When a playwright gets stuck: “I listen to jazz, particularly new artists I’m not familiar with. I watch films I’ve never seen before. I go to museums. I read science or history. But if I really want to shake the dust off my soul and reinvigorate myself creatively, I don’t just consume culture, I make some: not theater, mind you, but anything else.”
Tag: 02.29.12
Are U.S. Theatres Terrified Of Politics? One Playwright Says Yes
Karen Malpede: “The McCarthy era maintains a lethal, if invisible, grip on the American theater. The bugaboo may no longer be Communism, but there are plenty of ideas forbidden, still. To be a political playwright in the United States is to be censored–financially.”
The Most Popular Chinese Movie Of All Time
“An Eastern Western full of train robberies, masked bandits, and shoot-outs in dry gulches, … set in the 1920s during China’s Warlord Period,” Let the Bullets Fly is likely “the most savage anti-corruption movie ever made in China, and the most cynical comedy about state-sponsored criminality.”
Study: Gap Between Boys and Girls’ Reading Level Is Narrowing
“After examining the reading habits of over 210,000 primary and secondary school children from 1,237 schools across the UK, the What Kids are Reading 2012 report found that the gap between girls’ and boys’ reading abilities appears to be closing. “
It’s World Book Day (With Millions Of Books To Be Given Away)
“Celebrated in over 100 countries around the world, World Book Day is the UK’s largest festival of reading and aims to encourage a lifelong love of literature in children. Thousands of schools and nurseries are joining in, with more than 14m book vouchers given out to children, and hundreds of events – from Where’s Wally ‘flash mobs’ to author talks and literary fancy dress competitions – taking place up and down the country.”
New Director Restores Culture To The Heart Of British Council’s Mission
Graham Sheffield: “The arts are now back at the heart of the British Council’s mission, with a clarity and purpose stronger than ever.”
Alex Ross: Enough With The “Science” Of How Music Works, Already!
‘So many of these how-does-music-work articles and books seem to view music as one thing, as a standardized mechanical apparatus whose tricks can be figured out. And music is peculiarly prey to trivializing questions. Perhaps I’m overlooking stories in other fields, but I don’t seem to see headlines along the lines of ‘How do paintings make us feel?’ or ‘Why do movies with unhappy endings make us cry?’ or ‘What about thrillers makes us tense?’ ”
The Rise Of The Video Book Trailer
“Born only a few years ago on YouTube, video trailers are becoming more or less de rigueur for any book’s marketing campaign (if it has one; a relatively rare honour, of course). … These are terrific diversions, but their status next to the book is a little ambiguous. Isn’t using animation to advertise a book a little like using sculpture to promote poetry?”
Wislawa Szymborska’s Estate To Create Literary Prize, Foundation
“The will of the late Nobel-winning Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska calls for the establishment of a new literary prize and a foundation that will guard her literary achievements.”
Hawaii Gets Its Orchestra Back At Last
Roughly two years after the Honolulu Symphony’s painful, ignominious collapse, professional-level orchestral music returns to the islands as the newly-constituted Hawaii Symphony gives its first performance this weekend in Honolulu.