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Performing Arts News, interviews, and commentary on theater, the arts, music, and dance.

Performing Arts

Tuesday

How Artists Make Money

For California Dancemaker, It's All Step By Step

It's not easy to keep a small dance troupe going, but Oakland-based choreographer Randee Paufve is managing to do it. She teaches dance, writes grants and chases individual donors. Soon, though, her formula will be changing — in a big way.

For California Dancemaker, It's All Step By Step

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Friday

California Characters

Richard Montoya: 25 Years Of Laughing About Race

In the mid-1980s in California, at a time when few people wanted to talk about race, Richard Montoya was laughing about it. His thought-provoking performances with the group Culture Clash over the past 25 years have cracked up audiences, and changed some minds.

Richard Montoya: 25 Years Of Laughing About Race

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Theater

Singing About Mental Illness In 'Next to Normal'

The Tony award-winning musical Next To Normal portrays a family struggling with mental illness and the treatments offered by modern psychiatry — with rock songs about Valium and bipolar disorder.

Singing About Mental Illness In 'Next to Normal'

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Wednesday

How Artists Make Money

Life On The Fringes: It's Not Easy Being Scene

For NPR's series on how artists earn a living, Neda Ulaby looks at a hardy, scrappy breed of survivors: performers who make a career out of careering across the country from one Fringe festival to another.

Life On The Fringes: It's Not Easy Being Scene

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Friday

Theater

Lessons In Reality, Just From 'Playing Shakespeare'

A new DVD of the BBC's legendary Playing Shakespeare series — with Judi Dench, Ian McKellen and more — has critic Bob Mondello mulling over what the bard knew about "holding the mirror up to nature."

Lessons In Reality, Just From 'Playing Shakespeare'

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Sunday

Culture

In The U.S. Heartland, Drama With A Different Flavor

Natasha Williams, a Ukrainian-born cafe owner and former actor, has gone back to her roots: She has started a Stanislavsky-inspired theater company in Lexington, Ky., called the Balagula Theatre.

In The U.S. Heartland, Drama With A Different Flavor

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Saturday

In Argentina, Swine Flu Means Early Curtain Call

Despite critical acclaim, The Way Things Are is closing at the end of the month because of low attendance, due to worries over the flu outbreak. Silvina Frydlewsky for NPR hide caption

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Silvina Frydlewsky for NPR

World

In Argentina, Swine Flu Means Early Curtain Call

In Argentina, swine flu has killed more than 160 people — more than Mexico, where the epidemic began, and the highest death toll outside the United States. The country's vibrant theater industry — Latin America's richest — has been hit especially hard.

In Argentina, Swine Flu Means Early Curtain Call

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Friday

Culture

Creative Coincidences: Cage On Cunningham

Fresh Air

Composer John Cage was Merce Cunningham's life partner and longtime collaborator. Cage, who died in 1992, was a pioneer of electronic music and compositions involving chance and randomness.

Creative Coincidences: Cage On Cunningham

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Merce Cunningham: A Life In Movement

Fresh Air

"One of the great iconoclasts in 20th-century art," Merce Cunningham revolutionized modern dance, pioneering abstract movement with his partner John Cage. Cunningham died July 26 at the age of 90.

Merce Cunningham: A Life In Movement

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Monday

Obituaries

Choreographer-Dancer Merce Cunningham Dies

Cunningham's career, which spanned more than 60 years and some 150 works, revolutionized dance by wiping out storytelling and even tossing coins or dice to determine steps.

Choreographer-Dancer Merce Cunningham Dies

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Friday

Jeremy Piven, Looking For A Bad Boy's Good Side
(Matt Sayles/AP)

Pop Culture

Jeremy Piven, Looking For A Bad Boy's Good Side

The Entourage star got his start in Chicago, at a well-regarded theater run by his parents. He tells Madeleine Brand that his formative experiences there still inform his work today.

Jeremy Piven, Looking For A Bad Boy's Good Side

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Thursday

Nicholson Impersonators Know Jack

Actor Patrick O'Sullivan, who used to impersonate Christopher Walken, is back with a new muse: Jack Nicholson. In the stage show All About Jack in Los Angeles, O'Sullivan and fellow castmembers act out scenes of Nicholson's films and mix in interpretations of Nicholson's life.

Nicholson Impersonators Know Jack

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Culture

Jeff Daniels And 'The Answer Man'

Actor Jeff Daniels has portrayed dozens of characters on stage and screen. His latest film role is a romantic comedy, The Answer Man. He plays an author who is supposed to have all the answers to life's important questions, but clearly does not.

Jeff Daniels And 'The Answer Man'

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National

Dig Finds A Thriving Cultural Mecca In Indianapolis

New evidence suggests that an African-American neighborhood bulldozed decades ago to make way for a university wasn't as blighted as the city's popular history portrays. The area was once home to Madam C.J. Walker, the nation's first self-made female millionaire.

Dig Finds A Thriving Cultural Mecca In Indianapolis

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Wednesday

Second City Takes On Obama In New Show

When Barack Obama was elected president, some comedians complained. But Obama does not intimidate Second City, the Chicago-based comedy troupe, which is performing a show called Barack Stars in the nation's capitol this month.

Second City Takes On Obama In New Show

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