“The stateless émigrés trained ‘Shanghailanders’ in the early 20th century, including one Margot Fonteyn. Their influence remains embedded in modern Chinese ballet.” – South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
Author: Matthew Westphal
Jeremy O. Harris Has Gotten HBO To Pay For Experimental Theater Stagings
“Harris, who is 31, has moved fast through the New York theater world — in a truncated season, Slave Play garnered 12 Tony nominations — and he now has a contract with HBO, the much-anticipated film Zola in the can, and Hollywood at or near his feet. But he hasn’t dumped the old toy for the shiny new one. As part of his HBO deal, Harris has secured a discretionary fund for experimental-theater production, essentially a weird-art slush fund.” – Vulture
The Mark Twain Election Story That Was Required Reading In Communist Chinese Schools
“‘Running for Governor’ is barely known in the United States. Samuel Clemens was editor of the Buffalo Express when it was published. It is the story of his run for governor, as Mark Twain, in 1870 — well, fictional run, of course.” The story was placed on the school curriculum soon after the People’s Republic was founded and remained there for half a century. – The Buffalo News
Daniel Menaker, Author And Editor, Dead At 79
“[He wrote] a half-dozen acerbic and poignant books and became a senior editor at the New Yorker and Random House. Along the way, he helped champion and shepherd works by authors such as Billy Collins, Alice Munro and George Saunders.” – The Washington Post
Quibi’s Closure Announcement ‘Blindsided’ People Who Actually Make Its Content
Said crew members on one of the service’s original short-form series, “We were blindsided. We had just signed contracts and turned down other jobs to keep working on this show. … Our own execs had to constantly hound Quibi for further information.” – The Hollywood Reporter
Venice’s Guidelines For New Flood Barrier Will Sacrifice St. Mark’s For Sake Of Container Port
There was huge relief and even some jubilation lat month when, for the first time, Venice’s long-delayed, wildly over-budget contraption for keeping flood tides out of the Venice Lagoon was successfully deployed and the city stayed dry. But new rules say the barrier should be used only when the water level is 103 cm, at which point two-thirds of the old city will be wet. (St. Mark’s gets flooded at 80-85 cm.) Why did the authorities decide this? Read on … – The Art Newspaper
Researchers Have Some Good News About Indoor Concerts And COVID
“Analysis of an indoor concert staged by scientists in August suggests that the impact of such events on the spread of the coronavirus is ‘low to very low’ as long as organizers ensure adequate ventilation, strict hygiene protocols and limited capacity, according to the German researchers who conducted the study.” Be aware, though, that the paper has not yet been peer-reviewed. – The New York Times
A Recap of Trump’s, Pence’s, Biden’s, And Harris’s Records On the Arts
“The arts, writ large, rarely represent more than a footnote in election discourse (if we’re lucky). … But for those wondering what the election will mean for creative industries specifically, we’ve laid out the candidates’ respective histories with art — their policies, voting records, donations, and more — in a digestible breakdown below.” – Artnet
Which Museums Have Closed As Europe’s Second Wave Of COVID Worsens
“Countries such as Belgium, Germany, and France have imposed new lockdowns and forced the closure of institutions for a month and, in some cases, potentially longer. Below, a look at some of the major institutions that have planned closures in response.” – ARTnews
Rehearsals And Streamed Performances May Continue Under New Lockdown In UK
As Culture Minister Oliver Dowden clarified on Twitter, “Arts venues are places of work, so people can come into them for work, if it cannot be undertaken from home. This includes rehearsals and performance. Audiences are not permitted.” – Yahoo! (Press Association UK)