“When you’re performing with a whirling cinderblock or giant hamster wheel as your partner, there is no time for second-guessing your physical fitness. Fortunately, STREB EXTREME ACTION member Cassandre Joseph knows exactly what her body needs to stay safe, even when flying off 30-foot platforms. What are the five habits that prepare her to tackle anything that director Elizabeth Streb might throw her way?”
Blog
The Effort To Unite African Literature
“It’s become clear that Jalada is where the future of African literature is being written. A project with a pan-Africanist scope might have drowned under the logistics of communication and distance, or lost its energy in fundraising. Instead, meetings have yielded true mentorships and editorial relationships, and correspondences have blossomed into long-term collaborations, as the contributors to each anthology have become a part of the broader network.”
Why Do TV Reporters Stand Outdoors In A Dangerous Hurricane?
In the wake of Harvey and Irma, a lot of people are asking that question. The answer is that, basically, they do it so that we don’t.
The (Very Hard) Work Of An Orchestra Librarian
“The orchestra’s librarians are responsible for obtaining the scores for each program, for making sure all of the markings are the same in all the parts, for putting the music on the stands before each performance, and for being physically present at each show in case of emergencies – even on tour. It takes about 100 hours, says Elizabeth Schnobrick, the National Symphony Orchestra’s principal librarian, to prepare the music for a single subscription program.”
An Earlier Generation Of Gay Plays Is Returning To The Stage – Are They Still Relevant? (Alas, Yes, Says Jesse Green)
“Many of us who arrived in New York in the last decades of the last century, looking to the theater for news about what it meant to be gay, found ourselves serially disheartened. … Yet, over the past 20 years, gay rights did expand, well beyond anyone’s imagining. This recently led me to wonder what a young gay man arriving in New York would find if he looked in the mirror of the mainstream theater today. Pretty much the same thing I did.”
Dallas Symphony Musicians Ratify New Three-Year Contract
“The deal, announced Thursday in a news release, calls for no wage increases in the first year of the contract and 2 percent base wage increases in the second and third years. The [orchestra management] also agrees to additional contributions to offset increases in health care costs.”
Houston Grand Opera Will Begin Its Season On Time – But Not At Its Home Theatre
“The Wortham [Theater Center] was more damaged than originally thought and although Managing Director Perryn Leech and Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers say they don’t know where they will land, they know they have to go.”
Peter Hall, 86, Founder Of Royal Shakespeare Company And Leading Stage Director
“Mr. Hall was long acknowledged as the leader and prime defender of a profession whose artistic health was often imperiled by financial cutbacks and political hostility in the second half of the 20th century. That the period was regarded as one of the theater’s greatest made his achievement all the more considerable. As a director, Mr. Hall introduced Samuel Beckett to English-speaking audiences, staged the premieres of eight of Harold Pinter’s plays, helped revolutionize the acting of Shakespeare and, as artistic director of the Glyndebourne Festival in England from 1984 to 1990, brought a new realism to the performing of classic opera.”
Robbie Fairchild Is Leaving New York City Ballet
“[He] said that with a number of acting and musical theater roles on the horizon, he felt he needed to choose a direction. … ‘I have adored my time at City Ballet. But you can’t do everything forever, and I did try for a bit.'”
Fire Breaks Out At The Hermitage, And Firefighters Save Its Beloved Resident Cats
“A small fire on Friday at the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg raised alarms about the fate of one of its greatest treasures: the beloved Hermitage cats that protect its Old Masters from mice and have become museum mascots.”