After a Vermont playhouse flooded, the show went on

WESTON, Vt. – Members of a beloved Vermont acting company were sleeping in theater housing when torrential rains and flooding forced them to flee, with water inundating the playhouse’s vast basement of dressing rooms, costumes and props and reaching into the first floor. The July storms left the large, column-fronted white Greek Revival building with … Read more

Woman pleads guilty to fatally shoving Broadway singing coach, age 87, avoiding a long prison stay

NEW YORK – A woman who killed an 87-year-old Broadway singing coach by shoving her onto a Manhattan sidewalk has avoided a lengthy prison sentence by pleading guilty to manslaughter on Wednesday, and will instead serve eight years behind bars. Lauren Pazienza, 28, teared up in court as she admitted randomly attacking Barbara Maier Gustern … Read more

Judge clears the way for a civil case to proceed against Alec Baldwin and ‘Rust’ producers

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A New Mexico judge on Wednesday rejected a request by Alec Baldwin ’s attorneys to dismiss a civil lawsuit by three “Rust” crew members who allege cost-cutting endangered the cast and crew as the actor-producer skipped his own safety training. Chief District Judge Bryan Biedscheid also declined to delay proceedings despite arguments … Read more

Kerry Washington, Martin Sheen shout for solidarity between Hollywood strikers and other workers

LOS ANGELES – Kerry Washington and Martin Sheen, a pair of fictional former politicos, turned Hollywood’s strikes into a rousing campaign rally Tuesday with speeches celebrating unity across the industry and with labor at large. “We are here because we know that unions matter,” said Washington, who played a political fixer on ABC’s “Scandal.” “Not … Read more

Maxine Hong Kingston, bell hooks among those honored by Ishmael Reed’s Before Columbus Foundation

NEW YORK – Maxine Hong Kingston, Darryl Pinckney and the late bell hooks were among the authors honored this year by the Before Columbus Foundation, a nonprofit co-founded by Ishmael Reed that celebrates multicultural literature. Established in 1976, the Before Columbus Foundation each year presents American Book Awards to both fiction and nonfiction writers. Kingston, … Read more