Category: theatre

“The Colony Theatre in Burbank is facing the possibility of imminent closure if the company isn’t able to resolve a budgetary shortfall … [The] 37-year-old company has run out of money and needs to raise $49,000 in the next two weeks and $500,000 by the end of the calendar year in order to remain open.”

Nicholas Hytner’s National Theatre leads this year’s Evening Standard Theatre Awards longlist with 22 entries, followed by the Royal Court with 13 nominations.

“Because everyone pretends that they know what good acting and good theater is, and because every actor thinks that their talent gives them reality on the stage (so long as there’s a good director and good blocking and good sets and lights and costumes) . . . and because everyone wants to pretend that there’s nothing special about James Cagney and Marlon Brando and all of the rest of the greats we once had . . . the community is suspicious of theater that professes to be alive. “

The Paramount Theatre in Peekskill, N.Y., successfully remade itself from an aging movie theatre into a performing arts center – until the Great Recession (and a rival town’s theatre) took its support and business away.

Exotic monsters stalk children (and adults) at Christmastime in Europe, making Halloween in the U.S. look positively wholesome and gentle.

And we don’t mean metaphorically – as Sandy makes its way to New York, theatres cancelled a wide variety of Sunday night and Monday shows (luckily, the lightest theatre days of the week).

“The first few minutes are very important to lay down the DNA of the play.”

“It was a welcome relief from conflict and despair. The fairgrounds were packed with excited children in new cloths, women in glittery headscarves, others in black face veils, and men in suits and freshly pressed shirts. Families snacked on pumpkin seeds.”

“We will not be sold out on the last night. We will not be sold out in a week’s time. You can buy tickets every single day.”

Arthur Miller’s estate just cracked down on an Australian production’s revision of Death of a Salesman (no epilogue, and Willy gasses himself rather than dying in an auto accident). The Beckett estate is notorious for its insistence on no deviations whatsoever from the script. Terry Teachout considers the limits of such protectiveness.