Tag: 09.26.19

What American Theater Owes To Uta Hagen

“Beyond her acting, her greatest legacy may be how she influenced generations of actors, teaching at HB Studio and writing two books that are popular with acting students across the globe. Reporter Jeff Lunden speaks with some of those former students and colleagues, including F. Murray Abraham, Mercedes Ruehl and David Hyde Pierce, about what made Hagen such an important figure in the history of American theater.” (audio) – Studio 360

Philadanco Founder Joan Myers Brown Gives Up One Of Her Many Jobs

Brown, at age 87 still the company’s artistic director, will remain at least through next year’s 50th anniversary celebrations, but she has turned over the executive director position, on an interim basis, to administrator, professor, and former company dancer Elgie Gaynell Sherrod. Her main task will be stabilizing the company’s long-precarious financial situation; Brown has, over the years, lent Philadanco hundreds of thousands of dollars of her own money. – The Philadelphia Inquirer

An Architect Who Rebuilt A City After An Earthquake With “Half” Houses

Having been given a small budget to construct homes for low-income families, many of whom said they would like to expand their dwellings in the future, Alejandro Aravena hit upon the idea of building half of a larger, nicer home, and leaving the other half for the residents to finish themselves, either with their own hands or with help from local “micro-contractors.” – CityLab

Why Has Performance Become Such A Big Part Of Visual Art?

Perhaps it’s precisely the soft science of working with and viewing other people that makes performance a refreshing counterpoint to an art industry that is increasingly commercialized and corporatized. Regardless of athleticism or ability, in dance traditionally made for the stage there’s a satisfaction – and, perhaps, seduction – in viewing the technique-driven, trained body of a performer. – Frieze

A Tap-Dancer’s Place Is In, Uh, The Band?

Yes indeed, historically speaking. “Tap and jazz grew up together, and in the 1930s and ‘40s, it was assumed that the greatest jazz bands — Duke Ellington’s, Count Basie’s — would bring tap dancers with them on tour. After World War II, though, as jazz separated from dance, hoofers became much scarcer in jazz clubs and concerts — never entirely absent but unusual, forgotten enough to be a novelty. Lately, that’s been changing a little.” – The New York Times

Is It Time To Get Rid Of Remedial Math?

College students actually do just fine without it, or so Cal State says. This probably won’t shock a lot of humanities majors, but an administrator says, “The traditional pathway, where we had one route through developmental math for all students, as if they were all going on to take an algebra-based major, was not functional.” You don’t say. – LAist