When someone says performers “used to do eight shows a week,” the better question is: what were those shows asking of them?

Australia’s recent wave of theatre cancellations should worry anyone who cares about live performance. Government help may be necessary to keep stages open and people working, but that support has to come with real guardrails.

A student production of 1776 in Philadelphia was targeted with racist and bigoted comments over its diverse casting. People can debate casting choices all they want. But attacking teenagers over a school production is indefensible.

Three major musical tours in Australia have closed early or canceled in recent months. So what’s going on? Is this just a bad stretch, or is the financial model for touring Broadway-style musicals starting to crack?

I’ve had my issues with the Downtown Cabaret Theatre. But I still don’t want to see it close. Bridgeport losing this arts institution would be a real loss, and if people care this much about saving it, someone should be listening.

“Relaxed Performances” make live theatre feel possible for people and families who might otherwise feel like the room was not built with them in mind. And that is worth celebrating.

Not every community theatre needs to chase shock value, but more local theatres should feel comfortable making room for stranger titles, darker stories, and shows that ask audiences to take a chance.

Thornton Little Theatre is reopening after a devastating scandal involving its former leader. But for any community theatre, reopening the doors is only the beginning.

Julianne Moore spiraling over a small local theatre role? Paul Giamatti as an intense community theatre director? I’ve met that guy. Several times. I cannot wait.

Some community theatres are not failing. They are adapting. Sometimes survival means accepting the audience you actually have, not the one you wish would show up.

When a production is marketed almost entirely around one famous name, that star’s absence becomes more than a casting change. It becomes a business problem.

A West End theatre named after Judi Dench? Good. Long overdue, honestly. The renaming of theatres is nothing new, but honoring women in this way is still far too rare.