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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: play

play stories: 15 news summaries
FUNNYWOMAN PROFILE

Just Being Carrie Fisher Is Super-Weird

'You’re supposed to be unusual' in Hollywood: Wishful Drinking author

Sep 28, 09 4:08 PM CDT
(Newser) - Carrie Fisher’s shrink told her, “If you worked in a supermarket they would’ve institutionalized you at 20,” she recalls. Not so in Hollywood, where the erstwhile Princess Leia suffered through drug addiction, manic depression, and failed relationships—her own and her parents’. But electroshock therapy helped... More »

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entertainment • Hollywood • theater • New York City • celebrity • play • People Magazine • Ashton Kutcher • Elizabeth Taylor • Carrie Fisher • Marcel Proust • Jon Gosselin • Kate Gosselin • Eddie Fisher • Debbie Reynolds

(Newser) - Steven Spielberg pulled a rabbit out of his hat today and signed on to adapt the Pulitzer Prize–winning play Harvey as his next film, Variety reports. First put on the big screen in 1950 starring Jimmy Stewart, the film about a man's friendship with a giant, invisible bunny is... More »

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entertainment • Steven Spielberg • play • DreamWorks • adaptation • movie adaptations

Jackson Penned Grisly
Play Starring His Kids

Written in 2006, play sees kids confront, befriend murderer

Jun 28, 09 6:23 PM CDT
(Newser) - Michael Jackson wrote a bizarre play in which his own children confront a child murderer—and discover he’s not such a bad guy. Acquired by News of the World with other memorabilia and papers, the play stars Paris and Michael Prince II Jackson, who enter the “endless black... More »

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murder • children • child abuse • play • hallucination • Michael Jackson • Prince Michael

Hollywood Hunks Bound
for Broadway

Daniel Craig, Hugh Jackman set to co-star in play about cops

May 27, 09 4:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman will share a Broadway stage this fall in A Steady Rain, the dark tale of two Chicago cops whose lifelong friendship is tested. This is Craig’s New York stage debut, though the Bond man has performed in London theaters, the Post reports. Jackman is... More »

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Broadway • play • Daniel Craig • Hugh Jackman • A Steady Rain

 Lifetime Portrait of Bard Found 

Work is only living painting of the Bard

Mar 9, 09 1:20 PM CDT
(Newser) - A family heirloom is thought to be the only surviving portrait of William Shakespeare painted during his life, the Telegraph reports. Art restorer Alex Cobbe noticed that a portrait of the Bard in the Folger Shakespeare library in Washington—known to be a posthumous copy of another work—bore an... More »

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theater • art • painting • play • history • William Shakespeare • portrait • Folger Shakespeare Library

Comic Fritzl 
Play Sparks 
Death Threats 

Director insists he's mocking media, not rape and incest

Feb 23, 09 4:52 PM CST
(Newser) - A comic play about accused rapist Josef Fritzl is set to open in Vienna, drawing the ire—and death threats—of Austrians who are not amused, the BBC reports. Director Hubsi Kramar stressed that the largely improvised piece, co-starring victims of abuse, is a commentary on media coverage of Fritzl’... More »

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theater • satire • comedy • play • murder trial • incest • media coverage • Josef Fritzl • Amstetten, Austria • controversy

Virginia Woolf Gets Silly in 'New' Play

Off-Broadway troupe revives author's one satirical work

Jan 25, 09 8:03 PM CST
(Newser) - A satirical play by Virginia Woolf received its professional premiere today in New York, NPR reports. Featuring figures like poet Alfred Lord Tennyson and painter George Frederic Watts, Freshwater lampoons "high-falutin', oldish, long-bearded Victorians," the play's producer said. Woolf wrote the hour-long farce as a fun project for... More »

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theater • New York City • Broadway • play • author • Britain • Virginia Woolf

 Radcliffe Sick of Being Naked 

'Harry Potter' star ready for new role

Dec 31, 08 11:13 AM CST
(Newser) - The idea of Harry Potter getting naked brought a lot of attention to Broadway’s Equus—but star Daniel Radcliffe is getting tired of stripping down with a fake horse every night, reports the New York Post. What’s next for the actor? Possibly a musical, he told his producer.... More »

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theater • nudity • Broadway • celebrity • play • Daniel Radcliffe • Equus • nude

OPINION

 Blago Dialogue 
 Worthy of Mamet 


Dec 10, 08 11:42 AM CST
(Newser) - An astute reader of the criminal complaint against Rod Blagojevich will notice that, with shockingly little tweaking, the wiretapped conversations between the Illinois governor and his co-conspirators could be dialogue from a David Mamet play. Choire Sicha demonstrates in Salon, turning it into a quick one-acter. From the trash-talking femme... More »

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Barack Obama • theater • corruption • profanity • play • Illinois • governor • Rod Blagojevich • dialogue • political scandal • David Mamet • Patti Blagojevich

 Fonda Heads Back to Broadway 

Starring role marks return after 46 years

Dec 5, 08 11:12 AM CST
(Newser) - Oscar- and Emmy-winning actress Jane Fonda will have another chance to add a Tony to her collection when she returns to Broadway after a 46-year absence, Playbill reports. Fonda, who made her Broadway debut in 1960, will star in Moisés Kaufman's 33 Variations as Katherine Brandt, a musicologist working... More »

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music • theater • Broadway • Jane Fonda • celebrity • play • Beethoven

Betancourt Plans to Write Captivity Play

Politician's Colombia drama will show what people 'need to feel'

Jul 6, 08 7:27 PM CDT
(Newser) - Ingrid Betancourt’s ordeal in Colombia will soon hit a stage near you, the BBC reports. The French-Colombian politician, sprung last week from 6 years of captivity, will pen a play based on her experiences. “People need to understand this, but I can't just write it down the way... More »

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Colombia • Paris • play • FARC • Ingrid Betancourt

 Is Something
 Rotten in
 the Bard's
 Works? 

Debate over who really wrote Shakespeare's plays rages on

Jul 6, 08 12:37 PM CDT
(Newser) - Did William Shakespeare really write the plays attributed to him? The question remains the subject of an intense academic debate, NPR reports. Those who doubt the “man from Stratford” penned his plays point to a lame rhyming epitaph on the supposed bard’s headstone, and to lack of documents... More »

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theater • literature • play • William Shakespeare • skeptics • academics

Katie May Be Heading to Broadway

Holmes in talks to make her stage debut later this year

Mar 29, 08 10:09 PM CDT
(Newser) - Katie Holmes may make a run for the door later this year—the stage door, that is. The actress known to some as Mrs. Tom Cruise is in serious talks to star in a revival of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons when it opens on Broadway later this year,... More »

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theater • Tom Cruise • Broadway • Katie Holmes • play • Broadway producers • Arthur Miller • John Lithgow • Dianne Wiest

Putin's Newest Gig: Savage Theater Critic

Russian prez
mocks cast, upbraids
director after play

Mar 12, 08 9:35 AM CDT
(Newser) - Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila caused a stir in Moscow last weekend when they paid an unannounced visit to the theater. After the audience gave him a standing ovation, Putin made a foray into theater criticism that stunned the cast. "Why did you show him crying?" asked the... More »

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Russia • theater • Moscow • Vladimir Putin • play • film director • Lyudmila Putin • Woe From Wit

Satire Finds a Stage in Baghdad  

Iraq's waning community of actors is free of censorhip, but under siege by extremists

May 21, 07 3:41 PM CDT
(Newser) - At least someone is laughing: At Iraq's National Theater a one-act play called "The Intensive Care Unit" satirizes the country's bombed-out chaos. The prevailing mood, the Washington Post reports, is jovial and non-sectarian; performances are all matinees because no one dares venture out at night. More »

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Iraq • theater • satire • censorship • play • actor

15 Stories


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