“Berlin’s famous Staatsoper opera house is expected to undergo a major three-year renovation starting in 2010. Officials at the Staatsoper have long argued that the 18th-century building on the capital’s Unter den Linden boulevard is in dire need of restoration.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
After Cancer Diagnosis, Director Works Through Illness
“You could forgive Kurt Beattie for being a bit blasé on the eve of ACT Theatre’s 2007 season, which opens with the Seattle debut of Sarah Ruhl’s touted play ‘The Clean House.’ But ACT’s respected artistic head is anything but jaded. Since he was diagnosed with lung cancer late last year, Beattie has endured aggressive treatment. And he’s very happy to be alive — and back to work.”
New York Public Library Fellows Announced
“The 2007-2008 fellows at the New York Public Library’s Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers will include five young novelists, four historians, two Pulitzer Prize winners, and a journalist who won a 2006 MacArthur Foundation ‘genius’ grant.”
No Obvious Hits Or Awful Misses At 2007 Humana Fest
“Grow up, Americans. That’s one theme of the 31st Humana Festival of New American Plays, which invited critics and industry people to Kentucky’s state theater, the Actors Theater of Louisville, last weekend for its annual drama marathon. The event is as ebullient as it is exhausting.” Nonetheless, in Philip Boroff’s estimation, “The Kentucky Derby of American theater didn’t produce any clear commercial contenders this edition….”
Why Writers Lie (Hint: We’re Partly To Blame)
Prompted by The New Republic’s recent excoriation of storyteller David Sedaris for taking fictional liberties in work sold as nonfiction, Oscar Villalon ponders “the head-scratching issue of talented (and not-so-talented) writers lying on the page. Why take the risk of a public shaming?” The problem, he suggests, may be linked to the perceived lesser worth of fiction.
Outterbridge’s Watts Towers Shovel Returned To LA
“The artwork-on-a-shovel that left town eight months ago with Margie J. Reese, Los Angeles’ former arts chief, is back in the city-run Watts Towers Arts Center after a detour to Reese’s home in Irving, Texas. Last July, an apparently unknowing Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa presented the work by L.A. artist John Outterbridge as a farewell gift to Reese when she left her job as general manager of the Cultural Affairs Department….”
Blockbuster Christian Novels Have Altered Publishing
“This week, ‘Kingdom Come,’ the 16th and last novel in the hugely successful ‘Left Behind’ evangelical series, will be released, and the publication marks the culmination of a sea change in the American book world. Before the first installment in Tim LaHaye’s and Jerry B. Jenkins’ modern-day stories based on the Book of Revelation appeared in 1995, Christian fiction was typically tucked away in Christian bookstores. Now, 43 million books later, the Left Behind titles have paved the way for these books and others like them to be sold in chain outlets, discount stores and big box retailers.”
At Christie’s, A Lesser Strad Fetches $2.4 Million
“The bidding yesterday lasted less than four minutes. The rare Stradivarius violin went for a high — but not a record — price of $2.4 million.” What the anonymous buyer gets “is what is known as a ‘late period’ Stradivarius, which is not from Stradivari’s ‘golden period’ of 1700 to 1720. The record $3.5 million price last year was for such a golden violin.”
In Solidarity, And In Public, Dancers Confront Aging
“In the relatively short history of modern dance, an awkward chain of events has unfolded that goes something like this: a choreographer gets older, his dancers get younger and suddenly, plopped into the middle of a work, is a solo in which the aging choreographer tries to get his groove back. John Jasperse, 43, wants no part of it.” Which is why he’s created a work, premiering this week at Dance Theater Workshop, for himself and two 43-year-old colleagues.
To Tap Recovery Community, First You Have To Find It
“As the group’s name makes plain, Alcoholics Anonymous members do not hang neon signs outside their church-basement meetings. The group never, according to its own literature, ‘endorses, supports’ or ‘becomes affiliated with’ anything.” So if you’re marketing “Bill W. and Dr. Bob,” an Off-Broadway play about the founders of A.A., how do you reach your audience?