Zen Buddhist teaching and the use of Koans are for the purpose of disabusing one from thinking, and instead simply acting.  Quiet oneself sufficiently, be fully present in the moment, and the correct response to the moment will arise on its own – naturally, instinctively, organically.

 Julia Bullock and the American Modern Opera Project brought a new version of John Adams’ and Peter Sellars' El Nino to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, known for its support of the arts and blessing of all animals. This will become a traditional performance.

"O Christmas Tree," a new holiday play with music, made a triumphant world premiere at South Florida's Thinking Cap Theatre. The playwrights are Thinking Cap's Artistic Director, Nicole Stodard, and Thinking Cap's Managing Director, Bree-Anna Obst. The world premiere marks just the beginning of "O Christmas Tree's" theatrical life.

The Guggenheim Museum releases its schedule of exhibitions for 2023.

Lucas Hnath's intense drama, "Red Speedo" is playing in an admirable production by South Florida-based producer Ronnie Larsen. The production runs through Dec. 30 at the intimate Foundry space in Wilton Manors, near Ft. Lauderdale. "Red Speedo" represents a significant departure from the kind of work that Larsen usually produces and creates.

Women have often been called witches and other words that rhyme. What insights can we glean today about the trials held in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts? Playwright Sarah Ruhl tackles the question.

As a world premiere, this is a work in progress. Changes are being made. When I saw it, one song had been moved, and a reprise was eliminated.

Ghosts.  Dancing skeletons.  A giant toothy snake from Hell, like Saturday Night Live’s land shark on steroids. “The Handbook for the Recently Deceased.”  When the title character mirthfully tells the audience that this is a play about death, he’s not kidding.  Fortunately, it’s all in good fun, and there is plenty of it in this delightfully camp musical adaptation of the highly successful 1988 comedy-horror film.

“I am always amazed at how Cabaret manages to speak to our time, making it one of the most remarkable and resilient works of American musical theatre,” commented Alan Paul. “As the US experiences a rise in acts of virulent anti-Semitism, it seemed an appropriate time for our audiences to revisit this enduring classic. It’s also an opportunity in my first season to celebrate one of the shows that helped establish the legacy of this theatre company.” 

The Arts Vibrancy Index report is an indispensable resource for anyone seeking to better understand how the arts and culture sector contributes to a community’s economy and public life. Now in its seventh iteration, the report has helped organizations evaluate where to relocate or focus their operations; provided clarity for funders on how and where to invest; and made it easier than ever for communities to learn how to cultivate arts vibrancy in their area.

Leah Nanko Winkler writes in a cinematic style – the play opens with a series of brief scenes (fewer than five lines), which sets up the meeting and subsequent developing relationship between Steph and Lane at the Revival Coffeeshop. It is the usual Rom-Com mixture of unsaid things, clues that aren’t picked up, and fears.

Death of a Salesman, starring Wendell Pierce, is getting an interesting, if not always successful, revival at the Hudson Theater on W. 44th Street. The revival produced by the Young Vic Theatre originated in London last spring to acclaim.

This and That delights.  The production also raises questions: Can a serious effort be delivered with casual aplomb?  Great beauty?  Mystery?  From a messy theater?  In the hands of Philip Soltanoff  and Steven Wendt, the answer is a resounding Yes.

The Metropolitan Opera website is down for the third day in a row. Griner freed. Met Opera now captive?

“There’s no better way to start the new year off than by making sure that our doors are wide open for our community and for all visitors to the area,” said Olivier Meslay, Hardymon Director of the Clark. “We believe that the chance to engage with art is a truly fulfilling and enriching part of life and we want to make sure that everyone has plenty of opportunities to visit the Clark and to get to know us better.”

Geoffrey Richon is a major contractor and philanthropist in Gloucester. He co-founded Gloucester Stage Company. For artistic director he hired and later fired the playwright Israel Horovitz. He was outed as a sexual predator, first by the Boston Phoenix in 1993, and then by the New York Times in 2007. The company has been through rough times but Richon sees a bright and expanded future.

On a drawing board of mixed media, live at the Blue Building on 44th Street, Art Bath gives New York talent a chance to experiment.  Six times a year, twice in the spring and twice in the fall, Art Bath presents programs in which artists mix and match new and daring forms. These are enchanted evenings. 

Confocal microscopy, also known as confocal laser scanning microscopy, is a specialized optical imaging technique that provides contact-free, non-destructive measurements of three-dimensional objects. For this website, plants considered sacred by indigenous groups of the Americas were scanned at St. Lawrence University’s Microscopy and Imaging Center.

Okay – let’s cut straight to the chase.  The unique chronical of “Little Shop of Horrors” is laugh-out-loud funny; the music is foot-stomping energetic; the production is superb; and the performances are great.  Did I miss anything?  If you see this TheatreWorks production and disagree, check with your physician to make sure you have the pulse rate of a sentient being.

New City Players in Southeast Florida has mounted a solid production of a live radio play adaptation of the Christmas classic film, "It's a Wonderful Life." The production runs through Dec. 18. The adaptation, while charming and heartwarming, is too similar to the source material.

This rendering must be measured by a very different yardstick than traditional versions. By a calculation based on contemporary sensibilities, Adaptor/Director Emma Rice’s innovation succeeds in providing a multifaceted entertainment executed with top rate professionalism.

Palm Beach Dramaworks (PBD) in Southeast Florida is preparing to mount a production of the classic courtroom drama, "Twelve Angry Men." The play's basis is the Academy Award winning 1957 film with the same title. PBD's production will run through Dec. 24 at PBD's intimate venue in West Palm Beach.

Phil Kline's Unsilent Night has been presented in 150+ cities across five continents since its debut 30 years ago on the streets of Greenwich Village. Free as always.

The exhibition, Promenades on Paper: Eighteenth-Century French Drawings from the Bibliothèque nationale de France, includes a selection of eighty-four studies, architectural plans, albums, sketchbooks, prints, and optical devices that expand our understanding of drawing as a tool of documentation and creation in the age of Enlightenment.

Two compelling exhibits are on display at Wrightwood 659, the Lincoln Park gallery dedicated to exhibiting socially engaged art and architecture. Michiko Itatani: Celestial Stage celebrates the work of the Chicago painter and her fascination with science and culture. The First Homosexuals: Global Depictions of a New Identity: 1869-1930 offers the first multimedia survey of early works of queer art.