The Monday News Roundup

by Matt Roberson

- Sunday's Times featured an article from Ben Brantley, currently in London, in which he discusses a couple shows.  Both have been very successful at the box office, while also, he argues, offering a challenge to the notion of what it means to be a member of the audience. 

- Also in yesterday's Times, a piece covering an ambitious, and important, project happening at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.  Bill Rauch, Artistic Director, has begun enacting his plan for the commissioning of 37 new plays that deal with important moments in American history.  Thus far, only one play has been produced, but in the pipeline are works from some of theatre's heaviest hitters. 

- Producers from American Idiot are heading to court. It seems a former understudy's image was kept in the promo materials after she was NOT kept in the show's cast.  So she's suing.

- From the LA Times, there is coverage of a centuries old passion play, produced every decade by the members of a small town in Germany.  Open only to long time residents of the village, the analysis takes an fascinating look at the way the play has changed over time, especially with regards to how Jews are represented in the "greatest story ever told."