Latest news with #TischSchooloftheArts
Los Angeles Times
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
‘A Doll's House, Part 2' at Pasadena Playhouse: A woman walks out on her husband and child, and then ...
Mom walks out on husband and child, and then ... Actors Elizabeth Reaser and Jason Butler Harner have known each other since a chance meeting at the edge of a softball field in Central Park in the late '90s. She was at Juilliard, and he was in graduate school at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. The pair stood by a fence watching their fellow students play, having no intention of joining the game themselves. Harner recalls Reaser was a particularly potent combination of funny, irreverent, self-effacing and beautiful. As they chatted he thought, 'Oh, this is gonna be fun!' More than two decades later, they are working together for the first time, playing estranged Victorian couple Nora and Torvald in Lucas Hnath's 'A Doll's House, Part 2,' opening Sunday at Pasadena Playhouse. Director Jennifer Chang toyed with the idea of casting an actual married couple in the roles, but once she witnessed the chemistry between Reaser and Harner, she knew she had made the correct choice. It may sound counterintuitive — because the play is a drama tackling themes of class, feminism and parental and filial obligations — but Reaser and Harner's superpower is their ability to laugh together. 'It's fun to work with Jason because he's hysterically funny, and I'm a whore for anyone who's funny,' Reaser says with a wide smile. 'You could be the meanest person on the planet, but if you're funny, I don't care. This is my failing as a human being.' Reaser's laugh erupts without warning, big and loud like a thunderclap; Harner's is equally boisterous. During a recent morning rehearsal the two laughed often and the result was infectious. There was a lightness to the proceedings that belied the seriousness of the issues arising as they practiced the play's final scene. 'A Doll's House, Part 2' picks up 15 years after the events of Henrik Ibsen's 1879 classic. Ibsen's revolutionary script ends with the wife, Nora, walking out on her husband, Torvald, and their daughter in order to discover her full potential as a human being. Hnath's sequel begins with Nora's return. The audience learns what she's been up to all those years, and also what she plans to do now. The razor-sharp dialogue is rapid-fire, and proper delivery requires a keen understanding of the nature and nuance of language. Reaser and Harner have the lines mostly down pat. What they are working on during this particular rehearsal is the minutiae of the blocking. Detailed discussions unfold with Chang about an overturned chair, the placement of a booklet onstage, and when and how Nora grabs her purse off a side table by the door. After an intense back-and-forth between the couple while they are seated on the floor, Chang asks Harner, 'Should you help her up?' 'I thought about it, but then I thought she wouldn't like that,' Harner says of Nora, who is very much her own woman at this point. She is, however, going to be wearing uncomfortable shoes, a large skirt and a corset, Chang offers. 'Maybe we can make a moment of it?' she adds. Harner considers this, twisting the hair behind his right ear with his right hand as he talks. They discuss the meaning behind Nora's words at that particular beat in the script — and their impact on Torvald. Eventually it is decided that Harner will offer her his hand, and she will hesitantly take it. They practice the scene over and over again — each time with a different effect. It's a master class in the specificity of acting for the stage. Harner revels in this work, having started his career onstage before achieving success as a screen actor — most notably as FBI Special Agent Roy Petty in 'Ozark,' as well as in 'Fringe,' 'The Walking Dead' and 'The Handmaid's Tale.' 'I literally could start crying right now, because I miss the theater so much,' Harner says during an interview in Pasadena Playhouse's cozy subterranean greenroom. 'It's important to me. I feel like I'm a better actor when I work onstage.' Reaser has an equally impressive screen résumé, including the 'Twilight' films as well as 'Grey's Anatomy,' 'The Good Wife' and 'The Haunting of Hill House.' Her stage experience is not as deep as Harner's, and for the longest time she thought she couldn't possibly do another play, calling the process 'too psychotic.' Nonetheless, she recently told her husband that she thought she was ready and that she'd particularly like to work at Pasadena Playhouse. Three months later she got 'this random call out of nowhere.' It was meant to be. Harner soon texted her, writing cheekily, 'We're too young, right?' Reaser didn't know Harner had been cast as Torvald. 'I was like, 'Well, who's playing the Nora?' Because if you don't have a good Nora, I don't want to do it,' Harner says. 'A Doll's House, Part 2' opened on Broadway in 2017, notes Chang — before a global pandemic, the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe vs. Wade and the beginning of President Trump's second term. In some ways, she says, the play is more relevant than ever. 'Reading it now, I was like, 'Oh, my goodness, this is not the play that I remembered,'' she says, adding that context is everything when it comes to interacting with art. 'I'm probably not the person now that I was then.' Reaser and Harner are similarly primed to deliver the show in the context of regional Los Angeles theater in 2025. 'The original play is still revolutionary,' says Reaser. 'The idea of leaving your children is still a shocking, radical thing.' What Hnath did in picking up and reexamining this source material, Harner says, was a remarkable act of harnessing that complexity. 'It's about patriarchy and misogyny, and obviously, primarily, about a woman discovering her voice,' he says. 'But it's also about two people — a couple — who, in one version of themselves, really did love each other.'
Daily Record
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Real meaning behind Lady Gaga alter-ego and why she ditched unique birth name
Lady Gaga has been the reigning queen of pop for over a decade now, but many fans still don't know the true meaning behind her unique stage name and why she ditched her birth name Lady Gaga has got everyone's attention at the moment. Not only did she headline at Coachella festival, she's also released a new album and fans are scrambling to see her on tour. We can't stop listening to her new tracks – 'Abracadabra,' 'Disease,' and 'Garden of Eden' – and to celebrate Gaga's huge success, we've been reading up on her career journey. It turns out, there's some trivia people are only just learning about the star. They've been interested to learn how she got her stage name. She was born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta but later embraced the moniker Lady Gaga. While there's some debate over the exact story, it's thought that the name was born out of an autocorrect mishap by her ex-partner and music producer, Rob Fusari. He reportedly began calling her 'Gaga' after she reminded him of the 1984 Queen song 'Radio Gaga'. Later, when he tried to text 'Radio Gaga,' autocorrect changed it to 'Lady Gaga'. Since then, she's adopted the name with pride, and in a 2010 tell-all, she revealed her desire to "reinvent" herself. In that interview, she reportedly stated: "So I said, 'What about Lady Gaga?' because Gaga is sort of crazy and Lady has such connotations." So why not stick with her distinctive real name? Gaga grew up in a strict Catholic household and started playing piano at age four. She attended the prestigious Tisch School of the Arts at New York University but dropped out to focus on her music career. Early in her career, she performed in small clubs and as a songwriter for other artists. But people initially didn't get her vision – and picked on her for standing out from the crowd. When she finally realised it was her differences that made her special, the true persona was born. She left her old life behind and fully embraced being herself. She said: "I've always been Gaga... I suppressed all those eccentricities about myself so I could fit in. Once I was free, I was able to be myself." Being herself has paid off – she's won 14 Grammy Awards and sold an estimated 170 million records worldwide. It's seriously impressive!
Express Tribune
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Who is Haley Joel Osment? Oscar-nominated former child star arrested for alleged drug possession and public intoxication
Actor Haley Joel Osment was arrested on 8 April 2025 in Mammoth Lakes, California, for alleged public intoxication and possession of a suspected controlled substance, reportedly cocaine. The incident occurred at the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, and the actor was booked and released the same day. Police stated the matter remains under investigation. Photo: Mono County Sheriff's Office Osment, 37, first gained recognition as a child actor in Forrest Gump before achieving critical acclaim for his role in The Sixth Sense, which earned him an Oscar nomination at age 11. He went on to star in films like Pay It Forward and A.I. Artificial Intelligence, later taking a hiatus to study acting at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. After returning to Hollywood, Osment took on more adult roles in films such as Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile and most recently appeared in the 2024 thriller Blink Twice. Despite a lower public profile in recent years, he has remained active in both film and television. He is the older brother of actress Emily Osment, known for her role in Hannah Montana. The siblings, both former child stars, have often supported one another professionally and personally. This is not Osment's first run-in with law enforcement. He previously received probation following a 2006 drink-driving incident and was involved in a verbal dispute at an airport in 2018.
BBC News
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Chappell Roan responds to criticism over Grammys speech
Chappell Roan has responded to criticism of a speech she gave calling for artists to receive a living wage while accepting her Grammy for Best New Pink Pony Club hitmaker was honoured at the ceremony on Sunday and used the platform to urge music labels to provide more support, including healthcare, to developing she received a standing ovation from the audience, music executive Jeff Rabhan branded Chappell "disingenuous" because she's profiting from the industry she's calling out, adding she was "wildly misinformed".Responding on Instagram, the US singer says she's donated $25,000 (£20,000) to support struggling artists and encouraged Jeff to match her donation. The 26-year-old's break-out hit Good Luck, Babe! catapulted her to mainstream success last year and she was recognised with a trophy in Los stage, Chappell said she'd always told herself if she ever won a Grammy and had the chance to address "the most powerful people in music", she would demand that "labels and the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a liveable wage and healthcare".Chappell, who was first signed when she was 17, shared that she struggled to find a job after being dropped by her label in 2020 and could not afford health insurance. "It was so devastating to feel so committed to my art and feel so betrayed by the system and so dehumanised," she added labels need to treat artists as "valuable employees", asking them: "We got you, but do you got us?" Despite a round of applause from the room, not everyone agreed with Chappell's speech including Jeff - the former Chair of the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. In a column for The Hollywood Reporter, he said the speech was "noble... but wildly misinformed", calling her "too uninformed to be the agent of change she aspires to be".Jeff, who has worked for the Atlantic Records label and with stars including Kelis and Kelly Clarkson, said labels "are businesses, not charities", getting a share of profits in return for taking a risk on new artists. While he acknowledged things could improve, he also described Chappell as "disingenuous" for criticising the industry that "elevated" her to mainstream success and then "continuing to profit from that very system".He added Chappell was "no longer a struggling artist" and that "she should do something about it - rather than just talk at it".In response, Chappell said on Instagram: "Mr Rabhan, I love how in the article you said 'put your money where your mouth is' - genius!"Let's link and build together and see if you can do the same," she added, after revealing her donation. The article has been criticised by stars like Halsey who said it generalised the experiences of artists."If you want to profit off of someone's else's art, that artist should have the basic living means to feel safe enough to create that art," the Without Me singer and coming artists have often spoken about the challenges they face trying to break into the industry.A report in 2023 by the Help Musicians charity found a lack of sustainable income was a barrier to the careers of 44% of artists who took part in their survey and 23% said they were unable to support themselves or their families. It's not the first time Chappell has called out the music industry previously told the BBC she'd be "more successful if I wore a muzzle" after a backlash to her comments about "creepy" fan behaviour and taking a break to focus on her Newsbeat has reached out to Jeff Rabhan but has not had a response. PMC, which publishes The Hollywood Reporter, has also been approached for comment. Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.
