Tag: 04.25.18

Call To Boycott Chicago’s Writers Theatre For Protecting A Harasser

“Last fall, … former Writers intern Tom Robson accused longtime Artistic Director Michael Halberstam of sexually harassing him both verbally and physically in 2003. … A few weeks later, [the Writers Theatre board] found that Halberstam had committed ‘inappropriate and insensitive comments in the workplace’ but had exhibited no other ‘inappropriate sexual behavior.'” Clyde Fitch Report managing editor Sean Douglass writes, “I don’t think Halberstam is a bad person, and I believe his apology is honest. I also don’t think he should be exiled from the Chicago theater community … But how does he still have his job there?”

Dancer Who Said Ballets Trockadero Discriminated Against Him For Being Too Feminine Joins English National Ballet

Chase Johnsey, a 14-year-member of the drag ballet troupe (and winner of best male dancer honors at last year’s UK National Dance Awards), quit the company
in January, saying publicly that he had been harassed for looking and acting too feminine. Now Tamara Rojo’s company has hired him at the rank of First Artist.

Opera Houses: Tools Of Cultural Imperialism, Or What?

That’s one theory, anyway, but it’s a bit more complicated in practice. Look at the history of Cairo’s opera house, where Arabic-language works gradually came to coexist with European repertoire. “In the late-19th century, a hybrid Arabic and Turkish (and Greek, Armenian, French and Italian) cultural economy of musical theatre developed. Arabic music made European acting acceptable and contributed to the acceptance of the new performance genre. Arabic operetta developed in ‘low’ and ‘high’ versions that remain alive today.”

You Can’t Do Philosophy Properly Without Considering Human Nature (This Should Be Obvious, But …)

“A strange thing is happening in modern philosophy: many philosophers don’t seem to believe that there is such a thing as human nature. What makes this strange is that, not only does the new attitude run counter to much of the history of philosophy, but – despite loud claims to the contrary – it also goes against the findings of modern science. This has serious consequences, ranging from the way in which we see ourselves and our place in the cosmos to what sort of philosophy of life we might adopt.”

Art History Gets The TED-Talks Treatment

“The [Heni Talks] website currently has 25 videos and plans to post new films once every two weeks. Many are presented by high-profile artists and art-world figures such as Damien Hirst, Jeremy Deller and The Art Newspaper‘s new editor, Alison Cole. … The video subjects range from important works such as the Mona Lisa, and the oeuvre of masters such as Cézanne, to art movements like Pop art and Modernism.”

Photographer Laura Aguilar, 58

“[Her] powerful, quietly beautiful photographs explored the lived realities of members of various marginalized groups, including women, lesbians, Latinas, the working class, overweight people, and those with learning disabilities.” (She was especially known for her nude self-portraits taken in desert landscapes.) “Long under-recognized by mainstream institutions, her work had a sudden resurgence in popularity last year thanks to her traveling retrospective and the inclusion of her work in several group exhibitions across the Pacific Standard Time program.”

How Pretty Yende Became The Star Coloratura Soprano She Couldn’t Conceive Of Being

The South African soprano was astounded when her coaches in the young artist program at La Scala told her to study the role of Lucia de Lammermoor. “I could barely sing a high C,” she says now – but also, as she asked her teachers, “Who looks like me and sings this repertoire?” (Kathleen Battle was not a star in 1980s and ’90s South Africa.) Here, she tells – and shows – Anthony Tommasini how she came to master the quintessential coloratura star vehicle.