Christmas is approaching … which means holiday productions have been popping up on stages in theaters all over the map: A Christmas Carol, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Santaland Diaries and many more. Stuart Miller reports on “The Business of ‘Carol’” for American Theatre. He writes, “More than a mere box-office cash cow, Dickens’s classic is a community builder, a gateway drug, and a holiday tradition.” Miller interviews people across the U.S. who share the benefits of having a local …

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Pete Miller poses an interesting question on 2AMt blog: Do we need more theatre in which audiences take an active role? He starts the discussion by dividing theater into two categories. He explains that the first category is “Sit-down-and-shut-up” theatre, “meaning theatrical productions in which the audience is fundamentally expected to watch attentively but take no action that might disrupt the flow of performances or distract other audience members.” The second is “Don’t-just-sit-there-do-something” theatre, “meaning theatrical productions in which the …

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Long Beach Ballet has won the 12th Annual Goldstar National Nutcracker Award! As the winner of the only award that honors live performances of the seasonal classic, Long Beach Ballet will receive a cash prize to go toward education and accessibility programs; the coveted “Nutty” statuette; and is officially named the best-loved Nutcracker in the U.S. for 2018. This production competed in a field of more than 65 nominees to take top honors in the audience-favorite competition. “This is indeed …

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A lot goes on in our world each week — some news you may catch, and some may slip by your radar. Below are a few articles that caught our attention, and we didn’t want you to miss ’em!   Here She Comes: American Girl, Live: The company who brought us Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Live! is working on a new musical production: American Girl, Live. The Mattel-owned American Girl doll line has sold more than 30 million dolls! According to …

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Stephen Wood is the executive director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the UK and though he likes the National Theatre’s NT Live broadcasts of some of its theater productions, he wants to make sure they’re not a “substitute” for actually going to the theater. We cover this topic a lot. As a rule, increasing the ability for people to get access to something makes them “consume” more of it and think about it more. The bigger worry by far, as …

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