Category: theatre

“Amateur digital archivists and musical theater devotees are invited to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts on Saturday for a six-hour ‘editathon,’ an event meant to improve Wikipedia’s musical-theater-related entries using the library’s special collections.”

English theatre has hardly been cordial to religion in recent years, but stages all over the country are seeing tributes to the Good Book in its quadracentenary year. Why?

“The one-act play, entitled Exorcism, was staged in March 1920 by the Provincetown Players, but, according to The New Yorker‘s theatre critic John Lahr, O’Neill destroyed what he believed to be every copy of the play in order to save his father, celebrated romantic actor James O’Neill, embarrassment after a stroke.” (Online, the play is behind The New Yorker‘s paywall.)

“There are three strong contenders to fill Michael Boyd’s shoes: Gregory Doran, Rupert Goold and David Farr. Or could a Shakespearean twist see the job going to a maverick outsider?”

“Without Pinter my play would not have this revival. I am almost tempted to declare that without Pinter, Death and the Maiden would not exist in its present form.”

Slight verbal mayhem ensues when Elaine May interviews filmmakers and fellow playwrights Ethan Coen and Woody Allen. Of course, she could have made the whole thing up.

At the revived, re-funded and redeveloped Royal Shakespeare Company, artistic director Michael Boyd and executive director Vikki Heywood say a decade is long enough, and it’s time to move on. What will happen to the RSC in London?

When the Colorado Shakespeare Festival floated the idea of the Bard as an anti-bullying technique, no one knew it would take off. Now, research shows that a little Twelfth Night plus a little critical discussion may equal a drop in bully behavior. Lead on, Malvolio!

With short, focused plays like “God of Carnage” and “Red” all the rage across the country, are playwrights (not including Tracy Letts) writing for a Twitter and texting-happy audience?

As Mia Yoo takes over the famous experimental theatre company La MaMa from founder Ellen Stewart, she has the asset of history and downtown real estate. But “at the same time, she inherits a theater that often inspires more nostalgia than buzz.” What’s the next step?