Category Archives: World Affairs

MY FIRST TATTOO

No, not that kind of tattoo! I mean the kind of tattoo I didn’t even know existed until a few weeks ago. The tattoo I mean originated in the England of 1644 as the name for a signal made, by drum beat or bugle call, in the evening for soldiers to return to their quarters, […]

May 2, 2017 – 10:32 am | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Current Events, from Paul, History, Men and Women, Music, World Affairs | Comments (0)

CST: Shakespeare’s Globe’s The Merchant of Venice: The Quality of Malice

Despite what you may read, or hear, in the news, Jews remain the most hated people in America. According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports: Hate Crime Statistics, there were 1,140 victims of anti-religious hate crimes in the U.S. last year. “Of the 1,140 victims of anti-religious hate crimes: 56.8 percent [56.8%] were victims of […]

August 11, 2016 – 1:08 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Current Events, from Paul, History, Men and Women, Music, Poetry, Quotations, Theater, Theology, World Affairs | Comments (0)

Chicago Shakespeare’s TUG OF WAR: FOREIGN FIRE: Theatrical Magnificence

“Man is a predator whose natural instinct is to kill with a weapon.” So wrote Chicago playwright and anthropologist Robert Ardrey after years of observing human nature in action all over the world. His words aptly summarize the theme of Barbara Gaines’ thrilling Tug of War: Foreign Fire, a stage edition of three of Shakespeare’s […]

May 13, 2016 – 2:54 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in from Paul, History, Music, Poetry, Politics, Theater, World Affairs | Comments (0)

LYRIC OPERA’S NABUCCO ROCKS THE HOUSE

Prayer was certainly a large part of the young composer’s life in 1841. The twenty-eight-year old’s wife and two children had suddenly died, his own health was precarious, and his most recent opera had been a dismal failure. Out of this plagued life came his first triumph, Nabucco, the tale of the people of God,  […]

January 29, 2016 – 2:07 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Current Events, from Paul, History, Music, Opera, Theater, World Affairs | Comments (0)

Lyric Opera’s Bel Canto: The Music, The Music, The Music

“It has a tremendous variety of expression, of musical ideas. It has a virtuoso quality to it. It has very driven and barbaric moments about it, very lyrical moments, very sensual moments. It has chamber music in the midst of all this bombastic stuff. It’s incredibly exciting.” The words of Leonard Bernstein’s former pupil Yakov […]

January 13, 2016 – 11:04 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Books, Current Events, from Paul, History, Movies, Music, Opera, Politics, Quotations, Theater, World Affairs | Comments (0)

GENEVA: BEGONIA BROWN GOES TO PARLIAMENT

Despite being one of his most daring and prescient works, of all Bernard Shaw’s plays, Geneva is the most disparaged. The criticism moved Shaw to join those who hate the play. By 1938 he had remarked: “What a horrible play! Why had I to write it?” Two events seem to have conspired to bring about […]

September 7, 2015 – 5:09 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in from Paul, History, Men and Women, Politics, Theater, World Affairs | Comments (0)

ASSASSINATION THEATER: The Most Important and Exciting Theater You Will See

The first great work of theater, Oedipus Rex, is a whodunit. Ever since, solving mysteries seems part and parcel of what audiences expect of the theatrical experience. I was a high school student beginning a lifelong study of theater when the shots rang out in Dallas. Being sent home from school due to an assassination […]

August 18, 2015 – 12:09 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Current Events, from Paul, History, Media, Newspapers, Politics, radio, Television, Theater, Videos, World Affairs | Comments (0)

AMERICAN SNIPER: The Sheepdog

The great films of Clint Eastwood have a fascination with the nature of male friendship. From Unforgiven through Invictus, Gran Torino, Letters from Iwo Jima, Flags of Our Fathers, Mystic River, and even Jersey Boys, the director has explored philia (brotherly love) with a depth and understanding rare in any other director. At times Eastwood’s […]

January 30, 2015 – 4:18 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Current Events, from Paul, Movies, The Gospel of the Kingdom, Theology, Uncategorized, World Affairs | Comments (0)

BILLY GRAHAM ON 9/11

President and Mrs. Bush, I want to say a personal word on behalf of many people. Thank you, Mr. President, for calling this Day of Prayer and Remembrance. We needed it at this time. We come together today to affirm our conviction that God cares for us, whatever our ethnic, religious or political background may […]

September 11, 2012 – 4:17 am | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Art, Current Events, History, Politics, Quotations, Talks, Television, The Gospel of the Kingdom, Theology, World Affairs | Comments (0)

HOSTAGE: STORYTELLER AND RESCUE

St. Cyril of Jerusalem, in instructing catechumens, wrote: “The dragon sits by the side of the road, watching those who pass. Beware lest he devour you. We go to the Father of Souls, but it is necessary to pass by the dragon.” No matter what form the dragon may take, it is of this mysterious […]

September 7, 2012 – 5:32 am | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Books, from Paul, History, The Gospel of the Kingdom, Theology, World Affairs | Comments (0)