Winter Newsletter 2023 Performing Arts

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has, without question, changed the landscape of movies and movie making forever. But what is the origin story of the juggernaut that seemingly cannot be stopped? I guarantee the real story will surprise you and make you think of these properties in an entirely different life. Told in a ridiculously addictive and intimate manner through interviews and first-hand accounts, this book is perfect for the nerd or Hollywood buff in your life. 

—Jax

August Wilson has turned out to be one of the most ambitious and celebrated American playwrights. His vaunted Century Cycle, ten plays celebrating African American life and culture through each decade of the twentieth century, produced two hits, Fences and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Patti Hartigan interviewed Wilson numerous times before his death, and here she shows some of the connections between his youth in Pittsburgh and the unprecedented views of Black life in his plays. This is a great read for anyone interested in American theater. 

—Ed

You may or may not know Patty Lin, but you almost certainly know the shows she’s written for—Friends, Desperate Housewives, Freaks and Geeks, and Breaking Bad among them. Piercingly relevant in light of the current writers’ strike, Lin’s incredibly candid, personal memoir pulls back the curtain on the fascinating (often dysfunctional, at times toxic) world of Hollywood writing. While the stories of celebrity and drama are riveting, the question Lin explores is also so important: In a relationship or a career, when is love not worth the pain?

—Jocelyn

Photographer TaKiyah Wallace-McMillian’s response to the lack of racial diversity she encountered when her young daughter started ballet was to take pictures. She sent out a casting call for dancers of color and was overwhelmed by the response. Since then, she has created a popular Instagram account and nonprofit called Brown Girls Do Ballet to celebrate and support underrepresented dancers. Now, with this stunning book, she shares her beautiful images of “all hues, shapes, sizes, and different ability levels in ballet,” knowing that more people than just her little girl needed to see themselves in that space. 

—S.B.