Category: issues

Last week the Boston Herald reported that longtime American Repertory Theatre director Robert Brustein would be leaving the theatre after this season. The next day the Boston Globe printed a story wherein Brustein denied the Herald’s scoop. So did the Herald have it wrong? No, say its editors. – Boston Phoenix 08/24/00

In the fluid performance world that is the Edinburgh Festival, quotes from critics are hawked on the streets in attempts to lure an audience inside. Problem is, many of the quotes are distorted. “But journalists are fighting back. Some are insisting that the offending passages are removed… but only after bums have been successfully put on seats. Others have attempted to construct pieces without a single positive, quotable word. One irate hack was even said to have pounded the Edinburgh streets at night, tearing down ‘his’ quotes.” – The Guardian 08/24/00

Last week, someone put their vote up for bid on E-bay. “You must specify whom I vote for in the presidential and all other elections in my district, by name or party,’ the seller wrote in his description of the item. ‘Why should the American citizen be left out? Congressmen and senators regularly sell their votes to the highest bidder. Democracy for sale!’ E-bay finally canceled the sale, cooperating with investigators from the Justice Department, but not before the price had been bid up to $10,100.” – Feed 08/24/00

The founder of Mensa, the society for geniuses, recently died in London at the age of 85. A curious society this. “The great idea of the Mensa organisation was that if only it were possible to get together all the most intelligent people in the community, they could have an overwhelming influence for good and social welfare. It has discovered the hard way that high intelligence correlates in no way with good character, emotional stability, personal charisma or understanding of other people. There are just as many nasty as nice intelligent people.” – Sydney Morning Herald

Edinburgh is the world’s largest arts festival, and boasts more than 1,600 shows over three weeks. It is “made up of a number of fringes with dramatically different agendas, audiences, resources and performers all taking place only loosely beneath the tent that is the Fringe Festival.” But is the Fringe – “which encompasses theatre, dance, musicals, opera, fine art and comedy and revue entertainment – grown so diverse as to become impossible to define?” – The Globe and Mail (Canada) 08/24/00

• The Dot-commies are making it so expensive to live in San Francisco that artists can’t afford it any more. Thousands have lost their work/live spaces and arts organizations are being prices out of the city. But protesting won’t change things – time to act and use some of the city’s policies to alleviate the squeeze. – SF Weekly

— are announced: dance Mikhail Baryshnikov, tenor Plácido Domingo, actress Angela Lansbury, rock ‘n’ roller Chuck Berry, and the actor/director Clint Eastwood. – New York Times 08/23/00 

• POPULAR CHOICE: “Though the Kennedy Center has been questioned for giving people a legendary status when their careers were brief or obscure, or saluting artists with highbrow appeal but little in the way of broad popular impact, this year’s honorees have had long, influential careers. In many cases, even their clunkers have been hailed as bold experiments.” – Washington Post 08/23/00

“The Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, founded in 1988 to support illegal aliens and homosexuals, established an arts program in 1990. It is suing the city because it claims the city council’s decision in 1997 to eliminate taxpayer funding for its arts program was political.” – Newsmax 08/23/00

Portland theatre critic not only wrote critical reviews of a theatre company’s shows but went to funders to ask why they gave money to the theatre. “It appears to me through it all he’s trying to close us down. If he gets away with it, guess who’s next? I don’t mind being blasted, that’s part of it. But this goes over the line.” – Portland Business Journal 08/22/00

Peter Sellars is hard at work putting together the next Adelaide Festival. “Decrying many Australian and American festivals for relying heavily on what he calls ‘a yuppie shopping spree’ of European works, Sellars has confirmed he will present a predominantly local program in Adelaide. It is a proposition that alternately dazzles and horrifies people, as do his challenging images of large-scale community collaborations likely to involve Asian countries.” – The Age (Melbourne)