A study for the Arts Council of England finds that traditional “text-based” drama is rapidly losing its appeal to modern audiences. “A funding review of 50 theatres, mainly in the provinces but including some noted London venues outside the West End, has found an alarming decline in the popularity of conventional plays. The review suggests that ‘live theatre’, such as laser, acrobatic and video spectacles, have wider appeal and should be embraced by theatres as a condition of receiving public grants.” – The Telegraph (UK)
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VIOLENT REACTION
Two weeks ago, San Francisco Chronicle film reviewer Mike LaSalle wrote that it was time to do something about violence in movies. He suggested that any time a film showed a gun being fired, it should receive an NC-17 rating. Letters to the newspaper came flooding in, so the Chronicle is changing its reviewing policy. – San Francisco Chronicle
- Some of the letters. – San Francisco Chronicle
DOUBTS AND DREAMS
Choreographer Bill T. Jones kept a journal as he was creating his latest dance piece – a product of doubts and failures as much as possibility. – New York Times
“PEANUTS” CREATOR —
— Charles Schulz dies, one day before his last strip was set to run. – Boston Herald
FIRST LOOKS AT THE NEW TATE
The Tate Museum’s new contemporary home in London opens in May. ”The Tate’s ambition is to be one of the top three or four modern museums in the world. It’s not as big a collection as the Museum of Modern Art’s or the Guggenheim’s. But the only modern art museum in competition with it in Europe is the Centre Pompidou in Paris.” – Boston Globe
OUT OF THIS WORLD
New York’s newly rebuilt and expanded Hayden Planetarium is a monument to wonder. (A package of stories on the new facility, exploring the building, what’s inside and how it was built.) – New York Times
SCREEN TEST
The Smithsonian has entered the commercial movie business. The institution’s experts are consulting on the latest Mel Gibson movie. – Washington Post
DALLAS’S NEW ARTS CENTER —
— for the city’s smaller arts groups is the product of an enterprising young developer who happened to be driving past an old Christian Science Church. – Dallas Morning News
USEFUL…BUT IS IT ART?
“In recent years, craft objects made by hand or machine have become popular everywhere. The techniques used to make them are taught at universities and professional workshops. And the objects produced are exhibited in museums and galleries and are collected with a fervor formerly reserved for Rembrandts and Rothkos. Increasingly, curators, collectors and creators in the crafts world ask whether these objects are art.” – New York Times
OPENING THE DOORS
PBS’s “Aida’s Brothers and Sisters: Black Voices in Opera” attempts to tell the complex history of black Americans and their struggles to enter the musical mainstream of opera. “Unfolding without benefit of narration, the documentary allows those who helped break the color barrier, and those who followed in their wake, to relate the story in their own fashion.” – New York Times