“I wish I could have told him that his outburst about our outbursts (if gasps and laughs are outbursts) betrayed the DNA of theater itself. Unless he plans on buying out venues to watch plays alone, he’s much better off consuming entertainment in the privacy of his own home. (Seriously, stay away from movie theaters, sir!)” – Los Angeles Times
Tag: 09.04.19
Inside Portland Opera’s Crisis
One of the biggest missteps was transitioning from a fall and winter schedule to a spring and summer schedule. Implemented in 2014, the transition was an attempt to address the opera’s already unstable earnings. It had the opposite effect. – Willamette Week
At 90, Bob Newhart Is Back To Touring As A Standup Comic
“What I’ve learned is: I love the danger. This thing I thought I hated all my life, that’s why I was doing it. If the show is at 8, and it’s 6, what will I be doing? Pacing. After 60 years, still pacing. I like that feeling.” – The New York Times
Adrienne Kennedy, An American Original
A special package on the great African-American playwright as she approaches her 88th birthday (Sept. 13), including a Q&A with Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, a feature on the undergraduate playwriting seminar she taught at Harvard in 1997 (a class which is said to have changed many of the students’ lives), and tributes from a dozen colleagues and former students, including Natalie Portman, Ishmael Reed, Michael Kahn, Robert O’Hara, and Aleshea Harris. – American Theatre
A Higher Education Crisis
Higher education is in the middle of multiple, massive disruptions—and it isn’t clear that the leaders of the sector grasp the magnitude of the waves of change breaking on their ivy-covered gates. – The Atlantic
‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Co-Writer Quit Sequels Because She Was To Be Paid Less Than Male Colleague
“Co-writer Peter Chiarelli, as an experienced feature scribe who broke out with 2009’s The Proposal, was to be paid a significantly higher fee than [Adele] Lim, a veteran TV writer who never had penned a feature until [director John M.] Chu hired her to work on the screenplay.” – The Hollywood Reporter
Lee Salem, Perhaps The World’s Most Influential Newspaper Comics Editor, Dead At 73
As editor at Universal Press Syndicate, beginning in 1974, “he signed up Calvin and Hobbes and Cul de Sac and For Better or For Worse. He discovered The Boondocks and Cathy. He guided Doonesbury and Fox Trot and The Far Side … [And he] was renowned within the industry for having his creators’ backs in times of controversy and then dealing with rankled newspaper editors and persistent media inquiries with a gentlemanly charm.” – The Washington Post
Met Museum To Hire Its First Curator Of Native American Art
“The successful candidate will be tasked with overseeing the museum’s vast collection of indigenous American artifacts, including the Charles and Valerie Diker Collection of more than 116 objects hailing from 50 different Native American cultures from the 2nd century to the early 20th century,” and will oversee expanded programming on indigenous work. – Artnet
South American Wildfires Destroy Prehistoric Rock Art
The flames aren’t raging only in Brazil: there have been major wildfires in lowland Bolivia for weeks, and they have damaged and destroyed ancient paintings that date back as for as 1500 BC in and around the town of Roboré in the Santa Cruz region. – Artnet
Why L.A. Opera’s Investigation Of Plácido Domingo — Its Boss — Will Probably Be No Help
“These kinds of investigations historically have raised more questions than they have answered, leaving victims and the public in the dark about what behavior was documented in the inquiry, who might share some responsibility for wrongdoing and whether institutional problems that allowed misconduct to fester have been, or will be, rectified.” Exhibit A: New York City Ballet’s investigation of longtime head Peter Martins, which some former dancers suggest was a deliberate cover-up. – Los Angeles Times