: It's Just My Opinion and Other Time Wasters Someone once said that I write in declarative sentences, and that’s true. I really dislike all …
: The Barter Theater and the Importance of Alternative Stories “Recently, I read this essay by Robert Porterfield, an aspiring actor who founded a theatre …
: My Position on AI There continues to be a lot of “discussion” concerning AI. I have not taken a stand on …
: Stories Ireland Frank Delaney The one joy that has kept me going through life has been the fact that stories …
: Using AI as a **partner **in a research team.
: The Lack of Inspiration in US Politics I have had it with US politics. It’s not because–or not ONLY because–the Trump …
: There is so much BS in this article from American Theatre Magazine about what theater students …
: I'd Come Out of Retirement to Do This If a university wanted to create an innovative theater program, I would come out of retirement to …
: Something is wrong with my Social Security Wait, what??? I was one of the people whose Social Security benefit was lowered due to the Windfall …
: A Play, a Pie, and a Pint -- Why I Appreciate Scotland's Famous Lunchtime Theater I confess I am fascinated by this Scottish theater company, who does a new play every week and …
: Ivan Illich, John McKnight, and Asset-Based Communities (This post is the result of writing I’ve been doing on my personal project.] I’ve been …
: Michael Rushton does it again, this time calling BS on arts districts. …
: A Personal Project I began a new project a few days ago. In many ways, it is the opposite of the Learn in Public …
: “The end of the world as we know it is not the end of the world, full stop. Unless we can …
: Gradually, Then Suddenly: The Birth of Show BUSINESS (Part 2): The Resistance The Resistance The attempt by the six members of the Theatrical Syndicate to create a monopoly of …
: You know what I think is weird? That people will condemn you for not keeping up with the news while …
: Thoughts on Style While Feeling Crummy (Embracing My Inner Paglia) I wrote this in 2009. I still basically feel the same way.]I am at home with a cold. Forced by my …
: Gradually, Then Suddenly: The Birth of Show BUSINESS (Part 1) In Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, a character is asked how he went bankrupt. …
: Nicholas Carr on the Contemplative Gaze As always, Alan Jacobs (@ayjay) calls our attention to extraordinary writing, not only his own but …
: Michael Rushton is doing an excellent job of dismantling all the ways we miss the boat when …
: True Wealth “With the broad acceptance of scarcity, the drawdown of resources ensues, and business begins: …
: The Rise of the Combination Company and the Death of the Resident Stock Company This post could be called “The Enshittifcation of Theater,” and so could the next one. …
: Independence “The change I am talking about appeals to me precisely because it need not wait upon …
: Trains, Canals, and Uncle Tom's Cabin (The Rooted Stage, Part 4) Recap During the first 75 years of theater in America: Companies were independent, semi-permanent, …
: The River of Vision I wrote this in 2008, and it still is true today: From Daniel Quinn’s deceptively simple and …
: “My poetry is basically a poetry of praise. It’s an affirmation of the world, of the …
: When i largely disconnected from social media, I remembered what it was like to have only my own …
: Theater Ideas Weekly Newsletter My latest weekly newsletter in which I talk about Brown’s elimination of the MFAs in Acting …
: I Need Ideas About Getting Formatting into EPUB Dear Programmer types (e.g., @manton (although you shouldn’t reply–you have enough with …
: I just made the mistake of checking in on Threads. Good God, it’s just one person after …
: playbill.com/article/b… Brown and Trinity Rep shutting down MFA in Acting and Directing. Let …
: playbill.com/article/b… Brown and Trinity Rep shutting down MFA in Acting and Directing. Let …
: What You Have to Do to Get an NEA Grant Now My friend Michael Phillips at the Chicago Tribune discusses the changes of “emphasis” at …
: A Dream about Story Every once in a while, rarely, I have one of Those Dreams. These are dreams that have a very …
: I Interview Myself (The Rooted Stage -- Introduction) [Since I just sort of launched into The Rooted Stage Series without really explaining what I was …
: Sophia Efthimiatou On Receiving Before it turns into a celebration of Substack, Sophia Efthimiatou’s post has some wonderful …
: Who Owns the Buildings (The Rooted Stage, Part 3) Yesterday, I wrote about the birth of the star system prior to 1870, when notable actors would …
: Fichandler: The Burden of the Nonprofit System in US Zelda Fichandler, the co-founder of Arena Stage in DC, and one of the Founding Mothers (along with …
: What Happened in 1870? (Not So Fast) (Part 2 of The Rooted Stage) As I wrote in The Rooted Stage: Beginnings, part 1 of this series, the first century of the American …
: On Restaurants and Theaters I was at a wonderful, new local restaurant today. It opened several months ago, and it was our first …
: I’m fascinated by the Scottish theater company A Play, a Pie, and a Pint. They’ve just …
: The Rooted Stage: Beginnings (Part 1) “Meanwhile, back in the Year One…” – Jethro Tull, Skating Away on the Thin …
: "Snakes on a Plane" is a better movie than "Oppenheimer," or Why Artistic Categories Can Make It Easier to Talk about Art Pretend with me for a moment. I bring you into a room where you find a Red Box, a Blue Box, and a …
: The More Things Change... Back in 2011, I wrote a lot about Holly Sidford’s study for Grantmakers in the Arts called …
: I’ve been reading Michael H. Shuman’s books for 20 years. This one really has me …
: social.ayjay.org/2025/01/0… Lately, @ayjay has been the source of a lot of new thoughts and …
: Tracing My Influences For quite a while now, I’ve been trying to find a through line for the thinkers I’ve …
: It seems to me that what micro.blog is helping me to do is avoid what Ed Zitron describes here.
: As tech moguls each “contribute” money to Trump’s “inauguration fund,” I am …
: Michael Rushton asks “what is public funding for the arts for?” He offers a starting …
: Notes Toward an Article on the Arts and Effective Altruism That I Didn't Post Here are the basics for the article I tried to write yesterday, but couldn’t get off the …
: “Along with Joseph Addison, Shaftesbury paved the way for a new approach to English writing, …
: I like Austin Kleon’s idea of keeping track the books he __didn’t__read (h/t Alan …
: Wow. I just spent 3 hours writing something that could have been created by 3 monkeys pounding on a …
: A Different Vision of Education In many ways, I think this quotation is what higher education in the arts ought to be: recognizing …
: A fine line, but the best playwrights and artists understand.
: Where Are Our Prophets? “…things do seem to have changed in literary fiction, and you don’t have to go back far …
: Definition: Anti-Intellectualism “The common strain that binds together the attitudes and ideas which I call anti-intellectual …
: “The theater’s rich intellectual inheritance serves as a buffer to society’s recrudescent …
: Alan Jacobs on The Work Itself It seems to be an Alan Jacobs day! His post called “The Work Itself,” about the …
: Adam Smith on Vanity [T]he desire of doing what is honourable and noble, of rendering ourselves the proper objects of …
: Alan Jacobs, Ross Douthat, Margo Jones, Tony Kushner and the Fate of (Pop) Culture Alan Jacobs responds to Ross Douthat’s NYTimes question as to whether we can make pop culture …
: Interactive Theater In Person AND Online I find that England, Ireland, and Scotland have a much greater amount of experimentation in how they …
: I hate the post-Fed-announcement hysteria that hits the stock market every time the Fed cuts …
: There are few things better than a good rant, especially if it is about the internet. Well done! …
: He Who Is Without “Christ’s rebuke of the Pharisees eager to stone the sinful may feel of little help today, …
: Saul Bellow on the News “Our media make crisis chatter out of news and fill our minds with anxious phantoms of the real …
: So here’s a question I’d be interested in hearing you talk about: if we just stopped …
: If Rushton is really calling that “ingratitude,", it should serve as an illustration as …
: One Size Doesn't Fit All When you’re stepping outside the well-trodden path and trying to create something new, you …
: “Adaptive problems are embedded in social complexity, require behavior change, and are rife …
: “we have lost sight of any collective belief that society could be different. Instead of a …
: Comps No, I’m not talking about the freebies we give to family and friends who come to our show. …
: ”The characteristic of the hour is that the commonplace mind, knowing itself to be commonplace, has …
: Diane Ragsdale Provides a Thanksgiving Pi I recently stumbled up a thirteen-year-old blog post by the always-insightful arts thinker Diane …
: “Murdoch believed we should cultivate a kind of ‘mindfulness’. By making a habit of focusing …
: “Happiness is often presented as being very dull but, he thought, lying awake, that is because dull …
: A Time of Leisure and Freedom “I do not think of old age as an ever grimmer time that one must somehow endure and make the …
: “The arts can turn a piece of banal knowledge into a truth that has the power to move us, when …
: “Although Goethe was intimately connected to the social and cultural life of his time, he also …
: “Resistance is first of all a matter of principle and a way to live, to make yourself one …
: Charm vs Charisma Ian Leslie, on his Substack site The Ruffian, wrote an interesting article entitled “Are You …