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Neil Gaiman@neilhimself.neilgaiman.com |
Read this.
What Began as a War on Theater Won’t End There www.nytimes.com/2024/04/20/o...
41 replies 349 reposts 678 likes
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Sarah Jane
@saradipity.bsky.social
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Thank you for sharing. What a world…
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
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Kevin Korb
@kbkorb.bsky.social
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Culture is dangerous. That's part of MAGA's appeal. "[They] became frightened by its reach and impact, its interracial casting, its challenge to the status quo... by the prospect of Americans across racial, economic and political divides sitting cheek by jowl in packed playhouses."
0 replies 1 reposts 20 likes
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Voxvorago | Moob City
@voxvorago.bsky.social
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Isn't R&J taught specifically so teens know not to make life altering mistakes in the first 20% of life?
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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Bernadette Vielhaber
@bvielhaber.bsky.social
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I guess this is why every high school performance in my area are Disney adaptations.
5 replies 2 reposts 52 likes
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Sol Quill (He/Him)
@solquill.bsky.social
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So it began all the way back in the 30s. McCarthy was not an isolated incident in the history of US, he had a predecessor Dies. Very interesting.
1 replies 0 reposts 10 likes
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sinnerforhire
@sinnerforhire.bsky.social
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In 2001 we were told that our public school would absolutely, positively, never even consider letting us do Rent. They considered Grease too risqué. GREASE.
1 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
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Paco E.
@pacoe.bsky.social
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It happens everywhere. Far right party in Spain banned Virginia Wolf’s “Orlando”, among many others, while shouting “freedom” and “leftist censorship everywhere”. During the Spanish Civil War, public school teachers were deliberately slaughtered by fascists. Culture is a threat.
0 replies 1 reposts 2 likes
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Liz Schiller #DefundthePolice
@lizzzs.bsky.social
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Important history lesson: three years of robust government support for theater followed by many years of fear and McCarthyism. Theater is wonderful for regular people/dangerous to the powerful.
Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2024/04/20/o...
0 replies 0 reposts 5 likes
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Star Bustamonte
@divinedisturber.bsky.social
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100%. Education and particularly the public school system are where a large part of the focus has been for some time. A lot of folks just have not noticed until just recently.
0 replies 0 reposts 3 likes
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Derek Mahr
@derekmahr.bsky.social
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Of course that crap happens here in Iowa. I'm so exhausted from the culture warriors in my formerly "nice" state.
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
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Stone Pathway
@gargoylemakes.bsky.social
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Throwback to the legally grey speakeasy and cabaret scenes
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
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Laguiri
@laguiri.bsky.social
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I teach a class of low-level 16-year-olds. The type of class where we're (almost) allowed to make things as easy as they need to avoid dropouts. We have read and then watched Twelve Angry Men and it has been their first _theoretical_ contact with class discrimination.
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
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Gregory the A'ight
@gregoryaight.bsky.social
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I'm always so thrilled and encouraged when I see local theaters and schools tackling shows that explicitly fly in the face of the current atmosphere across the U.S., and administors and other grown-ups offering support, protection, and encouragement.
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
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Valerie Breen 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
@valeriebreen.bsky.social
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Neal, we must remember that public schools serve one purpose: Produce good labors. At this point, the arts and social sciences are interfering with that. Therefore, they must be cut, modified or otherwise have their influence neglected. We can't teach workers to think for themselves!!! God forbid!!!
1 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
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Louis Moresi
@louis.moresi.info
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Well, at this rate we’ll have to resort to allegory.
0 replies 0 reposts 4 likes
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Patrick Nielsen Hayden
@pnh.bsky.social
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I went to a public high school that mounted student productions of challenging plays like The Trojan Women, Joseph Heller’s We Bombed in New Haven, and the like. I didn’t go on to a life in theater, but it was as formative an experience as any, in all sorts of good ways.
3 replies 4 reposts 120 likes
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JoWonderland
@jowonderland.bsky.social
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0 replies 1 reposts 2 likes
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DaVincis Mama
@davincismama.bsky.social
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Wait... they restrict Romeo and Juliet for "sexual content"? Do they also restrict the Scottisch play for "murder"? What would they do with Goethe's "Faust" which is very expilicit and is read grades 8 to 10 in schools in Germany? Free culture is a huge part that keeps a democracy alive....
4 replies 1 reposts 27 likes
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Pandastorm🐼🌩️
@pandastorm.bsky.social
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This almost brought me to tears. I am chilled. I was unaware of some of the history. In Florida, so I KNOW the bs going on down here.
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
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Mark Britten
@l3moning.bsky.social
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Fucking ludicrous. I studied MacBeth and A View From The Bridge for GCSE English. I do wonder whether these idiots would be in favour of that, even?
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
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rubberzebra
@rubberzebra.bsky.social
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Sigh.
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
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JordanDykstra.bsky.social
@jordandykstra.bsky.social
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"Until those in power in this country pivot from suppressing theater to investing in it, it’s not just the arts but also democracy itself that remains vulnerable." Great read, and very tragic, but doesn't it feel like making democracy vulnerable has become the point for that right-wing playbook?
1 replies 0 reposts 8 likes
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Charles Cooper
@cooper42.bsky.social
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My entire High School theatre dept would have been boiled alive if these people had their way.
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@krenster.bsky.social
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Without government funding, I think theater is doomed. My kid is a stage manager and it’s terrifying and economically not survivable out there in the hinterlands:
www.onstageblog.com/stage-direct...
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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KevDog
@kevdog.bsky.social
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So sadly true. They pick easy targets at first and see how much they can get away with. Then repeat it, over and over.
1 replies 1 reposts 41 likes
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Lexy the Devil
@lexicondevil.bsky.social
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As a child of actors, my main thought is America has always struggled w/theater, even though we've produced some of the best playwrights & productions. No excess of stage-to-screen actors--Hollywood teaches its own classes. Schools should pay for student tickets; we learn plays w/o theater instead.
1 replies 1 reposts 17 likes
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Tony Fisk
@arfisk.bsky.social
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"And then the elephant and the bad baby went... rumpe-TARump e-TARump e-TA down the road." (and a child's bedtime story was ruined forever)
1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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The Mummer's Dracolich
@mummers.bsky.social
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This was a particularly good line
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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@sirosenbaum.bsky.social
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Those who are interested in this history should watch CRADLE WILL ROCK
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
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Cuentos del bosque oscuro
@cuentosbo.bsky.social
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"United States of Gilead" is closer every day.
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Dave
@davebrowne.bsky.social
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Unfortunately, too many who get power don't want an educated populace because that's threatens their power. They just want a trained populace who can work the levers at the widget factory. But it should always be STEAM, not STEM.
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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Ana Lucia
@analubueno.bsky.social
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Here in Brazil they are throwing books in the trash. This is a mayor
7 replies 8 reposts 41 likes
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Lori D'Angelo
@sclly21.bsky.social
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Yep. Art is essential!
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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Diane Tucker
@dianetucker.bsky.social
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Relatedly, on April 28th at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, actress and playwright Anna Deveare Smith will discuss how being in a theatrical performance can help you get to know people — and yourself — better. Can't make it to D.C.? Her presentation will also be online.
0 replies 6 reposts 19 likes
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Michael Avolio
@michaelavolio.bsky.social
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Thanks for pointing out this piece.
Here's a paywall-free gift article link, for anyone without a Times subscription:
www.nytimes.com/2024/04/20/o...
2 replies 7 reposts 26 likes
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Eileen Popp.
@epopp.bsky.social
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Thanks,Neil!
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
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Mark Hennessy-Barrett
@markhb.bsky.social
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Heartbreaking.
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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Ali Trotta
@alwayscoffee.bsky.social
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Thanks for sharing! Definitely *very* important.
0 replies 0 reposts 4 likes
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Chris Jags
@chrisjagged.bsky.social
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Land of the Free to Get Censored
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
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Mo the Protector
@shanure.bsky.social
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Writing is essential. But a good director can make The Man Who Came to Dinner into a play about classism and racism. Resist. Resist. Resist.
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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Richard
@darklighter.bsky.social
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My sister is a drama teacher in a very progressive school district in a very progressive region. Her students are staging The Prom next weekend. The theatre has been vandalized, a lawyer has asked to review the script, and there are going to be protestors at the school. It’s maddening.
12 replies 25 reposts 205 likes