“In addition to writing 11 works of fiction, Ms. Lurie was an essayist and a scholar of children’s literature who taught at Cornell University for years. But she was best known for her comedies of manners — many of them set at the fictional Corinth University — about well-educated women who have plunged into a marriage or career that fails, sometimes woefully, to live up to expectations.” – The Washington Post
Author: Matthew Westphal
Altar To Ancient Greek God Found Embedded In Wall Of Byzantine Church
“Researchers excavating a Byzantine church in northern Israel have uncovered a second- or third-century altar to Greek pastoral god Pan. Incorporated into a church wall, the basalt pillar sheds light on the intertwined nature of early Christianity and pagan beliefs.” – Smithsonian Magazine
BBC To Broadcast Series Of Plays Recorded In Theatres
“Lights Up, the latest phase of the broadcaster’s Culture In Quarantine initiative, will feature a combination of premieres and older plays recorded for the first time. … The initiative begins in February 2021 and seeks to ‘light up’ stages and studios across the UK as productions are recorded in spaces that have remained largely empty during the pandemic.” – Yahoo! (Press Association UK)
Tate Galleries To Cut Another 12% Of Workforce
“For the second time this year, the Tate is cutting jobs — 120 of them, or about 12 percent of the institution’s overall workforce. The staffing reduction comes as the museum faces an expected loss of £56 million ($75.3 million) in self-generated income due to closures for almost half of 2020.” Earlier this year, 295 staffers were made redundant across the Tate’s four branches in London, Liverpool, and Cornwall. – Artnet
They’re Trying A New COVID Tactic At Australia’s Largest Arts Festival
“The Adelaide Festival has launched its 2021 program after a nightmare year that has seen more than 200 international artists scratched from its form sheet – and the program announcement itself pushed back after South Australia went into immediate lockdown a day before it was due. … But a number of international acts will now be livestreaming their performances into Her Majesty’s Theatre from their home bases in Europe and the US.” – The Guardian
Maybe The Right Concert Piece For The Age Of COVID Is Cage’s 4’33”
When Kirill Petrenko and the Berlin Philharmonic learned, on short notice, that their Oct. 31 concert would be the last for some time with a live audience, they chose Cage’s score-without-notes as their encore — and their rendition has racked up more than 50,000 views on YouTube so far. David Patrick Stearns considers the meaning of this notorious musical landmark, both in general and in this particular performance, which (despite Petrenko’s much-too-fast tempos) “seemed to achieve maximum eloquence.” Seriously. – Classical Voice North America
Countryside Cop Runs Bookmobile For Village Kids In Sri Lanka
A couple of times each week, Mahinda Dasanayaka, a 32-year-old child protection officer in the tea-growing mountains northeast of Colombo, packs up his motorbike with children’s books and brings them to villages too small and remote ever to get a public library. And the kids line up to meet him. – AP
Why, And How, Francis Ford Coppola Has Reworked ‘The Godfather, Part III’
“Unlike the near universal acclaim the first two movies enjoy, Part III is remembered as the Fredo of its family — the one that doesn’t really measure up. … For a new theatrical and home-video release this month, Coppola has rechristened the film as Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. … The director has changed its beginning and ending and made alterations throughout to excavate and clarify the narrative that he always believed it contained about mortality and redemption.” – The New York Times
A Makeshift Movie On Zoom Became The Year’s Sleeper Hit Horror Film
Just a year ago, a movie like Host was barely imaginable; now it seems almost inevitable. Director Rob Savage’s thriller — about a group of teens marooned at home during lockdown, who decide, just for kicks, to gather on Zoom and conduct a séance — inventively plays on our new anxieties, using face filters, software glitches and connection problems as plot devices. Host drew hundreds of thousands of new subscribers to the streaming platform that commissioned it, got Savage three new directing gigs, and is even about to get a theatrical run. – BBC
‘In The Land Of Bittersweet’: ‘Nutcracker’ And The Christmas Of COVID
Reporter Cory Stieg looks at how various companies are adapting the ballet for this very unusual Christmas, from going online completely (most East Coast troupes) to in-person performances with smaller, socially-distanced casts and audiences (Ballet West in Utah), and why Nutcracker is so important even beyond its status as a revenue generator. – Dance Magazine