The New School’s 11-year association with the Actors Studio comes to an end as the school announces it is starting a new graduatee drama school. The decision to break with the Actors Studio is “a simple move toward more oversight and control over the program’s curriculum and staffing. The new acting program will be headed by Robert LuPone, who was nominated for a Tony Award as an actor in “A Chorus Line” on Broadway and was a producer of last year’s Tony-nominated play “Frozen.” He’ll be joined by Arthur Penn, the director of the original 1959 Broadway production of “The Miracle Worker” and of the 1962 film version, who will act as the school’s artistic adviser.
Tag: 05.26.05
Odd Choices For Cliburn Semifinals
“The list of semifinalists in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, announced near midnight Tuesday at Fort Worth’s Bass Performance Hall, had one jaw-dropper after another. What was the jury thinking?”
Preserving What Legacy?
Nicolai Ouroussoff is unimpressed by New York’s preservation board decision to save two brownstones next to the Whitney Museum. “Essentially, for the sake of preserving a humdrum brownstone facade on Madison Avenue, the commission embraced a substitute design for the museum that transforms a generously proportioned public entrance into a more confining experience. The architect, Renzo Piano, drafted the alternative – which would save that brownstone, while demolishing another – when the museum realized that the addition was in danger of being voted down by the commission. Aside from weakening a promising design, the commission’s stubbornness proves that it is unable to distinguish between preserving the city’s architectural legacy and embalming it.”