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Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...

Pittsburgh Public Theater and CLO to vote on consolidating operations

90.5 WESA: Beset by financial troubles, the boards of Pittsburgh Public Theater and the Pittsburgh CLO are set to vote this month on whether to consolidate as a brand-new organization. The new entity, as yet unnamed, would produce both the new and classic musicals CLO now stages and the new and classic plays currently mounted by the Public.

 

Consumer Advocates, Policy Groups, and Lawmakers Slam Proposed Live Nation–Ticketmaster Settlement

TicketNews: The reported settlement between the Trump Department of Justice and Live Nation Entertainment over the company’s alleged monopoly in live entertainment is drawing sharp criticism from consumer advocates, policy organizations, and lawmakers who argue the proposed agreement would allow the Ticketmaster parent company to maintain its dominant grip on the industry, providing limited relief for consumers or competitors in the space.

 

Floridian Theatremakers Fight Back Against State and Local Governments in Arts Funding Battle

HowlRound Theatre Commons: In 2025, political ideals clashed with the arts across the United States. The overhaul of the Kennedy Center was just one of several battles. Unfortunately, the blueprint of incoming change has emerged from none other than the Sunshine State, Florida. As a born and raised Floridian theatremaker, I’ve seen Florida make headlines in ideological battles for my whole life. Floridian artists live in a unique ecosystem of political polarization, the climate crisis, a constantly growing population, and a rich state history.

 

Kansas theatre students tell lawmakers: arts funding matters

www.wibw.com: More than 400 high school thespians from across Kansas visited the Statehouse Wednesday to urge lawmakers to prioritize arts funding, marking the 10th year Kansas Thespians have made the trip to the Capitol. Students representing 35 schools traveled from communities including Kansas City and Wichita to take part in the annual advocacy effort during Theatre in Our Schools Month.

 

AI-generated art can’t be copyrighted after Supreme Court declines to review the rule

The Verge: The US Supreme Court has declined to hear a case over whether AI-generated art can obtain a copyright, as reported earlier by Reuters. The Monday decision comes after Stephen Thaler, a computer scientist from Missouri, appealed a court’s decision to uphold a ruling that found AI-generated art can’t be copyrighted.

 

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The Bafta film awards are going greener – but some climate problems are hiding off camera

theconversation.com: The Bafta film awards are brilliant at making film feel like it matters. The clothes, the cameras, the applause, the shared cultural moment. That spectacle is the point. But it also has a climate shadow. Not just from the night itself, but from the behaviour it effectively rewards and normalises in the weeks around it.

 

Actor Awards' Stunt Ensemble Categories Announce Performance Nominees

variety.com: The Annual Actor Awards Presented by SAG-AFTRA has announced the complete list of stunt performers and coordinators nominated for Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in motion pictures and television series.

 

‘You know when you’ve hit it – it’s a transformation’: Ruth E Carter on building the bold world of Sinners

Movies | The Guardian: Ruth E Carter’s costumes were a crucial part of establishing the identities of the two identical twins, both played by Michael B Jordan, in multi-Oscar-nominated Sinners. Particularly the hats. One brother, Stack, wore a red fedora. The other brother, Smoke, wore a blue newsboy flat cap.

 

New DMV theater organization Playing Against stages readings to fight fascism

DC Theater Arts: Kevin O’Connell and Jill Goodrich are a husband-and-wife team and both members of the DC theater community. Jill has been doing community theater since the 4th grade, and Kevin is a dramaturg and the former artistic director of Perisphere Theatre. Now, the duo heads Playing Against, a small volunteer organization that —- to quote the organization’s Facebook page — “produces staged readings of plays that repudiate, ridicule, or otherwise resist His Magasty.” Each reading presents a play that tackles the topic of authoritarianism and raises funds for a civil liberties group.

 

Is everyone capable of creativity? Yes

Fast Company: We have a complicated relationship with creativity. Intuitively, we understand its value—the ability to produce new ideas and novel innovation. Instinctively, we know that it presents opportunities for marketplace advancements. When we think of some of the most revered organizations in modern times, like the Apples and Disneys of the world, we point to their creative contributions and their impact.

 

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The end of experimentation with AI agents

Fast Company: For the last several years, enterprises have treated AI as something to test. A pilot here, a proof of concept there. That era is ending. According to new global DeepL research, a survey of 5,000 global executives on the impact of AI agents reshaping business, 69% expect AI agents to fundamentally change how their companies operate in 2026. Nearly half anticipate major transformation, while another quarter say that change is already underway.

 

Baftas racial slur controversy: what should the BBC have done?

theconversation.com: At the 2026 Bafta awards, big wins for independent British film I Swear and American horror film Sinners were overshadowed by a regrettable moment. Activist John Davidson said the N-word – arguably the most offensive slur in the English language due to the centuries of violence and oppression it carries – while Sinners’ stars Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were presenting an award.

 

Martha Graham Took Classic Ballet and Turned It Into Modern Dance. It’s Still Moving Us 100 Years Later

www.smithsonianmag.com: This past fall, in a sunlit studio in Manhattan’s West village, the Martha Graham Dance Company was rehearsing a production of Cave of the Heart, a fiery one-act ballet created in 1946.

 

Peta calls for pork-free menus as Peppa Pig show rolls into Grimsby

Children's theatre | The Guardian: Campaigners are calling on theatre bosses to stop serving bacon, sausages and ham in their cafes – at least while Peppa Pig and her family are performing in the same building. Grimsby Auditorium in Lincolnshire said this week it would remove pork from the menu when Peppa Pig’s Big Family Show opens next month, after a request from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta UK). The campaign group is sending the venue vegan ham as an alternative.

 

Groups sue National Park Service over signage removal

www.archpaper.com: Multiple parties are suing the National Park Service (NPS) and U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) over the recent removals of signage commemorating the country’s history of slavery, Civil Rights Movement, Indigenous history, and struggle for women’s and LGBTQIA+ equality.

 

Worth a Look

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When a Stage Director Trades Broadway for the Olympics

Playbill: Directing a new musical on Broadway is not an easy task. Even leaving artistry aside, one has to wrangle hundreds of people and show elements, from cast to backstage crew to large and often mechanical sets and costumes and props—all of which need to be unified under a distinct and engaging directorial vision.

 

Kennedy Center Unions Challenge Trump's 'Revitalization' Plans

Parade: The labor unions representing staff at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., have broken their silence regarding Donald Trump’s recent announcement concerning the facility’s future.

 

From Broadway to EPCOT: A Theatre Fan’s Guide to Festival of the Arts

Disney Parks Blog: I think everyone has that one childhood moment or memory that made them fall in love with Disney. Mine began with Disney on Broadway. Aladdin was one of the first shows that ignited my lifelong passion for theatre and storytelling, which led me to attend college and live in New York City, work on Broadway, and now be here as part of the Disney Parks Blog team.

 

Haiti’s Hand-Painted Winter Olympics Uniforms Are a ‘Story of Resistance’

news.artnet.com: Just weeks before the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Milan on February 6, Olympic officials blocked Haiti’s plan to feature a painting of revolutionary leader Toussaint Louverture on its team uniforms, prompting a race against time that culminated in a radically altered, hand-painted redesign—the first in the games’ 100-year history.

 

With virtual characters in real life, 'An Ark' experiments with mixed-reality performance

NPR: One of the first plays written for mixed reality recently opened in New York. "An Ark" is about the joys and terrors of being human, and it's all-British cast includes acting royalty Ian McKellen. But if you go to a performance, you will discover that Mr. McKellen and his fellow actors are not actually in the theater with you.

 

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‘An Unbelievable Mess’: Artists Are Stymied by Trump Travel Bans

The New York Times: The travel bans — along with escalating costs and delays in the always-fraught visa application process — represent a looming crisis for the American performing arts sector, as many overseas musicians, theater companies and others face new and seemingly insurmountable obstacles to travel. Some, assessing the risks, are electing to avoid coming here altogether, according to talent agents and the American promoters and producers who are now contemplating holes in their calendars.

 

Seized, subverted, shuttered: a year in Trump’s assault on the Kennedy Center

US news | The Guardian: The Brentano String Quartet had finished their performance when a special guest dropped in backstage: the US supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. “We thanked her for everything she had done for our country,” recalls violinist Mark Steinberg. “It was a nice moment.”

 

Relational Dynamics in Theatrical Partnerships

AMERICAN THEATRE: In this moment of collective upheaval, the existing hierarchies within theatrical practice are reaching their shelf life and it’s time to unearth alternatives. It’s becoming difficult to build deep and meaningful relationships when resources are scarce and we’re all fighting for the same donors, investors, and audiences.

 

A Look at Black Broadway, 1820 – 2026

New York Theater: For every well-known showcase of Black Broadway – “Porgy and Bess,” 1935; “A Raisin in the Sun” 1959; last year’s “Purpose,” winner of both the Tony and Pulitzer — there are little-remembered milestones ranging over the past two centuries. The gallery below, in honor of Black History Month (which several federal agencies now have banned employees from celebrating), samples the history of theater by, for and with Black Americans, taken from collections at the New York Public Library, the Library of Congress, and the Museum of the City of New York

 

Shakespeare and Italy

Folger Shakespeare Library: The Milan Cortina 2026 Olympics got us thinking about Shakespeare and Italy. Shakespeare’s plays are well stocked with merchants of Venice, gentlemen of Verona, and other Italian characters. One-third of his plays are based, or partially based, in Italy. Florence, Milan, Padua, Rome, Sicily, Venice, Verona—these Italian settings play a crucial part in his plots, making them characters in their own right.

 

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Celebrating Black History Month

IATSE: As we observe Black History Month, we reaffirm a simple truth: Black history is American history! The story of our nation and of the labor movement cannot be told without the contributions, sacrifices, and leadership of Black workers who fought to expand opportunity, dignity, and democracy for all.

 

An Open Letter to Richard Grenell

by Emil J Kang: You said something on PBS NewsHour that I want to take seriously: “We cannot have arts institutions that lose money.” You are responding to real pressures. I’ve spent thirty years in this sector. I’ve sat in rooms where we discussed debt reserves, union contracts, and ticket revenue that could not cover costs. I’ve felt the anxiety you’re responding to. It’s real. But the conclusion you’ve drawn from it reflects a misunderstanding of what you’ve inherited.

 

Kennedy Center was always in the political spotlight but not like this

Los Angeles Times: Last Tuesday, Philip Glass withdrew the delayed premiere in June of his latest symphony, No. 15. Originally meant to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2022, it is a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, but the composer decided the values of the current Kennedy Center were “in direct conflict to the message of the symphony,” which is inspired by Lincoln’s 1838 Lyceum Address.

 

Judge Kacsmaryk Compares Drag To Blackface, Allows College Campus Drag Ban In Texas

www.erininthemorning.com: On Saturday, Jan. 17, far-right judge Matthew Kacsmaryk issued one of his most extreme rulings yet, finding that West Texas A&M can ban drag performances on campus. In reaching that conclusion, Kacsmaryk discarded long-standing First Amendment precedent and made demeaning assertions about drag itself, including a comparison to “blackface.”

 

To cry or not to cry: how moving the audience to tears can backfire

theconversation.com: “One must have a heart of stone not to read about the death of little Nell without laughing” was Oscar Wilde’s notorious response to the emotional onslaught of Charles Dickens’s 1841 novel, The Old Curiosity Shop. Having watched two films in two weeks about the death of a child, it offers a clue as to why I cried in only one.

 

Worth a Look

Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...

City Theatre will not merge with Pittsburgh CLO, Pittsburgh Public Theater

triblive.com: Last August, three major local theater companies — City Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theater and Pittsburgh CLO — announced they were considering the possibility of a merger. Today, the companies revealed that such a union is not in the cards — or, at least, not for all three.

 

Trump Offers Bonds to Hollywood While Again Threatening Tariffs

variety.com: President Trump renewed his threat to tariff films made overseas on Monday, but also suggested that he would offer “low-interest bonds” to help stimulate domestic production. In an interview with the New York Post, the president did not explain his proposal but indicated he is still considering the decline in production.

 

Met Opera director and designers order names stripped from 'Carmen'

AP News: In a dispute of operatic proportions, the production team of Bizet’s “Carmen” at the Metropolitan Opera ordered their names stripped from programs over a restaging decision, and the company intends to bring back sets of a retired 2009 version.

 

It’s ICE Out of Minnesota Day, and Twin Cities Theatres Are Part of It

AMERICAN THEATRE: As people in Minneapolis and nationwide grieve the murder of Renee Nicole Good, and both activists and ordinary citizens struggle to resist and recover from targeted raids by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of Somali, Southeast Asian, and Latine immigrants in the Twin Cities, advocacy is coming in many forms, including the artistic.

 

Five Fronts in Trump’s Culture War

The New York Times: In his first term, President Trump took issue with some actors, arts funding and the media. In his second, he has hit the accelerator. Changing what Americans see and hear at their national museums, their performance spaces and on television is now at the core of his agenda. Mr. Trump views it as an effort to return to a lost vision of national greatness, one that seeks to “remind Americans of our extraordinary heritage.” Critics regard it as a nostalgic, reductive whitewashing. Here are five areas where the Trump administration has tried to reshape American culture.

 

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Williamstown Theatre Festival Cancels Summer 2026 Programming

Playbill: Massachusetts' Williamstown Theatre Festival will not present programming in summer 2026. The summer theatre company will resume in 2027. The company says it will use the intervening time "to activate a new phase of artistic research, development, and year-round engagement," aimed at creating a sustainable model of newly year-round programming, with the annual summer Festival as a cornerstone.

 

New President of NYC Musicians' Union on Broadway Strike, AI and More

www.hollywoodreporter.com: Dan Point has taken over the leadership of the American Federation of Musicians Local 802, the union for Broadway and New York City musicians, months after the union was set to go on strike.

 

Enter ‘Stage Right:’ Central Ohio home to nation’s only conservative theater company

NBC4 WCMH-TV: If all the world’s a stage, Robert Cooperman feels half of it is missing its spotlight. “Artists will look at society or an issue in our culture and say, ‘I don’t like that,’ and they might write a play about it. … Why can’t people who are more conservative do that?” Cooperman said. “When we do it, it’s considered political. And when the other side does it, it’s considered art.”

 

Statutory Damages: The Fuel of Copyright-based Censorship

Electronic Frontier Foundation: Imagine every post online came with a bounty of up to $150,000 paid to anyone who finds it violates opaque government rules—all out of the pocket of the platform. Smaller sites could be snuffed out, and big platforms would avoid crippling liability by aggressively blocking, taking down, and penalizing speech that even possibly violates these rules. In turn, users would self-censor, and opportunists would turn accusations into a profitable business.

 

Metropolitan Opera Announces Layoffs, Salary Cuts & Postponement of a New Production

OperaWire: The company’s General manager Peter Gelb told the New York Times that he was forced to take these steps due to concerns with the Saudi Arabia deal, under which the Saudis agreed to subsidize the Met in exchange for the company performing at the Royal Diriyah Opera House near Riyadh three weeks each winter. He added that although he remained confident that the deal would happen, his decision to make cuts was due to concerns about the future of the Saudi arrangement.

 

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A look at some of the worst fires in bars, nightclubs and music venues

PBS News: A fire at a bar in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana in the early hours of New Year's Day has left dozens of people presumed dead and around 100 injured, according to authorities.

 

Get to Know AFL-CIO's Affiliates: Theatrical Stage Employees

AFL-CIO: This is the next post in our series that will take a deeper look at each of our affiliates. The series will run weekly until we've covered all 64 of our affiliates. Next up is Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE).

 

How U.S. Immigration Policies and Uncertainties Are Affecting Dance Artists

Dance Magazine: If you ask a U.S. immigration expert what’s changed over the past year for performing artists, you’ll get 14 bullet points linked to text-heavy web pages. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. “With the new regime in the U.S., new challenge­s have arisen,” says Matthew Covey, executive director of Tamizdat, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit that facilitates and advocates for international mobility and cultural exchange.

 

How to stay productive as the world burns

Fast Company: If it seems impossible to focus on work—or anything else, for that matter—amid all this troubling news, you’re not alone. Plenty of research in recent years has shown that Americans are overwhelmed by the state of politics and feel a heightened sense of anxiety over the news cycle. There’s also clear evidence that doomscrolling and constantly absorbing negative media can interfere with our physical and mental health.

 

Shakespeare and America

www.folger.edu/blogs: Shakespeare is everywhere in America—on our stages, on our screens, and in our everyday conversations. This year, as America commemorates the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding, we’re exploring the larger-than-life role played by an English playwright from more than 400 years ago in American entertainment, education, and history.

 

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TCG Fall Forum 2025: Navigating the Long Arc of Change

AMERICAN THEATRE: Change—how to navigate it thoughtfully, how to ignite it courageously, and how to fund it sustainably—was a major topic of discussion at this year’s Theatre Communications Group (TCG) Fall Forum on Governance, Leadership for the Long Arc.

 

As the DEI Pulls Back, Top Female Producers Stand Their Ground

www.thewrap.com: With the Trump Administration targeting DEI programs set up in the wake of #MeToo and Black Lives Matter and Hollywood studios backpedaling from commitments for more representation, it is now up to producers and creatives to take up the work of changing the entertainment industry’s status quo.

 

5 Biggest Music Sustainability Stories of 2025: Merch, Festivals, More

www.billboard.com: On a federal policy level, 2025 was a nightmare year for the environment. The Trump administration’s proposals have included the rollback of protections on millions of acres of wetlands and streams; the allowance of new oil and gas drilling across 1.3 billion acres of U.S. coastal waters; the pausing of the expansion of clean energy infrastructure; withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord for the second time; and more.

 

Pittsburgh expert recalls new Hollywood free-expression group's roots

90.5 WESA: The relaunch of Hollywood’s 1940s-era Committee for the First Amendment made national headlines in early October. One person thrilled to hear the news was Kathy M. Newman, a professor of English and media studies at Carnegie Mellon University. Newman has studied the original committee, and in fact is writing a book about its long and perhaps surprising artistic legacy.

 

Tom Stoppard Made Us All Smarter

AMERICAN THEATRE: Being in the rehearsal room with Tom was like a mashup of a sports event and a colloquium: You got smarter and you got faster as time went along. The reason we who had the privilege of working with him loved it so much is that his plays demand the highest level of collaboration from everyone involved. Although, like Henry in The Real Thing, Stoppard believed that “words are sacred. They demand respect,” he also understood that a playscript is the springboard by which other artists can dive into the pool.