The problem with Auschwitz-Birkenau’s new digital camp replica

theconversation.com: At this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum announced the launch of a new digital replica of the concentration camp for filmmakers. Titled Picture from Auschwitz, the virtual film location is designed to facilitate a range of productions set on the grounds, where preservation regulations currently restrict filming to documentaries.

Stephen Sondheim’s Lasting Wisdom

The New Yorker: Toward the end of his life, Stephen Sondheim—who died on November 26, 2021, of cardiovascular disease, at the age of ninety-one—sat for a number of interviews with me. The idea was that I would publish a Profile of him timed to the première of a new musical that he was writing with David Ives based on Luis Buñuel’s films “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” and “The Exterminating Angel.”

Broadway royalty salute '50 Years of Broadway at Kennedy Center'

DC Metro Theater Arts: In 1983, when the Broadway phenomenon Annie closed after nearly six years on Broadway, a New York Times journalist wryly observed that backing the show financially in its early days was “the best investment the Kennedy Center ever made.” The Kennedy Center, it would seem, has a knack for fostering genius. And Annie is not the center’s only claim to developmental fame.

How did the 20th century learn to act? 'The Method'

NPR: Brando, Kazan, the film of Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire," 1951, The Method - a lot of luminous names were students of The Method in acting - with Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler and the Actors Studio, Brando, Al Pacino, Ellen Burstyn, Diane Keaton, Robert Duvall, Marilyn Monroe, Jane Fonda, to name just a few. What is The Method?

Documenting the End of a Theater – Capitol Theatre, Racine, WI

After the Final Curtain: In late December 2020, a representative of the Wisconsin Historical Society contacted me. They asked me if I was familiar with what was happening at the Capitol Theatre (Park) in Racine, Wisconsin. I had heard of it, but I didn’t know anything about its current state.

National Negro Opera Co. Birthplace on Endangered List

Pittsburgh Magazine: A condemned house at 7101 Apple St. in Homewood that is the birthplace of the National Negro Opera Company was named today by the National Trust for Historic Preservation to its annual list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. The designation could bring renewed efforts and funds to save the long-vacant and boarded-up Queen Anne house, built in 1894.

Travels of a Scenic Artist and Scholar. LHAT Historic Theater Tours – The Walnut Street Theatre, July 17, 2019

Drypigment.net: On July 17, League of Historic American Theatre (LHAT) conference attendees toured the famous Walnut Street Theatre. Located at the corner of Ninth & Walnut Street in Philadelphia, the theater opened its doors on February 2, 1809. Initially the structure featured a ring for equestrian acts. Initially built for the Circus by Victor Pepin and Jean Breschard, over the course of two centuries, the building underwent many renovations.

NPR Interview: 'Pose' Choreographer Twiggy Pucci Garçon

NPR: The FX show Pose is back for a second season. It's about ball culture in New York City in the 1980s and early 90s — balls are spaces where trans women and gay men walk the runway, dance, and yes, pose, competing for trophies and bragging rights.

Return of the Ogee: Phipps Restores Historic Glass Architecture

Nest - October 2018: When Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Schenley Park opened to the community in 1893, it consisted of nine display rooms featuring exotic plants from around the world — and grand glass architecture.

Making 'Uncle Vanya' Real, Not Overwrought

Theatre Development Fund – TDF: Don't be surprised if you find yourself leaning in as you watch playwright-director Richard Nelson's achingly intimate take on Uncle Vanya, the inaugural production at the Hunter Theater Project. Staged in the round in a black box theatre with unpretentious performances and just a few kitchen tables for scenery, Chekhov's masterwork has been streamlined to one act and reduced to its essence: an extended family of malcontents wondering where they fit in and whether they matter.

Leonardo da Vinci's Earliest Notebooks Now Digitized and Made Free Online: Explore His Ingenious Drawings, Diagrams, Mirror Writing & More

Open Culture: Do a search on the word “polymath” and you will see an image or reference to Leonardo da Vinci in nearly every result. Many historical figures—not all of them world famous, not all Europeans, men, or from the Italian Renaissance—fit the description. But few such recorded individuals were as feverishly active, restlessly inventive, and astonishingly prolific as Leonardo, who left riddles enough for scholars to solve for many lifetimes.

Finding a Story of Hope in a Historic Holocaust

Theatre Development Fund – TDF: Over a decade ago a stranger approached playwright Joyce Van Dyke in the lobby of a theatre. "My name is Martin Deranian," the elderly gentleman said. "Your grandmother and my mother were best friends and they were deported together from their homeland in 1915. I think you should write a play about them."

Tony Awards 2018: La MaMa to Receive Regional Theater Award

Variety: La MaMa E.T.C., the downtown Manhattan theater that was one of the major birthplaces of the Off Off Broadway scene, will receive the 2018 Regional Theater Tony Award.