159 stories from Parabasis
By Isaac Butler Going through my stack of mail upon returning to Minneapolis, I found a season brochure from The Guthrie for their 2011-2012 season. Honestly, it's enough to make you doubt w…
Parabasis, an internet journal of arts, culture and politics, seeks submissions for its upcoming week-long online issue about the work of American playwright Lanford Wilson. What we are look…
So asks Philadelphia theatre critic David Fox. He even goes so far to consult Miss Manners (who, shockingly, says it's okay). While he probably wouldn't personally boo, he could understand w…
There are very, very, very few moments of theater that I think have clearly delineated right and wrong ways of interpretation. But it turns out that-- at least according to Isherwood-- the R…
By Isaac Butler Charging more for something drives people away from seeing it. But don't worry. I'm sure charging $75 for an off-broadway ticket has no impact whatsoever on how many people g…
I've long had this theory that while the rest of the country seems to suffer from a Shakespeare Problem-- which is to say, overproducing Shakespeare to the detriment of the rest of the class…
By Isaac Butler I have a quick question for boosters of dynamic pricing. There are many claims made on behalf of dynamic pricing, the very claims that 99 asks about in this post. These are t…
By Isaac Butler Arena Stage's David Dower tries to explain on Arena's blog why Arena does not accept submissions and what the philosophy behind having a request-based rather than submission-…
By Isaac Butler So blithely asserts the writer Jason Farago at the Guardian in writing about the RSC's mini-season here in the Big Apple. His evidence? The closing of the American Folk Art M…
by 99 Seats Once more unto the breach, dear friends. Chad Bauman, Marketing Director at the Arena Stage, has written a post detailing the history and importance, once again, of dynamic prici…
by 99 Seats On Twitter yesterday, Tony Adams asked a question I found intriguing: Comic-fans, how does rebooting titles compare with the same plays being redone? Similar impulse? or totally …
By Isaac Butler It's really, really, not what you expect when you start reading the blog post.
By Isaac Butler Before my wife and I both semi-retired from theatre, we rarely had to buy tickets to Broadway shows. Either through her business or my artistic connections, we generally got …
By Isaac Butler After Eric Cantor's stubborness and assholery accidentally saved the New Deal, after Mitch McConnell's hilariously craven "back-up plan" something appears to be shi…
By Isaac Butler If Michael Billington didn't exist, Americans would have to invent him so that they could continue to complain about British snobbery towards the US. Simply put, Billington's…
By Isaac Butler Intiman is inviting local theatre artists to submit blueprints for reviving the company. My guess is Paul Mullin wasn't invited.
By Isaac Butler I'm a bit late to the Sherlock party, having missed its television run and its first release on DVD. Now that it's on Netflix streaming, Anne and I have just completed the fi…
By Isaac Butler I seem to be noticing a rising tide in posts, columns, conversations, tweets, facebook status updates etc. that are driving me nuts. They are all well meaning, and genuine, I…
By Isaac Butler Longtime readers of Parabasis probably know that I'm all for loosening and restructuring (without getting rid of) copyright law. Short version: Copyright is s established in …
By Isaac Butler For a trip down memory lane to the Stonewall era, here's WaPo's Greg Sargent with a moving and precise bit of memoir writing: I grew up in the far West Village in the 1970s, …
By Isaac butler I wish I had something profound and meaningful to say about the long overdue victory for equality here in New York last night. Long time readers of Parabasis probably know th…
By Isaac Butler I spent almost exactly twenty four hours up in the Catskills as a resident artist at The Orchard Project courtesy of the good folks at The Exchange. I spent time with their c…
By Isaac Butler Today and tomorrow, I will be up in the Catskills, working as a resident artist with the Exchange's Core Company, a group of college students and recent grads who have gather…
by 99 Seats This song is 20 years old. That is all.
by 99 Seats This is pretty scary, weird stuff in and of itself. But that's just part of it. In the ever-evolving world of campaign fundraising, some politicians have stumbled on yet another …
