Category: theatre

“As a practical matter it is expected that the Colonial Theatre and Berkshire Theatre Festival will create a new nonprofit organization that will connect the two entities, while preserving their identities, and adding a new dimension to the Berkshire theater arts heritage.”

“[In] the years directly following the collapse of communism in 1989, contemporary Polish drama was all but absent from the Polish stage. … The theatres were practically deserted; indeed, some joked that the most popular play in Poland was Performance Cancelled. The last 10 years, however, have seen a dramatic rebirth of playwriting.”

“Captioning has meant a big growth in deaf or hard of hearing theatregoers, for whom theatre is accessible like never before. … It’s great to see deaf and hard of hearing people talking passionately about shows with family and friends, and even daring to say what utter rubbish they’ve just seen.”

“The prize stipulates a woman of 32 years or younger, who has not had a Broadway production, a major off-Broadway production, success in writing for film or television, or national media attention. That age limit, combined with the other parameters, sets impressive hurdles against many deserving writers.”

Grand Rapids Community College officials say they will allow debate over whether they should continue funding programs one trustee says includes performances of “evil things.”

The English actor’s favorite way of preparing for a performance: “Improvisational games, the sort of unscripted, spontaneous exercises that he began learning three decades ago as an acting student in London.” Sometimes he and colleagues make up scenes from scratch; sometimes he gets his castmates to play volleyball in the theater.

Bella Todd: “On one level it’s just the body’s natural response to hot lights and the audience’s critical gaze, but … I realised you can fake blood and tears on stage, but you can’t sham a bead of sweat oozing from a pore. … [A]bove all I think I value sweat as a simple signifier of ‘realness’.”

“Mounting criticism and attention over word that the $25,000 Wendy Wasserstein Prize for playwriting would not be awarded this year because no script by a young female writer was deemed worthy has led to a turnaround.”

“A stagehand who worked behind the scenes on the critically acclaimed West End production War Horse is pursuing a case for wrongful dismissal after blowing the whistle on an alleged culture of drunkenness and racism, which he claimed was making life traumatic for cast and crew.”

“Ever since the city began suffering from a widespread infestation of the pernicious bugs last year, demand has soared for people to get rid of them. Actors, it turns out, make the perfect bug busters. ‘Actors have great personalities and follow directions well,’ says [the] owner of Bed Bug Busters NY.”