Gregotti helped design the 1992 Olympic Stadium in Barcelona and designed the Marassi stadium in Genoa for the 1990 men’s World Cup. He also designed the Grand Thèatre de Provence and Lisbon’s Bélem Cultural Centre. He contracted COVID-19 and died of pneumonia in Milan. – The Guardian (AFP)
Blog
Actors’ Equity Mounts A Letter-Writing Campaign For Laid-Off Workers
Here’s part of the letter (note: not a lot of actors are “middle-class” either) for the campaign as shared in tweets on Sunday: “Now is the time for Congress and local governments to put workers first to ensure that everyone who works in the arts and entertainment sector has access to emergency paid leave, health care and unemployment benefits. Payroll tax cuts won’t help those whose theaters are now dark. For every middle-class actor you see onstage, there are dozens more working behind the scenes and in an administrative capacity.” – Los Angeles Times
Some Theatres Have Hired Film Crews Quickly So ‘All That Work Wouldn’t Be Lost’ To The Shutdown
At Signature Theatre in Arlington, Va., the staff hired a crew to film a new play whose run was supposed to last until March 29 – and the theatre is shut until March 30. The idea is not 100 percent figured out yet, and there are definitely Equity and other union issues to discuss, but … “The theater decided it might be able to show the play to patrons still holding tickets by giving them special access to the film online. … Many companies, like Signature, are asking people to donate the cost of those unused tickets to help defray expenses at an uncertain juncture.” – The Washington Post
The Few People Still Going To Movies Over The Weekend Enjoyed Some Relative Peace And Quiet At The Cinema
One moviegoer in Manhattan: “We understand what all the drama is, … but we felt that if we went to the first movie of the day, it wouldn’t be that crowded. And we wanted to just change the subject for a moment.” – The New York Times
What’s Going To Happen To Hollywood?
It’s grim for movie theatres and for production companies as they halt production. But … “A lot of analysts have been talking about how the old theatrical model is outdated and streaming is the future of Hollywood. … Now we get a chance to see how that works out.” – The Washington Post (AP)
It’s Time For Epic Self-Isolation Living-Room Dance Parties
Seriously: Dance is doable in-the-house exercise. Though the five dancers in this article all have extensive gym and group class routines, one also says that “dancing helps me appreciate my body and how much it can do for me. I can ask it to be coordinated, connected, and challenged. I like that it can surprise me, too!” – HuffPost
Canada’s Stratford Festival Has Canceled All Performances Through April
It’s not a surprise, considering that everything else is canceling, but it’s a massive blow. “Gaffney said the decision will have a ‘multi-million-dollar impact on our organization and the surrounding tourism economy.'” (The Oregon Shakespeare Festival and its area are facing a very similar economic disaster.) – CBC
Mayor Of Los Angeles Closes All Bars And Gyms, Says Restaurants Can Only Be Takeout For Now
Grocery stores, pharmacies, and food banks can remain open, but movie theatres are also closed (at least, those that hadn’t already closed themselves). – Los Angeles Times
Disney Says It’s Committed To Showing LGBT Stores Onscreen
Does anyone who identifies as queer or LGBTQIA actually believe Disney at this point? Probably not, but should production on movies and TV shows ever resume in the world, “There will be a transgender character in a future Marvel film, and upcoming superhero movie The Eternals will introduce Marvel’s first openly gay lead character to cinema screens.” – BBC
Musician, Artist And Provocateur Genesis Breyer P-Orridge Has Died At 70
This paragraph barely skims the surface of the life of P-Orridge: “Genesis led the influential British rock bands Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV, dabbled as a dominatrix in New York, ran a soup kitchen in Kathmandu, hid out from Scotland Yard, organized a cultlike fan club that asked initiates to send in their bodily fluids, and undertook a long-running surgical project to merge identities with her wife, Jacqueline Mary Breyer, in a single nongendered being they called a ‘pandrogyne.'” – The New York Times