worth a look #1

a selection of the things that over the past week have grabbed my attention.

Broadway Officials Warn That Ticket Tax Would Cripple Theater Industry
NY Times 2/4/09
It’s somewhat an odd article but certainly an interesting topic. Basically it boils down to the state wanting to heighten the taxes on Broadway theater tickets.  The odd thing about the article is that after talking about pros and cons and debates it goes on to say that producers are realizing they should be exploring a way to lower prices.  So, this strikes me as odd because the state wants to make it more expensive so their response is to make it cheaper. I mean, that’s good, it should be cheaper, but still there just seems to be something about this article that feels off.

Parabasis: Interview With… Dan LeFranc!
2/4/09
An interview with Dan LeFranc whose play 60 Miles to Silver Lake I saw this past weekend. I found the play rather stunning and I’ve met Dan and think he’s a swell guy, so I am really excited for his success and was interested to read the the interview. Oh, and dc peeps go and see his Bruise Easy when it’s at Catalyst later this spring – the director formerly known as citymouse and the actress always known as the awesome Gwen Grastorf are involved.

The Accident, Focusing on a Crime in Israel, Makes English-Language Debut Feb. 4
It’s time for the next show at Theater J! It’s the English Language premier of the Israeli play The Accident. I directed the reading last year when the play was under consideration. I find the play fascinating and can’t wait to see it.  Below is a press release quote from Ari and don’t forget you can still read the Theater J blog, even though I no longer write for it. (and speaking of the J, their blog pointed me towards this hilarious craigslist ad that was posted following what seems to have been their wild inauguration party)

Theater J artistic director Ari Roth stated, “What’s so amazing about the play, is that it’s at once an incredible metaphor illustrating how an entire class of society lives in a state of denial and, at the same, it’s a thrilling sexual drama….It’s both sexy and disturbing. And it’s about Zionism without ever explicitly mentioning Zionism. It’s also about Israel as it relates to the Far East, not just the West, or its Middle East neighbors. There’s something incredibly up-to-date about this portrait.”

Kennedy Center to Help Arts Programs in Economic Trouble
2/3
This is an exciting development out of the Kennedy Center. To quote the article, “Essentially, the program is a high-tech support service through which arts administrators can talk to the center’s personnel about shrinking income, budget-conscious audiences and other difficulties in keeping the doors open.” It always feels good when you see the big guy reach out to the little guys.

Adam Szymkowicz: Advice for playwrights starting out
Some really great advice for playwrights that can also be expanded to anyone who wants to work professionally in theater. My favorite is number fourteen: Do what is best for your work but be nice to people. Pick your fights. Don’t be a dick. Theatre is a really small world and word gets around. So does karma. (possibly)

I can’t translate the title of this page but do take a look
I don’t understand any of it, and I didn’t save the boing boing link i found it on. But there are amazing photoshoped pictures of St Petersburg (i believe) superimposing war images over the modern images. I found it mesmorizing to look at.

And speaking of war Jewschool wrote about a really disgusting misuse of power and religion in the Israeli army: Military Staff Rabbi incites Israeli soldiers to revenge

For something completely different, a distraction from that world:

Old Jews Telling Jokes is a fairly self explanatory website. They have videos (which I can’t figure out how to embed, darnit) with older Jews telling jokes.  They update twice a week and there is something very comforting about watching the videos I must say. I suggest bookmarking it yourself because it’ll make you happy twice a week.

I also wanted to post a music video from the band Nous Non Plus, a NYC based francophone band who used to be part of Les San Cullottes. Buut I can’t figure out how to embed videos that aren’t youtube or google so here’s the link, if you are a fan of peppy quirky french pop and clever fun film work and food porn (and i mean food porn) it may be worth your time.