“The philanthropist Chris Abele, head of U.S. fund raising for Britain’s Royal Shakespeare Company, is leading by example with a record $5 million donation to the RSC’s planned theater in Stratford-Upon-Avon. The gift is the largest in the long history of American support for the British company, which regularly sends touring productions to the U.S.”
Tag: 09.24.07
Center Stage Dominates LA Theatre Award Nominations
Center Stage dominates this year’s Ovation Awards. The Pasadena Playhouse’s production of ‘Can-Can,’ with 12 nods, received the most for a single show. Boston Court tied for second with 10 nominations for “Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings’.”
Wagner Granddaughter Makes Her Move On Bayreuth
“Katharina Wagner, who made her directorial debut at Bayreuth this summer to mixed reviews, is teaming up with Christian Thielemann, the musical director of the Munich Philharmonic and a respected Wagner conductor.”
Where Are The Honest Critics?
“Criticism means never saying you are sorry. It means shrugging off mistakes and freely acknowledging you got it wrong that other time. Most of all it means attaining a greater level of honesty and clarity than you ever achieve in everyday conversation. This brings me to what is wrong with the art criticism that appears in magazines. It’s too much like conversation.”
Miranda July Wins World’s Richest Short Story Prize
“Her first collection of short stories, No One Belongs Here More Than You, saw off competition from the Israeli writer Etgar Keret and New Zealand’s Charlotte Grimshaw to win the €35,000 (£23,000) prize, after entries from Alice Munro and David Malouf were left off the shortlist.”
So Who Needs An Agent?
“The problem is that there are many more writers than the market can bear, and to most publishers writers are about as important as farmers are to Tesco – they know that there is an endless supply of produce. Of course most of the unsolicited writing that lands on agents’ desks is rubbish, but how can we be sure that the occasional gem will be discovered? The short answer is that we can’t and, sadly, neither agents nor publishers lose any sleep over it.”
Realist Painter Ken Danby, 67
“Ken Danby, recognized as one of the world’s foremost realist artists and best-known in Canada for his iconic hockey painting, At The Crease, has died at the age of 67 while canoeing in Algonquin Park.”
Joffrey Ballet Names New Director
“Ashley Wheater — who trained at the Royal Ballet, worked with choreographer Frederick Ashton, was mentored by Rudolf Nureyev, danced with the Joffrey Ballet and has spent the past 18 years with the San Francisco Ballet as a dancer, ballet master and assistant to artistic director Helgi Tomasson — was formally named the new artistic director of the Joffrey Ballet. He is the immediate successor to the company’s two founders: Robert Joffrey, who died in 1988, and Gerald Arpino, now 84, who was named artistic director emeritus in July.”
The Artist Vs. MassMoCA (MassMoCA Wins)
“A federal judge in Springfield, Massachusetts, rejected artist Christoph Büchel suit for an injunction to bar the museum from showing his unfinished work. “In oral arguments, Büchel’s lawyer, told the judge that if an artist says a work is not finished, and not in a state to be publicly displayed, ‘then to show it to the public, against the artist’s wishes, is a distortion’. But [the judge] asked how something could be distorted that wasn’t even created yet.”
Remembering Marcel Marceau
Marceau wasn’t just a mime, he was an actor. “This wasn’t an exercise in merely imitating physical action. No, this was an entire play, made up of the same complex characterizations and emotional depth as a script by Arthur Miller … the only difference being that Marceau played all the roles and never said a word.”