It’s close July dusk in Paris. Dael Orlandersmith strikes a light and invites us on a walk. We are at the Père Lachaise Cemetery, looking for the names and resting places of Richard Wright, Colette, Balzac, Oscar Wilde.
Read articleCharles Coe and Michelle Gillett shared a picnic with poets
Charles Coe told it’s hard to think of a job that makes less money than poetry — “professional pick-up-sticks player,” he said, “or maybe running a ferret ranch in Montenegro.” He meant poets do what they love.
Read article‘Fiorello’ revives the fight against Tammany Hall at Berkshire Treatre Group
What a man, what a job — all these people who look to us for justice — all these newcomers to the city, learning a new language and a new system. All these women arrested illegally when they strike for a living wage. We’re in a Greenwich Village law office […]
Read articleA Berkshire Orpheus faces gods and monsters at Williamstown Theatre Festival
Orpheus, the Greek singer who walked into the underworld, is walking into an old mill town on a summer night. But she is a new Orpheus. She is a woman with a strong alto voice and a fall of braids down her back. When she and her mother and grandmother […]
Read articleDormeshia Sumbry-Edwards and fellow tap legends swing at Jacob’s Pillow
Rhythm tap dance legend Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards performs in the world premiere of ‘And Still You Must Swing’ at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival with tap masters and her co-choreographers Derick K. Grant and Jason Samuels Smith, and guest artist Camille A. Brown.
Read articleJordi Savall weaves traditions from Mexico to Spain
In Veracruz, on the coast of Mexico, a singer on a warm night is playing a rasguedo, a flamenco strum. In Seville a composer turns from church music to a secular song on a lute with doubled strings …
Read articleChe Malambo performs dance grown in the Argentine pampas — BTW column
The light comes up with a pulsing beat. The company of men on stage each raise an arm. Every one of them carries a drum like a barrel, slung across the chest and played on the sides as well as on the head. Argentine dancers in black vests, boots and […]
Read article‘Cost of Living’ — spare honesty at WTF
‘Cost of Living,’ Martyna Majok’s new play, premieres at Williamstown Theatre Festival in clear, spare, vivid writing, telling stories of class disconnection, poverty and love.
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