Worth a Look

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

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.

 

Worth a Look

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

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.

 

Worth a Look

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

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.