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Zahn McClarnon on the New Season of ‘Dark Winds’

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Zahn McClarnon, who plays a Navajo cop in AMC crime drama, talks about the coming third season, which is moodier and more mystical than previous ones.“Dark Winds,” the AMC desert-noir drama centered on a Navajo Tribal Police force in 1970s New Mexico, has been widely acclaimed since its debut in 2022, and viewing numbers have also been solid. An average of 2 million people tuned in for each episode, AMC said, good enough for the second season to rank among the 10 most-watched cable dramas in 2023. Then last year, the series received the well-known Netflix bump after its first two seasons arrived on the service in August, landing in the Top 10 of Nielsen’s overall streaming chart.Now AMC will see how many new fans follow “Dark Winds” back to its home platform: The third season premieres Sunday on AMC and AMC+ — it has already been renewed for a fourth — with more murder and mysteries for the stoic tribal cop Joe Leaphorn, played by Zahn McClarnon, to investigate.Leaphorn has been a noble figure in the series, and critics have given particular praise to McClarnon’s performance as well as the show’s evocative mix of crime drama, poignant family dynamics and authentic portrayals of Navajo traditions and culture. But at the end of Season 2, Leaphorn left his foe to die in the desert, and the new season finds him grappling with the consequences of that decision.“Joe is definitely struggling quite a bit with a lot of fear and anxiety over some of the choices that he’s made in the past, specifically last season,” McClarnon said in an interview.Season 3 in general is darker and more mystical than the first two. Leaphorn’s sidekick, Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon), is haunted by past traumas and abandonment. (“Dark Winds” is based on Tony Hillerman’s Leaphorn and Chee novels.) The former deputy Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten) is now a Border Patrol agent investigating a human trafficking ring. Back on the reservation, two Native boys have disappeared, leaving behind only a bicycle and a patch of blood. And as Leaphorn investigates the harrowing case, he is pursued by — and pursuing — a demonic, mythical Native monster known as Ye’iitsoh.Other potential bad actors include a fifth-generation oilman who may have a sinister side hustle, played by the veteran character actor Bruce Greenwood. Jenna Elfman is another notable addition to the cast, as a visiting F.B.I. agent investigating the disappearance of the man Leaphorn left in the desert.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Zahn McClarnon on the New Season of ‘Dark Winds’

    Zahn McClarnon, who plays a Navajo cop in AMC crime drama, talks about the coming third season, which is moodier and more mystical than previous ones.“Dark Winds,” the AMC desert-noir drama centered on a Navajo Tribal Police force in 1970s New Mexico, has been widely acclaimed since its debut in 2022, and viewing numbers have also been solid. An average of 2 million people tuned in for each episode, AMC said, good enough for the second season to rank among the 10 most-watched cable dramas in 2023. Then last year, the series received the well-known Netflix bump after its first two seasons arrived on the service in August, landing in the Top 10 of Nielsen’s overall streaming chart.Now AMC will see how many new fans follow “Dark Winds” back to its home platform: The third season premieres Sunday on AMC and AMC+ — it has already been renewed for a fourth — with more murder and mysteries for the stoic tribal cop Joe Leaphorn, played by Zahn McClarnon, to investigate.Leaphorn has been a noble figure in the series, and critics have given particular praise to McClarnon’s performance as well as the show’s evocative mix of crime drama, poignant family dynamics and authentic portrayals of Navajo traditions and culture. But at the end of Season 2, Leaphorn left his foe to die in the desert, and the new season finds him grappling with the consequences of that decision.“Joe is definitely struggling quite a bit with a lot of fear and anxiety over some of the choices that he’s made in the past, specifically last season,” McClarnon said in an interview.Season 3 in general is darker and more mystical than the first two. Leaphorn’s sidekick, Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon), is haunted by past traumas and abandonment. (“Dark Winds” is based on Tony Hillerman’s Leaphorn and Chee novels.) The former deputy Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten) is now a Border Patrol agent investigating a human trafficking ring. Back on the reservation, two Native boys have disappeared, leaving behind only a bicycle and a patch of blood. And as Leaphorn investigates the harrowing case, he is pursued by — and pursuing — a demonic, mythical Native monster known as Ye’iitsoh.Other potential bad actors include a fifth-generation oilman who may have a sinister side hustle, played by the veteran character actor Bruce Greenwood. Jenna Elfman is another notable addition to the cast, as a visiting F.B.I. agent investigating the disappearance of the man Leaphorn left in the desert.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    A Play About Segregation Tries to ‘Ride a Fine Line’ in Florida

    A production partly aimed at students that highlights Tampa’s history in the civil rights movement lands at a time when the state is changing what schools teach about race and history.Given the chance, Arthenia Joyner would have ordered a bacon and egg sandwich with a glass of orange juice. Instead, workers inside an F.W. Woolworth store in Tampa, Fla., declared their lunch counter closed to her and other high school students 65 years ago.The students refused to leave without being served. The protests did not carry the national prominence of the Greensboro sit-ins, Montgomery boycotts or Selma marches. “What I found out is damn near nobody knows what happened,” Joyner, 82, said recently. But the acts of resistance produced results. Within months, Tampa’s counters were desegregated. Other public areas like beaches and movie theaters followed.Joyner hopes more people will learn of Florida’s contributions to the civil rights movement through “When the Righteous Triumph,” a play that dramatizes the 1960 protests. After a small debut in 2023, the play will be performed at the Jaeb Theater inside Tampa’s David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts over the next two weekends, with its audiences including students from around 40 local schools.The play arrives at a moment when arts and educational offerings are frequently in dispute nationally, and regional arts venues are left navigating shifting terrain.Several arts organizations sued the National Endowment for the Arts this week over a new mandate that says grant applicants must comply with the Trump administration’s executive orders barring the promotion of “gender ideology.” President Trump recently signed an executive order withholding funding from schools that teach that the United States is “fundamentally racist, sexist or otherwise discriminatory.”Clay Christopher and Von Shay in the production, which depicts an oft-overlooked moment in the civil rights era.Octavio Jones for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    For the Actors of ‘Sumo,’ Learning Lines Was Just the Half of It

    Two men, barefoot and wearing traditional loincloths around their waists, tussled with each other on a stage transformed to look like a sumo ring.A fighting consultant, who had been observing the rehearsal nearby, stepped in to offer advice: The men’s arm movements were too straight; their motions needed to be smoother and more circular. Moments later, the two actors were at it again: reaching out, shifting their weight and then pushing off each other in a grappling exchange.New York theatergoers have seen it all, including shows about sports — which are not uncommon. But rarer, nonexistent even, is a theatrical work about sumo wrestling. Now, Lisa Sanaye Dring’s “Sumo” is transporting Off Broadway audiences at the Public Theater to an intimate sumo wrestling facility in Tokyo — known as a heya, or wrestling stable — where bare-chested actors fearlessly slap into each other in a heap of flesh and sweat.“I’m interested in people who use their bodies differently than I use my body,” Dring said, reflecting on what led her to write “Sumo.” “It feels very much linked to me — the fighting and the human story — because their humanity is inside how they fight.”The play itself tells the story of Akio, a newcomer to the heya who, because he’s considered rather small by sumo standards, isn’t taken seriously at first. An unranked wrestler trying to prove himself, he endures brutality as he goes about sweeping up rice, bathing the highest-ranking wrestler and doing other servant-like tasks that he has been relegated to performing. Before long, though, he quickly proves himself and rises to become one of the group’s strongest combatants.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Randall Park on the Kendrick Lamar Track He Loves to Drive to in L.A.

    The actor isn’t sure he’d make a great F.B.I. agent, though he’s playing one again in the new TV series “The Residence.”When Randall Park was first approached about playing an F.B.I. agent in Netflix’s new murder mystery series, “The Residence,” his first thought was: Another one?“I just didn’t want to do the same thing,” said Park, 50, who has a recurring role as Agent Jimmy Woo in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in “WandaVision,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp” and its sequel, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.”After he read the script for “The Residence,” which begins streaming on March 20, he reconsidered. “I couldn’t stop thinking about it,” he said. And when he found out that Uzo Aduba would be starring in it, “I was like, ‘Oh gosh, yes, I know I want to do this for sure.’”He’s not sure he’d be a good secret agent in real life, though.“Well, maybe, because I am pretty calm under pressure,” he said. “But then again,” he added, “I’ve never held a real gun.”In a phone conversation from his home in Los Angeles’s Studio City neighborhood, where he lives with his wife, the actress Jae Suh Park, and their 12-year-old daughter, Ruby, Park shared a list of favorites inspired by his native Los Angeles. It includes his go-to Korean place, his favorite running routes and the locally made condiment he puts on absolutely everything. These are edited excerpts.Los AngelesIt’s been on my mind a lot because of the recent fires, and also because I’ve just been traveling a lot and missing home. L.A. gets a bad rap in a lot of ways. People label it as superficial, or too Hollywood, but L.A. is so much more than Hollywood. It’s a big city with different enclaves and different experiences.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    In ‘The Seagull,’ Cate Blanchett Outshines a Director’s Tired Tropes

    Thanks to Blanchett’s charismatic turn as a fading actress, this new Chekhov adaptation in London hangs together in spite of Thomas Ostermeier’s antics.It is all too easy to be cynical when movie stars turn to theater — not least because, of late, they haven’t always been very good at it. In recent weeks, London’s stages have played host to several slightly iffy productions of classic plays featuring big-name screen actors: Sigourney Weaver in “The Tempest,” Rami Malek in “Oedipus,” and Brie Larson in “Elektra.” So when Cate Blanchett rolled into town for a new adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s “The Seagull,” at the Barbican Theater, a little trepidation could be forgiven.But Blanchett is different. Though she is best known for her film work, the Australian actress has graced the stage to acclaim throughout her career, playing lead roles in “Hedda Gabler” and “A Streetcar Named Desire.” And she is no stranger to Chekhov, having starred in the Sydney Theater Company’s “Uncle Vanya,” and the same company’s 2017 adaptation of “Platonov,” called “The Present.” She met her husband, the playwright Andrew Upton, while performing in a 1997 production of “The Seagull.”In this modern dress production of “The Seagull,” adapted by Duncan Macmillan and Thomas Ostermeier (“Who Killed My Father,” “Returning to Reims”), Blanchett plays Irina Arkadina, a famous older actress whose pathological self-obsession alienates her son, Konstantin Treplev (Kodi Smit-McPhee), to the point of despair. He’s a young writer struggling to find his voice, and disaffected with the risk-averse banality of the artistic mainstream. (“We need new voices, new perspectives, new forms!”)Arkadina’s lover, Alexander Trigorin (Tom Burke), is a successful author of middlebrow fiction who represents everything Konstantin wants to tear down. So when the older man effortlessly seduces Konstantin’s sweetheart, the aspiring actress Nina Zarechnaya (Emma Corrin), the blow is doubly crushing.Chekhov conceived Arkadina as a “foolish, mendacious, self-admiring egoist,” and Blanchett realizes this vision with exuberant brio from the moment she first appears onstage. Her Arkadina, wearing a purple jumpsuit and large sunglasses, channels the vapid can-do spirit of an online wellness influencer; inordinately proud of her well-preserved appearance, she tap dances and does splits to show off her litheness. She’s the life of the party — her diva-level prancing recalls Joanna Lumley’s Patsy in “Absolutely Fabulous” — but emotionally she’s withholding. When Konstantin puts on an avant-garde play, she dismisses it as “indulgent, adolescent crap.” Even in rare moments of tenderness her language is glib, cooingly manipulative. (“Poor little crumpet!”)Tom Burke, left, as Trigorin and Emma Corrin as Nina in this new adaptation of “The Seagull” at the Barbican in London.Marc BrennerWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Off Broadway Shows to See in March: ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ and More

    Underwater drama, a daunting solo undertaking, a gaggle of students and a version of “The Cherry Orchard” that aims to recapture Chekhov’s winking tone.‘A Streetcar Named Desire’Many times we have asked, “Dear God, ‘Streetcar’ again?” And many times we have been reminded that Tennessee Williams’s haunting tale of desire and violence is presented often because it is a masterpiece. This latest production, a London import directed by Rebecca Frecknall (“Cabaret”), stars Paul Mescal (“Gladiator II”) as Stanley, Patsy Ferran (“Miss Austen”) as Blanche and Anjana Vasan as Stella. In a New York Times review of this production’s original run, Matt Wolf described it as being “deeply empathic” and served by an “electrifying” ensemble cast. (Through April 6, Brooklyn Academy of Music)‘Wine in the Wilderness’The necessary and illuminating rediscovery of Alice Childress’s work continues with this piece, directed by the Tony Award winner LaChanze — who, in 2021, starred in the belated Broadway premiere of Childress’s brilliant satire “Trouble in Mind.” Set in Harlem in 1964, as a riot turns the city red, “Wine in the Wilderness” actually premiered on Boston public television in 1969, as part of a series titled “On Being Black.” The story centers on the fraught relationship between a painter (Grantham Coleman, a terrific Benedick in Shakespeare in the Park’s “Much Ado About Nothing”) and his would-be model and muse (Olivia Washington). (Through April 13, Classic Stage Company)‘Deep Blue Sound’Set in a tight-knit community in the Pacific Northwest, Abe Koogler’s deceptively simple play about the mysterious disappearance of an orca pod requires a strong cast to evoke the group’s ties and bring the show fully alive. Such was the case in the premiere production a couple of years ago, as part of the Clubbed Thumb company’s Summerworks series. Luckily, some of the actors, led by the wondrous Maryann Plunkett, return for this encore run, along with worthy additions including Mia Katigbak and Miriam Silverman (a Tony winner for “The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window”). (Through March 29, Public Theater)‘Have You Met Jane Goodall and Her Mother?”In 1960, Jane Goodall set off to study chimpanzees in Tanganyika (now Tanzania) at the age of 26, yet that country’s government still required a chaperone. So Goodall took her mother, Vanne. Researching that story, the playwright Michael Walek discovered that the two women liked each other and got along, so at least his comedy shouldn’t rely on overused tropes of pent-up mother-daughter acrimony. Bonus: There is puppetry. (Through March 30, Ensemble Studio Theater)From left: Alyah Chanelle Scott, Kathryn Gallagher, Julia Lester, Havana Rose Liu and Kristine Froseth in the play “All Nighter.”Sara Krulwich/The New York Times‘All Nighter’One of the spring’s most intriguing ensembles gathers Julia Lester (“Into the Woods”), Kathryn Gallagher (“Jagged Little Pill”), Kristine Froseth, Alyah Chanelle Scott and the rising star Havana Rose Liu (“Bottoms” and a staggering number of upcoming high-profile screen projects). They portray the friends and roommates assembled by the gifted comic playwright Natalie Margolin (whose star-studded pandemic Zoom play “The Party Hop” is available on YouTube) for a nightlong studying marathon fueled by Adderall, hummus and kibitzing. (Through May 18, Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space)We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    ‘Yellowjackets’ Season 3, Episode 5 Recap: Taking Aim

    The teens make a tough decision about Coach Ben. The adults say goodbye the only way they know how.Season 3, Episode 5: ‘Did Tai Do That?’The title of this week’s episode of “Yellowjackets” is a bit goofy, particularly for an installment in which the girls decide to kill Ben by firing squad.The episode is called “Did Tai Do That?” — which you have to say in the voice of Steve Urkel, from the ’90s sitcom “Family Matters,” for it to make sense. The title is a homage to a reference that Teen Van makes to Teen Tai in the woods. After drawing the King of Hearts from a deck of cards, Tai has been tasked with firing the gun that will kill their coach. Despite believing he is guilty, she is, of course, struggling with this.Van suggests bringing out the sleepwalking version of Tai, who is haunted by the man with no eyes. The idea is that if Tai became possessed by this mysterious other, she could kill Coach Ben without feeling bad about it. Van compares it to when the dorky Steve Urkel transformed into his suave alter ego, Stefan Urquelle.The contrast between the darkness of the circumstances and the silliness of the analogy is jarring, but so is the entire episode, which jolts back and forth between horror in the ’90s and quirky caper in the 2020s. It also reflects the Yellowjackets’ changing attitudes toward death. As teens they still seek ways to manage the deep pain they feel over any decision to take a person’s life. As adults they have become numb.In the present, they barely seem to have any sorrow over Lottie’s death. They react to the news with a shrug. Her demise is just another mystery for them to solve. In the past, they are agonizing over their decision to murder Ben. Over the years, they have grown so accustomed to — and traumatized by — having people they know perish that death has just become a game for them.That’s at least how both Misty and Shauna seem to treat the news of Lottie’s deadly fall. Misty goes immediately into citizen detective mode, visiting Lottie’s body at the morgue and then gathering her former teammates together to announce that she is launching an investigation. Shauna, still reeling from her own near-death freezer experience, points the finger at Misty, who, in turn, is so offended that she tries to storm out of her own house.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    George Lowe, Kvetchy Voice of Cartoon Network’s Space Ghost, Dies at 67

    He was the secret weapon behind a modern cult-classic series that reimagined the 1960s intergalactic superhero as temperamental talk show host.George Lowe, the actor who voiced the superhero-turned-talk-show-host Space Ghost on “Space Ghost: Coast to Coast” on the Cartoon Network for nearly two decades, died on Sunday in Lakeland, Fla. He was 67.His agent, Christy Clark, confirmed the death. His family said in a statement that Mr. Lowe had a challenging recovery after undergoing elective heart surgery in November.“Space Ghost: Coast to Coast” was the first fully original program for Cartoon Network and the spark that led to the creation of Adult Swim, the network’s late-night programming block. The show, which ran for 11 seasons from 1994 until 2012, reimagined Space Ghost, the title character from a 1960s Hanna-Barbera superhero cartoon, as a temperamental talk show host, in a new format that mixed animation and live action.Produced on a minimal budget, “Space Ghost: Coast to Coast” featured off-the-wall interviews with celebrity guests.Cartoon NetworkThanks to an enviable lineup of guests — Weird Al Yankovic, Beck and Sarah Jessica Parker were among the celebrities who made appearances — and decidedly off-the-wall interview questions (“Are you getting enough oxygen?” Space Ghost once asked Hulk Hogan), the show became a cult favorite among teenagers and young adults, helping launch Adult Swim into the stratosphere.At the heart of it all was Mr. Lowe. Dave Willis, a writer and producer on the show, said Mr. Lowe had a “big, booming movie-trailer voice” and approached the role like the morning drive-time D.J. he had been before he got into voice work. His relatable and highly entertaining kvetching, Mr. Willis said, helped shape Space Ghost’s new persona.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More