“We like to think that there is something distinct about the British sense of humour, that the comic is a singularly important element in the make-up of the British national character. I find it hard to imagine an equivalent show in the Pompidou Centre in Paris or in a German national museum.”
Tag: 06.08.10
Medicis Of Musical Theatre
“Most theater backers seek a windfall or at least some financial return,” but Ted and Mary Jo Shen “instead fund non-commercial musicals that they believe advance the art form, usually through non- profit theater companies such as the Signature [Theatre in Virginia] or New York’s Roundabout and Public Theater.”
The Inseparability Of Art And Architecture
“It is impossible to conceive of the history of art in exclusion from that of architecture. If you were writing about the Baroque style, or the Arts and Crafts movement, or any other major cultural era: just to write about paintings and sculpture and ignore the buildings they were created for would be to trivialise the subject. It’s the same today.”
Trusting One Another (If The Right Hormone Kicks In)
“It may seem strange that there is a hormonal influence in such a delicate calculation as to whether or not to trust someone. But perhaps trust is so important to a society’s survival that natural selection has generated a hormonal basis for it.”
For O. Henry, Crime Paid
William Sydney Porter “probably would have remained an obscure hack” if a former employer hadn’t accused him of theft. “As Prisoner No. 30664, he started to submit short stories to magazines in Manhattan. He used the name O. Henry, which he possibly borrowed from a prison guard named Orrin Henry. The most notable phase of his life was about to begin.”
Martha Graham Company Revisits A Landmark Work
“While ‘American Document (2010)” evokes, and pays homage to, that earlier project, the company has completely reinvented it for today. Perhaps most surprising, a theater director – Anne Bogart – is at the helm, and six actors (members of SITI Company, which Bogart co-founded in 1992) will share the stage with 10 members of the Graham company.”
Diller Scofidio + Renfro Is Broad Museum Front-Runner
Anonymous sources said Eli Broad favors the firm to design his art museum, but they “cautioned that Broad could still change his mind and pursue a design by one of the other architects,” particularly if the Diller Scofidio plan proved too costly. First, of course, he has to get approval for the downtown L.A. site.
Working From Biblical Design Guidelines
“Launched by the nonprofit group Reboot, which seeks to update Jewish traditions, the competition invites entrants to grapple with the highly detailed, Old Testament rules governing sukkah construction, and reimagine those limits ‘as the foundation for new liberties and abilities.'”
Fictional Characters As Psychiatric Case Studies
“The use of books and movies in teaching is growing in part because fictional characters obviously aren’t protective of their privacy the way real patients can be. … What’s more, with fiction, students can experience a much wider range of disorders than they may ever encounter in real life.”
So As Not To Perish With Valhalla, Met Reinforces Its Stage
In anticipation of Robert Lepage’s 45-ton “Ring” set, the Metropolitan Opera “had a steel company install three 65-foot girders under the stage, a feat of delicate engineering involving thousands of pounds of steel that counts as a permanent structural change to the opera house, the most extensive work yet to prepare for a new production there.”