1. More on theater etiquette; thoughts on getting rid of the standing ovation, from Ben Brantley. “Pretty much every show you attend on Broadway these days ends with people jumping to their feet and beating their flippers together like captive sea lions whose zookeeper has arrived with a bucket of fish,” he writes. “This is true even for doomed stinkers that find the casts taking their curtain calls with the pale, hopeless mien of patients who have just received a terminal diagnosis..” Sir, you may not be the first to express this sentiment, but you certainly did so in a colorful fashion.

2. Even more Just for Laughs additions include a special A.V. Club/Hideout set called [REDACTED], Janeane Garofolo and Sarah Silverman. Of the former, [REDACTED] is a big secret, which either means they haven’t decided yet who will be in it and/or they know you’ll come anyway because all the proceeds go to 826Chicago: In fact, “Tickets are probably gone already.”

3. Andy White and Anthony Fleming III, company members of Lookingglass, read aloud excerpts of Studs Terkel’s book Race at WBEZ’s special event, a part of the summer series of the same name. You can listen at the link.

5. American Theater Company‘s new season includes a revised version of the United States Theatre Project’s columbinus from Artistic Director PJ Paparelli: “Following in the wake of contemporary shootings like those at Virginia Tech, Paparelli will return to Littleton, Colorado for the first time in ten years to conduct new interviews with survivors and community members; the revised production of columbinus will be part of the theatre community’s citywide discussion on school violence ‘Now Is the Time to Act’,” which we heard about previously. They’ll also be doing to Hair what they did with much acclaim to The Original Grease, plus It’s A Wonderful Life as usual, potentially a radio-version of The Wizard of Oz if they can get the rights, and Doubt and Agnes of God as a set of productions dubbed “The Catholic Repertory”. 

Questions? Tips? Email kdries@wbez.org.