159 stories from Parabasis
As longtime readers of this blog know, over three and a half years ago, 99Seats (then writing at his old blog) floated the notion that someone should make a metacritic for New York theater r…
Via the always handy You've Cott Mail comes a point/counterpoint that really highlights why conversations about art, commerce and the generation gap really don't go too far. Emily White, a 2…
George beat me to the punch by writing about the latest gambit for a heretofore unknown to me company called Strut & Fret and in particular a producer named David Watson who sent around an e…
A recent New York Times video conversation between film critic A.O. Scott and the garrolous David Carr has sparked a lot of conversation on the internets about the value and necessity of (es…
I'll admit: on my first read, I was about as miffed by this Carey Perloff article as Lauren Gunderson was. I thought, Really? We're back here again? Didn't we all do this dance, like, two ye…
In the wake of the last Broadway season, New York Magainze's Vulture is doing a big ole roundtable on the future of the musical and what can be done to save it that includes two pieces by...
It's good of the Guthrie to add more women and people of color into their season in the wake of the earlier outcry. That was the right thing to do. Details on the new announcement here. Hope…
Over at the Hooded Utilitarian, a theatermaker in Florida talks about his experience making the (totally illegal and beloved) "Anne Frank Superstar." You can find his discussion of that show…
By Isaac Butler Beautiful, passionate, compelling:
Perhaps you've heard of this whole Naomi Schaefer Riley kerfuffle, perhaps you haven't, but basically what happened was this: In a blog run by the Chronicle of Higher Education (the closest …
Polly Carl says everything, ever, right here: Art rises from the unknown and the undiscovered. Sometimes different is better if only because it makes us stop and consider languages and cultu…
Well. So far, the Guthrie hasn't released an official response to the flap about their 2012-13 season, but, as Ben in the comments to my A.D. Excuse Bingo post below pointed out, we did get …
One of my favorite finds over the couple of years I've been doing Stagegrade has been the work of critic David Barbour at Lighting & Sound America. He's been in the game a long time, long en…
Seats With the flap around the Guthrie's season gathering some steam and generating a bit of press, apparently there will be a statement coming from Joe Dowling and the Guthrie next week. Wh…
By Isaac Butler "As for Dowling, he's working with Louise Erdrich to adapt some of her novels for the stage. He says that he expects the Guthrie to be able to stage more women's work if…
Congratulations are due to the Guthrie for taking an early lead in the Worst Season In America prize, after winning it hands down last year. Here it is, folks, read 'em and weep.
By Isaac Butler On twitter the other day dynamic pricing raised its ugly, seductive head again, this time via the feed of the (new to me) Pitchcentral out of England. Oddly, they seemed to b…
I apologize in advance for how angry this blog post is. I normally try to be somewhat restrained (while still spunky!) with my rhetoric but sometimes you just gotta unload. Richard Dare, CEO…
I woke up this morning still troubled by that Hilton Als's blog post about August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, because I think it shows some serious problems with his critical practice…
I forgot to mention this earlier, but the ASME nominations just dropped. ASME is the American Society of Magazine Editors. Their awards are a big deal. Anyway, in case you haven't heard, not…
I don't think it's possible for me to agree with this more. Seriously. The culture that encourages and celebrates misery, pain and generally awful behavior in artists is one of the more dama…
Over at the Huffington Post, Lauren Gunderson makes the case for more roles for women onstage, something that often gets left out in conversations about gender parity in theatre. She notes, …
By Isaac Butler I should also say that Roxane Gay positively nails the dynamics that shape these conversations whereever they occur. And the dance she outlines should be very familiar to rea…
By Isaac Butler (Updated Below) The good people over at the Guardian Online have a great Noises Off roundup of the latest series of articles and posts about the lack of female voices (includ…
By Isaac Butler Here in Minneapolis, we have a station run by our local NPR affiliate called "The Current." The Current mainly plays up-to-date indie rock. They play a lot of local…
