Category: theatre

Children’s theatre is thriving at a time when other performing arts are struggling. “This is a corner of the theatrical world that, as Rodney Dangerfield would say, has gotten no respect, but may now be seeing a renaissance. Although economic times are tough for all regional theaters today is ‘a remarkable time’ for children’s theater. There’s been ‘nothing less than a sea change in the field. It’s a significant historical moment.”

The National Endowment for the Arts is forming a performers guild to support its program touring Shakespeare across the country. “The endowment has taken on the guild image in organizing the respected performers and art experts who will openly support the Shakespeare project. Shakespeare in American Communities will bring professional performances of the Bard, along with related educational activities, to more than 100 communities throughout the country.”

The new musical Money To Burn has closed in London after only two performances. The show closed between it’s matinee and a planned evening performance, making it one of the shortest-lived runs ever in London’s West End. “The notices were unusually savage, especially in a town where theatre critics tend to couch their harsher observations with the occasional leavening word. Not so this time. Charles Spencer in The Daily Telegraph called the musical “jaw-droppingly dreadful.” In The Guardian, Michael Billington was one of several critics to give the show one star out of five: ‘Faced with such dross as this, one’s first inclination is to run screaming into the night’.”

Director Nicholas Hytner is winning cheers for his direction of London’s National Theatre. But his deal to transfer National plays to Broadway has angered some Broadway producers. And others are wondering if Hytner will be able to deliver on promises to superstar playwrights.

Rita and Burton Goldberg wanted to do something to promote writing for the theatre. So they called up New York University in the mid-90s and volunteered. “Since then, they have given more than $1 million to Tisch, specifically to support student playwrights. They provide scholarships, foot the bill for an annual playwriting competition and finance a master playwrights’ program that during the last three years has brought John Guare, Kenneth Lonergan, Marsha Norman, Wendy Wasserstein, Tina Howe and Neil LaBute to Tisch classrooms and lecture halls for a semester apiece.”

Rome is getting a replica of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. “It has been built in only four months in one of Rome’s public gardens. It is a gift to the city of Rome from a builder, and will be used for performances not only of Shakespeare’s works but also for other playwrights and poets of different nationalities. Concerts will also take place inside the circular theatre, which can hold more than 1,200 spectators.”

Things are alomst Utopian for the theatre in Denmark. “Here, the preference is overwhelmingly for word-bound, well-made plays. These are supported by per-capita funding levels significantly higher than Britain’s and a peerless children’s theatre network, totalling 50 companies, which grooms audiences early. A lavishly funded playwriting course in the city of Aarhus supplies a steady stream of playwrights. And because of strict union rules, actors enjoy astonishing luxuries, including a minimum term of employment of 75 days. The Danes have created something that other countries don’t dare dream about: an all-encompassing cradle-to-grave theatrical welfare state.” So where are the great Danish plays and theatre companies?

“Sure, all the Broadway musicals are bragging about their advances – $10 million for “The Boy From Oz,” $8.5 million for “Wicked,” 20 cents for “Taboo” and “Wonderful Town” combined – but the little straight plays are sitting on a nice pile of cash, too.”

Congress has approved $1 million to bring Shakespeare to the troops. “The $368 billion defense bill recently approved by Congress includes $1 million to bring performances of Shakespeare to troops at stateside military bases. The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis will be one of seven theater companies involved in the unprecedented effort.”

In the wake of an overwhelming vote against tax increases by the voters of Alabama last month, the state is making serious cuts to a budget that has already traditionally been stretched to the breaking point, and it appears that the state’s theater groups will be some of the hardest hit. The Alabama Shakespeare Festival, arguably the only arts organization in the state with a national reputation, will take a 75% hit in state funding, as will the Birmingham Children’s Theatre. Worse yet, legislators have announced plans to eliminate funding for ‘non-state agencies’ completely in the next budget.