Monday, October 17, 2011

Mondays are Dark

Whew!  It was a busy weekend of openings, and there's a lot of good reading out there.

What's Old is New Again
Florida Theater On Stage brings us up to date on Palm Beach Dramaworks and its renovation of the old Stage Company/Florida Rep/Burt Reynolds Institute/Cuillo Center space.  Lotta bit of history there.  Broadway World reports that West Palm Beach is so excited about the return of theatre to Clematis street that they've declared the week of November 7-13th will be known as DramaWorks Theatre Week.

Mayo's Mandate
In last week's Sun-Sentinel, Michael Mayo weighs in on whether or not the Broward Center for the Performing Arts should receive funding support from one of its partners, the Broward County School Board.
My advice to the Broward Center: Shake those private money trees a little harder. If there's a way to do this without school funds, a lot of teachers and parents will shout, "Bravo!"
Capital budget, Michael; the capital budget can't be used for teacher salaries.  A little more examination of the facts would be welcome, but we get precious few facts in this article.

Our position; the Broward School Board has certainly wasted its capital budget over the last decade, and this leaves precious little for projects they should have been funding.  But if they don't fund the educational components of the PAC's renovation while they are pulling apart the building, there may be no opportunity to add it in once the PAC has completed the project.  The partnership between the PAC and the School Board has served as a model for projects across the country; a way should be found to continue it.

She's Back
The Examiner reports that Jan McArt will be gracing South Florida stages over the next few weeks.  McArt's Royal Palm Dinner Theatre was a fixture in Boca Raton for nearly 25 years before its debts overwhelmed it in 2001.

Speaking of Boca Raton
BroadwayWorld reports that Boca Raton's surviving theatre, the Caldwell Theatre Company, is set to open After the Revolution.

Got To Get You Into My Life
Butts in Seats examines the familiar problem of getting people to come to the theatre:
The question of “what exciting thing can I do tonight,” may be been replaced with “my life is so busy, what can I do tonight that doesn’t require me to get back in my car.”
Unsaid, of course, is the completion of that statement: "...and fight my way through traffic."  This isn't meant to be discouraging; but a clearer statement of the problem leads to better solutions.

Change of Title
Alliance Theatre Lab announces that it's moving -title of show- to next season, replacing it with Lobby Hero.

Speaking of Lobbies...
The Kansas City Star notes a trend in plays without intermissions.  And this surprises me; I didn't know they even had theatres in Kansas.  While this might seem like a good thing for audiences with a short attention span (or small bladders), it's a loss of revenue from intermission concessions.

Y'know, for Kids
Florida Theater On Stage reports that Promethean Theatre Company has a little Halloween project planned for kids.  It's not on their website, but you can get tickets here.

A Killer Musical
BroadwayWorld fills us in on the next play to open at the reconstituted Rising Action Theatre; Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story.

Captiva Cast & Crew
The Z-Spot fills us in on who's who in the upcoming Zoetic Stage production of Captiva.

In the House
The Miami Herald gives us some background on the UM/Arsht center partnership behind The House of Bernarda Alba, while Florida Theater On Stage provides photographs of the production.

It's a Brisk November in Broward
The Examiner finds a lot of stuff happening at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in the next month.  Beauty and the Beast, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and the return of Laffing Matterz are just a few of the events opening in November.

The Ooky Line-Up
Broadway World reports that the full casting for the national tour of The Addams Family Musical has been announced.  The show makes a brief stop at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts next week.

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