Category: theatre

A Major Portland Theatre Decides To Sell Half Its Building, And Loses Its Managing Director As Well

For years, Artists Repertory Theatre shepherded its building in what was historically a gritty location, through remodels and hosting a number of other cultural offices and eventually to a new, vibrant artistic director, who has “set new standards for equity, onstage and off.” But now, ART is selling half its building, including one theatre. “The buyer is Wood Partners, a development firm that created the Pearl District high-rise Block 17. A pre-application permit filed in October shows a plan for a new 20-story mixed use building with 296 housing units, 4,000 square feet of retail and 206 below-grade parking spaces.”

Angels In America’s Original Prior Walter Will Now Play Roy Cohn

Stephen Spinella originated the role of the young AIDS patient at the center of Tony Kushner’s drama in its 1991 world premiere, and he won back-to-back Tony Awards for it in 1993 and ’94. This spring, in a revival at Berkeley Repertory Theater in California, Spinella will play the part farthest from Prior’s type (and, arguably, Spinella’s own): the furious, ailing, closeted and desperate lawyer who made his name as an anti-Communist hatchet man for Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

Director Of Toronto’s Soulpepper Theatre Resigns In Wake Of Harassment/Assault Lawsuit

In a statement issued Thursday evening, Albert Schultz said, “While I will continue to vigorously defend myself against the allegations that are being made, I have made this decision in the interest of the future of the company into which I poured the last 20 years of my life, and in the interest of the aspirations of the artists and administrators of the company.” The board immediately accepted the resignation.

New Director Of Shakespeare’s Globe To Let Cast Pick Roles And Audiences Choose Plays

“Saying she wants to dismantle theatre hierarchies, Michelle Terry announced [that] … none of the actors turning up for rehearsals [for Hamlet and As You Like It] will know which role they are taking, with the whole ensemble choosing who plays whom. In a similar vein, when the plays The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the Shrew and Twelfth Night go on tour, some audiences will be able to choose which one they want to see that night.”

Regional Theatre Goes Rogue In Philadelphia

“The Wilma now has a three-year-old resident acting company” – in itself a rarity nowadays – “and welcomes shows whose daring aesthetics depart from the factory-setting naturalism of most American stages, especially regional ones.” And the theater’s model, thoroughly changed from less than a decade ago, was instituted not by a new boss but by longtime artistic director Blanka Zizka.

The Stage 100 For 2018: Britain’s Most Influential Theatre Folk

Vicky Featherstone, artistic director of London’s Royal Court Theatre, “has leapt from last year’s placing of 39th in the annual list, reflecting her ‘brave’ and ‘enlightened’ leadership in the face of allegations around harassment and abuses of power in the theatre industry. … In taking the number one position, Featherstone knocks commercial producer Sonia Friedman off the top of the list to third place.”

Four Actors Sue Toronto’s Soulpepper Theatre Over Sexual Harassment And Assault; Company’s Chiefs Step Aside

The plaintiffs’ suits against the company and its artistic director, Albert Schultz, seek a total of well over $6 million. At the board’s direction, Schultz has taken what’s being called a leave of absence, pending investigation; executive director Leslie Lester, Schultz’s wife, has voluntarily done the same.