Television Isn’t Actually That Diverse Right Now

“Diversity isn’t one thing; it’s a lot of things. It’s in front of the camera and behind it, in writers’ rooms and executive offices. It’s not exclusively about race and gender and sexuality, but about other things as well. It’s about the bland and unremarked-upon affluence of almost all television families, and the fact that TV doesn’t incorporate very many people who go to church, and all the other ways that it historically looks at the population through a keyhole. And it’s about what stories you tell.”

Anna Shapiro Running Steppenwolf Theatre: Year Zero

“Shapiro is a star of sorts, the company’s 35th ensemble member (and one of the few nonactors in that group), acclaimed for muscular, lyrical relationship studies, the kind where a chair or two gets thrown. She is a Tony Award winner whose production of ‘August: Osage County’ remains intrinsic to Steppenwolf’s identity. Advance ticket sales alone for ‘Fish in the Dark; ($14.5 million) were about the same as Steppenwolf’s annual operating budget. And for the past few years she has added to her reputation by becoming a Broadway insurance plan of sorts, celebrity-whispering famous actors until they become believable, bankable presences onstage.”

Ten Lessons From The Theatre World On How To Start A Diversity And Inclusion Program Without Screwing It Up

“4. Walk through the entire program through the lens of those you are inviting into your theatre or organization. What would you see? What would you experience? What does it feel like to be as a person of color and walk into your institution? An easy way to feel tokenized is when you are the only one at an institution.”

There’s Just So Much TV To Watch (Is It OK To Skip Some?)

“Binge-watching isn’t just the new sex — it’s the new workout, the new book club, the new cocktail hour. Where once most new shows premiered in the fall, now they drop all the time, some in complete seasons. Announcements of new programming from clever upstarts Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and Acorn feel like pop-culture air-raid sirens: ‘Citizens, seek shelter: ‘The Man in the High Castle’ is descending.’ Of course, we want to see it, but, oh, my God, who has the time?”

This Physicist Is Saving Music

“Some of those delicate things are wax cylinders, lacquer and metal disks, plastic belts and even sheets of tin foil—cutting-edge technology from the past. The sounds that they hold include early, experimental voice recordings made by Alexander Graham Bell and his father in the 1880s.”

The Man Who Made Tanglewood Chorus Cool

Before John Oliver arrived, choral pieces at Tanglewood were sung by whoever could be corralled among students in all branches of what was then called the Berkshire Music Center, plus anyone regularly at the Berkshires estate and concert venue—including maintenance and cafeteria workers. Auditioning was rudimentary: “Can you carry a tune? Do you have any free time?”