Protesters said the sexual abuse 35 to 45 years ago was far more widespread than the number of current suits would indicate. They described a culture within the theater in which sex between adult staff and teenage students was an “open secret.” – The Star-Tribune (MPLS)
Category: theatre
In St. Louis, A Group Of Rising Theatre Leaders Of Color Find Mutual Support
As theatre makers confront a rapidly shifting landscape – one of them, a professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, saw her entire department eliminated, all student productions ended, and her position moved to communications – they find inspiration and ideas with each other. “Getting to be in a room and talking with other artists who know the same kind of stress and extra weight that you’re feeling as a person of color, that was probably the most special part of the experience,” one said of her time with the Rising Leaders of Color cohort. – American Theatre
The Two Writers Taking Over From Hilton Als At The New Yorker
Vinson Cunningham and Alexandra Schwartz have been staff writers at The New Yorker since 2016, and they “filled in on the stage beat while longtime chief critic Hilton Als was on leave. Cunningham and Schwartz officially begin as alternating co-theatre critics next week. (Als is reportedly not leaving theatre criticism entirely but stepping back from regular reviewing.)” – American Theatre
Website Caught Trying To Sell Reviews At Edinburgh Fringe
“The site, The Mumble, is contacting artists appearing at this year’s festival to offer ‘a digitally sophisticated Skyflyer’, comprising a review and interview, for £50. Opting for just a review would cost £30.” – The Stage
The Future Of Theatre Is Accessible
“In this series, a variety of disabled theatre artists: managers, designers, producers, and dramaturgs, will share how they do their work, as well as their vision for an accessible future in professional theatre.” – HowlRound
How Jackie Sibblies Drury Helped Clear The Path For Today’s Wave Of Experimental Black Playwrights
“If it seems lately there’s been a surfeit of Black playwrights tackling race onstage in formally inventive ways, it can be partly traced to Drury’s work at the beginning of the decade.” – American Theatre
This Man Has To Be Ready To Play Any One Of 14 Roles Any A Given Night
“As what’s known in Broadway parlance as a ‘swing,’ [Angelo] Soriano is paid to master a head-spinning 14 roles, though he is never certain he will go onstage in any of them. With … [injuries,] vacations, and the flu, and the complexities of running a multimillion-dollar Disney show, you need agile replacements who can sing, dance and not trip over one another while brandishing scimitars in one scene, nailing an exuberant nine-minute tap-heavy number the next.” – The New York Times Magazine
Playwright Lynn Nottage Has Written An Opera For The Met And Lincoln Center
The two-time Pulitzer winner (for Ruined and Sweat) adapted her 2004 play Intimate Apparel into a chamber opera with a score by Ricky Ian Gordon (The Grapes of Wrath). The piece, part of the joint commissioning project by the Metropolitan Opera and Lincoln Center Theater launched in 2006, will premiere late next February on the smaller of LCT’s two stages. – The New York Times
Why, Amidst All The Musical Comedies, It’s Important Every So Often To Have A Musical Tragedy
Rachel Chavkin, director of Hadestown: “This gets now into very old Greek theater, but the idea of catharsis and working through something together and the tragedy as a crucible that the audience travels through as a community and mourns together. … I think there something is so medicinal in that purgation. That’s how the Greeks used that word, catharsis, both spiritually and physically — which of course wasn’t separate for them — as medicinal.” – Slate
Broadway Racks A Record Season At The Box Office
Attendance hit 14.77 million while ticket sales topped off at $1.83 billion in grosses, according the Broadway League, the national trade association tied to the Great White Way. That’s a 7.8% season-over-season increase in terms of grosses, easily topping the $1.7 billion from the 2017 to 2018 season. It’s also a 7.1% increase in attendance, up from 13.79 million in the previous season. – Variety