Twan Baker – “an 18-inch-long, 10-pound (just a guess) blue-eyed doll with an alert expression” who has appeared in at least five Broadway shows and two “Encores!” productions as well as plays and musicals as far afield as Kansas City and Vermont – was born in the prop shop of Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, where the prop master figured out the secret that makes actors want to work with Twan.
Tag: 12.28.16
The Visual Art World Is Shedding Expertise At A Dangerous Rate
“It is not just that it appears impossible to reach a consensus on important artists such as Modigliani. Nor is it the way the auction houses are discarding specialists at an alarming rate. Nor even the fact that key artistic Foundations (Warhol, Pollock and Lichtenstein) no longer provide an authenticating service. It is all this and more.”
Cosmetics Company Rips Off Artist’s Drawing, Then Sues Artist For Copyright Infringement
What’s Korean for chutzpah?
America’s Reading Crisis – Something Has To Change
“Whether it takes phonics, whole-language learning, all-singing, all-dancing teachers, or the gradual introduction of criminal penalties for illiteracy, something has to change. A national reading push would be the moonshot that makes all others possible. How many more studies will it take? We know that readers vote more and volunteer more, and that reading literature deepens empathy. And — as finally, categorically demonstrated in a landmark Yale study last year — that readers live longer.”
How Adam Driver, Of All Unlikely Personalities, Became A Movie Star
“If you, in 2012, watched Adam Driver on Girls – an unhinged, distasteful walking id, as magnetic as he was bizarre – and said to yourself, ‘This guy is going to be the cast’s biggest star,’ you should probably start betting on horses. … Especially considering that the only thing more obvious than Driver’s gifts might be his presumed limitations – that topographic map of a face, that woodwind voice – the actor’s ascent raises the question of how exactly he became Hollywood’s go-to young actor of excellence.”
Flash Fiction: The State Of The Super-Short Story
David Galef, who wrote the book on flash fiction, and Len Kuntz, one of the form’s most singular practitioners, have a dialogue about where a genre that can range from a few hundred words to a single sentence is headed.
So What’s ‘Hamlet’ Really About, Anyway? And How Do You Pitch That To An Audience?
“Judging by the way several theatres have answered the question in recent and upcoming promotional copy, this is far from a settled matter.” Hailey Bachrach looks at that marketing copy and the approaches it takes.
That Pink Pigment Anish Kapoor Isn’t Allowed To Buy? He Got His Hands On It Anyway
His middle finger in particular. Kapoor strikes back on Instagram at the artist who dissed him with the pinkest-pink ban.
Daniel Barenboim’s New YouTube Channel Has Terrific Intros To Classical Music
“The playing is beautiful, of course – Mr. Barenboim is one of the greatest pianists of his generation – but it’s the talk that matters. It turns out that in addition to being a great pianist, Mr. Barenboim also has a knack for getting straight to the point.”
Benjamin Millepied Says Paris Opera Ballet Has A Racism Problem
“I heard someone say a black girl in a ballet is a distraction. If there are 25 white girls, everyone will look at the black girl. Everyone must be alike in a company, meaning everyone must be white.”