Category: theatre

Miami theatre is getting more varied. But “because of the limbo state of the Coconut Grove Playhouse, the 2006-2007 season begins with a significant hole at its center. Not to mention angry subscribers, frustrated former employees and artists who had planned to — but now won’t — be working here this season.”

Two big San Jose (California) theatres agree to merge their back end operations. “The fact that they’re just now forming partnerships shows how reluctant the groups have been to give up on their old business models. Merging set and costume shops and other operations is a no-brainer suggested by 1stACT, the downtown arts and business coalition, and other arts leaders going back several years.”

“Tomorrow’s playwrights are preoccupied with working-class angst and urban deprivation, according to the judges of a major new writing award. The Bruntwood Playwriting Competition, established by Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre and boasting a total prize fund of £45,000, has identified a new generation of writers tackling issues of sexual disorientation and racial intolerance – but showing little interest in domestic or international politics.”

Aaron Davis Hall, Inc., has been part of Harlem for 25 years. Now renamed Harlem Stage, it opens its new theatre next month in “a community that is rapidly changing, with townhouses selling for millions of dollars and new buildings being erected by internationally renowned architects like Rafael Viñoly.” For executive director Patricia Cruz, that reality comes with a particular responsibility: “Things are changing,” she said, “but how do we make it so that it’s positive for the community — that they are not among the displaced? We hope to be a stabilizing force.”

“Nederlander executives say the program’s eventual goal will be something similar to frequent flier miles and credit card points, making benefits available to returning customers. Those benefits could include discount tickets, special events and even non-Broadway merchandise.”

“TV has become a desirable place for playwrights, and not only because of the money. The negative stigma that once used to cause playwrights to turn down their noses at the small screen has all but vanished.”

A 23-year-old Welsh telephone bank worker won a television contest on Saturday to star in a revival of the musical ‘The Sound of Music’ in London’s West End. The reality show attracted 6000 hopefuls to compete.

What does it take to get a big Broadway show out on the road? It’s a big production. “Business on the road has declined by 30 percent over the past two years, according to figures compiled by the League of American Theatres and Producers. These numbers, however, do not include everything that is on the road, so business may indeed be better than the statistics indicate.”

Broadway tickets are impossibly expensive and hard to find, so you might as well not bother, right? Wrong. “Broadway is also one of New York’s great bargain districts, with a range of incentives and discount programs — some well known, some obscure — to lure bodies into seats. It is still possible to attend even the most in-demand shows at remarkably good prices, but it’s not easy.”

Plans for the renovation of an old Philadelphia movie palace into a theater capable of hosting touring Broadway shows have been scrapped after construction costs began to rise at “an alarming pace.” Local preservationists have been working to save the Art Deco-style Boyd Theater for four years, but its future as the anchor of a newly refurbished neighborhood is now in doubt.