News: Playwriting on iTunes, MFTA Fundraiser & Much More

Theater season officially kicks off each fall. And there is so much to cover. Here’s a start..

As summer came to a close, The New York Times reported that Julie Taymor and the producers of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark reached an agreement on the lawsuits they filed against one another about compensation and creative credit. The settlement’s terms were undisclosed. The very expensive production has created one of the biggest offstage dramas in the past few years.

After recently completing my first online class on Coursera (World Music — it was fantastic by the way), an iTunes E-mail touting a free online course on Playwriting caught my eye. Produced by the National Theatre, the course offers 15 lectures (primarily by men – David Hare, Nicholas Hytner etc with Katori Hall) on a variety of topics. What really inspired me was how prominently the course was featured in Apple’s E-mail. It received second billing. Not too bad.

Materials for the Arts, a free resource for nonprofit organizations in New York City, is a blessing to thousands of artists, arts organizations and other nonprofits as it offers donated materials that people or corporations would otherwise throw away for free. You can find terrific fabric, random art objects, furniture, paint and a myriad of objects there. I’ve seen many productions in New York that spent very little money on their scenic budget because the scenic designer scored most of the material from MFTA.  On Tuesday, October 23rd, the organization will host the Masked Marvelous Cocktail Party to support its efforts. Tickets are a reasonably priced (compared to many NYC benefits) $60, and help this very valuable organization continue to supports arts in New York. For more information, visit MFTA’s web site.

This article found its way into my inbox multiple times in the last few days. And rightly so. It’s a must read article for anyone interested in women’s issues, theater or the challenges that women face. The Guardian details how young female actresses are under attack — even threat of assassination — in Afghanistan for being actresses and working with men who are not their husbands.

On the flip side, here’s an encouraging article in Bust Magazine about stage and screen star Martha Plimpton‘s new nonprofit: A is For. Check out this amazing work.

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