Not Your Grandpa's Circus: The Big Top Makes Room For Experimental Companies
A nonprofit wants you to know that the circus is more than ringmasters and lion tamers — it's also an avant-garde art form.
Performing Arts
Liz Coleman: How Do We Teach College Students To Ask Big Questions?
Former Bennington College President Liz Coleman believes higher education is overly-specialized & complacent. She says we need to encourage students to ask bigger questions and take more risks.
Exhibition Celebrates Merce Cunningham And His Choreography Of Chance
Cunningham was always looking for new ways to move — that's why he used "chance operations" (rolling dice or tossing coins) to put a piece together.
'Man Of Good Hope' Tells A Somali Refugee's Story — In Song
The musical was inspired by Asad Abdullahi, who, as a child, embarked on a perilous journey through Africa. "It's sort of a Greek epic in its proportions," says director Mark Dornford-May.
Andrew Lloyd Webber Has 4 Musicals On Broadway — At The Same Time
Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber hit a milestone this past week. He's the first since Rodgers and Hammerstein to have four musicals running simultaneously on Broadway.
Broadway's Getting A New Theater, Which Is Also Its Oldest
In New York City, the venerable Hudson Theater reopens this week, after nearly a half-century of being used for other purposes. It's the newest addition to Broadway's 40 stages.
As Trump Mulls Funding Cuts For The Arts, An Artist Argues Against The NEA
NPR's Scott Simon talks to David Marcus, a senior contributor to The Federalist and the artistic director of a theater company in New York City, about defunding the National Endowment for the Arts.
30 Years After 'A Different World,' 'The Quad' Brings HBCU Life Back To TV
Actress Anika Noni Rose discusses her new show The Quad. The series follows success and scandal on the campus of a fictional historically black university.
New Play About 'Roe V. Wade' Is A Prism For Looking At The American Divide
Roe tells the stories of "Jane Roe" and the lawyer who argued her side of the case. Playwright Lisa Loomer says it may be a history play, but so much of what happens in it still happens today.
Yale Repertory Marks 50 Years As A Theater Incubator
The theater — part of the Yale School of Drama — has given leading playwrights a place to refine their work. August Wilson said it was crucial to his development.