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Performing Arts

Sunday

'Oklahoma!' Actress Celeste Holm Dies At 95

Academy Award-winning actress Celeste Holm was best known for roles in Gentleman's Agreement, All About Eve and Oklahoma! AP hide caption

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Obituaries

'Oklahoma!' Actress Celeste Holm Dies At 95

The Academy Award-winning actress was a star on both stage and screen, best known for roles in Gentleman's Agreement, All About Eve and Oklahoma!

'Oklahoma!' Actress Celeste Holm Dies At 95

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Seattle Theater Returns For A Shrunken Second Act

Miracle!, a drag version of the Helen Keller drama The Miracle Worker created and directed by Dan Savage, is a highlight of the Intiman Theater's comeback summer festival in Seattle. Chris Bennion/Intiman Theater hide caption

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Chris Bennion/Intiman Theater

Theater

Seattle Theater Returns For A Shrunken Second Act

KUOW

After financial problems forced it to close midseason last year, Seattle's Intiman Theater is reopening with a more limited offering: an eight-week summer festival. The comeback shows include a drag version of The Miracle Worker.

Seattle Theater Returns For A Shrunken Second Act

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Tuesday

A One-Man Madhouse, With Murder On His Mind

Alan Cumming plays Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Banquo and many other characters in a one-man adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy set in a psychiatric ward. The show plays as part of the Lincoln Center Festival in New York through July 14. Manuel Harlan/Lincoln Center hide caption

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Manuel Harlan/Lincoln Center

Theater

A One-Man Madhouse, With Murder On His Mind

Alan Cumming stars in a creative reinterpretation of Shakespeare's Scottish play Macbeth. Cumming stars as Fred, a mental patient who performs his own highly personal version of the classic tragedy, playing nearly every character.

A One-Man Madhouse, With Murder On His Mind

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Thursday

Humor & Fun

Translating South African Jokes For A U.S. Audience

In just a few years, comedian Trevor Noah went from performing at amateur clubs to selling out large theaters in his native South Africa. Born to an African mother and Swiss father during apartheid, many of his jokes stem from his upbringing in a township where law separated blacks and whites.

Translating South African Jokes For A U.S. Audience

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Wednesday

Mike Nichols Warns 'Death' May Be His Final Curtain

Mike Nichols' directing credits include Spamalot on Broadway, the movies Working Girl and The Birdcage, and HBO's Angels in America. Ida Astute hide caption

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Ida Astute

Theater

Mike Nichols Warns 'Death' May Be His Final Curtain

Mike Nichols has won every major entertainment award over a long career in theater, comedy, TV and film. He returned to Broadway directing a revival of Death of a Salesman, which picked up seven Tony nominations. Nichols warns the production may be his last. Originally broadcast May 23, 2012.

Mike Nichols Warns 'Death' May Be His Final Curtain

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Thursday

Great Expectations, And Some Hope Of Meeting Them

In plays like FOB, M. Butterfly and Chinglish, David Henry Hwang, seen here at a 2006 gala, touches on the obstacles that can stand between immigrants and the American dream. Amy Sussman/Getty Images hide caption

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Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Opinion

American Dreams: Then And Now

Great Expectations, And Some Hope Of Meeting Them

Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang has written extensively on Asian immigrants' assimilation into American culture. The American dream, he says, is defined by the ability to imagine a future, and then have hope of fulfilling it.

Great Expectations, And Some Hope Of Meeting Them

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Wednesday

Nora Ephron: From 'Silkwood' To 'Sally,' A Singular Voice

Author and screenwriter Nora Ephron died Tuesday in New York. She was 71. Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images hide caption

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Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

Obituaries

Nora Ephron: From 'Silkwood' To 'Sally,' A Singular Voice

Nominated for multiple Oscars, the director and screenwriter gave us two of the most indelible scenes in contemporary cinema — and they're startlingly different.

Nora Ephron: From 'Silkwood' To 'Sally,' A Singular Voice

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Monday

Fresh Air Remembers Broadway's Richard Adler

Celebrated composer and lyricist Richard Adler has died at the age of 90. Bob Gomel/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images hide caption

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Bob Gomel/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Obituaries

Fresh Air Remembers Broadway's Richard Adler

Fresh Air

Richard Adler, who co-wrote the musicals The Pajama Game and Damn Yankees with his partner, Jerry Ross, died Thursday at his home in Southampton, N.Y. He was 90. Fresh Air remembers the composer and lyricist with excerpts from a 1990 interview.

Fresh Air Remembers Broadway's Richard Adler

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Saturday

Shirley Clarke's 'Connection': Will It Click At Last?

In The Connection, Leach (Warren Finnerty, right) and his friends wait around for their heroin fix, which eventually comes courtesy of Cowboy (Carl Lee). The controversial film was shut down in New York after two screenings in 1962. Milestone Film hide caption

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Milestone Film

Movies

Shirley Clarke's 'Connection': Will It Click At Last?

When it was released in the early '60s, Shirley Clarke's controversial film about heroin addicts got shut down by New York police after two screenings. Now, a half-century later, audiences get a second chance to see the newly restored movie in theaters.

Shirley Clarke's 'Connection': Will It Click At Last?

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On This Stage, Jesus Is A Robber; The Devil's A Rapist

David Sonnier Jr., from Jeanerette, La., plays the Devil in Angola Prison's production of The Life of Jesus Christ. He was convicted of aggravated rape and is serving a life sentence. Deborah Luster/for NPR hide caption

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Deborah Luster/for NPR

National

On This Stage, Jesus Is A Robber; The Devil's A Rapist

The Angola Prison Drama Club performed a play unlike any other in the prison's experience. Seventy inmates took part in The Life of Jesus Christ. For the untrained actors, this production held special meaning, as they saw pieces of their own lives revealed in the characters they played.

On This Stage, Jesus Is A Robber; The Devil's A Rapist

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Friday

Richard Adler, Broadway Composer And Lyricist, Dies

Celebrated composer and lyricist Richard Adler has died at the age of 90. Bob Gomel/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images hide caption

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Bob Gomel/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

The Record

Richard Adler, Broadway Composer And Lyricist, Dies

He co-wrote Pajama Game and Damn Yankees, then hired Marilyn Monroe to sing "Happy Birthday" to John F. Kennedy.

Richard Adler, Broadway Composer And Lyricist, Dies

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Pop Culture Happy Hour: Of True Tales, Fantasy Adventures And Happy-Making Things
NPR

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Pop Culture Happy Hour: Of True Tales, Fantasy Adventures And Happy-Making Things

We bounce from chronicles sober and silly to the question of what makes a solid first-person shooter, and confess to being pleased by some of the strangest things.

Listen To Pop Culture Happy Hour

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Thursday

Delacorte Theater: 50 Years Later, Still Free, Still Battling The Weather

Orlando (David Furr), Rosalind (Lily Rabe, right) and Celia (Renee Elise Goldsberry) in As You Like It. The Public Theater's production opens the 50th-anniversary season at New York's Delacorte Theater. Joan Marcus/The Public Theater hide caption

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Joan Marcus/The Public Theater

Theater

Delacorte Theater: 50 Years Later, Still Free, Still Battling The Weather

This summer marks the half-century anniversary of Central Park's Delacorte Theater, home of the free annual Shakespeare in the Park. Jeff Lunden looks at the theater's beginnings and how it continues its work today with a new production of As You Like It.

Delacorte Theater: 50 Years Later, Still Free, Still Battling The Weather

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Tuesday

Sunday

The Stage On Which Juliet First Called Out For Romeo

Archaeologists from the Museum of London Archaeology recently excavated the site of the 16th-century Curtain Theatre, where Shakespeare staged some of his plays. Museum of London Archaeology/AP hide caption

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Museum of London Archaeology/AP

Theater

The Stage On Which Juliet First Called Out For Romeo

Archaeologists have found the remains of the Curtain Theatre, where Shakespeare first staged some of his most famous plays. NPR's Rachel Martin talks to Chris Thomas, who dug up the theater.

The Stage On Which Juliet First Called Out For Romeo

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