Category: theatre

“Theater Space Project is a nonprofit that has spent nearly a decade providing low-cost performance space to theaters and dance companies. In 2008, the group couldn’t give its space away, and its very livelihood was threatened. These days, though, the venue, which recently expanded to 120 seats, is enjoying an unprecedented period of activity.”

“The rise of theatre blogging has done a great deal to blur the lines between these two camps, due to the fact that more directors, actors and designers are taking to their keyboards to air their opinions, and that the internet allows artists and reviewers to talk more directly than ever before. Yet, as we can see from this week’s blogs, this situation can give rise to a number of quite knotty ethical questions.”

“Le Roman d’un trader (Story of a Trader), a comedy loosely based on the multi-billion euro losses blamed on SocGen trader Jerome Kerviel in 2008, will run at the Nice theatre for three weeks from September 23.”

“Four leading critics have quit a recently launched theatre website, claiming they are owed thousands of pounds in back-pay and accusing the organisation of a lack of professionalism.”

“‘I am writing a new musical,’ Townshend blogged. ‘Floss is an ambitious new project for me, in the style of Tommy and Quadrophenia. In this case the songs are interspersed with surround-sound “soundscapes” featuring complex sound effects and musical montages.’ … He is in talks with producers in New York but hopes to release some of the musical’s more ‘conventional’ songs on a new Who album next year.”

“The property and assets of the North Shore Music Theatre will be auctioned off to the highest bidder at an upcoming foreclosure auction, according to the theater’s former chairman. David Fellows said four groups with theater backgrounds have expressed interest in buying the property and continuing to operate it as an arts center.”

Harry M. Bagdasian is “on the hunt for scripts of plays that premiered in the 1970s and ’80s at the long-defunct New Playwrights’ Theatre in Washington, which, as a determined 23-year-old, he co-founded. … He’s donating his New Playwrights’ memorabilia to the University of Maryland’s Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library, but he’s short another 34 scripts of New Playwrights’ shows performed during his tenure that he’d like to include.”

“According to Gina Gershon, who stars as Rose in the upcoming revival, the production has said bye bye to a frisky dance sequence that has been in the show since its debut in 1960. … So why is it too hot to handle in 2009? Gershon told The News’ theater critic Joe Dziemianowicz, ‘It seemed a little too gang rape-y.'”

The current revival, directed by Arthur Laurents (who wrote the show’s book), “had been touted for the fact that some songs and dialog performed by its Puerto Rican characters would be delivered in Spanish.” But as of this week, “A Boy Like That” has reverted to the original English, as have parts of “I Feel Pretty.” Laurents says that the use of Spanish in the show “was an experiment …an ongoing process of finding what worked and what didn’t.”

“Neither Shakespeare nor British director Peter Brook probably imagined the staging of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ like the setup at the Palms pool, which was redone on Saturday into a pirate’s ship with skulls, plunder and sexy pirate babes dressed in red.” Aside from the title, which has been amended with the subtitle “A Pirate’s Guilty Pleasure,” what’s “left from the Bard’s play is a love of the physically sensual and a celebration of a naughty imagination.”