“The 50-plus crowd is stage-struck. Across the country, growing numbers of older adults are joining theater companies and signing up for classes in acting, directing and playwriting. Many – empty-nesters or newly retired – have never set foot on a stage and are seeking new outlets. But many others … caught the acting bug in high school or college, before pursuing other (paying) careers.”
Category: theatre
What Should Equity And Other Theatre Unions Do About Harassment And Violence?
“Women and gay men in their 20s and 30s describe being propositioned for sex by influential directors, casting directors and others who could help or hurt their careers. Young gay men harassed one another, and groping was a problem for all genders and sexualities. When performers did complain, they felt they weren’t taken seriously by those in authority.”
Despite Fire, The Show Must – And Does – Go On At London’s Battersea Arts Centre
“A theatre is not just a building. It is all the people who pass through it, and who – for however brief a time, a few days or weeks or years – call it home. The people may move on, but the ghosts linger; theatre may be ephemeral but all shows leave their traces in every brick. “
How Nightclub Performers Led To More Asian Americans In Showbiz
“Charlie Low opened Forbidden City in 1938, and from exotic dancers to comedians to acrobats, he made sure the club had it all. It was even featured in major media outlets, including Life magazine. But that didn’t shield performers from the mostly white audiences’ racial taunts.”
Parents Who Work In The Performing Arts Need A Childcare Revolution
“The Royal Court’s Vicky Featherstone was asked what might have helped her when she was developing her career. ‘Childcare,’ came the reply – or at least some tax relief on childcare.”
Roberto Bolaño’s Novel ‘2666’ Is Coming To A Chicago Stage Because Of That Episcopalian Monk Who Won The Lottery
“In an interview on Friday, he traced the impulse behind the gift to a trip several years ago to London, where he saw Nicholas Hytner’s lavish adaptation of Philip Pullman’s ‘His Dark Materials’ at the Olivier Theater.”
Rupert Goold Says The American Model Of Creating New Musicals Is Better Than The British One
The English director, “whose production of Made in Dagenham is currently running in the West End, said that, unlike the US, the UK’s musical theatre scene is ‘led by a producing model that is dictated by the size of our theatres’ and added that musicals should originate from writers and composers who have stories they need to tell.”
Here’s What’s Getting Audra McDonald Back On Broadway (Since “‘Night, Mother” Didn’t Work Out)
She’ll be starring in a new musical, directed by George C. Wolfe and choreographed by Savion Glover, about the making of the 1921 all-black musical that launched Josephine Baker’s career.
Broadway Theatres Sell Air Rights, Buy Banks
“When the Shubert Organization sold the oxygen above its landmarked house for $17.1 million in May, Broadway’s biggest and richest landlord sheltered the proceeds from taxes in part by purchasing a Chase Bank branch on Mundelein’s Townline Road.”
Juilliard’s Drama Director Steps Down From Theater He Founded And Ran For 25 Years
“James Houghton, the founding artistic director of Off Broadway’s Signature Theater, will step down from the organization after a 25-year tenure that has seen the organization’s expansion into a busy theater producer with a $66 million, multi-venue outpost in midtown Manhattan. Houghton, recently diagnosed with stomach cancer, will continue to teach at Juilliard, where he’s the director of the drama division.”