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New York Times

Who’s in Charge of This Show? She Is
In a banner year for female stage directors, parity remains elusive.

Arts New Jersey: The Rising Star Awards: Singing! Dancing! Scholarships!
Rahway High School was the big winner at the annual awards ceremony honoring theater-loving teenagers in New Jersey.

FringeNYC

PLAN YOUR STAYCATION!
Stuck in NYC in August? You don't need to pack your bags or rent a car to feel like you've gotten away. Travel beyond your wildest dreams with FringeNYC - "New York's Best Staycation". Here are some ideas for you:

the nytheatre i

In the Heights Launches a Scholarship Competition
This Good News Item is from the world of Broadway:

Pirate Dog

Censorship in Malta
At the risk of being boring, and as I write this I’m watching Pirate Dog trying unconvincingly to stifle a yawn, I find myself drawn back to the case of Unifaun’s censored production of Anthony Neilson’s Stitching, when I’m sure it would be more fun to write about the death of Michael Jackson, genius dancer but creepy white guy. ...

Travalanche

Stars of Vaudeville #25: Mae Irwin
Mae Irwin spent her career alternating between the legit theatre and vaudeville, but her most lasting legacy is the fact that she is one of the first vaudevillians (make that one of the first people) preserved on celluloid, in the 1895 flicker The Kiss. The film captured her for a brief ...

Philadelphia Inquirer

A wave of new theater ideas hits an old Shore resort
On Tuesday, as the lunchtime sun finally lit Cape May and beachgoers began toting their chairs to the sand, the cool, dim interior of the theater at the edge of town was a hive of activity. The preview performance of Cape May Stage's Say Goodnight Gracie was a night away, and there were final director's notes to make, umpteen lighting cues to be refined.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Add texting to list of theater disruptions
In a dark movie theater, the audience sits engrossed in "Up."

Boston Globe

Walking the walk
About 10 years ago, Judith Light stood at a crossroads in her career. A famous fixture on television for more than two decades, Light - who now plays the wickedly acerbic matriarch Claire Mead on ABC’s “Ugly Betty’’ - was then best known for her eight-season run as uptight ad exec Angela Bower on the ’80s sitcom “Who’s the Boss?’’ ...

Summer brings lazy days - and edgy plays
“Summer theater’’ brings to mind sex farces, “Bye Bye Birdie,’’ and faded sitcom actors. The stereotype is several decades out of date, but some companies this year are choosing old favorites and safe musicals to ride out tough economic times. Not the Chester Theatre Company.

Miami Herald

Staging their lives: A theater family returns with a new company
John Rodaz and Maria Banda-Rodaz ''met cute'' (as they say in the movie biz) two decades ago. He was tidying the lobby of the former Lincoln Road shoe store he had turned into a 49-seat theater called Area Stage. She was on a business trip from her native Ecuador and thought the ...

Mnneapolis Star-Tribune

Actor's new career chapter
Pat O'Brien - best known as Mr. Dewey on "Saved by the Bell" - on Spielberg, "Showgirls," Sheboygan and disco balls.

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

Skylight officials share grim numbers to try to quell firing furor
Controversy has engulfed the Skylight Opera Theatre since news of the firing of artistic director William Theisen broke on my blog on June 16. Dozens of Skylight artists - including resident music director Jamie Johns, who was fired for insubordination - have rallied behind Theisen.

Louisville Courier-Journal

Master scenic designer Paul Owen's departure a hit to Actors Theatre
After 38 years, the scenic designs of Paul Owen no longer will grace the stage of Actors Theatre of Louisville. The award-winning master designer resigned at the end of last season.

Dallas Morning News

Joel Ferrell named artistic associate at Dallas Theater Center

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Dallas Summer Musicals’ 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ lives up to Broadway version
Cute kids. A quartet of hilarious villains. A whole pack of trained dogs. A production number with a samba that sizzles. What more could a family musical possibly need?

TheaterJones

Speak Up For The Arts
If you haven't heard, the City of Dallas is considering major changes with its budget for the arts, namely merging the Office of Cultural Affairs with the Library Department. This makes no sense considering the big things on the horizon, such as the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts opening in October.

Houston Chronicle

It’s curtains on Houston's special theater season
From the Alley to Main Street Theater, many of the productions around Houston were top-notch during the 2008-2009 season.

Denver Post

Founder's departure puts Shadow at crossroads

San Francisco Chronicle

Arts turn to social networks
The fine-arts scene is a great place for enjoying music, theater, science and culture, if you like getting lost in your thoughts. To make it a less insular experience, extend culture's reach to new demographic groups...

Arts groups' networking events proliferate
Here are an array of social offerings by Bay Area museums, theaters and other arts groups: Museums Asian Art Museum hosts a series of Thursday night events called Matcha, where guests can enjoy live performances, mingle...

San Diego Union-Tribune

Thoroughly modern Willie
The Bard gets a makeover at Globe's Summer Shakespeare fest – and even 'Cyrano' gets into the act

The Observer

How Eric Morecambe turned tears into sunshine
Edinburgh premiere for a play that highlights the rise and bitter struggles of Britain's funniest man

The Guardian

Theatre review: Every Time It Rains, Hull Truck Theatre
To mark the second anniversary of some of the worst flooding ever to hit Britain, Hull Truck has commissioned a new work from Rupert Creed, a pioneer of aural-history documentary dramas and a fine director and writer in the genre. Creed has crafted the verbatim accounts ...

Scouse meets Gaul and puts us all in the pink
He rhymes ye gods with senna pods. He does a good deja vu joke. He does a good deja vu joke. And he drops in a bit of French: "Je regrette ... rien," wails the constipated hypochondriac as he peers into his empty potty.

The Independent

Close-up: Felix Barrett
Few theatre companies could describe using a linear narrative as "taking a risk". But defying convention is the norm for Punchdrunk, the group behind a string of "immersive theatre" events that have already entered modern London folklore.

The heat is on: Our essential summer arts guide

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