way by folks like Bill O’Reilly and Ann Coulter. Furthermore, the backlash isn’t terribly likely to have any lasting effect, and may actual serve to fire up the stagnant left.