“Is there anything, anything at all, to be said for a character whose name all too obviously part-rhymes with Harvey Weinstein? Well, he continues to have sympathy for illegal immigrants, despite or perhaps because of his mother’s murder. But Mamet can find no good word for his films.” – The Daily Beast
Category: theatre
‘Judy Punches Back’ — Creating A Feminist ‘Punch And Judy’ Show
“[Puppeteer Sarah] Nolen wanted a new challenge: save Judy from centuries of unfair abuse and repurpose her story as an empowering allegory for audiences of all ages.” Roxanna Myhrum, artistic director of the theater where Nolen developed Judy Saves the Day, writes about how it all went down. – HowlRound
What’s Next At The Shed? A Multi-Million-Dollar Sci-Fi Kung-Fu Aerialist Contemporary Dance Musical
That sounds unlikely enough, but the creative team for Dragon Spring Phoenix Rise is even more unlikely: choreographer Akram Khan, director-producer Chen Shi-Zheng (The Peony Pavilion, Monkey: Journey to the West), and the guys who wrote Kung Fu Panda. – The New York Times
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Coming Back To Broadway
The show combines singing, rapping, comedy, beat-boxing and human percussion, with the performers taking suggestions from the audience to create “humorous bits, instantaneous songs and riffs, and fully realized musical numbers.” – Deadline
Method Acting And #MeToo: A Brief History
“At least three of the fathers of the American Method — Lee Strasberg, Sanford Meisner, and Elia Kazan — had reputations for treating men and women differently, as well as for treating both women actors and women characters as sex objects.” Holly L. Derr examines what these men did, how they justified it, and how the aftereffects linger on. – HowlRound
If Your Theatre Company Wants To Produce More Plays By Women, Here’s Where To Find Some
For five years now, a collective called The Kilroys has been releasing an annual list of recommended new plays, as yet unproduced or “under-produced,” by female, transgender, and non-binary writers. “The list appears to be having an impact. The organization says that 100 plays it has named have been produced or promised productions, and one, Cost of Living by Martyna Majok, won a Pulitzer Prize.” – The New York Times
Study: A Dip This Season In Broadway’s Gender Parity Progress
Overall, there has been a dip in representation amongst female directors, with the study finding that women make up 13 percent of the roles available this season, contrasted to a slightly higher number of 18 percent in the last report. Choreographers also saw a decline in women creating works, though the percentage of female writers increased slightly from 82 to 85 percent. – All Arts
What Goes On Backstage At The World’s Oldest Theatre Collective
“Theatre collective” may seem a surprising way to describe the Comédie-Française (est. 1680), but it’s accurate: the company is owned and controlled by its actors and other members. Reporter Laura Cappelle pays a visit to see how it all works. – The Guardian
An Oral History Of ‘Oh! Calcutta!, Which Premiered 50 Years Ago
“An erotic revue conceived by the English theater critic Kenneth Tynan, Oh! Calcutta! took it all off at the Eden Theater, a former pornographic cinema that had been renovated by the show’s producer. … [Tynan] solicit[ed] anyone and everyone to submit a titillating sketch. Nothing ‘about art or redeeming literary merit,’ he advised. A lot of the luminaries (Samuel Beckett, Tennessee Williams, Edna O’Brien) dropped out or were dropped, but the final, all-male lineup included Sam Shepard, Jules Feiffer and John Lennon.” – The New York Times
Evening Standard’s Sacking Of Its Theatre Critics Doesn’t Mean Criticism Is Going Away – It’s Just Moving On
“Mainstream theatre criticism is unlikely to disappear. But professional, full-time critics, whose only real job is to review plays, may be a dying breed. It is unfortunately possible for publications to be committed to criticism whilst being utterly cavalier about individual critics.” – The Stage