Defending National Theatre Wales From Those Who Say It’s Not National, Welsh, Or Theatrical Enough

Last month, a group of Welsh playwrights wrote an open letter strongly criticizing NTW for, as the letter put it, “taking pride in ridding itself of a theatrical identity and even its nationality.” Tom Payne writes that the signer of the letter, for all their good intentions, should consider just what they’re demanding: “If we apply [the letter’s] demands retrospectively, a significant number of NTW’s thirteen inaugural productions (2010/11) might never have taken place.”

Is American Ballet Theatre Trying To Do Too Much? (And Not Enough?)

Alastair Macaulay: “How many admirable policies can any company honor at one time? Currently it looks as if Ballet Theater has discarded Fokine, Ashton, Tudor, and — a big departure — the international stars from its scheduling. And who can notice Ballet Theater’s admirable purity of classical style? Its too-many-cooks approach to ballet obscures that.”

The Sociologist-Poet Whose Artistic Career Just Blasted Into The Stratosphere, With A Lift From Marvel Comics

Eve Ewing has had quite the year, with a book of poetry, a play co-authored with Gwendolyn Brooks, and then a new work of sociology coming out this week. But then there’s Marvel. “In August, Dr. Ewing caused minor pandemonium on the internet when she announced that she had been hired to write Ironheart, the first solo title featuring its character Riri Williams, black girl genius from Chicago.”