August Wilson's 1900s to Be a Cycle Onstage
By SARAH ABRUZZEZE
NYTimes.com

WASHINGTON - Cal Hoffman will be spending his vacation at the theater.

Mr. Hoffman, who lives in New York, plans to visit Washington for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' presentation of August Wilson's 20th Century, a full month of staged readings of Wilson's 10-play cycle chronicling the lives of African-Americans in the last century, a play for each decade.

"The stories are so specific, you can't help but get emotionally involved within the first 5 to 10 minutes of an August Wilson play," said Mr. Hoffman, who plans to attend all 10. "When I go, I feel a real immediacy with the characters and the events and the ideas that get put forward."

The staging of all the plays at once - it runs March 4 through April 6 - is a first, organizers said. Michael Kaiser, the president of the Kennedy Center, said that even before Wilson died of liver cancer in 2005, there had been a discussion about presenting the plays as a whole. "These are 10 spectacular works," he said.
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The cycle depicts the struggles of African-Americans who, at the dawn of the 20th century, still have personal memories of slavery and its immediate aftermath and who, in subsequent generations, struggle to come to terms with their past, moving through the civil rights years and into a new world of opportunity and acquisition.
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Because these are staged readings, the actors will rehearse only for a few days and perform holding scripts. There will be costumes, sets, lighting and some staging.
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August Wilson's 20th Century runs from March 4 to April 6 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington; (800) 444-1324, kennedy-center.org.

The Empty Spaces
or, How Theater Failed America
by MIKE DAISEY

"---The regional theater movement tried to create great work and make a vibrant American theater tradition flourish.

That dream is dead. The theaters endure, but the repertory companies they stood for have been long disbanded. When regional theaters need artists today, they outsource: They ship the actors, designers, and directors in from New York and slam them together to make the show. To use a sports analogy, theaters have gone from a local league with players you knew intimately to a different lineup for every game, made of players you'll never see again, coached by a stranger, on a field you have no connection to.

Not everyone lost out with the removal of artists from the premises. Arts administrators flourished as the increasingly complex corporate infrastructure grew. Literary departments have blossomed over the last few decades, despite massive declines in the production of new work. Marketing and fundraising departments in regional theaters have grown hugely, replacing the artists who once worked there, raising millions of dollars from audiences that are growing smaller, older, and wealthier. It's not such a bad time to start a career in the theater, provided you don't want to actually make any theater.----"

read the whole thing at The Stranger.com

Actor stabs himself during 'Julius Caesar'
Andrew Travers -

As the founder of his own acting ensemble and producer/director/lead actor of its current production, Kent Hudson Reed has given blood, sweat and tears for his craft. But never quite like yesterday during an outdoor performance of "Julius Caesar" on Galena Plaza.

During the climactic third act of the Shakespeare play, in which members of the Roman Senate stab Caesar, some in the estimated 150-person audience noticed Reed's khaki pants were rapidly turning crimson.

"I thought he had a fake blood packet that went off too soon in his pocket," said audience member Scott MacCracken. "They had just murdered Caesar, and his right pant leg was turning red."

"It was a lot of blood," said Dorene Herzog, who was taking in the free performance on a visit to Aspen from Houston, Texas. "I mean a lot, lot of blood."

Reed, who was playing Brutus, had accidentally stabbed himself in the leg. "Yeah, I was supposed to stab Caesar," Reed said later, after getting the wound stitched. "But I stabbed myself."

However, the veteran Aspen actor went on, staying in character, and delivering a monologue to his co-conspirators as the gash poured blood down his leg -- which must have made the audience curious about the blood-soaked suit:

"And let us bathe our hands in Caesar's blood/Up to the elbows, and besmear our swords'"

Then Reed, who had been holding his upper thigh and turning it away from the audience, finally broke character.

"You'll have to excuse me," he said, according to audience members. "We'll have to pause for a few minutes. I seem to have stabbed myself."

Reed was tended to by a doctor in the audience and then taken to Aspen Valley Hospital by fellow cast member Susan Mauntel, who was playing Portia.

"I tried to keep on going and concentrate on my lines," Reed said. "But my boot was filling up with blood and I was flubbing my lines, wondering if I was going to pass out, wondering if the audience could see the blood."

Asked why the actors were using real knives, Reed explained that while "you're never supposed do that in a play," they had crafted the scene so that no actor was close enough to stab another. "But I hadn't thought an actor might stab himself."

But the show must go on. The Hudson Reed Ensemble will give it another stab today with a free performance at 6:30 p.m.

"I might be a little limpy," Reed warned.

Finding Water: Continuing on the Artist's Way Journey
May 16-18, 2008
Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health
in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts

To Register By Phone: Call 866-200-5203 toll-free.

All creative people encounter periods of difficulty and drought. It takes perseverance to maintain optimism and hope in the face of such challenges. During this special weekend, best-selling author Julia Cameron will delve into the toolkit she has developed while working on her numerous books to lead an intensive exploration into what it takes to sustain the artist's journey over time.

Sharing techniques and ideas from her recently released book, Finding Water, the third book in The Artist's Way trilogy, Julia's methods will help you to maintain forward motion and take positive actions on your own behalf. Expect to work alone and in small groups, sharing a lively mixture of experiential exercises, lecture, and Q&A. It is highly recommended that you complete the 12-week program outlined in The Artist's Way, but you need not be a full-time artist in order to participate. Please bring adequate writing supplies and comfortable walking shoes.

First published in 1992, The Artist's Way is credited with helping millions find and express authentic creativity in their lives and in their work in the world. Come find out how in this unique weekend with Julia, designed to set you free.

Julia Cameron is an award-winning author of 21 books of fiction and nonfiction, including The Artist's Way, The Vein of Gold, Walking in this World, The Right to Write, and The Sound of Paper, her best-selling works on the creative process. A novelist, playwright, songwriter, and poet, she has extensive credits in theater, film, and television. www.theartistsway.com