Even as the topical revue heads toward its final performance on New Year’s Eve, it still gets tweaked to reflect current news. (Donald Trump’s angry tweet at Greta Thunberg — he said she needed to work on anger management — made it into the script in a matter of hours.) Jo Schuman Silver, widow of Babylon creator Steve Silver, has been producing the show on her own since his death in 1995, and she gets a profile here from reporter Tony Bravo. – San Francisco Chronicle
Tag: 12.18.19
How Can Theatre Professors Resist Doing So Much Unpaid Emotional Labor?
In all of academia, not only theatre, women who teach become support for students rather than only academic help – and it’s burning the women out. One recent Ph.D. discovered that she could solve some of that burnout with the help of … a giant stuffed Pokémon character. – HowlRound
Don’t Blame Young Adults For Teen Musicals On Broadway
Just like Young Adult literature, YA theatre – or Teen theatre, perhaps – had an initially rapturous welcome, and a rapid cooling-off. “Critical consensus about Young Adult Theatre took a sharp turn when the subgenre became solidified, popularized, and canonized with the viral teen hit Be More Chill. Joe Iconis’s musical, which made it to Broadway thanks to a huge, enthusiastic teenage fanbase online, received vitriol from many critics who called it loud, hollow, and vapid.” – American Theatre
Ithaca College Responds To A ‘Racially Charged’ Incident In A Theatre Class
Students responded not only to one incident, in which the lecturer for the class was removed, but many other experiences at the college: “Some of the quotes and scenarios on the board read: ‘White male faculty member to a black female student: ‘Act more sassy,’’ ‘Holding a meeting about microaggressions where a student of color was told to stop being mean to white people,’ ‘Male director explaining to a female student what happens emotionally to a woman when she is assaulted’ and ‘Female-identifying students told to lower the pitch of their natural voices in production to ‘sound stronger.’'” – The Ithacan
How Three Great Actresses In Their 90s Keep Their New York Stage Careers Going
Okay, Lois Smith is only 89 — and she’s currently on Broadway in The Inheritance. Estelle Parsons, 92, is at the Public in Tony Kushner’s A Bright Room Called Day. Vinie Burrows is 95 and begins an Off-Broadway play next month — and, as a Black actor, has spent much of her long career creating her own opportunities. Laura Collins-Hughes meets the three of them for tea and talk about staying in regular work at their ages. – The New York Times
Ruth Anderson, Groundbreaking Electronic Composer, Dead At 91
“[She] is best known for having founded, in 1968, an electronic music studio at Hunter College in New York, where she taught composition and theory from 1966 until 1989. … [She] created a relatively small but prescient body of work, including pieces that used bits of recorded speech turned into music.” – The New York Times
Going To Performances And Visiting Museums Will Extend Your Lifespan: Study
“Researchers from University College London (UCL) found that people who engaged in the arts more frequently — every few months or more — had a 31% lower risk of dying early when compared to those who didn’t. Even going to the theater or museum once or twice a year was linked with a 14% lower risk.” – CNN
How Some Writers Lose Control Of Characters They Have Created
John Foxwell’s research found that 69 percent of authors hear voices of their characters, and 42 percent can enter into dialogue with them. Sixty-five percent say they can act on their own accord. – LitHub
US Government Lists Wakanda As Trading Partner
A US Department of Agriculture spokesperson said the Kingdom of Wakanda was added to the list by accident during a staff test. The department’s online tariff tracker hosted a detailed list of goods the two nations apparently traded, including ducks, donkeys and dairy cows. – BBC
Scotland: Artists Need To Be At The Center Of Our Funding
The country’s first parliamentary inquiry into its arts funding system concluded the Government should aim to commit at least 1% of its £425bn national budget towards culture. “Public funding of Scotland’s arts and culture will only become sustainable if artists are at the centre of policy and paid the fair wage they deserve.” – Arts Professional