“In the field of self-improvement, there have always been snake oil salesman ready to promote gimmicks disguised as legitimate answers. But the internet age has ushered in a whole new era: The maddening proliferation of hope — clouded in broscience. The 7 ways to transform your sex life. Use polyphasic sleep to hack your energy levels. Dump a stick of butter in your coffee to energize your breakfast and keep you feeling full all day (no shit — you just dumped a stick of butter in your coffee). All of these hacks carry a similar message: If only we did XYZ, then our bodies, minds, and entire lives will transform for the better.”
Category: AUDIENCE
Does Traditional Theatre Marketing Undersell Non-Traditional Theatre?
“Do traditional marketing methods do justice to and serve the product? As the commercial Broadway musical further diversifies and pushes boundaries in terms of form and content, so should our attitude and behaviour in marketing them.”
Rich People’s Demonstrations Of Status Are Changing – It’s No Longer Just About Conspicuous Consumption
“The democratisation of consumer goods has made them far less useful as a means of displaying status. In the face of rising social inequality, both the rich and the middle classes own fancy TVs and nice handbags. They both lease SUVs, take airplanes, and go on cruises. On the surface, the ostensible consumer objects favoured by these two groups no longer reside in two completely different universes. Given that everyone can now buy designer handbags and new cars, the rich have taken to using much more tacit signifiers of their social position.”
Sony Introduces “Clean” Versions Of Its Movies Taking Out Spicy Language, Scenes
“The Clean Version allows viewing for a wider audience, giving people the chance to watch their favorite films together,” Sony said. “Clean Version movies can be accessed with purchase of the theatrical versions.”
Evan Hansen Is A Lying, Immoral Creep – How Is It That Audiences Love Him So?
Jason Zinoman: “It’s particularly amazing that this gifted dissembler has received such goodwill at a time when there is such anxiety about fake news and Internet disinformation. … That Evan Hansen is not just a kind of hero but one whose story will stay with a generation of young theatergoers forever is testament to the power of skillfully crafted art to reframe, manipulate, and even obscure moral concerns.”
Governor Vetoes Money For Florida Orchestra’s Outreach Program
“The Florida Orchestra got an unwelcome surprise late Friday when Gov. Rick Scott ruled out $500,000 in funds to help pay for a new outreach program. Beyond the Bay launched in January with a vision of taking the orchestra to schools and community orchestras across Florida. The veto was part of $34 million the governor nixed from the state’s budget, leaving that money available for other priorities.”
The ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ Effect: How a TV Show Changed The Dance World
“For the generation who grew up watching the show, it proved that dance has a place on television. … It’s undeniable that dance today is part of pop culture in a way that it wasn’t a decade and a half ago. This increased exposure hasn’t necessarily translated into more ticket sales for live performances, but it has presented an alternative way of experiencing the art form. … [Yet the show’s] biggest impact was setting the standard for dance on the internet with its ‘snackable, and eminently shareable’ dance clips.”
What It Was Like At Brooklyn’s Women-Only Screening Of ‘Wonder Woman’
The Alamo Drafthouse chain’s plan to offer no-boys-allowed screenings of the new superheroine hit made news when certain men on the Internet flipped right out about them. Cara Buckley, the Times‘s “Carpetbagger” during awards season, paid a visit to the screening at the Alamo Drafthouse in downtown Brooklyn to check out the (excited) vibe.
Can You Measure Arts Engagement? New Academic Paper Says Not Really
The paper states that using indicators and benchmarks to assess cultural activities, “which exhibit no obvious capacity for scalar measurement”, is a “political act”. The “ostensible neutrality” of this approach is, they say, “a trick of the light trying to launder responsibility for judgment in the competition for scarce resources”.
Robert Schenkkan’s Anti-Trump Play Found An Audience Around America. In New York Not So Much. Why?
“Schenkkan’s purpose seems to have been understood and appreciated as Building the Wall was produced around the country over the past few months, first as a National New Play Network rolling world premiere by Fountain Theatre in California; Curious Theatre Company in Colorado’ Forum Theatre in DC; Borderlands Theater in Arizona; and City Theatre in Florida. But some prominent voices reacted differently when the play opened recently at New York’s New World Stages, in a production directed by Ari Edelson and starring Tamara Tunie and James Badge Dale. And the mixed reviews surely helped end the run of the New York production prematurely. It is closing Sunday, June 4, about a month earlier than the play’s intended run.”