Tita Anntares writes about two recent productions — one depicting a U.S. immigrant’s deportation hearings, another the monologue of the ghost of a young Black Panther shot by Chicago police in 1969 — that actually moved their audiences to into taking actions on those issues. (Having activists on-site as the show ended helped.) – HowlRound
Tag: 04.10.19
A Thinker’s Guide To Surviving The Coming Apocalypse
So many things seem bleak. Politics, the environment, the growing wealth gap, climate change. It’s enough to make anyone despair. But if you despair you become paralyzed. So how, exactly should we think about the coming apocalypse without succumbing to hopelessness? – The Outline
Today Is The 500th Anniversary Of Leonardo’s Birth – Why His Ideas Still Resonate
Twenty-first-century scholars at MIT ranked him the sixth most influential person who ever lived. Like Rembrandt and Michelangelo, he is so renowned that he is known by only his first name. Yet despite his fame, there are things about Leonardo that many people today find surprising. – The Conversation
The Problem With How We Get News? The Incentives Are Misaligned
Cal Newport, a computer-science professor at Georgetown University, marshals evidence that the addictive properties of our devices are not accidental but, rather, the product of careful thinking by tech companies about the feedback loops that will keep people returning to them. Newport’s main indictment is of social-media platforms, but he also argues that people need to rethink the way they consume news. – The New Yorker
15 Ways Of Looking At What America Will Be Like In 2024
“We asked 15 playwrights to imagine America five years into the future” — among them Lynn Nottage, Terrence McNally, Jeremy O. Harris, Adam Rapp, Jocelyn Bioh, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Nassim Soleimanpour, and Paul Rudnick. “Alongside six of the plays you’ll find videos in which actors including Nathan Lane, Kerry Washington and John Lithgow perform the works.” – T — The New York Times Style Magazine
Washington State Reverses Ban On Allowing Prisoners To Get Books By Mail
“Concerns about contraband introduction led me to issue the original directive. After conducting further review, the data does not support continuing the restriction on donated, used books.” – Seattle Times
How Social Impact Philanthropy Is Impacting Arts Such as Theatre And Dance
A case study: “First, its focus on social impact theatre provides another illuminating example of a funder embracing the red-hot field of socially focused arts programming. And second, its work underscores the growing influence of institutional funders operating in fields like dance and theater that traditionally lack robust individual and government support.” – Inside Philanthropy
Who Gave Us A Critical Theory Of Binge-Watching? Theodor Adorno (Who Died In 1969)
The German-born sociologist/philosopher first examined the mechanisms that producers use to get us to binge-watch streaming series — which are really no different than the ones used for decades to catch and keep TV viewers — in his 1954 scholarly article “How to Look at Television.” Writer Jake Pitre surveys Adorno’s ideas about the medium and those of later scholars who have applied his ideas to digital viewing. – JSTOR Daily
Bob Fosse’s Trademark Moves: An Analysis Of The Only Dance He And Gwen Verdon Ever Filmed Together
“If you’ve seen dancers flare their fingers in the flexed position often mockingly called ‘jazz hands,’ then you’ve seen Fosse, especially if those dancers were also sitting into one hip and hiding their eyes beneath a hat.” Not only did these moves become Fosse’s signature style, they’ve become completely incorporated into the American dance vocabulary. Critic Brian Seibert shows us those moves and their effectiveness in the mambo from the movie version of Damn Yankees. – The New York Times
Charles Van Doren, Center Of 1950s Quiz Show Scandal, Dead At 93
A tall, handsome Columbia University professor with advanced degrees in both English and mathematics, Van Doren became a genuine TV star with a months-long winning streak on the prime-time quiz show Twenty-One. The discovery that he had been provided with questions and answers in advance caused a national uproar that led to Congressional hearings. – The Washington Post