“The vast majority of characters with disabilities, whether they’re played by actors with disabilities or not, continue to represent the same outdated tropes.” – The Conversation
Tag: 11.02.20
Alan Rath, Who Created Kinetic Electronic Sculptures, Dead At 60
“Since the early 1980s, Rath has created kinetic sculptures guided by software of his own making. Rath’s robotic structures often feature computer-generated animations of disembodied human body parts — a roving eye or gaping mouth — exemplifying his interest in the relationship between human nature and mechanical and technological systems.” – ARTnews
How The National Endowment for the Humanities Is Complying With An Executive Order And Restoring Statues
“The money is coming in the form of Chairman’s Grants, the NEH’s method of providing emergency funding to safeguard cultural heritage in the face of (what are typically natural) disasters. Instead of courting controversy by re-erecting downed Confederate leaders, however, the NEH will use the money to restore a selection of mostly neutral choices.” – The Architect’s Newspaper
Chicago Jazz Clubs Flounder Under New Shutdown
“The past few months have been picking up a little bit. We’ve been trying to meet our restricted quota. So people were starting to come out a little more now. Now that we have to close, that’s another nail in the coffin.” – Chicago Tribune
Historical Interpreter At A Heritage Site Is One Of The Most Challenging Acting Jobs Around
These are the people you see in period dress portraying anyone from a Tudor monarch to an aristocrat’s cook “The work is underpinned by rigorous research, often drawing on primary-source material. The results, [one interpreter] says, have a different depth than a guidebook, or an audio guide.” – The Stage
Time To Take Out The “Word Trash”
Here’s why word trash is a problem: If language isn’t specific, it’s hard for us to connect with it—and with each other. And it’s 2020, which for some of us has been a year already devoid of physical contact. – Fast Company
How To Stay Creative During COVID Lockdown
The sameness and lack of novelty in our Covid existence can negatively impact our creativity — our ability to put ideas together in new, useful combinations to solve problems. Creativity is often enhanced when we’re exposed to new situations. – Harvard Business Review
When Bernstein, Sondheim, And Robbins Tried To Adapt Brecht
It was a decade after West Side Story, and Jerome Robbins got the idea to make one of Bertolt Brecht’s didactic plays into a musical. Though Sondheim in particular required some convincing, it eventually became a promising project, with John Guare writing the book and Zero Mostel engaged to star. Finally, the piece was set to premiere on Broadway in 1968, and then 1969, as A Pray by Blecht. (The title was Lenny’s.) Never happened, of course. Jesse Green recounts the story of how it came together and then fell apart. – The New York Times
Classical Concerts Under COVID: Where Things Stand In Asia, Australia/New Zealand, And the Americas
With governments in China, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore mostly able to impose safety measures without too much pushback, case numbers are down and concert numbers are up, though usually with reduced audience. New Zealand is almost back to normal and Australia is getting there, with even a Ring cycle planned for Brisbane this month. Alas, reports David Karlin, “the contrast between Asia and the Americas could not be more stark,” though tentative returns to concert life are happening in Canada, Colombia, and Chile. – Bachtrack
New Research: Van Gogh’s Mental Illness
“Experts at the University Medical Centre Groningen conducted a psychiatric examination based on hundreds of letters he wrote – the majority to his beloved brother, Theo – as well as existing medical records. They found that the artist probably experienced two episodes of delirium caused by alcohol withdrawal after he cut off his own ear.” – BBC