Category: theatre

“They have reinforced a message to young Canadian directors that the best way to get ahead at home is to move abroad, and that what audiences think of you in New York matters more to boards than what audiences think of you here. Even minor experience in your field outside this country will trump major experience at home.”

“The producers of the Tony-winning revival announced on Thursday that the show, now starring Taye Diggs in the title role, will finish its Broadway run on Sept. 13 at the Belasco Theater. At that time it will have played 22 previews and 506 regular performances.”

The producers of Madea on the Run, currently touring the U.S., have not signed Equity’s contract, so the union has put the show on its “Do Not Work” list, which SAG-AFTRA is honoring.

“In letter published on Saturday signatories, who also included Sir David Hare, Young Vic artistic director David Lan and Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti, said the cancellation ‘is a troubling moment for British theatre and freedom of expression.’ ‘We fear that government policy in response to extremism may be creating a culture of caution in the arts,’ they add.”

All of the reasons it never quite clicks for these men and women, according to their much more famous peers – including the table comic, “the genre of beloved comic who is funny in conversation with other comedians but not onstage.”

“As the financial realities of our operation become more constrained, the pressure on the pay and working conditions for those people we employ increases, and any attempts to narrow the gap between how we pay our freelancers and our full-time staff become yet more challenging.”

On the eve of FringeNYC, which runs Friday to Aug. 30, we asked representatives from some shows presented last year whether the overall effort — the cost, the frantic pace, the heat and the need to compete for audiences with almost 200 other shows — is ultimately worth it.

“A British theatre and opera director with 25 years of experience, Tim Carroll is best known for his Shakespeare productions, which have shown in theatres internationally.”

Says director Heather Williams, “I wanted to use the idea of non-cooperative actors to explore the themes of King Lear itself. Because Cordelia’s an actor who refuses to act.”

Weirdly, I am now making much of my income as a theatre and cultural critic in my chosen town of Louisville, Kentucky. I’m getting some small paid theatre gigs, too. I’m making more money off theatre than I ever did as “a professional.” But I’m not a professional.