Rob Weinert-Kendt
@robkendt.bsky.social
Editor of American Theatre magazine, musical omnivore. trainmyear.blogspot.com
We need a new, more literal understanding of “earworm” for what Argentine guitar goddess Juana Molina is doing on her mesmerizing new record. These loopy jams wiggle and scratch their way into your brain and reset your pulse. Fave track: “indignan a un zorzál.” juanamolina.bandcamp.com/album/doga
December 26, 2025 at 3:56 PM
We need a new, more literal understanding of “earworm” for what Argentine guitar goddess Juana Molina is doing on her mesmerizing new record. These loopy jams wiggle and scratch their way into your brain and reset your pulse. Fave track: “indignan a un zorzál.” juanamolina.bandcamp.com/album/doga
Reposted by Rob Weinert-Kendt
these three ghosts could've been an email
December 24, 2025 at 8:00 PM
these three ghosts could've been an email
It’s not Christmas in our household until this record is played. We also try to watch the priceless special it was made for, but the warmth and whimsy of Paul Williams’s score makes the whole thing come to life even sans visuals. There ain’t no hole in the washtub. open.spotify.com/album/6Q3q59...
December 25, 2025 at 12:11 AM
It’s not Christmas in our household until this record is played. We also try to watch the priceless special it was made for, but the warmth and whimsy of Paul Williams’s score makes the whole thing come to life even sans visuals. There ain’t no hole in the washtub. open.spotify.com/album/6Q3q59...
Reposted by Rob Weinert-Kendt
“Go make art” is a rallying cry, one I am taking into the next year and beyond
I am a video essayist now! My second video is out now, about that terrible OU gender studies essay and what it means when power stops bothering with an argument.
youtu.be/GvCmeuJyT9g?...
youtu.be/GvCmeuJyT9g?...
That OU Essay Is Supposed to Be Bad | An Editor’s Note
YouTube video by Ana Marie Cox
youtu.be
December 23, 2025 at 7:56 PM
“Go make art” is a rallying cry, one I am taking into the next year and beyond
A lovely chat with an icon
Lois Smith, who just turned 95 and whose career stretches back to live television and mid-1950s Broadway, reflects on the life her acting has drawn from and the life it's given her. www.americantheatre.org/2025/12/23/l...
Lois Smith and the Work That Endures
The 95-year-old actor reflects on her rich and rewarding stage career, and the life it drew from and made for her.
www.americantheatre.org
December 23, 2025 at 2:47 PM
A lovely chat with an icon
Last week's Music Diary is up, with a difference: It's all lyrics now. This one ranges from Can to Yes, Sondheim to Rodrigo.
Music Dairy, Vol. 102 (Lyrics Only Edition)
trainmyear.blogspot.com
December 22, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Last week's Music Diary is up, with a difference: It's all lyrics now. This one ranges from Can to Yes, Sondheim to Rodrigo.
A beautiful, devastating piece, worth reading to the end. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...
Opinion | Why I Keep Returning to Middle-Earth
www.nytimes.com
December 22, 2025 at 6:06 AM
A beautiful, devastating piece, worth reading to the end. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...
Rian Johnson talks religion with America magazine’s John Dougherty
Interview: ‘Knives Out’ director Rian Johnson on the Catholic inspiration for ‘Wake Up Dead Man’
Rian Johnson spoke with America about his own experience with faith and the Catholic stories that inspired his latest ‘Knives Out’ mystery.
www.americamagazine.org
December 20, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Rian Johnson talks religion with America magazine’s John Dougherty
Reposted by Rob Weinert-Kendt
A Brazilian phrase for describing a place that’s in the middle of nowhere is na casa do caralho. It means “in the house of the penis.”
* read on for more international phrases about remote or backwater places (a thread)…
* read on for more international phrases about remote or backwater places (a thread)…
December 20, 2025 at 12:58 PM
A Brazilian phrase for describing a place that’s in the middle of nowhere is na casa do caralho. It means “in the house of the penis.”
* read on for more international phrases about remote or backwater places (a thread)…
* read on for more international phrases about remote or backwater places (a thread)…
Reposted by Rob Weinert-Kendt
Over the past few months, American Theatre surveyed industry workers, leaders, and observers for the plays and musicals that have shaped theatre in the U.S. in the 21st century. We've compiled the results into 50 remarkable titles. Which titles would you include on your list?
The Shows That Reloaded the Canon for the 21st Century
To compile this list of the new millennium's influential plays and musicals, we turned to industry workers, leaders, and observers to come up with 50 that pushed theatre forward.
www.americantheatre.org
December 17, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Over the past few months, American Theatre surveyed industry workers, leaders, and observers for the plays and musicals that have shaped theatre in the U.S. in the 21st century. We've compiled the results into 50 remarkable titles. Which titles would you include on your list?
Reposted by Rob Weinert-Kendt
At Necessary Labor, Working Theater, Small Boat Productions, and more, the working-class spirit of the theatrical workforce is alive. From new rehearsal models at Alex Lin's LAOWANG to Necessary Labor's A STATEMENT CONCERNING..., NYC-based artist/activists share how they want to work and live.
Workers of the World (of New York City Theatre) Unite
Gotham's stage laborers aren't just organizing existing workplaces; they're also making their own, built on new models and partnerships.
www.americantheatre.org
December 19, 2025 at 2:04 PM
At Necessary Labor, Working Theater, Small Boat Productions, and more, the working-class spirit of the theatrical workforce is alive. From new rehearsal models at Alex Lin's LAOWANG to Necessary Labor's A STATEMENT CONCERNING..., NYC-based artist/activists share how they want to work and live.
I could not love this column by my colleague @thejrpierce.bsky.social more
In this edition of managing editor Jerald Raymond Pierce's Sightlines, we experience an inaugural WBEZ event, tour TimeLine’s newest space in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood, and learn more about a Seattle-based designer.
Seeking: New Chicago Theatre Hangouts
In this edition of Sightlines, we experience an inaugural WBEZ theatre event, tour TimeLine's newest space in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood, and hear from a rising costume designer.
www.americantheatre.org
December 19, 2025 at 6:00 PM
I could not love this column by my colleague @thejrpierce.bsky.social more
Reposted by Rob Weinert-Kendt
Hey, @isaacbutler.bsky.social, this might interest you, i.e., make your head explode arxiv.org/abs/2411.05778
LLMs as Method Actors: A Model for Prompt Engineering and Architecture
We introduce "Method Actors" as a mental model for guiding LLM prompt engineering and prompt architecture. Under this mental model, LLMs should be thought of as actors; prompts as scripts and cues; an...
arxiv.org
December 19, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Hey, @isaacbutler.bsky.social, this might interest you, i.e., make your head explode arxiv.org/abs/2411.05778
Reposted by Rob Weinert-Kendt
Not that it will but the willingness of Americans to obey is a very funny contrast with our self-image and should probably prompt some reflection bsky.app/profile/jonf...
NEWS: They're adding Trump's name to the Kennedy Center building right now. www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
Kennedy Center adds Trump’s name to building
The signage change follows a vote by the board of trustees to rename the performing arts complex the Trump Kennedy Center.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 19, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Not that it will but the willingness of Americans to obey is a very funny contrast with our self-image and should probably prompt some reflection bsky.app/profile/jonf...
Reposted by Rob Weinert-Kendt
Maybe we need to encourage a different term to distinguish basic Strasberg/Stanislavsky-influenced "Method" acting from whatever it is people complain (rightly or wrongly) Day-Lewis, Leto, etc do. Like "Immersive Method"? "Fantasy Camp Method"? I dunno
the Problem is that StewarT doesn’t know what she’s talking about. She’s using “method” as a synonym for difficult egomania, and that simply isn’t what it is.
I talk about it here:
bsky.app/profile/isaa...
I talk about it here:
bsky.app/profile/isaa...
The Method is just ego, and harmful to cast cohesion. It’s worth exploring why an actor like Stewart, who imho put up two of the greatest performances of the 2010s in Clouds of Sils Maria and Personal Shopper gets labeled “difficult” while men who refuse to answer to their own name on set do not
December 19, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Maybe we need to encourage a different term to distinguish basic Strasberg/Stanislavsky-influenced "Method" acting from whatever it is people complain (rightly or wrongly) Day-Lewis, Leto, etc do. Like "Immersive Method"? "Fantasy Camp Method"? I dunno
Reposted by Rob Weinert-Kendt
The most brutal way of telling someone they’re a few sandwiches short of a picnic that I’ve heard in French is t’es pas la truite la plus oxygénée de la rivière. It means “you’re not the most oxygenated trout in the river.”
* read on for similar insults from around the world (a thread)…
* read on for similar insults from around the world (a thread)…
December 19, 2025 at 12:28 PM
The most brutal way of telling someone they’re a few sandwiches short of a picnic that I’ve heard in French is t’es pas la truite la plus oxygénée de la rivière. It means “you’re not the most oxygenated trout in the river.”
* read on for similar insults from around the world (a thread)…
* read on for similar insults from around the world (a thread)…
Reposted by Rob Weinert-Kendt
I was fascinated to read this conversation between playwright Chris Gabo and Stephen Adly Guirgis since I saw Gabo's "The Surgeon and Her Daughters" at Theatre 154 last week and was having trouble placing some of its strategies... (1/7) www.americantheatre.org/2025/12/14/o...
On the Real With Stephen Adly Guirgis and Chris Gabo
The 2 playwrights compare notes on what they learned from TV writing, what they owe their community, and Gabo's new play 'The Surgeon and Her Daughters.'
www.americantheatre.org
December 18, 2025 at 10:52 PM
I was fascinated to read this conversation between playwright Chris Gabo and Stephen Adly Guirgis since I saw Gabo's "The Surgeon and Her Daughters" at Theatre 154 last week and was having trouble placing some of its strategies... (1/7) www.americantheatre.org/2025/12/14/o...
My rule is that a Christmas album is one I play at the holidays. And nothing gets me in the feels like this vintage double LP of Canadian schoolchildren singing the pop songs of my childhood. Maybe it's the xylophones? Yeah, probably the kids' voices too. bar-nonerecords.bandcamp.com/album/innoce...
December 18, 2025 at 10:08 PM
My rule is that a Christmas album is one I play at the holidays. And nothing gets me in the feels like this vintage double LP of Canadian schoolchildren singing the pop songs of my childhood. Maybe it's the xylophones? Yeah, probably the kids' voices too. bar-nonerecords.bandcamp.com/album/innoce...
Reposted by Rob Weinert-Kendt
A phrase about daydreaming that I learnt in Mexico is pensando en la inmortalidad del cangrejo. It means “thinking about the immortality of the crab.”
* read on for more international phrases for being in a reverie (a thread)…
* read on for more international phrases for being in a reverie (a thread)…
December 18, 2025 at 4:02 PM
A phrase about daydreaming that I learnt in Mexico is pensando en la inmortalidad del cangrejo. It means “thinking about the immortality of the crab.”
* read on for more international phrases for being in a reverie (a thread)…
* read on for more international phrases for being in a reverie (a thread)…
Reposted by Rob Weinert-Kendt
Reposting this because it's my personal Tom Holland/Umbrella, and possibly my favorite essay ever written as well.
"Do you ever want to just pick up a knife and stab him in the neck? Poison his food?"
Because I mentioned this during a phone call today, I ought to share my favorite essay, which is by @alexanderchee.bsky.social. longreads.com/2015/06/18/m...
Because I mentioned this during a phone call today, I ought to share my favorite essay, which is by @alexanderchee.bsky.social. longreads.com/2015/06/18/m...
Mr. and Mrs. B - Longreads
When Alexander Chee was a struggling young writer, working as a cater-waiter for William F. and Pat Buckley.
longreads.com
December 18, 2025 at 4:17 AM
Reposting this because it's my personal Tom Holland/Umbrella, and possibly my favorite essay ever written as well.
Consistently one of the best accounts on this site. Love this thread in particular
On this day in 1989, The Simpsons officially premiered as its own series so here’s a short thread of language facts relating to the show, starting with this…
In the Spanish version of The Simpsons, Bart’s “eat my shorts” catchphrase is changed to multiplícate por cero (“multiply yourself by zero”).
In the Spanish version of The Simpsons, Bart’s “eat my shorts” catchphrase is changed to multiplícate por cero (“multiply yourself by zero”).
December 17, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Consistently one of the best accounts on this site. Love this thread in particular
This package was a labor of love (equal emphasis on both labor and love). Thank you to the entire American Theatre team who helped put it together, including @thejrpierce.bsky.social, Gabriela Furtado Coutinho, @pieceofkay.bsky.social & @daniellaignacio.bsky.social. Let a thousand discourses bloom
Over the past few months, American Theatre surveyed industry workers, leaders, and observers for the plays and musicals that have shaped theatre in the U.S. in the 21st century. We've compiled the results into 50 remarkable titles. Which titles would you include on your list?
The Shows That Reloaded the Canon for the 21st Century
To compile this list of the new millennium's influential plays and musicals, we turned to industry workers, leaders, and observers to come up with 50 that pushed theatre forward.
www.americantheatre.org
December 17, 2025 at 4:15 PM
This package was a labor of love (equal emphasis on both labor and love). Thank you to the entire American Theatre team who helped put it together, including @thejrpierce.bsky.social, Gabriela Furtado Coutinho, @pieceofkay.bsky.social & @daniellaignacio.bsky.social. Let a thousand discourses bloom
Reposted by Rob Weinert-Kendt
An English phrase for when someone is getting on your nerves is “you’re driving me up the wall.” A German equivalent is auf die Palme bringen, which essentially means “you’re driving me up the palm tree.”
December 16, 2025 at 4:05 PM
An English phrase for when someone is getting on your nerves is “you’re driving me up the wall.” A German equivalent is auf die Palme bringen, which essentially means “you’re driving me up the palm tree.”
Reposted by Rob Weinert-Kendt
I love love love that “Lobster” made the cut.
One of the things I love most about writing "top ten" lists is the absurdity. 1) you are constantly trying to sneak other shows in, because it's really more of a top 30, and comparison is invidious 2) your group chat thinks you're deranged 3) but you are 100% right www.newyorker.com/culture/2025...
The Best Theatre of 2025
It was a banner year for generation-defining performance, both up- and downtown.
www.newyorker.com
December 14, 2025 at 7:22 PM
I love love love that “Lobster” made the cut.