“His name might not have been on the handicappers’ shortlist, but Joseph Haj’s appointment Tuesday as artistic director of the Guthrie Theater brought waves of acknowledgment and praise. ‘He’s a huge player on the national scene – one of the finest theater artists working in America today,’ said [former NEA head of theater] Ralph Remington.”
Category: theatre
Is This America’s Weirdest Playwriting Professor?
“He asks students to write bad plays, to write plays with their nondominant hands, to write a play that takes five hours to perform and covers a period of seven years. Ms. Satter recalled an exercise in which she had to write a play in a language she barely knew.” Yet his master’s program has been turning out some of New York’s most audacious – and lauded – young playwrights.
Go Ahead And Muck About With Shakespeare, Says Top British Shakespearean (He Can Take It)
“Despite his reverence for the Bard, Simon Russell Beale argues against a puritanical approach to his texts, suggesting that they should be seen as blueprints. Shakespeare is ‘big enough’ to withstand having scenes cut and lines transposed or obsolete words changed for the sake of clarity, he said.”
Even The Cheap Seats On Broadway And The West End Aren’t Cheap Anymore, And That’s A Serious Problem
Mark Shenton: “Every single seat, regardless of where in the house it is, is becoming an investment. And if you have to pause before you even book a ticket in the balcony, why bother? … It’s the poorer, younger theatregoers – and the theatregoing habit we hope they will gain, as I did, in the upper circle and balcony – that I hope aren’t priced out of the equation.”
Shakespeare’s Globe Faces Strike By Tour Guides
“Union BECTU is demanding a rise in the hourly rate that tour guides working at the venue receive, claiming that collectively the employees help make the Globe thousands of pounds. According to the Globe, tours generate a turnover of £3 million a year, and a net profit of £200,000 annually.”
How Can The Arts Help People With Alzheimer’s?
“Improv theater is particularly helpful because it doesn’t rely on memorization, which patients may struggle with. Rather, improv is about going with the flow and enjoying the immediate energies.”
Can Second Stage Hold On To Broadway’s Helen Hayes Theatre?
“The Hayes is one of only 40 Broadway theaters, which rarely come up for sale, and it is widely regarded as a beautiful playhouse in a prime location.”
Matinees Are Just Better, Or At Least More Pleasant, Than Evening Shows
“What’s not to like about a show in the early or late afternoon? Matinees are sometimes cheaper, frequently easier to secure a ticket for when a show is popular, and the transport options are often easier, too.”
Are Equity Actors In Los Angeles Afraid To Support A Minimum Wage?
“It’s difficult for them to get up and speak in front of people who may employ them if they feel they might not get employed if they speak the alternate view from what the producers feel. … They’re intimidated.”
Doing Theatre Alone, In The Dark: A Solo Performer Explains Why, And How
“Your incredibly important show about your Furby collection will be rubbish. Live a little before you ask us to pay money and/or attention.”