“One of the most influential African American writers of his generation, [he] courted controversy as a poet, playwright and provocateur and who was a primary intellectual architect of the Black Arts movement of the 1960s.”
Tag: 01.09.14
How Egypt’s Most Popular Novelist Came to Support the Military Government
Alaa Al-Aswany (The Yacoubian Building) was a strong opponent of the Mubarak regime and champion of the Arab Spring, and he cheered his homeland’s first democratic elections. A year later, he cheered the military’s overthrow of Presdient Morsi and the elected Muslim Brotherhood government – and most of Egypt’s intelligentsia (and a quite a lot of the public) cheered right along with him. What happened?
Shakespeare’s Globe’s Broadway Run Is Now Officially in the Black
The double-bill of Twelfth Night and Richard III has now earned back its $3.1 million capitalization – by no means a sure thing on Broadway, even for critically-acclaimed Shakespeare productions.
Freed From Prison, Pussy Rioters Begin a New Movement
Since their release, Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova have begun using their new-found fame, connections and energy for the cause of prison reform. Masha Gessen describes the horrific conditions they faced in their penal colonies and explains why this new work could have far more resonance within Russia than singing about Putin in a Moscow cathedral did.
Nicholas Hytner, Post-National Theatre, Will Start Commercial Production Company
“He is planning to set up a new concern with the National’s executive director Nick Starr when the pair leave in 2015.”
Reading a Novel Rewires Your Brain, Says Study
Today in neuropsychological research performed on undergraduates: fMRIs indicated that students who read a particular novel developed “heightened connectivity in the left temporal cortex” (one of the brain’s language centers) for at least five days after finishing the book.
The Accordion Is Cool Again? Hell Yeah!
They Might Be Giants aren’t outliers anymore. There’s Arcade Fire, Mumford and Sons — heck, there’s now an accordionist in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (And by the way, Hallie Golden reminds us, a hundred years ago the accordion was positively glamorous.)
Goodspeed Theater’s Director to Retire After 45 Years
“Michael Price, who has led Goodspeed Musicals in Connecticut since 1968, producing more than 200 shows and sending 19 of them to Broadway” – including Annie, By Jeeves and Shenandoah – “will retire at the end of the year, the theater company’s board of trustees announced on Thursday.”
Meryl Streep Is Right: Walt Disney Was a ‘Gender Bigot’. So What?
Robin Abcarian: “Born in 1901, he was a man of his times … [and] creative genius who had a certain totalitarian streak. Have you ever been to a Disney park? Did you feel ‘free’ there?”
Three Days of Drinking Vodka With Gary Shteyngart
“And then [Gary] raises a glass to the fish: ‘Here’s to herring … It’s really kept Russia going all these years.’ I didn’t know we were going to keep going with the toasts. ‘Endless toasts,’ he says. ‘It’s so annoying, but it has to be done.'”