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    A Theater Photographer Senses a Broadway Bloom

    For Sara Krulwich, who has shot productions for The New York Times for more than two decades, a series of recent assignments hinted at an industry revival.Times Insider explains who we are and what we do, and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.On the first evening in April, Sara Krulwich, a New York Times photographer, visited the Kraine Theater in the East Village, where Mike Daisey, an actor and monologuist, was rehearsing a show for which the seating capacity would be limited to 22. The restriction, Mr. Daisey said, reminded him of his earliest days as a performer, when he was thrilled if even a handful of people were in the audience.For about 20 minutes, Ms. Krulwich photographed Mr. Daisey, adjusting her shutter, she later said, to ensure that “the theater lights and my camera were going to talk to each other in a kindly way.”The next day, Ms. Krulwich photographed part of a performance at the Daryl Roth Theater at Union Square. And on Saturday, she shot a 36-minute performance at the historic St. James Theater in Midtown. Those assignments added up to her busiest stretch of theater work in more than a year.Theatrical productions, dormant since last spring, are resuming in New York City, the first tentative steps toward what actors, directors and others hope will be a strong comeback by the fall. And many in the theater world may see Ms. Krulwich’s presence as a reassuring sign.For more than two decades, she has been a Broadway and Off Broadway fixture, photographing about 100 shows a year, a body of work that led to her receiving a Tony Honor in 2018.After a yearlong absence, Ms. Krulwich began photographing performances and rehearsals, feeling her way back into familiar tasks and reflecting on early traces of a theatrical revival, which, she said, mirrored the stirrings of spring.“The blooms are beginning,” she said by phone. “Even if we’re not seeing the full flowering just yet.”Ms. Krulwich joined The Times as a staff photographer in 1979, working for the Metro, National and Sports desks before becoming the paper’s first culture photographer in 1994.At that time, she said, it was common for news organizations to run theater photographs handed out by producers that tended to present reality in the light most favorable to them. Ms. Krulwich, however, wanted to cover theater with the same journalistic approach that the paper employed while reporting on other events.Ms. Krulwich said that her approach was direct, telling producers that theater was looked upon as news inside The Times and should be documented that way. Eventually, she obtained access to almost every production in the city.Over the years, Ms. Krulwich has captured moments that have become a part of theater lore. She photographed developmental work on the Broadway production of Tony Kushner’s masterwork, “Angels in America.” In 1996, she took what is believed to be the last picture of Jonathan Larson, the writer and composer of “Rent,” hours before his death the night before the show’s first Off Broadway preview.Her Tony, in 2018, made her the first journalist recognized for excellence in the theater, an honor given to people, organizations and institutions that have contributed to the industry but are not eligible to win in other Tony categories.Returning to work inside venues she’s accustomed to, Ms. Krulwich said she took delight in seeing people she has known for many years and looked forward to a time when everyone connected to productions will, once again, be able to make a living.“It’s a small group of people,” she said. “Almost an extended family.”The day after photographing Mr. Daisey, Ms. Krulwich wore an N-95 mask and climbed a ladder at the Daryl Roth while shooting about 20 minutes of a performance of “Blindness,” an audio adaptation of the dystopian novel of the same name by the Portuguese writer José Saramago.And then, the following day, at the St. James, she photographed the dancer Savion Glover and the actor Nathan Lane at the 36-minute event they performed in front of a masked audience of 150.It was, noted Michael Paulson, a Times theater reporter, the first time in 387 days that there was activity inside a Broadway house.Ms. Krulwich said the performance was not the same as one that would have taken place before the coronavirus pandemic, but she added that she felt at home back inside the St. James and appreciated the hints of what is to come.“I must say, it felt familiar to me,” she said. “It’s just a little bit. It’s a tiptoe. It’s the doors opening a crack.” More

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    Jimmy Fallon Celebrates Joe Biden’s Early-Bird Special

    Late-night hosts welcomed the news that vaccines would be available to all American adults two weeks ahead of schedule.Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. We’re all stuck at home at the moment, so here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.And You Get a Shot!President Biden announced on Tuesday that all American adults would be eligible to get a coronavirus vaccine by April 19, two weeks earlier than his previously stated goal.“Or as Biden calls it: Operation Early-Bird Special,” Jimmy Fallon joked on “The Tonight Show.”“When Joe Biden was running, he promised 100 million shots in 100 days, but we’ve blown past that barrier, baby. The U.S. is now administering about three million shots per day, on average. This administration is delivering pricks in arms. As opposed to the last administration, which delivered armed pricks.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Way to go, Joe! Getting it done early. Although, supporters of the previous president are quick to point out that he was able to finish his entire presidency a whole four years before his original goal.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“You know more people are vaccinated when pajama sales go down and Spanx go up.” — JIMMY FALLON“You get a shot! And you get a shot! And you get a shot! Thanks, President Joe-prah!” — JIMMY KIMMEL“I have to say, this is going to be a solid plan. You get vaxed on 4/19, then you smoke it up on 4/20.” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Punchiest Punchlines (Opening Day Edition)“Despite warnings from health experts, the Texas Rangers had a full crowd of more than 38,000 people for their home opener. Yeah, when they walked in all of the fans got a Dr. Fauci bobblehead that only shook its head ‘no.’” — JIMMY FALLON“Many of the fans were defiantly maskless. I like that adult men will go to a baseball stadium and wear a glove the whole game, for the one in 98,000 chance they might catch a foul ball. But a mask? No way, out of the question!” — JIMMY KIMMEL“They just couldn’t wait to pee in a trough again.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“You know how they kept the virus away? They did the wave and they just fanned it all the way to Arkansas.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“It was a strange game. It was the first time umpires were trying to get themselves thrown out.” — JIMMY FALLON“For those keeping score, the Rangers lost 6-2. So you can understand why the fans were excited: They only have 80 more chances this season to see the Rangers lose at home.” — STEPHEN COLBERTThe Bits Worth WatchingTrevor Noah broke down the pros and cons of vaccine passports on Tuesday’s “Daily Show.”What We’re Excited About on Wednesday NightJulien Baker will perform a track from her latest album, “Little Oblivions,” on Wednesday’s “Late Late Show.”Also, Check This Out“Kung Fu,” a new show on the CW, stars Olivia Liang as an American college student who drops out to train at a monastery in China.Kailey Schwerman/CWThe CW’s “Kung Fu” reboot hopes to right the wrongs of its 1970s predecessor with a female lead and predominantly Asian-American cast. More

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    Laura Donnelly’s Week: ‘Dora the Explorer’ and a Poetry Prescription

    When she’s not promoting HBO’s ‘The Nevers,’ the actress listens to Judi Dench’s desert island playlist and watches ‘Harry Potter’ with her kids.The Northern Irish actress Laura Donnelly doesn’t love the “strong female character” label. “I always exchange the word ‘strong’ for ‘complex’ because that’s what we’re looking for,” she said on a video call in late March. “We’re after complexity. We’re after fully rounded, well-drawn characters to get our teeth into.”This may explain why Donnelly recently made an overdue visit to the dentist. An actress of ferocity, precision and jet-black wit, Donnelly played a stern Highland lady on “Outlander” and earned a Tony nomination as a volatile widow in “The Ferryman,” a role written for her by her partner, the playwright Jez Butterworth. In “The Nevers,” which debuts on HBO on April 11, she plays a Amalia True, the leader of a band of Victorian women who manifest unusual abilities. “I wouldn’t quite say superpowers,” Donnelly said. “They’re not all useful.”Amalia, gifted with foresight, has a shadowy past, a legendary right hook and a habit of ditching her walking dresses mid-brawl, because a long skirt can really spoil a roundhouse kick. “You throw yourself at danger like you think it’s going to propose,” a colleague tells her.Donnelly lives more quietly, though she did quit drinking early in the pandemic, which must qualify as an unusual ability. Production on “The Nevers” won’t resume for a few months, so she is currently locked down in London — in the home that she and Butterworth share with their two daughters, 3 and 4 — mothering, batch cooking, trying to get a decent night’s sleep with the help of some meditation apps.Just before she left to receive her first Covid-19 vaccine dose, she detailed a cultural regimen that includes cartoons, poetry and Prince. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.WednesdayIn the morning, I worked out with my stunt trainer. We have “Beyoncé Wednesdays.” It’s the middle-of-the-week slump, and I definitely need energy. We usually put on “Homecoming: The Live Album.” Before I started my training, I watched that documentary and I was like, OK, if Beyoncé can be Beyoncé at Coachella then I can definitely do six weeks stunt training.In the afternoon, I cooked a shepherd’s pie. I figured lamb was almost seasonal. I listened to Judi Dench’s “Desert Island Discs,” the greatest radio show ever. Someone comes on, and they have to choose a certain number of songs that if they would listen to if they were stuck on a desert island. They’re also allowed to choose one book and a luxury item. The most fascinating episodes are always the politicians, because they try to pretend that they are real people with souls and things.Judi Dench, hers is hilarious, she has such trouble trying to bring it down to eight songs, and I feel her pain completely. I always thought that if I was on it, I’d be very tempted to go for a very literal take on being on a desert island — Caribbean stuff. My luxury item would have to be hand cream. I can’t tolerate being anywhere with dry hands.I had a bath, and then I listened to a meditation app for sleep. Meditation was one of those things I’ve kind of done in bits over the years. I’m still not very good at doing it regularly. I should be practicing it more than I do. But most nights I will do a sleep one, usually on Buddhify or Insight Timer. Normally once I closed my eyes, it would take about an hour for my brain to wind down. But with those I am always without fail asleep before the end of the meditation and. I genuinely do find that my quality of sleep is totally different, it’s much deeper and much more peaceful.ThursdayBefore a day of press, my hair and makeup team came. We listened to Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Van Morrison, mostly for calmness and comfort. I use music for everything. I use it to energize, I use it to relax, I use that to enhance a feeling or change up a bad feeling. It’s the single most important art form in my life.Just before the junket began, I listened to Prince’s “When Doves Cry” and then “I Want You” by Marvin Gaye to put me slightly more in a socializing mood. For a junket like that, it’s six minutes with any journalist and, most of the time, similar questions over and over again. I want to be genuine, I want to engage as best I can. But I’m not a hugely sociable person. I wouldn’t naturally drift towards parties and events. I was pretty comfortable with the level of social interaction I was getting in lockdown.Afterward, I listened to an audiobook, “Conflict Is Not Abuse,” by Sarah Schulman. It has to do with mutual accountability in a culture of underreaction to abuse and overreaction to conflict. Our current tendency to scapegoat people really results in a lack of accountability and a lack of self-examination. I find it particularly fascinating, just in regards to our cancel culture, because I’m trying to get my head around it.Kalpesh Lathigra for The New York TimesFridayI was up at 7 a.m. with my kids. They didn’t have to go to school, and we had a nice lazy start to the day. We watched “Dora the Explorer.” I know a lot of “Dora the Explorer.” And all of her many songs. The vast majority of my cultural consumption at the moment is aimed at my children. Lots of Disney films, lots of Pixar, all that stuff.I had another press junket day and got in very late. My mind was racing at the same time as I was physically exhausted. So I did a sleep meditation and went off to sleep.SaturdayI had a rare lie in, and I read a quick chapter of Charlie Chaplin’s autobiography. That man’s life was something else. I put less pressure on myself to fully consume something. Biographies I find good for that. I tend to have several books on the bedside, and I go in and out of whatever I feel like that day. Joan Didion always works. I don’t tend to read a lot of modern fiction. The only exception recently was “Shuggie Bain” by Douglas Stuart. It’s just the most beautiful, beautiful piece of fiction and so tenderly written.With the girls, we listened to a playlist of The Faces and Bert Jansch. Ninety-eight percent of the music that I listen to is from the last century, mostly from before I was born. We made a pact that as much as we could, we’d introduce the girls to our music from the start. We just didn’t want to be listening to the Little Mermaid on a loop for four hours. So we decided really early that they weren’t going to know what kids’ music was.At lunchtime, we watched “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” They’re still too young to really move on to the next one. I had never watched them [the “Harry Potter” movies]. It’s genuinely a world I know so little about, so it we’ll be discovering it together.In the evening, we watched “The Innocent Man” on Netflix. I will watch anything about either a true crime or a cult. I’ve watched “The Jinx” about six times. I’m just constantly looking for somebody else to watch “The Jinx” with. I love a documentary, my favorite one of late was Fran Lebowitz’s “Pretend It’s a City.” I don’t think I’m alone in wishing she and I were best friends. And “In and of Itself” on Hulu. Oh my goodness, I was thinking about it for weeks afterwards.SundayI had a long car ride by myself, precious time, despite going to get my mouth prised open by the dentist. I have been long avoiding the dentist. I listened to a friend of mine’s podcast. It’s called “Persistent and Nasty.” The women presenting it are actresses, and so they have very intelligent and bold and powerful conversations with other women in the arts.The dentist was really amazing. He has cured me of my aversion. On the way home I listened to Catherine Gray’s “The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober.” Toward the start of lockdown, I decided to stop drinking alcohol. And that was just based around a desire to feel more present in my life. I like listening to books like this, and hers is particularly lovely, because it’s not a deep and dark dive into someone’s terrible addiction. It’s a celebration of everything that she has gained from not drinking.In the afternoon, I dipped into “The Poetry Pharmacy” by William Sieghart. God, it’s a lovely book. It has a list of what do you want from a poem and then it gives you a poem. The condition I read on was failure to live in the moment. So I read “Golden Retrievals” by Mark Doty: “A Zen master’s bronzy gong, calls you here,/ entirely, now: bow-wow, bow-wow, bow-wow.” More

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    Covid Closed Theaters. But It Also Made Them Accessible.

    Before 2020, theater often felt inaccessible to me, a luxury for those who were more able-bodied or lived in certain cities. Now I’m obsessed.I have never lived in either London or New York, and thus have next to no experience with the hotbeds of English-speaking theater. Though I frequently travel to those cities, and social media posts of friends with their Broadway Playbills tantalize me, I live with an illness that makes it difficult to remain upright. That makes theater a tough experience: The first time I saw “Hamilton,” after I left the Richard Rodgers Theater I was too sick to remember most of what had happened. It was only through luck that I was well enough to see the musical a second time while on book tour, as well as Andrew Scott’s award-winning London performance in “Present Laughter.” Each was exhilarating, but I was always painfully aware of my body. On other occasions, a sudden flare of symptoms could force me to leave or to forfeit a pricey ticket on the week of a performance. When the pandemic forced the theater world into survival mode last spring, theaters had to figure out how to produce shows for homebound audiences. The Old Vic, where I saw “Present Laughter” the year before, featured Covid-friendly plays in which one actor, or two socially distanced actors, performed for the cameras. I watched “Three Kings” and “Lungs” while in bed — a disability-friendly arrangement — and was able to view the stage from different perspectives thanks to those cameras. Though “Three Kings” and “Present Laughter” each star Andrew Scott, the cameras’ close-ups showed off his face in a way that I was unable to witness from the cheap seats. I saw the dangerous curl of his smirk as he transformed from an innocent child to his drunken, miserable father, without adjusting his makeup or costume. I was able to admire that all the more in spotting the details that streaming theater illuminated.Spurred on by the Playbill newsletter, I became obsessed with watching as much theater as possible under these new, more accessible conditions. I saw plays and readings in which the actors recorded themselves at home, using Zoom and Skype, technology that has often been associated with remote work and learning. Many people have become allergic to Zoom as a result of overuse, but as a tool, Zoom and its ilk are able to control what the viewer sees in a way different from typical stagecraft. When streaming Will Arbery’s play about conservative Catholicism, “Heroes of the Fourth Turning,” a Pulitzer finalist, I am allowed an intimacy with the characters that even able-bodied, front-row ticket holders would not ordinarily be able to witness, as the performers come in and out of darkened Zoom squares from their apartments. When Justin says, “I just think proximity to L.G.B.T. is a threat to Christian children and families,” his face is lit in part by a dangerous light that isn’t simply the glow of my laptop screen. Every microexpression and ounce of fidgety wariness that his friend Kevin expresses in turn (“But why can’t we meet it, engage with it — ”) is up close as well. They aren’t in each other’s spaces, but over Zoom, they are in mine. Each square’s unique lighting conceals their apartments, emphasizing the actors; I might as well be with them in the wooded darkness.Zoom and its ilk are able to control what the viewer sees in a way different from typical stagecraft.Acting “at” a screen exposes the idiosyncrasies involved in at-home performance: Oscar Isaac and Marisa Tomei arguing while readjusting their AirPods in “Beirut”; Jesse Eisenberg drinking from a glass of green juice, his character aggravating everyone around him in “The Spoils,” which he wrote. These moments remind me that the actors involved, who can otherwise feel Hollywood-larger-than-life, aren’t exempt from muddling through our international tragedy. Some of my favorite moments from these performances were immediately before and after the actual readings, when the actors were so clearly themselves. Eisenberg gave a self-effacing description of the play at the start — making it all the more exhilarating to see him enter its first scene shouting bombastic profanity.Not all streaming theater has been over Zoom or Skype. London’s National Theater made use of its archival recordings to create National Theater at Home, where, for a fee, viewers can stream “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” “The Cherry Orchard” and other renowned plays on demand. I became captivated by the professionally shot recording of “Angels in America,” which I’ve repeatedly rewatched — a story of a plague, viewed during another plague. “Proshot recordings,” which are filmed during a play’s standard run, mimic the typical theatergoing experience. While I am grateful for the chance to watch full-fledged performances, with sets and all, plays seen this way feel less immediate than the readings that have, by necessity, seized upon a new medium.Before 2020, I had never before thought to explore theater beyond one or two plays, considering it a luxury for those more able-bodied or in certain cities. Watching plays on a computer screen isn’t a traditional experience, but it gives access to a type of storytelling for thousands who may never be able to enjoy it otherwise. Our theater houses will open again, and I’ve vowed to take advantage of opportunities to visit them when the time comes. I admit, though, that I will miss the versions that I’ve been able to see at home — versions that will very likely be lost when the world reopens and the desire to be shoulder to shoulder sends theatergoers back to Broadway again.Esmé Weijun Wang is a novelist and an essayist whose books include the New York Times best-selling essay collection “The Collected Schizophrenias.” More

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    in Television

    Late Night Doesn’t Buy Republicans’ Corporate Boycotts

    Stephen Colbert suggested Donald Trump’s followers get comfortable with going generic: “I hope you like Great Value Bat and Ball Product and Kirkland Signature Airlines.”Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. We’re all stuck at home at the moment, so here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.‘Jim Crow 2.0’Several major companies and organizations with ties to Georgia have come out against the state’s restrictive new voter laws, including Delta, Coca-Cola and Major League Baseball, which pulled its All-Star Game from suburban Atlanta in protest.On Monday’s “Late Show,” Stephen Colbert explained how the laws make voting more complicated and less accessible, especially for Black voters.“And it’s sure not a great look that Georgia governor Brian Kemp signed it behind closed doors guarded by state troopers, surrounded by white men while sitting under a painting of a slave plantation,” Colbert said. “He then celebrated by watching ‘Gone With the Wind’ and singing all the words to ‘Gold Digger.’”“It is so blatantly racist that it’s been dubbed ‘Jim Crow 2.0.’ 2.0, really? Georgia’s passed so many voter-suppression measures, they’ve got to be up to at least Jim Crow Snow Leopard.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“And you know it’s bad when the organization that includes the Atlanta Braves and the Cleveland Indians says you’re too racist. That’s like Matt Gaetz telling you to date your own age.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Meanwhile, the Braves were like, ‘Phew, I can’t believe this had nothing to do with our team name, tomahawk logo or chant.’” — JIMMY FALLONRepublicans upset by the corporate backlash include Donald J. Trump, who issued a statement saying that he would join a boycott of M.L.B. and Coca-Cola, among others.“Together, that constitutes a sector of the economy experts call, ‘the economy.’” — STEPHEN COLBERT“His supporters are going to have to go generic. I hope you like Great Value Bat and Ball Product, and Kirkland Signature Airlines.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“And now Republicans say they’re going to boycott baseball. They’re already boycotting the N.F.L. and the N.B.A. Soon their only sports will be golf and jarts.” — JIMMY FALLON“And honestly you’ve got to feel for the G.O.P., because they spend so much time defending corporate interests, trying to cut corporate taxes, letting corporations do whatever they want, and then the corporations are just like, ‘Cool, now we have more money to pay Colin Kaepernick.’” — TREVOR NOAH“But this is tough for these corporations, too. I mean, they must really miss the old days — you know, when they didn’t have to take sides on voting rights or culture wars. You know, they just made diapers out of asbestos and that was that.” — TREVOR NOAHThe Punchiest Punchlines (Not the Diet Coke Edition)“Now Donald Trump calling for a boycott of Coca-Cola is beautiful. He had a Diet Coke button on his desk in the Oval Office. The man urinates aspartame, OK?” — JIMMY KIMMEL“What are the chances that Donald Trump actually gives up Diet Coke or his bald head medicine? None, but he wants you to.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“If he needs a pick-me-up, he’ll have to ask Don Jr. to share his supply of Coke Classic.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Cheer up, Republicans, you can’t watch football, baseball, or basketball or NASCAR anymore, but you can still watch Donald Trump play golf and drink Coke.” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Bits Worth WatchingIn response to backlash over a recent segment featuring the TikTok star Addison Rae performing some of the app’s most famous choreographed routines, Jimmy Fallon hosted the original creators on Monday night’s show.What We’re Excited About on Tuesday NightThe singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile will chat about her new memoir, “Broken Horses,” on Tuesday’s “Late Show.”Also, Check This OutTwo years ago, Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” remix featuring Billy Ray Cyrus made him a star. Now he’s back with another No. 1 song.Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesLil Nas X’s controversial new single, “Montero (Call Me by Your Name),” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts. More

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    LA Stage Alliance Disbands After Awards Ceremony Blunder

    The organization that runs the annual competition honoring theater work in Los Angeles imploded after it misidentified an Asian-American actor.Jully Lee, an actor and director, had a bad feeling about this year’s Ovation Awards, the annual competition honoring stage work in greater Los Angeles. She was a voter who had never been told when the ceremony would be, and she learned she was a nominee only when she was given 48 hours to submit a pretaped acceptance speech for use in the event that she won.She watched anyway.What she saw was not good. The awards ceremony, streamed online last week, showed a picture of a different Asian-American actress when announcing her category. And it mispronounced her name.Lee laughed, reflecting a lifetime of trying to be a good sport. But her boyfriend grabbed a screenshot, and posted it on social media, and he was not the only one.The reaction was swift, and furious, as long-simmering frustration over the functioning of the LA Stage Alliance, which administers the awards, combusted with the pain and anger of an Asian-American community devastated by a wave of anti-Asian violence.Forty-six theaters resigned from the alliance — about a third of its members. And on Monday, the organization, which for nearly a half-century had been the main coalition for a sprawling theatrical ecosystem in the nation’s second largest city, announced that it was disbanding.“It is with deep regret that the board of governors has unanimously decided to cease all operations,” the group said in a statement posted on social media.The rapid implosion was precipitated, most recently, by East West Players, the Asian-American theater that co-produced “Hannah and the Dread Gazebo,” the play in which Lee performed. (In another slight, the Ovation Awards attributed the production only to the Fountain Theater, saying it would not credit co-producers.)The morning after the ceremony, Snehal Desai, the producing artistic director for East West Players, announced that his theater was revoking its membership in the alliance, and urged others to do the same.“I felt like I needed to make a strong statement, because we were paying to be part of this organization that was diminishing us,” Desai said. “And I did call on other theaters to join us, because I wanted more than statements of support. Statements don’t do anything.”Many of the region’s theaters, which had been speaking up in support of diversity, equity and inclusion, first in response to the unrest over racial injustice last summer, and then again in response to hate crimes this spring, followed suit.“This was an inexcusable, terrible, unfortunate act, but it was also emblematic of a bigger failure of the LA Stage Alliance in the past few years,” said Danny Feldman, the producing artistic director at Pasadena Playhouse, who said the organization’s inadequacy had become more clear during the pandemic. “They lost the confidence of the community, and this was the tipping point.”The LA Stage Alliance was a nonprofit, dating back to 1975, that sought to support theater in Los Angeles. In addition to overseeing the Ovation Awards, it maintained onStage:LA, a website with listings and ticket discounts and published a digital arts magazine called @This Stage.Last summer the organization furloughed its staff; emails to the executive director, Marco Gomez, were answered by a publicist, Ken Werther, who said the leadership was declining to make any further comments.Lee, in an interview on Monday, said she was uncomfortable being seen as the face of the controversy, but also upset about the events that had transpired..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-rqynmc{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-rqynmc{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-rqynmc strong{font-weight:600;}.css-rqynmc em{font-style:italic;}.css-yoay6m{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-yoay6m{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1dg6kl4{margin-top:5px;margin-bottom:15px;}.css-16ed7iq{width:100%;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;-webkit-box-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;justify-content:center;padding:10px 0;background-color:white;}.css-pmm6ed{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;}.css-pmm6ed > :not(:first-child){margin-left:5px;}.css-5gimkt{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:0.8125rem;font-weight:700;-webkit-letter-spacing:0.03em;-moz-letter-spacing:0.03em;-ms-letter-spacing:0.03em;letter-spacing:0.03em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#333;}.css-5gimkt:after{content:’Collapse’;}.css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transition:all 0.5s ease;transition:all 0.5s ease;-webkit-transform:rotate(180deg);-ms-transform:rotate(180deg);transform:rotate(180deg);}.css-eb027h{max-height:5000px;-webkit-transition:max-height 0.5s ease;transition:max-height 0.5s ease;}.css-6mllg9{-webkit-transition:all 0.5s ease;transition:all 0.5s ease;position:relative;opacity:0;}.css-6mllg9:before{content:”;background-image:linear-gradient(180deg,transparent,#ffffff);background-image:-webkit-linear-gradient(270deg,rgba(255,255,255,0),#ffffff);height:80px;width:100%;position:absolute;bottom:0px;pointer-events:none;}#masthead-bar-one{display:none;}#masthead-bar-one{display:none;}.css-1pd7fgo{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1pd7fgo{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-1pd7fgo:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1pd7fgo{border:none;padding:20px 0 0;border-top:1px solid #121212;}.css-1pd7fgo[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-1pd7fgo[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-1pd7fgo[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-1pd7fgo[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-1rh1sk1{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-1rh1sk1 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-1rh1sk1 em{font-style:italic;}.css-1rh1sk1 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#ccd9e3;text-decoration-color:#ccd9e3;}.css-1rh1sk1 a:visited{color:#333;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#ccc;text-decoration-color:#ccc;}.css-1rh1sk1 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}“I was trying to be brave, and trying not to make it a big deal,” she said. “But then, reading all the posts — all the anger and pain that was being expressed — I had to acknowledge that this is angering and painful and hurtful. And there have been so many attempts to try and get the LA Stage Alliance to be more inclusive, and they’ve largely been ignored.”Deaf West Theater, the nation’s leading sign language theater, sought unsuccessfully to have this year’s Ovation ceremony interpreted for the deaf. “All of these oppressions go hand in hand,” said DJ Kurs, the theater’s artistic director. “We are all fighting the same fight, and we are fighting it together.”Los Angeles has a robust theater community that is often overshadowed by the city’s film and television industries, and includes not only a handful of big-budget nonprofits, but also a large number of small organizations, many of which were facing financial stress even before the pandemic.Throughout the pandemic, 65 of the “intimate theaters” have been meeting collectively as Alternative Theaters of Los Angeles to compare notes and support one another.Gary Grossman, an organizer of the group and the producing artistic director of Skylight Theater Company, called the collapse of the stage alliance “the right outcome.”“They have not represented the community,” he said. “It needs to be rethought from the ground up.”A variety of Los Angeles theater industry leaders interviewed Monday said the stage alliance was already in trouble financially before the latest conflagration, and its future had seemed uncertain throughout the pandemic.And several described a number of grievances with the organization, citing insufficient diversity in its leadership and programming, an ineffective response to the pandemic, high membership dues that made it harder for some theaters to participate, and a “pay to play” system in which theaters were supposed to pay a fee for each production they wanted considered for an award.“There’s been a fraught relationship from the perspective of most theater companies,” said Meghan Pressman, the managing director and chief executive at Center Theatre Group, which is the biggest of the Los Angeles nonprofits. Pressman said many theater administrators have already begun talking about what happens next.“I do think the community can come together to craft what we need in an organization,” she said. “And I don’t know if these awards will continue, but I feel strongly that some awards should, because it’s an important way to celebrate the theater community.” More

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    in Theater

    ‘Underneath the Freeways of Los Angeles’ Review

    This interactive play gives voice to marginalized people, while also asking its audience to mistrust them.Cities bury their histories beneath them, though the past persists in plain sight. Here in New York, Wall Street whispers of a long-ago barrier, Canal Street commemorates forgotten waters, and Madison Square Garden, which has no garden, conjures former pleasure centers.Los Angeles has its own history — of dreams, disaster and displacement — and a talent for paving over it. “Underneath the Freeways of Los Angeles,” an immersive show from the Echo Theater Company, summons a particular incident: the construction of the East Los Angeles Interchange, perhaps the busiest freeway interchange in North America. To build it, the city razed portions of Boyle Heights, a multicultural enclave. In an infrastructure decision that would shatter any Jane Jacobs fan, urban planners ran a particular stretch of freeway above and through the lagoon of Hollenbeck Park.“Underneath the Freeways,” written by Matthew Paul Olmos and directed by Michael Alvarez, takes place in 1960, the day after two bodies were discovered floating in that lagoon, in the shadow of the concrete piers. The victims, a young white man and a younger Latina woman, had both experienced blunt force trauma. (The murders are fictional.) The audience, divided into breakout rooms, is tasked with solving the crime. Serially, the groups question a quintet of suspects — an artist, an activist, a mother, a drifter, a freeway-system employee. During each interrogation, participants try to discern intentions and disprove alibis.Hollenbeck Park, in Los Angeles, is at the heart of the play.via The Echo Theater CompanyA day before the show, participants received prompts asking them to imagine themselves in the world of the play. “Whom do you associate with?” one document reads. “What neighborhood do you live in? What are your political beliefs?” Costumes are encouraged, it adds, though not required. As my performance began at 10:30 p.m. (blame a West Coast curtain time) and putting on fancy clothes for late-night events is something I gave up, willingly, once I had children, I kept my sweater and leggings. I was still briefly mistaken for a suspect. “No,” I stammered when a participant began to question me. “I’m just a person.”But was I? Was anyone? Because the play borrows structural elements from murder-mystery dinners and role-playing games, many audience members, playing the roles they had assigned themselves, treated “Underneath the Freeways” as a game that needed winning. Many attendees questioned the suspects aggressively. And when certain characters offered narratives of loss and dislocation, their stories were answered with distrust rather than deep listening. (Me? I couldn’t get a word in, though I did put a question about the particulars of the blunt force trauma in the chat.)I often felt uncomfortable within my breakout room. Had we not all lived through last summer? Did we really want to playact police-like interrogators? Could we not meet these characters with empathy? I don’t mean to scold the audience; the more relentless participants did what “Underneath the Freeways” asked of them, which points to a schism at the heart of the play. Olmos and Alvarez want to give voice to marginalized people, but they also ask us, explicitly, to distrust those voices.“Keep them talking,” a strict woman (Amy K. Harmon) says in the opening scene. “Notice if they slip up. Notice what they’re trying to avoid.”Experiencing “Underneath the Freeways,” I thought of another immersive show, “Rio Records,” which I’d seen in January. That piece was also inspired by a dark chapter in Los Angeles’s history of civil engineering: the paving of the Los Angeles River. “Rio Records” was messy, inchoate and all over the (city) map. But it met its subject with generosity and invited generosity in return. “Underneath the Freeways,” on the other hand, demands suspicion and rewards it.The East Los Angeles Interchange is a marvel of engineering. It is also a deeply dehumanizing structure. And even as “Underneath the Freeways” wants to excavate the stories that underlie those piers, it is dehumanizing, too.Underneath the Freeways of Los AngelesThrough April 26; echotheatercompany.com. More

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    in Television

    Gloria Henry, ‘Dennis the Menace’ Mother, Dies at 98

    She was a prolific B-movie actress early in her career, but she became best known for her role as Alice Mitchell, the gentle mother of Dennis, on the CBS show.Gloria Henry, a B-movie actress of the 1940s and ’50s who became best known as the sunny, preternaturally patient mom on the television series “Dennis the Menace,” died on Saturday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 98.The death was confirmed by her daughter, Erin Ellwood.Ms. Henry was 36 and a veteran of more than two dozen films in 1959 when she was cast as Alice Mitchell, the gentle, tolerant but constantly horrified mother in “Dennis the Menace,” a sitcom based on Hank Ketcham’s popular comic strip. Dennis (played by Jay North) was an angelic little boy on the surface, but every time he tried to help or just do something nice, it somehow backfired. The show ran for four seasons on CBS.Gloria Eileen McEniry was born in New Orleans on April 2, 1923, and attended Worcester Art Museum School in Massachusetts. She moved to Los Angeles in her teens and began working in radio, where she began using the last name Henry.She made her movie debut in the 1947 drama “Sport of Kings,” set in Kentucky horse country. Ms. Henry started at the top in the B-movie genre, starring in the film as a young veterinarian.Over the next three years she appeared in at least 17 films, more often than not in the starring role. A number of her films were westerns, like “Adventures in Silverado” (1948), “Law of the Barbary Coast” (1949) and “Lightning Guns” (1950). In two films — “The Strawberry Roan” (1948) and “Riders in the Sky” (1949) — she starred opposite Gene Autry, getting third billing, after Autry and his horse.She also appeared in several sports comedies, including “Triple Threat” (1948), with Richard Crane, and “Kill the Umpire” (1950), with William Bendix. Her best-known film was probably “Rancho Notorious” (1952), which was directed by Fritz Lang and starred Marlene Dietrich.Once Ms. Henry had made her television debut, in a 1952 episode of “Fireside Theater,” she devoted her career almost exclusively to series TV. Over four decades, on and off, she appeared in shows from “My Little Margie,” “Perry Mason” and “The Life of Riley” to “Dallas,” “Newhart” and “Doogie Howser, M.D.”Her final television appearance was on a 2012 episode of the sitcom “Parks and Recreation.” Ms. Henry’s first marriage, in 1943 to Robert D. Lamb, ended in divorce in 1948. She married Craig Ellwood, the California Modernist architect, in 1949. They divorced in 1977. In addition to her daughter, she is survived by two sons, Jeffrey and Adam, and a granddaughter.Ms. Henry, who kept in touch with Mr. North over the years, often commented on her “Dennis the Menace” character’s amazing restraint with her son. “I wasn’t allowed to yell at Jay North,” she told The Los Angeles Times at a 1989 gathering of actresses who had played famous mothers on television. “It was difficult. Being a normal, in-reality mother, I yelled at my children a lot.” More