North Texas Artists in Turkey: Tim Coursey on Turkish Traits

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 22:31:42 -0400

Artist Tim Coursey assesses the Turks, finds a few common national characteristics.

This Week in Texas Music History: Teddy Wilson

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 22:13:41 -0400

This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll celebrate a musician who played in one of the first racially-integrated bands to gain national popularity.

Saturday Spotlight: Amon Carter Museum

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 21:57:26 -0400

In the Saturday Spotlight, we’re looking at color and shape.

North Texas Artists in Turkey: Nancy Rebal on the Chora Church

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 21:12:09 -0400

Nancy shares her thoughts about one of her favorite stops on our visit to Turkey - the Chora Church in Istanbul.

North Texas Arts Groups Added $3 Billion to Region’s Economy Over Past 3 Years

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:08:13 -0400

The Business Council for the Arts released the study Friday. And those who compiled it consider the numbers conservative.

Dust off Your Dancing Shoes for National Dance Day

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:17:32 -0400

Head over to Six Flags Saturday to celebrate - and learn a special dance choreographed by the folks from So You Think You Can Dance to mark the occasion.

Our Man in Nigeria: Bart Weiss Brings Documentaries to Africa

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:10:49 -0400

Last summer, he went to Pakistan. This year, guest blogger Bart Weiss is headed to Nigeria to share American documentaries.

Should Theatres Hire Leaders Locally?

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:22:22 -0400

Should cultural institutions -- organic and homegrown as so many of them are -- strive to hire local for their creative leadership?...

Friday Morning Roundup

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:06:39 -0400

Today in the roundup, Modernism at the Amon Carter, mariachi in Denton and SEC troubles in Dallas.

NY's Cherry Lane Theater to Go Dark for a Season

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 05:55:51 -0400

"The Cherry Lane Theater will not produce plays on its main stage for a year beginning in September, and possibly longer, to buy time to cope with a deficit of roughly $167,000 through the 2010 fiscal year."...

Does Theater About Gays in the Military Merely 'Preach to the Choir'?

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 05:47:12 -0400

Marc Wolf, author and performer of Another American Asking and Telling: "I soon discovered that my worries about preaching to the choir were unfounded because, where gays in the military are concerned, there has never been a choir to preach to."...

North Texas Artists in Turkey: John Lunsford on Cappadocia and Istanbul

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 04:26:16 -0400

Our group's most senior member, and the only one who'd been to Turkey before, shares some observations about two very different cities we visited.

"A Very Potter Sequel" hits YouTube

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 22:51:43 -0400

How many times do musicals have sequels? Then again, how many musicals are about Harry Potter?

A Very Potter Sequel is the sequel musical to the YouTube sensation known as A Very Potter Musical, a full-length show which was made and produced by a bunch of University of Michigan students called StarKid Productions. Though the second show has a bit of a bigger budget due to the first's success, both rely on creativity in terms of set design and props that makes it quite unique. Most of the cast from the original is back (though some have switched around roles,) so fans such as myself were able to transition between the original and the sequel.

The best thing about these musicals, however, is their indescribably funny dialogue and musical numbers; there will never be another time when you will see a tap-dancing Voldemort or hear a chorus erupt with "You're Harry Freaking Potter". Fans of Harry Potter are, in my eyes, required to watch it.

Click in to this blog to see the openings to both shows.

We’re Not Losing Just Arts Managers Around Here

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:26:00 -0400

Mark Nerenhausen has departed the AT&T PAC, of course, while Mark Hadley, managing director of the Dallas Theater Center, has announced he'll be leaving sometime in September. But this week also sees two other departures . . .

Theater-for-One Begins Reaching Critical Mass

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 05:56:15 -0400

"High-concept and immersive, intimate theater has been cropping up for years, but now in Europe it has reached such a critical mass that the Battersea Arts Center in London, known for innovation, hosted the largest one-person-audience festival this month." Funding problems notwithstanding, the phenomenon is growing stateside as well....

But What's One-on-One Theatre Like? Ben Brantley Sees You Me Bum Bum Train

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 05:54:19 -0400

"[D]uring the approximately 40 minutes I spent being pushed through the halls … I was exalted and excoriated, hailed as a genius, reviled as a charlatan and mistaken for both a rock star and a bag of garbage. I mean a real bag of garbage."...

Examination of Plays About Science (A Thought Experiment)

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 05:54:05 -0400

"Purpose: To determine why so few good plays about maths and science are written, when fine dramas about other academic disciplines - art, literature, history, politics - abound. (And why has wood shop never yet produced even a comedy?)"...

Cool deals at the Dallas Museum of Art

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:04:32 -0400

The Dallas Museum of Art has extended its Half Price Wednesdays, by popular demand, to the end of August, as well as The Family Programs (Summer Storytime and Sketching in the Galleries for Kids). So, every Wednesday until the end of August, you can get into the museum with $5 parking and $5 admission from 11 am until 5 pm.

And did I mention the Museum Store is having a huge Summer Sale?

Ansel Adams negatives found

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:52:23 -0400

Man, I wish my garage sale finds were this awesome. CNN reports that a California painter found Ansel Adams photos worth $200 million.

Two small boxes he bought 10 years ago for $45 -- negotiated down from $70 -- are now estimated to be worth at least $200 million, according to a Beverly Hills art appraiser.

Those boxes contained 65 glass negatives created by famed nature photographer Ansel Adams in the early period of his career. Experts believed the negatives were destroyed in a 1937 darkroom fire that destroyed 5,000 plates.

"It truly is a missing link of Ansel Adams and history and his career," said David W. Streets, the appraiser and art dealer who is hosting an unveiling of the photographs at his Beverly Hills, California, gallery Tuesday.

Click the link to read more and see a slideshow of the super cool finds.

Toronto Theatre Co. Lays Off 30 Employees

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 05:53:36 -0400

As Dancap Productions prepares for the closing of its two current musicals, Jersey Boys and South Pacific, the company has made redundant more than 30 staff members, mostly in sales. Because Dancap has not yet announced any shows for the upcoming season, said the company's publicist, "there's nothing to sell."...

Pacino Merchant of Venice Schedules Broadway Run

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:16:51 -0400

"On Monday, the Public Theater said it will transfer its Shakespeare in the Park production of The Merchant of Venice to Broadway in the fall. Al Pacino will stay on in the role of Shylock," as will "most" of this summer's cast. The run is scheduled from Oct. 19 through Jan. 9....

Move Over, Come Fly Away, There's Another Sinatra Musical on the Way

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:07:53 -0400

Okay, it's not, strictly speaking, a Sinatra musical; it's a Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen/Rat Pack musical. Robin and the Seven Hoods, an adaptation of the 1964 Frank/Dino/Sammy movie which opens July 30 at San Diego's Old Globe, incorporates such Ol'-Blue-Eyes standards as "Come Fly With Me," "My Kind of Town (Chicago Is)," and "High Hopes."...

CEO is out at AT&T Performing Arts Center

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:12:10 -0400

Mark Nerenhausen has resigned at the AT&T Performing Arts Center. Here's part of the release:

Dallas, TX - July 26, 2010 - AT&T Performing Arts Center announced today that it has accepted the resignation of President and CEO Mark Nerenhausen, effective immediately. Doug Curtis, the AT&T PAC's Senior Vice President and General Manager, has been named interim CEO. A national search is underway for Nerenhausen's successor.
"The AT&T Performing Arts Center has gone through incredible growth and change over the past two years, and Mark provided invaluable leadership for us at a critical time," said Howard Hallam, Chair of the AT&T Performing Arts Center Board of Directors. "We are grateful for Mark's hard work during the launch of our new institution, and we wish him all the best in his future endeavors."
"I came to Dallas to work with the remarkable team opening the new performing arts center, and I am proud of what we have accomplished. I'm glad to have had the opportunity to have been here at such a significant time in AT&T PAC's development as an institution," said Mark Nerenhausen.

Elton John Writing Animal Farm Musical

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 05:52:52 -0400

"Elton John and Lee Hall, who wrote the musical Billy Elliot, are teaming up to create a new show based on George Orwell's Animal Farm. Lee, who won Olivier and Tony awards for his book and lyrics for the stage Billy Elliot, and an Oscar nomination for the screen version, told me Orwell's novella was perfectly suited for the stage."...

The Tiny Low-Budget Theatre That Churns Out High-Powered Musicals

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 21:54:07 -0400

"Unlike anything now in New York, [London's Menier] Chocolate Factory is the rare commercial theater operation that pumps out critically acclaimed hit shows on shoestring budgets … Its recent successes on Broadway has inspired [director David] Babani to envision a branch of the Chocolate Factory in New York someday."...

The Little Sondheim Role That Draws Great Senior Actresses

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 19:51:20 -0400

Over less than three decades, Madame Arnfeldt - the elderly former courtesan in A Little Night Music - has been played by an remarkable list of acting legends: Hermoine Gingold, Claire Bloom, Margaret Hamilton, Zoe Caldwell, Vanessa Redgrave, Elaine Stritch, Leslie Caron … Why do they fiud such a small role to be such a plum?...

Al Pacino Makes It Safe To Hate Shylock

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 05:49:36 -0400

Jason Zinoman: "His hardheaded new performance [in Central Park] seems like a direct rebuke of his previous one [in the 2004 film], going against the grain of the usual cheap humanizing. This Shylock is strong, humorless, and not quite as smart as he thinks he is."...

Dueling Shylocks in New York This Winter?

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 05:47:49 -0400

"Off Broadway's Theater for a New Audience announced on Wednesday that its critically acclaimed 2007 production of The Merchant of Venice, starring F. Murray Abraham as Shylock, … will return to New York for a two-week run starting Feb. 27 … The Public Theater, meanwhile, is continuing to look at options for a Broadway transfer of its current [Central Park] production of Merchant," starring Al Pacino....

The Things A Theater Critic Can Learn By Doing His Homework

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 05:35:19 -0400

Charles Isherwood: "One of the pleasures of a life of theatergoing, I've discovered, is the serendipitous dips into wildly diverse areas of culture it can provide..."...

Gulf oil crisis inspires artist's newest gallery

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 20:35:54 -0400

For most people, the Gulf oil crisis has become the definition of chaos over the past months. Local artist Joey Brock took this chaos and used it as inspiration for his latest gallery, "It Ain't Easy Bein' Green", which opens August 7 at the brock studio gallery.

In his 13-piece mixed-media collection, Brock uses unorthodox means to make commentary on the environment as well as the negative and positive affects a single act can have on it. By unorthodox, I mean combining acrylic paint, conté crayon, pencil and paper on clayboard and canvas along with rusty drill bits, sandpaper, stone, twine and glass. All help create powerful narration on environmental corruption. and "going green".

The event, held alongside Bettinger Studio's fine art photography show, will also showcase fine art photography entitled "A Body of Work" by Denise Tarango and sculpture by Zad Roumaya. All-in-all, it promises to please both art lovers and tree huggers with its creative and original style.

Pictured: "Hooked" by Joey Brock

Does The Edinburgh Fringe Have Some Real Competition?

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:36:24 -0400

"Visiting the Latitude festival [in Suffolk] for the third time, it struck me that this event is fast becoming a genuine alternative to the Edinburgh festival fringe. The theatre offering gets better every year, and ... a short-form festival such as Latitude must seem like a far more practical proposition than schlepping up to Scotland for a month. The same could be said for audiences."...

Restored Chicago Theater Goes Into Bankruptcy

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:29:19 -0400

The Skokie Theatre -- which has been presenting jazz, cabaret, theatrical and variety events since reopening in 2006 -- has gone into receivership after a $1.2 million refurbishment....

Actors Find Minneapolis A Tough Town

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 15:47:48 -0400

"In the best of times, actors find it challenging to make any kind of a reliable living simply from intermittent stage parts. Now a down economy that has led to the highest number of unemployed Americans since the Great Depression and technological advances have combined to create a perfect storm of challenges for actors, hardships that have made the Twin Cities one tough theatre town."...

Julianne Moore Has A Kids' Musical (And It's Headed For Off-B'way)

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 05:51:50 -0400

"My movies are not for children," says the star of Boogie Nights, Far From Heaven and the new lesbian-parenting comedy The Kids Are All Right. But she has written a successful book for youngsters, Freckleface Strawberry, and a new musical adaptation of the book opens in New York this fall....

Marina Abramovic Disses Theatre - All Of It

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 05:41:21 -0400

"To be a performance artist, you have to hate theatre. Theatre is fake: there is a black box, you pay for a ticket, and you sit in the dark and see somebody playing somebody else's life. The knife is not real, the blood is not real, and the emotions are not real. Performance is just the opposite: the knife is real, the blood is real, and the emotions are real."...