When choreographer My-Linh Le saw some turf dancers from Oakland on the BART train, “she wanted to take them off the train and put them on stage, with ballet dancers she recruited from the Alonzo King Lines School.” And she did. “But the creative process turned out to be more difficult than anyone anticipated.” (includes video)
Tag: 01.13.16
Color-Blind Casting In Shakespeare: How Far Have We Really Come?
Lyn Gardner: “The uncomfortable fact [is] that while there is a significant amount of colour-blind casting in Shakespeare, black and Asian actors seldom get a chance to take the significant roles. … In the case of more substantial roles, some particularly appear to be earmarked for minority casting: the nurse in Romeo and Juliet being an obvious one.”
Festive, Transgressive, And Sometimes Offensive: Philadelphia’s Mummers Parade Is Ambulatory Outsider Art
Yes, this year’s parade had some unfortunate displays of bigotry – even as, in other ways, it’s become more inclusive. “The Mummers represent a wild, exuberant, and frankly bizarre tradition that deserves to continue; where else can you see your electrician dance down the street as a sequined cow carrying a miniature umbrella?”
We Need To Rethink The Role Of Sopranos
It so happens that a significant amount of our choral literature draws from an historical context in which women were not able to participate. The SATB voicing, as we know it today, belonged to all-male choruses, consisting of both pre- and post-pubescent male voices. Consider the language. Soprano is Latin and ends in “o.” Even in 2016, even when discussing female roles through centuries of opera and the highest voices in our vocal ensembles across the world, women are given the title of “boy.”
Cuts In UK Museum Funding Threaten Regional Museums Most
“As cultural heritage becomes one of the softest targets for financial brutalism, Derby’s three museums – Silk Mill, Derby Museum and Art Gallery and Pickford’s House – may be forced to reduce their opening hours or close altogether if the council withdraws funding to the trust that runs them. If you think this does not matter much – if you safely assume that all Britain’s real masterpieces are in places like the British Museum and that regional galleries are also-rans – think again.”
What Makes Alejandro Aravena’s Buildings Cool
Aravena practices what he calls “incremental design.” With this approach, he and the designers at Elemental, his studio, build housing structures that are deliberately unfinished.
Seven Months After Losing His Leg, Actor Takes Off On 15-City Tour
“From the beginning, the doctors and nurses agreed that this feat seemed a near-impossibility. There was just not enough time. Not enough time between the Center City hit and run that took [Michael] Toner’s left leg in June and the role awaiting him: a starring spot in the Walnut’s three-week, 15-city tour of Eugene O’Neill’s A Moon for the Misbegotten.”
Why Do Actors Want To Act? Anthony Hopkins Explains
“Did I ever want to quit? Yes, several times. Every day I think about quitting, but they come and offer me a job, and I say okay, because I’m an actor. We are mad. All actors want to be loved – I think that’s something in all actors. We want more, more, more.”
Why The Young Helen Mirren Was Perfect For Playing A Rock Star (It Wasn’t Because She Could Sing)
David Hare, on his 1975 play Teeth ‘n’ Smiles: “Helen’s ways of not listening to direction were far more sophisticated than those of anyone I had previously encountered. Once she received me naked for a notes session in her dressing room. She discarded the Evening Standard, which had briefly obscured her, clearly with the aim of putting me off my stride. She succeeded.”
Why Sad Music Doesn’t Make Us Feel Worse
When given the choice, why wouldn’t people listen to uplifting music instead of songs that could depress them?