Rebecca J. Ritzel
@rjritzel.bsky.social
Fellow @rjionline.bsky.social
Views = mine
Journalist: Arts, culture, health, etc. Bylines: Globe and Mail, New York Times, Dance Magazine, and many more. Cancer and stroke survivor somehow still here. [email protected] https://what-if-arts.ghost.io/
Views = mine
Journalist: Arts, culture, health, etc. Bylines: Globe and Mail, New York Times, Dance Magazine, and many more. Cancer and stroke survivor somehow still here. [email protected] https://what-if-arts.ghost.io/
Pinned
"Why do you have so many tabs open?" -- My niece, age 9.
My Tom Stoppard story (1/2): I was in the Tony Awards "print" pressroom in 2007 when Stoppard won for COAST OF UTOPIA. I followed him and his handler out into the hallway at the Rainbow Room to visit the buffet (which was amazing btw).
November 29, 2025 at 11:50 PM
My Tom Stoppard story (1/2): I was in the Tony Awards "print" pressroom in 2007 when Stoppard won for COAST OF UTOPIA. I followed him and his handler out into the hallway at the Rainbow Room to visit the buffet (which was amazing btw).
Reposted by Rebecca J. Ritzel
I saw Mike Nichols’s production of Stoppard’s The Real Thing on Broadway when I was 19. It starred Jeremy Irons, Glenn, Close, Christine Baranski, Peter Gallagher, and Cynthia Nixon. Which is insane. No single production did more to shape my understanding of what modern theater could be.
November 29, 2025 at 11:27 PM
I saw Mike Nichols’s production of Stoppard’s The Real Thing on Broadway when I was 19. It starred Jeremy Irons, Glenn, Close, Christine Baranski, Peter Gallagher, and Cynthia Nixon. Which is insane. No single production did more to shape my understanding of what modern theater could be.
Very interesting that Roman Mjia and Tiler Peck danced in the #MacysParade with no mention of New York City Ballet. I wonder if that was their choice or the company's? 🤔
November 27, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Very interesting that Roman Mjia and Tiler Peck danced in the #MacysParade with no mention of New York City Ballet. I wonder if that was their choice or the company's? 🤔
Sorry Grey Lady friends, no one in DC would ever refer to the Farragut West Metro as a "busy tourist area."
November 27, 2025 at 3:29 AM
Sorry Grey Lady friends, no one in DC would ever refer to the Farragut West Metro as a "busy tourist area."
Reposted by Rebecca J. Ritzel
Now that Royal Bank of Canada is the biggest company in Canada, can they now sponsor some more theatre and arts IN Canada and not just in the UK?
Or are they putting the ROYAL into RBC and forgetting the C part?
Or are they putting the ROYAL into RBC and forgetting the C part?
November 26, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Now that Royal Bank of Canada is the biggest company in Canada, can they now sponsor some more theatre and arts IN Canada and not just in the UK?
Or are they putting the ROYAL into RBC and forgetting the C part?
Or are they putting the ROYAL into RBC and forgetting the C part?
Reposted by Rebecca J. Ritzel
We as a country must dedicate our entire national energy to making sure that Ryan Murphy does not make a mini series about Olivia Nuzzi and Ryan Lizza.
November 25, 2025 at 2:15 AM
We as a country must dedicate our entire national energy to making sure that Ryan Murphy does not make a mini series about Olivia Nuzzi and Ryan Lizza.
Please enjoy Otter's transcription of my 🔥 take on the state of musical theater: "Jamie Lloyd is the same guy who did the sunset bolt card. So his thing is basically redoing classic mules and putting hot men in underwear."
November 26, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Please enjoy Otter's transcription of my 🔥 take on the state of musical theater: "Jamie Lloyd is the same guy who did the sunset bolt card. So his thing is basically redoing classic mules and putting hot men in underwear."
New from me! James Glossman adapted a Tom Hanks short story for Zoom in 2020. Five years later, the acclaimed actor and lesser-known playwright have a star vehicle at The Shed.
Of space, time, and typewriters
Award-winning actor Tom Hanks and Johns Hopkins theater professor James Glossman co-authored the play 'This World of Tomorrow,' which premiered off-Broadway in November
hub.jhu.edu
November 26, 2025 at 8:22 PM
New from me! James Glossman adapted a Tom Hanks short story for Zoom in 2020. Five years later, the acclaimed actor and lesser-known playwright have a star vehicle at The Shed.
The Farragut West @wmata.com station is a sketchy ghost-town at night and on low-traffic days. Has been for years. (Decades?)
Live Updates: Two National Guard Members Shot Near White House
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 8:14 PM
The Farragut West @wmata.com station is a sketchy ghost-town at night and on low-traffic days. Has been for years. (Decades?)
What year is this???
November 26, 2025 at 6:44 PM
What year is this???
Reposted by Rebecca J. Ritzel
Slop Evader is a tool from artist and researcher Tega Brain that lets you search the web for results exclusively before November 30, 2022—the day that ChatGPT was released to the public.
'Slop Evader' Lets You Surf the Web Like It’s 2022
Artist Tega Brain is fighting the internet’s enshittification by turning back the clock to before ChatGPT existed.
www.404media.co
November 26, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Slop Evader is a tool from artist and researcher Tega Brain that lets you search the web for results exclusively before November 30, 2022—the day that ChatGPT was released to the public.
So depressing that under Trump's Draconian trade policies, so many Canadian small businesses can no longer ship to the U.S.
November 25, 2025 at 8:21 PM
So depressing that under Trump's Draconian trade policies, so many Canadian small businesses can no longer ship to the U.S.
"[Business schools] model a worldview that is almost completely absent in most arts administration programs: the idea that an organization does not deserve to exist simply because someone believes in it."
Stop Teaching Arts Administrators to Run Organizations
by Joanna Woronkowicz I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how we train arts administrators, and being around a business school this year has pushed that thinking in directions I didn’t expect.
artsanalytics.org
November 23, 2025 at 3:31 PM
"[Business schools] model a worldview that is almost completely absent in most arts administration programs: the idea that an organization does not deserve to exist simply because someone believes in it."
Reposted by Rebecca J. Ritzel
Gotta say, not a development I was expecting.
A reporter asks if Mamdani stands by calling Trump a fascist. Mamdani starts to give a delicate answer.
Trump (smiles, pats Mamdani's arm): "That's OK, you can just say yes. It's easier. I don't mind."
Trump (smiles, pats Mamdani's arm): "That's OK, you can just say yes. It's easier. I don't mind."
November 21, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Gotta say, not a development I was expecting.
Reposted by Rebecca J. Ritzel
Should be unreal, but this is the reality we are getting modeled from the top down.
November 21, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Should be unreal, but this is the reality we are getting modeled from the top down.
Duffy only has a point if he's talking about the Florida man who got his Delta flight from Jacksonville to LaGuardia cancelled last week because he tried to blow up an air mattress on the plane.
Trump's Transportation Secretary on how to improve air travel:
"People dress up like they're going to bed when they fly... We want to push people as we come into a really busy travel season, help people out, be in a good mood, dress up"
"People dress up like they're going to bed when they fly... We want to push people as we come into a really busy travel season, help people out, be in a good mood, dress up"
November 20, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Duffy only has a point if he's talking about the Florida man who got his Delta flight from Jacksonville to LaGuardia cancelled last week because he tried to blow up an air mattress on the plane.
Reposted by Rebecca J. Ritzel
May reconsider shopping at Walmart now that the Walton family has invited Barrack Obama to give a talk at their art museum.
Building Bridges: A Conversation with President Barack Obama | Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
crystalbridges.org
November 20, 2025 at 10:07 PM
May reconsider shopping at Walmart now that the Walton family has invited Barrack Obama to give a talk at their art museum.
For those who are interested, Baltimore Symphony oboist Katherine Needleman posted a compare-and-contrast looking at how I described a (special investigator confirmed) sexual proposition in @thebaltimorebanner.com, and how another journalist reported on that same incident for @washingtonpost.com.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
documents, investigations, and news media
katherineneedlemanoboist.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:40 PM
For those who are interested, Baltimore Symphony oboist Katherine Needleman posted a compare-and-contrast looking at how I described a (special investigator confirmed) sexual proposition in @thebaltimorebanner.com, and how another journalist reported on that same incident for @washingtonpost.com.
I had a cerebral thrombosis--due to a genetic clotting disorder--when I was nine months old!!!
Markwayne Mullin: "Reward people for being healthy. Think about this. Healthcare is the only industry that you're not rewarded for taking care of your responsibility. If you think about homeowners insurance, if you're within 500 feet of a fire hydrant, your insurance goes down."
November 19, 2025 at 8:45 PM
I had a cerebral thrombosis--due to a genetic clotting disorder--when I was nine months old!!!
When I was 26, the artistic director of a LORT theater company hauled an actor into his office and scolded him for asking me out.
Which is to say that navigating conflicts of interests should ruin a journalist's social life, not land them jobs at VANITY FAIR.
Which is to say that navigating conflicts of interests should ruin a journalist's social life, not land them jobs at VANITY FAIR.
Moral rot in elite journalism is killing the whole field
The Nuzzi/RFK Jr. mess and the revelation of Esptein's journo pals lay bare a profound moral absence at the heart of our free press.
www.thehandbasket.co
November 18, 2025 at 11:41 PM
When I was 26, the artistic director of a LORT theater company hauled an actor into his office and scolded him for asking me out.
Which is to say that navigating conflicts of interests should ruin a journalist's social life, not land them jobs at VANITY FAIR.
Which is to say that navigating conflicts of interests should ruin a journalist's social life, not land them jobs at VANITY FAIR.
Reposted by Rebecca J. Ritzel
I will never forget having to edit Jamal’s final, posthumous piece for the Washington Post, after he was murdered.
He was calling for free expression in the Arab world. You can read it here :
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/glo...
He was calling for free expression in the Arab world. You can read it here :
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/glo...
Opinion | Jamal Khashoggi: What the Arab world needs most is free expression
The Arab world needs a modern version of the old transnational media so citizens can be informed about global events.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:48 PM
I will never forget having to edit Jamal’s final, posthumous piece for the Washington Post, after he was murdered.
He was calling for free expression in the Arab world. You can read it here :
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/glo...
He was calling for free expression in the Arab world. You can read it here :
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/glo...
"Things Happen" is the new "Stuff Happens."
Live Updates: Trump Praises Saudi Prince and Dismisses Question About Killing of Journalist
www.nytimes.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:54 PM
"Things Happen" is the new "Stuff Happens."
My (white) brother has been driving a white van clearly labeled "Hayes Construction" on the BW Parkway for more than 10 years.
Never been pulled over, never heard of the "no commercial vehicles law."
Never been pulled over, never heard of the "no commercial vehicles law."
NEW—US Park Police w/ DHS officers near DC are increasingly pulling over Black and brown men, leaving their work vans on the side of the parkway + immediately calling a local towing company to take them. Families who just lost their breadwinner are stuck with the bill.
@melbuer.bsky.social reports:
@melbuer.bsky.social reports:
Families of DC-area immigrant drivers snatched by feds stuck with tow bill
Elected officials and activists note work vehicles removed lightning fast, resulting in hundreds in fees.
www.thehandbasket.co
November 17, 2025 at 10:12 PM
My (white) brother has been driving a white van clearly labeled "Hayes Construction" on the BW Parkway for more than 10 years.
Never been pulled over, never heard of the "no commercial vehicles law."
Never been pulled over, never heard of the "no commercial vehicles law."
Reposted by Rebecca J. Ritzel
Pope Leo absolutely cooking
November 16, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Pope Leo absolutely cooking