From Wednesday's New York Times: City leaders decided that the Signature Theatre Company would not be included in plans for a ground zero performing arts center to be designed by Frank Gehry. Rather, Signature will move its operations to nearby Fiterman Hall, part of Manhattan Community College.

Yet the decision highlights the striking way the original cultural ambitions for ground zero have been scaled back. In June 2004, state and city officials selected four arts groups for a coveted place at the site with great fanfare, predicting that ground zero would become a cultural mecca. Only the Joyce [a dance company] remains now.

The rebuilding of the former site of the World Trade Center has been frustrating, to say the least. For years, plans have been mired in political conflict between NYC officials, families of 9/11 victims, and architects with BIG ideas. The absence of theatre from this memorial environment is just the latest in a string disappointing decisions.

Read the full article here.

from The Feminist Spectator, reviews of 5 shows.

It was apparently Jill's first time at Humana, but she immediately caught-on to part of what makes the Festival so special.

People wandered the spacious ATL facility with badges, and the air crackled with that very particular vibe of people who toil in the same field but don’t often get to spend face-time.

Unlike some multi-media performances in which video seems a pretentious embellishment that distracts from the live performance, in Batch, video images made the truth tangible and mysterious, as spectators watched previously taped or projected simultaneous images interacting with live bodies.

It appears that a fairly important panel discussion occurred in NYC Monday night (3/26). It's encouraging to know that blogging about theatre has reached a critical mass sufficient enough that people will gather in a public (rather than virtual) forum to discuss the state of blogging, theatre, and the impact that the two have upon each other. Perhaps even more encouraging would be the prospect of a critical mass of bloggers that emerges outside of NYC, but I won't get picky.

By far, the best recap of the evening goes to Isaac Butler at Parabasis. Ironically, his "short points" turns out to be more substantive than a lot of other post-panel commentary I found. But you'll also want to check out what Jaime has to say over at Surplus, George Hunka at Superfluities, and Matt Freeman's On Theatre and Politics.

Sometimes a blog is great not because of what it says, but what it asks. This recent post by Scott over at Theatre Ideas has kept my mind racing all morning. In the midst of all the brouhaha calling for increased public funding of arts institutions, it's easy to forget that 80% of the theatregoing audience comes from the top 15% of the income scale. Given this, it seems almost criminal that theatres are subsidizing their ticket prices for such a wealthy audience base.

But we want to keep ticket prices low so that theatregoers on the lower end of the ticket scale can come, right? Except we only want them to come on our terms. We want to "educate" our audience to appreciate the upper-middle class, college educated aesthetic values that we, as artists, value and that our upper-middle class, college educated patrons appreciate.

This echoes some of the themes in Anthony Neilson's recent blog, where he admonishes playwrights to "not be so boring." Taken together, both authors seem to agree that, in order to win back audiences, theatre needs to recapture its association with entertainment rather than continuing to marginalize itself in the ivory tower of the critical and academic elite.

Here's the full article, including some thoughtful commentary. Theatre Ideas: Arts Funding

Okay, this is old news, but I felt compelled to blog about it here just because I'm still pretty heartbroken over it. I really can't imagine a movie-to-musical adaptation with greater potential than The Princess Bride. The combination of clever wit, sweeping romance, and swashbuckling action made the property a perfect choice for the Broadway musical treatment, much moreso than Big or even Footloose. I mean, the song titles practically write themselves...

ACT ONE: "As You Wish", "Inconceivable", "I Don't Think They Exist"
ACT TWO: "Mostly Dead", "A Shortage of Perfect Breasts", "Prepare to Die!"

But the real promise of this show was in the partnership of Oscar-winner William Goldman (book) with Tony-winner Adam Guettel (music and lyrics). Suddenly it was clear that the producers weren't just out to make a quick buck on the cult-popularity of the 1987 film. This was to be a high-concept show with real artistic merit.

Unfortunately, all those lofty dreams came to a screeching halt last month when Goldman and Guettel had a falling-out over show ownership and profits. According to the New York Post, Goldman reportedly wants 75% of the authors' share, and because he owns the rights to the property, Guettel must consent to those terms or Goldman walks away.

My man-crush on Ben Folds reaches new heights tomorrow night (March 26) as the New York Musical Theatre Festival kicks off its first-ever Spring Concert Series with a production of "More Unauthorized Musicology of Ben Folds". Judging from the preview article at Broadwayworld.com, the show kinda seems like a star-studded jukebox musical in the tradition of such cash cows as Mamma Mia! and Movin' Out.

Of course, anyone familiar with Folds' music certainly knows the guy has a knack for sing-along melodies and character-driven songwriting, making him a favorite pop star of musical theatre nerds everywhere. And while I'm a little leery of Folds' ouvre being adapted for Broadway like this, I do take some comfort in knowing that the proceeds of the event will support the production of new musicals at NYMF, now in its fourth year. Besides, I think I'd give just about anything to see Manoel Felciano in a show-stopping, Busby Berkeley-style rendition of "The Secret Life of Morgan Davis".

If you click over to BroadwayWorld.com now, you can even get a $20 discount on tickets to the event. So what are you waiting for?

WOW. Infuriating. Never let it be said that we won't find a way to prevent kids for thinking for themselves. Read the article here. (You do have to be registered to read the Times online. But, it's free and well worth your time.)

Here's a great quotation from one of the kids.

"In Wilton, most kids only care about Britney Spears shaving her head or Tyra Banks gaining weight," said Devon Fontaine, 16, a cast member. "What we wanted was to show kids what was going on overseas."

Seriously, though, this is outrageous, and I'm really glad the NY Times is giving the story the space it deserves.

from The Guardian

You know you're in for it when the article starts like this.

Theatre is irrelevant to most of the population and audiences have been drifting away for decades.

DAMN. This is a really good article, and I think I'm gonna have to call it a must read for theatre-folk everywhere. Check out this excerpt, one of my favorites.

The most depressing response I encounter when I'm chatting someone up and I ask them if they ever go to the theatre is this: "I should go but I don't." That emphatic "should" tells you all you need to know. Imagine it in other contexts: "I should play Grand Theft Auto"; "I should watch Strictly Come Dancing." That "should" tells you that people see theatre-going not as entertainment but as self-improvement, and the critical/ academic establishment have to take some blame for that.

Read the rest.

Available light [theatre] opens their newest show, Tomorrow is the Question in just one week's time.

"It's a play about politics. What works, what doesn't and why it's up to us to fix it."

The play runs March 30-31 and April 5-7 at the Columbus Dance Theatre, 592 E. Main St.

Discounted tickets are on-sale now at AVLt's online ticket window.

If you're socially inclined, you can get an incredible deal on a block of 5 tickets. But, you'll need to click the link to get more info.

from theaterboy: because you need more drama in your life

Check out this fun, albeit brief, look into the life of Humana Festival actress Jennifer Mendenhall (also a member of Woolly Mammoth). Jennifer is in the amazing ensemble of dark play or story for boys, currently running at Actors Theatre of Louisville.

It is, in my opinion, the best play of this year's festival. General consensus is that it will also be the most produced.

Here's a brief excerpt from her letter.

We stay up way too late and drink way too much and talk about everything. I hear the poker game went till 6am. There's talk of a double-cast bowl-off next week, and Josh Lefkowitz is going to do his one-man show for us. BYOB.

Today's post will be written in two parts. So check back late tonight for my thoughts on dark play or stories for boys.

Also, THIS is now where you go for the list of every Humana play ever in order.

We just saw The Unseen, which I really liked. Y'know, I think this is the best year since 2003 (Omnium/Faculty Room). It's definitely better than the last two. I can already say that, and we've got one play (rumored to be the best of the fest) to go today, and Batch later on. Sweet. I'm having fun.

Long day.

I got up at 8:30am. It's 1:40am now. We're getting up in the morning at meeting at 9am at Cracker Barrel. Awesome.

So ... let's see I'll talk about what I liked first.

I just re-read Sovereignty by Rolin Jones, his ten-minute from last year. It's 6.5 pages and he accomplishes more in that space than a lot of plays spend 120 pages to not accomplish.

Anyway ...

If you're just joining us, you can go here for complete coverage of last year's Humana, as well as a great intro to the whole phenomena and my experience with it over the last decade.

On to now ... I'm at Day's Espresso Shop, and the coffee is reeeeaaallllllllly fucking good. So smoothe. I've got a little booth to myself, the WIFI is strong, I've got my iPod Shuffle, and there are outlets seemingly everywhere. So, I'm very, very happy. It's 9:33am. The perfect time to let out all my thoughts about last night.

Wow, they're playing my favorite Peter, Paul, and Mary album here. That totally fuckin rules.

Welcome to Theatreforte.

I just started working on this today. Really, you shouldn't look at this. It's definitely not done. So, bookmark it and check back in a week.

The idea here is that there is cool stuff happening in theatres all across the country. We all know that to be true, but there is far to little ink and digital space devoted to chronicling and spreading news of those efforts.

WE NEED MORE BLOGS.

Are you an avid theatre-goer or a devoted artist living outside of New York City? Then please start a blog! The internet is a conversation and there's not enough noise coming from 49 of our blessed states.

Anyway. we'll be here, linking, feeding, reading, and highlighting some of the best stuff we come across. If your work isn't highlighted here, please email us and make sure we know of your existence.

Thanks.