Performing Arts

Theater Artist Anne Basting Named MacArthur Fellow

4:33pm September 22, 2016

NPR's Kelly McEvers interviews Anne Basting, a theater artist and educator at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, about being awarded the MacArthur fellowship this year. She describes her work with people with cognitive impairment, such as Alzheimer's and dementia, using improv theater and storytelling techniques to improve their lives.

Arts

Fresh Air Remembers Pulitzer Prize-Winning Playwright Edward Albee

1:58pm September 20, 2016

Albee made his debut as a Broadway playwright in 1962 with Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, which went on to win a Tony Award. He died Friday at the age of 88. Originally broadcast in 1984.

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Missouri Theater Embraces Ferguson Echoes In 'Antigone' Production

8:57am September 17, 2016

by Willis Ryder Arnold

Some TV stars will perform Sophocles' Antigone on stage in Ferguson, Mo., tonight. The ancient Greek drama is expected to resonate with its theme of an individual's struggle against the state.

Albee, shown here in 1995, won Pulitzer Prizes for A Delicate Balance, Seascape and Three Tall Women and Tony awards for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?

Arts

Playwright Edward Albee, Who Changed And Challenged Audiences, Dies At 88

8:38pm September 16, 2016

by Jeff Lunden

"All art should be useful," Albee said. "If it's merely decorative, it's a waste of time." The Pulitzer-winning playwright of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? died Friday following a short illness.

Kristin Chenoweth performs at the 2014 Winter Television Critics Association tour dinner on Jan. 21, 2014, in Pasadena, Calif.

Arts

Actress And Broadway Star Kristin Chenoweth Plays Not My Job

11:43am September 10, 2016

We've invited Chenoweth, who is 4 feet 11 inches, to answer three questions about 6-foot-1 model and actress Brigitte Nielsen.

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Arts

'Come From Away' Musical Tells Story Of Resilience After 9/11

6:51pm September 08, 2016

by Wade Goodwyn

As the extent of the 9/11 attacks became known, 38 planes were rerouted to Gander, Newfoundland. More than 6,000 passengers and crew were taken in by families there. Their story is the subject of a new musical called, Come From Away, which runs at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C., in September and October before heading to Broadway.

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People participate in the annual Afropunk Music festival on August 27, 2016 in New York City.

AfroPunk Acts To Free Your Mind And Your ... Ears

12:40pm August 28, 2016

This year's AfroPunk Festival in Brooklyn features artists who are expanding the universe of punk and ideas about who belongs there.

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Glen Miller Hit, 'Chattanooga Choo Choo,' Marks Its 75th Anniversary

8:41am August 20, 2016

On 8/21/41, the movie "Sun Valley Serenade" had its world premiere and featured the song, "Chattanooga Choo Choo." Playwright Murray Horwitz tells NPR's Scott Simon why the song became a monster hit.

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (left) and Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat (right) shake hands at the White House in front of President Bill Clinton in September 1993. The new play OSLO is a dramatization of the events that l

Arts

'OSLO' Tells The Surprising Story Behind A Historic Handshake

8:40am August 06, 2016

by Jeff Lunden

A new play chronicles the secret negotiations that brokered the 1993 Palestinian-Israeli peace accord. It's a thriller, says playwright J.T. Rogers: "The ticking clock is the dramatist's friend."

Playwright Tom Minter helps Kyla-Michelle Petty stage her Malcolm X monologue. Minter counsels the students in writing and performing their two sets of monologues

At The Portrait Gallery, Students Tell The Stories That Pictures Can't

10:02am August 05, 2016

by Gabriel Rosenberg

Washington, D.C., teens get into the spirit of historical figures and tell visitors what the portraits miss. In one instance, a student imagines a private talk between Richard Nixon and his wife.