Oct 23 Watch 7:30 The show will go on! Performing arts pivot during pandemic By Jeffrey Brown, Anne Azzi Davenport The coronavirus pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of American life, including the performing arts. Actors and dancers are experiencing unemployment rates over 50 percent, and many companies have said they will remain closed for in-person performances for the foreseeable… Continue watching
Oct 09 Broadway’s reopening pushed back to at least May By Mark Kennedy, Associated Press Although an exact date for various performances to resume has yet to be determined, Broadway producers are now offering refunds and exchanges for tickets purchased for shows through May 30. Continue reading
Oct 08 Watch 6:32 At this Virginia theater, the show — and the masks — must go on By John Yang, Alison Thoet, Maea Lenei Buhre Seven months into the pandemic, theater companies are still struggling to raise the curtain on live performances. But one regional company in rural Virginia hopes it has found a way for the show to go on -- in a way… Continue watching
Oct 02 Playing Othello as a Black woman in today’s America By Alison Thoet, Maea Lenei Buhre Amid nationwide protests against systemic racism, Jessika D. Williams sees parallels between racism in the play and in real life. Continue reading
Sep 23 The Met Opera will be silent this season. Its 1st Black composer will open its return By Ronald Blum, Associated Press The Metropolitan Opera will skip an entire season for the first time in its nearly 140-year history. Terence Blanchard’s “Fire Shut Up in My Bones” will be the company’s first presentation by a Black composer. Continue reading
Aug 13 Playwright Jeremy O. Harris doesn’t miss ‘theater in a building’ By Tommy Walters How will theater weather the pandemic? Especially in its more fearless forms, it will always adapt to reach audiences, said the playwright behind "Slave Play."… Continue reading
Jul 23 Movie theaters implore studios to release the blockbusters By Jake Coyle, Associated Press Recent coronavirus spikes have forced release dates to shuffle and chains to postpone reopening to August. Now, movie houses are saying that despite far from ideal circumstances, it's time for new movies. Four months of near zero revenue has brought… Continue reading
Jun 26 Watch 6:30 On Broadway, Black artists push for racial equity By Jeffrey Brown, Anne Azzi Davenport As the Black Lives Matter movement strengthens nationwide, calls are increasing for equity in all sectors of American life -- including on Broadway. An all-star cast of Black theater artists has launched a new effort, Black Theatre United, that aims… Continue watching
May 27 Larry Kramer, playwright and AIDS activist, dies at 84 By Associated Press Kramer's husband, David Webster, told The New York Times that Kramer died of pneumonia on Wednesday. Continue reading
Apr 23 Watch 6:50 Why pandemic represents ‘existential crisis’ for performing artists By Jeffrey Brown, Anne Azzi Davenport We look to the arts for entertainment, comfort and pleasure -- but they are also an economic engine. According to government analysis, art accounts for almost $900 billion of GDP and over five million jobs. Now, many of these people… Continue watching