News

LSDB in the News: KGW-Portland Investigates

Earlier this week, I sat down for an interview with Evan Watson, an investigative reporter at KGW-8 (NBC Portland) who has been into the impacts of NEH cuts on humanities projects in Oregon. His piece ran on the evening news yesterday: A longer article went online this morning, as well: Evan Wilson for KGW news: DOGE used ChatGPT to cut humanities grants, affecting Oregon researchers and museums Huge thanks to Molly Blancett and Angela Seydel from the University Communications office for their help coordinating interview logistics, and to Professor Julie Weise from History, who sent Evan my way for this story — and who has also been doing an enormous amount of work to connect the people affected by these terminations with one another and to identify avenues for education and advocacy. Also, I have to say this: I totally understand it’s useful shorthand to say that I “created” the London Stage... Read More

March 12th, 1763: A Notice from Management

The theatrical season of 1762-1763 was a fraught one for the London stage. In January, management at both of the main public playhouses moved to abolish a longstanding practice of selling half-priced tickets to those arriving after the start of the mainpiece’s third act. Audiences protested the change and their ultimately successful efforts became known as the “Half-Price Riots.” According to Heather McPherson, “[t]he 1763 Half-Price Riots at Drury Lane and Covent Garden illustrate the precariousness of the social contract between management and the public.” But the attempted change in ticket pricing was not the only managerial attempt at altering audiences’ relationship with the stage that the 1762-1763 season saw… Riot at Covent Garden Theatre, in 1763. Print made by: Anonymous © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license. On this very day of March 12, 1763, The Public Advertiser published the following notice: “As... Read More

LSDB in the News: Lawsuit Update

Over the weekend, the New York Times ran an article by Jennifer Schuessler with the headline “When DOGE Unleashed ChatGPT on the Humanities” (gift link). The piece covers the latest findings from the discovery phase in an ongoing lawsuit filed by scholarly and professional organizations challenging the mass termination of NEH grants — including one to our team — last spring. The grant termination letter, an exact copy of those received by thousands of other NEH grantees at the same time, notified us that our project “no longer effectuates agency priorities.” (Image created using CanvaAI.) Among the many revealing findings were spreadsheets DOGE staffers created by feeding grant descriptions from the NEH’s public website into a chatbot with the prompt: “Does the following relate at all to D.E.I.? Respond factually in less than 120 characters.” Evidently, any project that focused on the history, language, culture, or experiences of any group other than white men... Read More

March 5th, 1733: Orange-Women, Penknives, and Coffeehouses

We may be over the moon for our first #theaterthursday of March, but today we come to you to report the grave news that, on this day in London Stage history “… a great Disorder happen’d amongst the Footmen” of Drury Lane—specifically, a stabbing. The drama that unfolded may not have happened onstage, but it is worth talking about here for what it shows us about women, work, and public space in eighteenth-century London. [Content warning: this post contains non-graphic depictions of non-lethal violence, including a discussion of possible sexual harassment and/or assault] London newspaper The Daily Advertiser reported that on March 5th, 1733, a woman who worked at Drury Lane was “[met] with some Affront,” as she left the theater. She then “drew out her Penknife, and stabb’d a Chairman and two Gentlemen’s Servants, therewith, before it could be wrench’d from her.” This act of violence may appear simple: the woman was, in... Read More

LSDB in the News: The Watford Observer

“Mr. Savigny in the Character of Selim in Barbarossa“, 1770. Public domain image via Folger Shakespeare Library Digital Collections We’re so excited to shout out the latest instance of the London Stage Database in the news! Published in The Watford Observer (a local weekly newspaper of Watford, UK), “Covent Garden actor who lived at Frogmore House in Watford” is an intriguing read and also a wonderful example of the London Stage Database in action! Writer and local history correspondent Lesley Dunlop utilized the LSDB in her research on metallurgist-turned-actor John Horatio Savigny and his connection to the Frogmore House of Watford, a building that stands to this day. Maybe YOU have a historical figure related to the London Stage you want to research. But what if you don’t know where to look or how to search? Fear not! The London Stage Database is here for you! Searching for People of the London Stage: Using Dunlop’s article as example,... Read More

February 26th, 1672: The Return of the King(‘s Company)

Hello wonderful readers and theater history fans! Today, we’re coming to you with the news that on this day of February 26th, we get to celebrate not only another #theaterthursday, but also a triumph of the London Stage over tragedy that may have defeated less determined players of the stage. The King’s Company had called The Theatre Royal on Drury Lane home since 1663 but, a mere nine years later, at eight o’clock in the evening on January 25th, the theater company’s playhouse went up in flames! The blaze was horrific: destroying several surrounding homes and injuring many. One of the King’s Company’s own, actor Mr. Bell, was among those who lost their lives in the fire. Ironically, The Theatre Royal had managed to survive the great fire of London (pictured) which had decimated the city only six years earlier. In author Percy Fitzgerald’s book, A New History of the English Stage,... Read More