Category: people

“A trained clown who performed in circuses and cabarets, Mr. Etaix was supporting himself as an illustrator when he met filmmaker Jacques Tati,” who immediately offered him an apprenticeship. “Although [he] directed and starred in only five feature films and several shorts … he was considered one of the most brilliant physical comedians of the past half-century.”

“There’s a little cottage that I rent in Portland behind my friend’s place. It has a feeling of being in the country, but it’s actually on the other side of the fence from a Subway sandwich shop. There’s a little garden and it’s just close enough to be able to, when I’m stuck on something in a script, take a walk up to Mount Tabor or get some dinner with friends. But it’s also secluded enough that there are no interruptions. I find it’s really hard to write in New York. There are too many distractions. “

“I’ve taught kooky classes before. I’m the weird one in the department. So, I’ve taught Horror Text & Theory, Black Women in Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror, Speculative Black Women, Bad Black Mothers – so a class about Beyoncé was almost normal at this point. My department is pretty supportive about my course choices.”

“The 31-year-old singer, who has described herself as ‘an argumentative little shit’, has been both loved and hated by the press and public for a decade now, as is the fate of pop stars with opinions. Nothing she’s experienced has had the effect of muting her voice. She remains bracingly fearless – an incorrigible fly in the ointment.”

“Mr. Étaix (pronounced ay-TEX), an actor as well as a director, specialized in a deadpan visual comedy, animated by sight gags, funny sound effects and fantasy sequences that harked back to the silent films of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Max Linder as well as his own background as a circus performer.”

“His 16-year-old son, Jack, took his own life nearly two years ago. Now, Mr. Eustis, with his family, faces the kind of soul-searching for which there can be no preparation. How to hold on and move forward at the same time. What it means to be a public figure with a private grief. How he thinks about the work he does and the shows he sees. The tragedy coincided with a time of extraordinary success in Mr. Eustis’s professional life.”

“Some people think that art is a luxury and must be cut back in times of crisis. These people must understand that precisely during times of crisis the unforgivable sin is to cut access to art. In my beloved home of Venezuela such a crisis is happening right now. People are spending their days looking for food, medicine and the necessities of life. The same arguments exist — how can we fund music — the arts — when basic needs are not being met?”

“He was best known for two works: “Accidental Death of an Anarchist” (1970), a play based on the case of an Italian railroad worker who was either thrown or fell from the upper story of a Milan police station while being questioned on suspicion of terrorism, and for his one-man show “Mistero Buffo” (“Comic Mystery”), written in 1969 and frequently revised and updated over the next 30 years, taking wild comic aim at politics and especially religion.”

“Grayson Perry is what happens when art becomes a pseudo intellectual entertainment for a world that is too busy to look and too distracted to feel: an artist for people who can’t be bothered with art. Now put that on a pot.”

“Today, if people know anything about Theodosia [Burr Alston], it is because of the lovely lullaby ‘Dear Theodosia,’ sung by the character of Aaron Burr in the sensational musical Hamilton. But the real-life Theodosia grew from a beloved child into a highly intelligent, complex adult, whose fascinating story is largely unknown and worthy of its very own Broadway smash.”