Last week, someone brought forward two now-embarrassing songs about black people that Smith recorded in the 1930s (we’ll spare you the titles), and teams in New York and Philadelphia that had been playing her version of the Irving Berlin anthem at games promptly dropped her. Anne Midgette wondered if this was an overreaction — until she talked to two black opera stars who’ve done a lot of singing at sports events themselves. – The Washington Post
Tag: sj
A Dome And A Home: The Theatre From The Calais Jungle Travels Around France Offering Welcome To Migrants
Since it was set up in the (now-removed) refugee camp in the Channel port in 2015, Good Chance Theatre‘s dome has become a pop-up playhouse, setting up in several locations around Paris and providing a gathering place for previously alienated migrants. – American Theatre
Multi-Dimensional Theatre: Shakespeare Performed By Cast Split Between Hearing And Deaf Actors
In a first for Canadian mainstage theatre, the 15-member acting ensemble of Josette Bushell-Mingo’s innovative bilingual production, an offshoot of the Citadel/Banff Professional Program, is almost equally divided amongst deaf and hearing artists. They perform in American Sign Language and spoken English — in addition to “the language of the body.” – 12th Night
New UK Study: Economic Demographics Of Workers In The Arts Unchanged In 30 Years
They found that people whose parents “had the most privileged occupations”, such as doctors, lawyers and senior management posts, “were over four times more times more likely to be working as actors, musicians, programme-makers and in other creative roles than those from a working-class background”. “This disparity did not significantly change across the period studied,” the researchers found. The period covered was from 1981 to 2011. – The Stage
Meet Four Black Playwrights Who Are Challenging American Theater
“They are the talk of the theater world: a generation of black playwrights whose fiercely political and formally inventive works are challenging audiences, critics and the culture at large to think about race, and racism, in new ways.” A conversation with Jackie Sibblies Drury, Jeremy O. Harris, Antoinette Nwandu and Jordan E. Cooper. – The New York Times
‘The Most Powerful And Relevant Theater Being Written Today’ — Ben Brantley On New Plays By Black Writers
“I can’t remember a more electrifying run of new, innovative plays during my 25-year tenure as a New York theater critic than the heady spate of works by African-American playwrights that have opened Off Broadway during the past two seasons.” – The New York Times
New Wave Of African-American Playwrights In A Radical Moment
Wesley Morris: “Occasionally, a play ends and nobody really knows what to do, because it just took an audience to outer space, to the center of the earth, to this new electric zone that knows what’s wrong with this country and isn’t afraid to personify it, laugh at it, behold it. … The work is also black — its blackness providing a lens through which to see and be seen.” – The New York Times
10 Works Over 5 Years by Black Playwrights, All Intended to Challenge
“Oftentimes, the most outrageous of plot twists are what make that happen,” say Ben Brantley and Jesse Green. – The New York Times
La Jolla Playhouse And Goodman Theatre Co-Commission Plays By And For Artists With Disabilities
“National Disability Theatre has announced a partnership with La Jolla Playhouse and Goodman Theatre to commission two new works written, directed, and designed by artists with disabilities for casts featuring only actors with disabilities. The selected playwrights are Gregg Mozgala … and Christopher Shinn.” – American Theatre
Generosity? Noblesse Oblige? Or Reputation-Laundering? The Century-Old Bargain Behind Big-Ticket Philanthropy
The debate has arisen a lot over the past few years: BP, the Koch brothers, the Sacklers, that board member at the Whitney, Notre-Dame. Bob Garfield talks about the issue with Anand Giridharadas, author of Winners Take All: the Elite Charade of Changing the World. (audio) – NPR’s On the Media