Monday, May 24, 2010
newsmakers
Museums offer free admission to military
WASHINGTON
More than 600 museums nationwide are offering free admission to military families all summer in a partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
The list includes some of the nation’s premier art museums, including New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as science centers, children’s museums and other sites in all 50 states.
The program, called Blue Star Museums, is being announced today in San Diego, where 14 museums will participate.
It was the brainchild of Kathy Roth-Douquet, chairwoman of the group Blue Star Families. Her husband, Marine Corps Col. Greg Douquet, is on his third deployment to Afghanistan.
She says military bases are sometimes far from cultural centers, though museums can be a good escape.
Michael Kuchwara, AP drama critic, dies at 63
NEW YORK
Michael Kuchwara, The Associated Press’ longtime drama critic whose thoughtful, fair-minded reviews made him beloved and respected in the theater world and influential beyond, died Saturday night. He was 63.
Kuchwara, who had held his position since 1984 and recently celebrated his 40th anniversary with the AP, died at Beth Israel Hospital in Manhattan of complications from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease that causes scarring. He entered the hospital May 10.
Ponder Henley, his brother-in-law, said Kuchwara was surrounded by family and was listening to music from his favorite show, “Gypsy,” on his iPod when he died.
Kuchwara reviewed plays by Edward Albee and August Wilson, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Miller, his work appearing in thousands of papers and on websites around the world.
“As theater reviewers have been dropped, newspapers increasingly pick up the Associated Press reviews, making Michael Kuchwara arguably the most influential legit critic in America,” proclaimed Variety writer Robert Hofler in July 2009.