Category: theatre

The Playhouse is celebrating its centennial but canceled two large-cast productions last year for plays with far, far fewer people, and had to get board loans for this year after the state of California cut $1 million from its budget (the cuts were restored). Still, new producing artistic director Danny Feldman “isn’t daunted by the challenges, referring to himself as ‘bizarre’ in that he loves fundraising.” Can he succeed?

“The Pasadena Playhouse, which holds the designation of the State Theater of California, marks its centennial this summer. And while that’s reason to celebrate, the theater continues to struggle for survival amid serious financial challenges. Now, eight months into the job, Feldman has his work cut out for him.”

Eric Grode talks to members of the company Improbable about how they put together Opening Skinner’s Box, an adaptation of the controversial book by Lauren Slater about studies such as Stanley Milgram’s infamous experiment with obedience (where subjects were told to administer electric shocks) and Elizabeth Loftus’s work on how memories can be shaped and altered.

Joshua Dachs: “What at first looks like evolution – from campfires to hillsides to amphitheatres to courtyards to playhouses and onward into the future – is really the recapitulation of another kind of trajectory, from improvisation to formalization. As each new theatrical practice is improvised by a new culture or by restless, visionary (or hungry) artists using the materials at hand, its successes are repeated; standardized practices emerge, traditions and expectations are established.”

“Research by The Stage reveals nearly nine out of 10 musicals had a book written entirely by men, with women credited for the script of just 12% of productions. The figures represent any time a woman was credited for either the book, music or lyrics of a show, and have been described as “shocking” by industry figures.”

“After the acquisition, Blue Man will be able to tap into Cirque’s worldwide access to theaters and marketers. In particular, both organizations have their eye on China, home to one of the most powerful and quickly growing entertainment industries in the world.”

“Called 1000 GESTALTEN, which translates in English as ‘1,000 figures,’ it was a performance in which actors covered in grey, crusty clay moved silently and steadily through the city in a transfixed state. For the days leading up to July 5, these figures started appearing all over Hamburg, slowly growing in numbers until culminating yesterday in a giant formation in which a “transformation” took place, the actors breaking free from their clay shells.”