Author: Matthew Westphal

A Woman Comedian Made Jokes About Overconfident Men. No Big Deal? It Was Where She Performs.

“Yang Li … is a comedian in China, where homes and offices still hold fast to traditional gender roles and where a nascent #MeToo movement has been met with considerable political and social opposition. One of her lines in particular has set off fierce online debate: ‘How can he look so average and still have so much confidence?’ A lot of men didn’t find it funny. And that, said many of Ms. Yang’s defenders, is exactly the point.” – The New York Times

When Boys Were Kidnapped And Forced To Sing

The Master of the Choristers at England’s Chapel Royal had the legal right to travel the land in search of the most talented young men and take them away to London to sing at the monarch’s religious services. This was, of course, a situation ripe for abuse, and in the days of Elizabeth I, Master Nathaniel Giles would conscript boys for his pal Henry Evans’s acting company at the Blackfriars Theatre — or they’d split the bribes from parents desperate to keep their families together. Then, one day in 1600, they chose the wrong target. – JSTOR Daily

A Family At The Heart Of The Hawaiian Language Revival

Kekoa and Pelehonuamea Harman fell in love while undergraduates in the first class of the Hawaiian-medium degree program at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. Now they’re part of a new generation of instructors teaching the language, and the associated culture, to young people across the state, leading to the first increase in the number of fluent Hawaiian speakers in generations. – Smithsonian Magazine

What’s The Word Of The Year For 2020? In The U.S. Art World, It’s ‘Deaccession’

As the pandemic forced American museums to close their doors and give up all earned income, the Association of Art Museum Directors agreed to temporarily relax its strict rule that museums may sell their art only to fund the purchase of other art. A number of deaccessions (as the practice is euphemized) promptly ensued, followed swiftly by arguments over them and the cancellation of a few (notably in Baltimore). Matt Stromberg looks back at the year’s battles. – Los Angeles Times

Lamenting A Brave Little Theater And Its Big Shakespeare Cycle, Both Killed By COVID

Over the course of this year and next, Brave Spirits Theater in Alexandria, Va. was going to be “first professional American theater company to mount full productions of Shakespeare’s two history play tetralogies” — that’s Richard II, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 and Henry V, then Henry VI Parts 1, 2, and 3 and Richard III — “and perform them in repertory.” Maya Phillips was going to report on it all; as she begins her account, “I’ve written several versions of this story. …” – The New York Times

Evan Hopkins Turner, Former Director Of Philadelphia And Cleveland Museums Of Art, Dead At 93

Following a Ph.D. in art history at Harvard and five years at the helm of Montreal’s Museum of Fine Arts, he came to the Philadelphia Museum (1964-78), where he created new departments for American and 20th-century art and for photography and hired several important curators (notably Anne d’Harnoncourt, who eventually became director herself). In Cleveland (1983-93), he transformed the museum from a respected but staid institution into a regional powerhouse that helped fuel cultural tourism in the then-struggling city. – The Philadelphia Inquirer

10 Hairy Legs, All-Male Contemporary Dance Company, Goes Out Of Business

The New Jersey-based troupe, which presented seasons around the state and in New York City and toured abroad as well, commissioned and performed 17 new works over its eight-year history. The pandemic forced the group to go on hiatus as of April 1; with no performance fees or ticket income, its board decided to dissolve the company as of Dec. 31. – NJArts.net

U.S. Book Publishers End This Godawful Year In Good Shape

“With so many people stuck at home and activities from concerts to movies off limits, people have been reading a lot — or at least buying a lot of books. Print sales by units are up almost 8 percent so far this year, according to NPD BookScan. E-books and audiobooks, which make up a smaller portion of the market, are up as well.” Says the CEO of Penguin Random House, “I expect that … when you look at the final numbers, it will have been the best year in a very long time.” – The New York Times