Category: theatre

“The one-person play, created and performed by Erin Pike and written by Courtney Meaker consists entirely of dialogue from the female characters that appear in the 10 most-frequently-produced Amercian plays during the 2014—2015 season.”

“National Theatre director Rufus Norris has committed to ensuring gender equality in terms of the directors and living writers the venue employs by 2021. … He added: ‘There are a lot of women playwrights and women directors coming through, so it’s our responsibility to encourage that and reap the benefits.'”

Just as Camelot was the emblematic show of JFK’s day (“about the idealism and glamour of courtly power, and also about its fragility”) and South Pacific was of the Truman-Eisenhower era (“about what America was going to do and be after the Americans had won their terrible war”), argues Adam Gopnik, Hamilton captures both the changes and the contradictions in the U.S. during this President’s term.

Jeremy Gerard of Deadline noted, “There’s no other kind of journalism where the journalist says, ‘Is it OK if I report this kind of story?’” That said, the allowance for theatrical productions to be developed and previewed in front of paying audiences has become generally standard practice and important to countless creative artists, the result of a détente between the natural instincts of the press and the creative process of artists.

Samuel French chief Bruce Lazarus “maintains that the Pinter estate had not been prepared to grant any subsequent license [for The Room] because the British agent had lined up a ‘first-class’ production in the UK, which had an option for a U.S. transfer. Lazarus points out that French could have simply said no but said his company persuaded the U.K. agent to allow the L.A. production, with restrictions.”

“National Theatre director Rufus Norris said Sunday performances had been axed as the venue looks at ways of “contracting”. The theatre faces the loss of revenue from the West End production of War Horse and a 30% cut in real terms to its subsidy since 2010.”

Maxine Peake, who appears regularly at Manchester’s Royal Exchange (Sarah Frankcom, artistic director): “I just think actually women are probably better for running buildings, because they can multitask. And I think – without sounding terribly sexist, and I’m not saying across the board – they generally have a smaller ego.”

“The $100,000 2016 Vilcek Prize in Theatre, presented to an immigrant artist with a record of major achievement, is awarded to Blanka Zizka, artistic director of the Wilma Theatre.” The Vilcek Prizes honor scientists and artists who have immigrated to the U.S. The prizes focus on a different discipline each year; among previous winners are Mike Nichols, Yo-Yo Ma, and Mikhail Baryshnikov.

Ross Jackson takes on the practice of putting the one African-Amrican-themed show in a theater’s schedule during February (Black History Month); “that one black actor onstage,” often in a subsidiary role; colorblind or nontraditional casting (“the terms are inherently aggressive and inappropriate”); and “dehumanizing” casting of black actors as subservients, animals and/or magical beings.