He devoted much of his life, and his writing, to rebellion against his parents, Gunnar and Alva Myrdal, each of whom won a Nobel Prize. But the body of his work was reportage and advocacy on Communism and those who lived under it; neither Scandinavian social democracy nor the Soviet system was leftist enough for him. He wrote the first Western eyewitness account of the lives of ordinary villagers under Mao, but his later years found him defending the Tiananmen Square massacre, the Khmer Rouge, and Holocaust denial. – The Washington Post
Author: Matthew Westphal
How Times Square Became A Hotbed Of Resistance Art
“For 20 years, Fran Lebowitz has been dreaming of tourists disappearing from Times Square. ‘Now there are no tourists in Times Square,’ she recently said, ‘but, of course, there’s no one in Times Square.'” Since New York, like nature, abhors a vacuum, along came the artists. – The Guardian
D.C. Begins Pilot Program To Restart Live Theatre
While almost all performance venues in the District remain closed, the first company there to produce a play under new local COVID-safety protocols is GALA Hispanic Theatre, with a staging of Spanish Golden Age playwright Lope de Vega’s El perro del hortelano (“The Gardener’s Dog”, usually known in English as “The Dog in the Manger’). Thomas Floyd reports on how it’s working. – The Washington Post
All That Campaign Money Saved The TV Ad Business’s Bacon
“In 2020, the company [Advertising Analytics] sees nearly $247.5 million being spent between Jan. 1, 2019, and Election Day — marking a 200% increase over the prior record. … The dynamics are welcome ones for TV networks and stations, which [due to the pandemic] have seen advertisers claw back the usual commitments they make each year.” – Variety
Jersey City Voters Approve Dedicated Arts Tax
Nearly two-thirds of the voters in New Jersey’s second largest city, just across the Hudson from Lower Manhattan, supported the property levy, which would amount to roughly $25 annually for a house worth $500,000. The ballot question was non-binding but gives the City Council a political green light to approve the measure. – The New York Times
Mass Layoffs And Orchestra Rebellion As Opera Australia Prepares To Reopen
“Opera Australia will [announce] its summer season on Thursday, still reeling from a turbulent past six weeks that saw the company hit with a slew of unfair dismissal cases, and its orchestra deliver a vote of no confidence in its concertmaster.” – The Guardian
La Scala Cancels Opening Night After COVID Hits Company
“The Dec. 7 season [opening] at Milan’s La Scala opera house, a gala event that is one of Italy’s cultural highlights, is being canceled after a rash of coronavirus infections among musicians and chorus members.” The program was to have been a staging of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor starring Lisette Oropesa. – AP
The Traditional Japanese Theater Genre That’s Like ‘Rocky Horror’
“Stepping into a taishū engeki show is like being welcomed into a wild and flamboyant secret society. As performers in outlandish costumes dance on stage, delighted fans dance along in unison from their seats. Somehow, everyone knows the moves. Periodically, an excited fan will scurry up to the stage with an envelope or wrapped gift, or will jump into the aisles looking for more room to wave a glow-stick. This might sound like a crowd of teenagers at a pop concert, but many women in attendance are old enough to have teenage children of their own.” – Atlas Obscura
Bronx Cheer! Hall of Fame for Great Americans (Championed Here) Gets an NEH Chairman’s Grant
As an mild antidote to severe post-election anxiety, let’s savor a morsel of good news from the federal government: Although it falls short of what I’d hoped for, I’d like to think I may have had something to do with this announcement last week from the NEH. – Lee Rosenbaum
The Modern Dance Collective That Was Like A Rock Band, Right Down To The Groupies
Born in 1970 as a sort of successor to Judson Dance Theater, The Grand Union (named after a supermarket chain) lasted only for six years. Yet the group and (subsequently) its members — among them Yvonne Rainer, Trisha Brown, Douglas Dunn, David Gordon, and Steve Paxton — changed the course of the art form. Not long ago Wendy Perron came across some old Grand Union videotapes and wondered if the work could be as good as she remembered: “It was even better.” – The New York Times