Turns out not even the people involved agree on the answer to that. Absolutely not, says Ryan Rilette, artistic director of metro DC’s Round House (the theater behind the project): “You can’t actually capture the quality of being with a group of people, breathing the same air, listening to a story together.” But playwright Alexandra Petri (yes, the Washington Post columnist), who wrote the first episode, says that “[it’s] fundamentally a 10-minute play, but it happens to be set inside your computer.” – The New York Times
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Was This The Social Media Of The 1700s?
In 1769, amateur historian James Granger published the Biographical History of England, from Egbert the Great to the Revolution. It was an interactive book, aimed at collectors of printed images—a popular new hobby at the time. The Biographical History featured portraits of historical figures and blank leaves to let readers take notes referring to their own collections. Soon, collectors went beyond the book’s intended use, instead adding their own portrait collections directly inside. – JSTOR
How’s The American Shakespeare Center Hanging On? By Improvising
“With no clear indication when the theater might be deemed safe to reopen, [managing director Amy] Wratchford and her remaining team (all on half or quarter salary) have written contingency operating plans, only to have to crumple them up and formulate new ones. … [The company is] converting its ticket-buying lists into class lists and turning some of what’s executed on its modern-day Renaissance stage into teachable moments online.” – The Washington Post
Private Freedom Versus Public Interest: Houston, We Have A Problem
The logic of private interest – the notion that we should just ‘let the market handle it’ – has serious limitations. Particularly in the United States, the lack of an effective health and social policy in response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak has brought the contradictions into high relief. – Aeon
Why The Met Opera’s Big Online Gala Is Controversial
Saturday afternoon’s At-Home Gala, the brainchild of Met general manager Peter Gelb, will have opera stars performing live on the Web from wherever they’re waiting out the COVID lockdown. What’s the controversy? Detractors say that a company that furloughed all its staff performers and declared force majeure to break soloists’ contracts has no business asking those people to perform for free. “But with one or two exceptions,” Gelb tells David Patrick Stearns here, “everybody leapt at the idea of doing this.” – WQXR (New York City)
Live Drive-In Opera Is Coming To London
English National Opera is planning to stage two classics on the grounds of the Alexandra Palace in North London, with singers and orchestral players spaced at least six feet apart and the audience in cars or on motorcycles or bikes. And if it works, ENO may take the concept around the country. – The Guardian
‘Hell No, We’re Not Opening On Monday’: Movie Theaters Resist Political Pressure To Put Butts Back In Seats Now
“They don’t want to be lumped in with meatpacking plants and senior centers as hot spots for the virus. Already struggling financially, theaters fear that a too-soon return could stigmatize them as dangerous places to congregate. And with new movies from Hollywood not set to debut until the middle of July — at the earliest — opening too soon would only make operators spend money before they could truly recoup costs from patrons.” – The New York Times
Fox News Tries Using First Amendment To Defend Its Now-Retracted Reporting On Seth Rich’s Murder
The Democratic National Committee staffer was shot during a mugging in the summer of 2016, but a conspiracy theory, developed in right-wing circles and repeated on Fox News, claimed that Rich was murdered because he (not Russian hackers) handed DNC emails to WikiLeaks. Rich’s parents and brother have sued, and the network has suffered serious fallout (hence the rare retraction). Fox execs are now claiming that the First Amendment means one of their reporters can’t be forced to give a deposition; the plaintiffs maintain that deliberately false reporting is not protected. – The Hollywood Reporter
U.S. Court Of Appeals Finds A Constitutional Right To Literacy
A three-judge panel from the 6th Circuit ruled 2-to-1 that “education — at least in the minimum form discussed here — is essential to nearly every interaction between a citizen and her government. … Voting, taxes, the legal system, jury duty — all of these are predicated on the ability to read and comprehend written thoughts.” The decision revives a suit against the state of Michigan by a group of Detroit public school students. – Publishers Weekly
Video Of Recent Van Gogh Theft Emerges
“The robber, who arrived to the [Singer Laren] museum [near Amsterdam] on a motorcycle, broke in by smashing reinforced glass doors with a sledgehammer. Leaving the scene, the thief took Van Gogh’s The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring (1884), carrying the painting under his right arm.” – Artnet