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Performing Arts

Tuesday

Artists Pay Tribute To No-Frills Chinatown Bus, Discomforts And All

The Fung Wah Biennial celebrates the now-defunct Chinatown bus service. For her performance piece, Sunita Prasad crowdsurfed around the bus. Bryan Chang/Fung Wah Biennial hide caption

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Bryan Chang/Fung Wah Biennial

National

Artists Pay Tribute To No-Frills Chinatown Bus, Discomforts And All

The Fung Wah bus was a cheap and not entirely safe way to get between major cities in the Northeast. It's no longer operating, but that hasn't stopped former riders from "recreating" the experience.

Artists Pay Tribute To No-Frills Chinatown Bus, Discomforts And All

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Friday

Pop Culture Happy Hour: 'Hamilton'

Marquis de Lafayette (Daveed Diggs), Hercules Mulligan (Okieriete Onaodowan), John Laurens (Anthony Ramos), and Alexander Hamilton (Lin-Manuel Miranda) in the acclaimed Broadway musical Hamilton. Joan Marcus/Sam Rudy Media Relations hide caption

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Joan Marcus/Sam Rudy Media Relations

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Pop Culture Happy Hour: 'Hamilton'

It's Broadway's current phenomenon, so we went to see it and report back on what it is, how it works, and whether we loved it as much as we wanted to. It's our Hamilton show.

Pop Culture Happy Hour: 'Hamilton'

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Stranger Than Fiction: Cuba, Spies, Bombs And Dance

Lorna Burdsall with Fidel Castro in Havana, 1983. Courtesy of Gabriela Burdsall hide caption

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Courtesy of Gabriela Burdsall

Goats and Soda

Stranger Than Fiction: Cuba, Spies, Bombs And Dance

A fairy-tale romance between a dancer from Connecticut and a young Cuban studying at Columbia turned into a political thriller — and resulted in the unlikely birth of a new art form in Cuba.

Stranger Than Fiction: Cuba, Spies, Bombs And Dance

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Tuesday

Have 5 Hours To Spare? See Bolaño's Epic '2666' Onstage

Actor Henry Godinez as the philosophy professor Oscar Amalfitano, in "Part II: The Part About Amalfitano," from the Goodman Theatre's lengthy production of 2666. Liz Lauren/Goodman Theatre hide caption

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Liz Lauren/Goodman Theatre

Theater

Have 5 Hours To Spare? See Bolaño's Epic '2666' Onstage

Roberto Bolaño's posthumous novel 2666 weighs in at more than 900 pages — a challenging read, to say the least. Now Chicago's Goodman Theatre has adapted it as a 5 1/2 hour stage production.

Have 5 Hours To Spare? See Bolaño's Epic '2666' Onstage

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Saturday

'Zimerican' Playwright Danai Gurira Brings African Stories To American Stages

You may know Gurira as Michonne, the samurai sword-wielding zombie slayer on The Walking Dead. But she's also an award-winning playwright and this week, two of her works are opening in New York. Jason Kempin/Getty Images hide caption

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Jason Kempin/Getty Images

Theater

'Zimerican' Playwright Danai Gurira Brings African Stories To American Stages

You may know Gurira as Michonne, the samurai sword-wielding zombie slayer on The Walking Dead. But she's also an award-winning playwright and this week, two of her works are opening in New York.

'Zimerican' Playwright Danai Gurira Brings African Stories To American Stages

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Tuesday

Watching A Brown 'Hamilton' With A White Audience

Music director Alex Lacamoire and actor/composer Lin-Manuel Miranda celebrate onstage during a Hamilton performance for the Grammy Awards at Richard Rodgers Theater in New York on Feb. 15. Theo Wargo/Getty Images hide caption

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Theo Wargo/Getty Images

Code Switch

Watching A Brown 'Hamilton' With A White Audience

The hit musical recasts the Founding Fathers as people of color engaged in rap battles. But on a recent night, ticket buyers largely looked the way Broadway audiences have always looked. What gives?

Saturday

Actor Matthew Spencer stars as Winston Smith in the stage version of George Orwell's 1984.

Actor Matthew Spencer stars as Winston Smith in the stage version of George Orwell's 1984. Manuel Harlan hide caption

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Manuel Harlan

Theater

'1984' On Stage: Big Brother Is Still Watching You

An award-winning London stage adaptation of 1984 has just transferred to the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Mass. The actors say Orwell's dystopian novel remains ominously relevant today.

'1984' On Stage: Big Brother Is Still Watching You

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Tuesday

Originals: How To Spot One, How To Be One

Adam Grant is a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the author of Originals. Michael Kamber/Adam Grant hide caption

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Michael Kamber/Adam Grant

Hidden Brain

Originals: How To Spot One, How To Be One

Adam Grant, author of Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World, tells us what makes an original, how parents can nurture originality in their children, and its potential downside.

Originals: How To Spot One, How To Be One

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Sunday

Tuesday

As A Japanese Mountain Village Shrinks, So Do Its Prospects For Kabuki

Six of Damine's 10 remaining children perform in the finale of the village's annual kabuki festival. Elise Hu/NPR hide caption

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Elise Hu/NPR

Parallels

As A Japanese Mountain Village Shrinks, So Do Its Prospects For Kabuki

For more than 300 years, children have performed kabuki, Japan's classical theater, in the village of Damine. But as residents age or leave for cities, Damine is running out of young performers.

As A Japanese Mountain Village Shrinks, So Do Its Prospects For Kabuki

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Thursday

Family Drama Meets Existential Horror In 'The Humans'

The Humans is set during a family's Thanksgiving dinner, hosted by the youngest daughter and her boyfriend. (Pictured: Reed Birney, Sarah Steele, Jayne Houdyshell, Arian Moayed) Brigitte Lacombe/Courtesy of O&M Co. hide caption

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Brigitte Lacombe/Courtesy of O&M Co.

Theater

Family Drama Meets Existential Horror In 'The Humans'

On its surface, the play sounds pretty ordinary: A young woman and her boyfriend have her family over for Thanksgiving dinner. Then things start to get weird.

Family Drama Meets Existential Horror In 'The Humans'

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Tuesday

Monday

Ginsburg And Scalia: 'Best Buddies'

Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2014. Alex Wong/Getty Images hide caption

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Alex Wong/Getty Images

Politics

Ginsburg And Scalia: 'Best Buddies'

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the late Justice Antonin Scalia were ideologically at the opposite ends of the Supreme Court bench. Despite their dissenting opinions, they were also great friends.

Ginsburg And Scalia: 'Best Buddies'

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Saturday

'Trapped In Time,' The Last Showgirl Revue On Vegas Strip, Closes

Jubilee's last show will be Feb. 11. "I'm sad for Las Vegas entertainment," says former Jubilee performer Maryann Picchi. Jerry Metellus/Caesars Entertainment hide caption

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Jerry Metellus/Caesars Entertainment

'Trapped In Time,' The Last Showgirl Revue On Vegas Strip, Closes

KNPR News

With its elaborate headdresses, colorful sequined gowns and statuesque dancers, Jubilee was the classic Las Vegas show. But times and tastes change, and the last performance took place on Feb. 11.

'Trapped In Time,' The Last Showgirl Revue On Vegas Strip, Closes

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