“The Alabama Shakespeare Festival will commission 22 plays in the next five years, with more than half of the commissions set to go to female playwrights and playwrights of color. Rick Dildine, the artistic director of the [festival], … emphasized that the plays will focus on ‘transformative moments in the South that caused important and lasting changes to its people, culture and land.'”
Tag: sj
UK Parliament To Investigate ‘Class Ceiling’ In Arts
“A parliamentary inquiry has been launched to explore the lack of working-class performers, writers and musicians in the entertainment industry. … Topics such as arts education, access to training, low and no pay and recruitment will be covered in the wide-ranging review, which has been launched in response to the idea that social inequalities and class are often forgotten in the debate around diversity.”
Take A One-Woman Drag Show About Machismo And Consent. Now Have A Man Perform It. What Happens?
At the Edinburgh Fringe this past summer and currently in London, Los Angeles actor Natalie Palamides performs her solo show titled Nate, in whch she plays an unrepentantly dopey douchebag. For two nights this week, Palamides had the show’s director, Phil Burgers (who performs as a clown under the stage name Dr. Brown), stepped in for her while she called out directions from just offstage. Did the gender swap change everything about the show? Brian Logan went to find out.
LGBT Arabic Movie Is Getting Underground Screenings All Over The Mideast
The Wedding, about a closeted Muslim man about to marry a woman, is the first feature film from gay Egyptian-American filmmaker Sam Abbas’s production company, ArabQ. The movie, which debuts in New York next month, would almost certainly not get past censors in the Arab world, but it is being seen there in small, invitation-only showings.
The DC Museum And Its Exploration Of Gentrification
Last month, at a day-long symposium sponsored by the museum, the rise of Chocolate City was contrasted with the city’s more recent gentrification. In 2011, the percentage of Black residents in Washington fell below 50 percent for the first time in over half a century. Howard Gillette, professor of history emeritus at Rutgers University, observed that in many respects the District of Columbia has become “ground zero for gentrification and social justice issues that are going on nationally.”
Prison Inmates Talk About How Performing In Plays Helps Their Rehabilitation
“It built all my confidence up, I felt alive again. I felt like there was a future.” Reporter Bruce Munro talks with current and former prisoners in Scotland (including one who’s gone on to study at the Royal Conservatoire) about the changes that prison theatre programs helped them make in their lives.
Something New: Women Playwrights Of Color Off-Broadway
Doesn’t seem like a big deal, right? Ten plays in Off-Broadway theatres by playwrights who are women of color? And yet: “If a play by a white playwright fails, no problem; there’s another white play lined up after. If a play by an Asian artist fails, that means ‘Asian plays’ don’t sell. It’s not one person’s failure, it’s a collective failure.”
These Argentine Arts Workers Have Been Spending A Year Fighting Sexism In Their Industry — Have They Made Progress?
“Calling themselves Nosotras Proponemos (nP), meaning ‘we propose,’ the group [of 100 women] published a manifesto-like list of 37 demands, asking that women receive equal representation in exhibitions, collections, and leadership positions in Argentina’s arts sector. One year later, nP is celebrating the significant changes their activism has made in Argentina’s art world” — even as much work remains to be done.
No Surprises: Survey Says People Like The Arts
“Americans Speak Out about the Arts in 2018” was conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs for Americans for the Arts in May 2018. It is based on a nationally representative sample of 3,023 American adults, making it one of the largest public opinion studies about the arts ever conducted. As one might expect when hearing from the public, we find a mix of assumptions challenged and observations confirmed.
Why Jude Kelly Left London’s Southbank Centre To Start A Series Of Festivals About Women’s Achievements And Stories
Kelly stepped down last year from the artistic directorship of one of the world’s largest arts centers to work full-time on the Women of the World (WOW) festivals. “I decided I was going to make a body of work which in every single sense was going to be questioning the place that women’s stories have in art, culture, and in everyday civil life and political life.” (video)