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Category Archives: Events
WHERE CIVILIANS ARE HUNTED, THEATER ENDURES: KHERSON HOSTS INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL · Sep 13th
(Myroslava Makarevych’s article appeared in the Kyiv Post, 9/6/26; Photo: Destruction of the theater as a result of enemy shelling. (Credit via the M. Kulish Kherson Regional Academic Music and Drama Theater.) The 28th Melpomena Tavrii International Theatre Festival will take place Sept. 12–19 under its longstanding motto, #TheaterWhereWeAre. Despite Russia’s war, the festival will return to Kherson, with performances also staged in Mykolaiv and at participating theaters across Ukraine.
Founded in 1999, Melpomena Tavrii has presented 610 productions by around 230 theaters from more than 100 cities and more than 20 countries.
Kyiv Post spoke with festival president and artistic director of the Mykola Kulish Kherson Theatre Oleksandr Knyha about why the festival continues in one of Ukraine’s most dangerous cities, what theater means to Kherson residents today and why keeping the stage alive has become an act of resistance.
Oleksandr Knyha. (Photo via the M. Kulish Kherson Regional Academic Music and Drama Theater)
Kyiv Post: Melpomena Tavrii continues despite the war, and in extremely difficult conditions. Why is it so important to keep the festival in Kherson?
Oleksandr Knyha: In 2022, after we escaped occupied Kherson, I wrote on social media: “Melpomena will definitely take place in Ukrainian Kherson. Despite everything!”
As soon as the city was liberated, we returned and began restoring the theater. Our team was scattered across Ukraine and Europe, while some people remained in occupied Kherson. We created a format that allowed our friends to participate and, most importantly, helped us tell the world what was happening in our city.
The theater itself has been badly damaged. How do you work under these conditions?
We no longer work in our theater building because it is in a red zone. It has been heavily damaged and shelled, and we are trying to save it. Practically no windows remain. The roof is badly damaged.
On March 8, 2026, a rocket from a multiple-launch rocket system hit the theater roof. Had it landed about 10 centimeters higher, it would have hit the auditorium.
The team told me, “Let’s cancel the program. Nobody will come.”
I said, “No. We won’t cancel it. Even if one person comes, it will be therapy for that person.”
And the auditorium was full.
It turned out that even being destroyed, even having bombs falling around us, is not enough to stop us. We are needed.
People come to us like to a source – to drink healing water and keep going.
The play “D.I.M.” (Photo via the M. Kulish Kherson Regional Academic Music and Drama Theater)
So theater has become a form of psychological support?
Yes. I don’t want to use overly grand words, but it really is a mission. It is our duty and our responsibility to people.
VÁCLAV HAVEL: ‘UNVEILING’ IN NEW YORK AND CHICAGO · Sep 12th
(via Untitled Theater Company No. 61.)
Oct 1 to Oct 17
Unveiling in New York Tickets
October 1 – 17, Thu – Sat at 7pm, Sat at 3pm
at Torn Page
435 W. 22nd Street, New York, NY
(Only 25 seats/show, stairs, tickets by donation)
Mon October 5, 7pm
at Bohemian National Hall
321 E 73rd, New York, NY
Presented in cooperation with the Czech Center New York
Havel’s darkly comic critique of those who compromise their ethics for government favor, comes to the stage in a new production in honor of what would have been Havel’s 90th birthday. Havel’s signature character, Ferdinand Vaněk, visits the home of old friends who try to seduce him into making the same moral compromises they have made in exchange for small privileges. Havel’s wit and political undercurrents make Unveiling both hilariously uncomfortable and strikingly relevant—a farce that exposes the desperation of those who have lost their moral bearings.
Havel was both the former Czech President and the leader of the Velvet Revolution against Soviet rule in 1989. He is also one of the premiere absurdist playwrights of the 20th Century, as well as winner of multiple Obie Awards here in New York. This play was written in 1975 while his work was still banned in Czechoslovakia, and it was originally performed privately in living rooms.
The showing in Chicago is part of a Czech celebration, while the New York showings celebrate Havel’s 90th. The showing at Torn Page is in a similar theatrical condition to the original showings, in an intimate living room theater with less than 25 seats.
Tue September 22, 6:30pm
at the Chopin Theatre
1543 W Division St, Chicago
Presented in cooperation with the the Consulate General of The Czech Republic in Chicago
by Václav Havel
Translated by Jan Novak
Directed by Edward Einhorn
With: Craig Anderson, Bob Brader, Yvonne Roen
Costumes: Ramona Ponce
Stage Manager: Berit Johnson
Havel’s darkly comic critique of those who compromise their ethics for government favor, comes to the stage in a new production in honor of what would have been Havel’s 90th birthday. Havel’s signature character, Ferdinand Vaněk, visits the home of old friends who try to seduce him into making the same moral compromises they have made in exchange for small privileges. Havel’s wit and political undercurrents make Unveiling both hilariously uncomfortable and strikingly relevant—a farce that exposes the desperation of those who have lost their moral bearings.
Havel was both the former Czech President and the leader of the Velvet Revolution against Soviet rule in 1989. He is also one of the premiere absurdist playwrights of the 20th Century, as well as winner of multiple Obie Awards here in New York. This play was written in 1975 while his work was still banned in Czechoslovakia, and it was originally performed privately in living rooms.
“ANTI-GONE” BY NEEDS MORE WORK PRODUCTIONS IS GOING ON A REGIONAL TOUR · Sep 10th
(Via Sivan Raz; Photo: L to R: Erin Arnold as Creon, Sivan Raz as Antigone. Photo by Shir Ringer.)
Greek tragedy, reimagined. What would you have done?
“Best Tragedy” winner at the NYC Fringe Festival.
Extension Award to FRIGID NY’s “Little Shakespeare Festival”
Anti-Gone is a bold new adaptation of the beloved classic. Audiences take an active part in determining the results of the political drama, utilizing perhaps the most popular invention of Ancient Greece- the democratic vote. Anti-Gone is an immersive, choose-your-own-ending adaptation of Antigone by Sophocles, utilizing techniques from Augusto Boal’s Theater Of The Oppressed. A modern acting troupe battles with the strict societal values presented in Antigone. The only way to solve the puzzle is through a complete dismantling of the theatrical form and an honest discussion with you – the audience. Is a happy ending for Antigone’s story possible? Will we be able to find that which has not been found in the 2,500 years since the play’s premiere- a solution?
This show has received critical acclaim, described by the press as a “tight, energetic production—brimming with educational potential” and “not a simple retelling but a provocation”. Its original songs were recently seen on the Tony Award-winning stage of 54 Below. Anti-Gone is suitable for all ages.
Photo: L to R: Sivan Raz as Antigone, Camille van Putten, Olivia Hight, Shir Ringer, Alexa Adler as the Greek Chorus. Photo by Erin Arnold.
Anti-Gone was the most-awarded show of the 2025 NYC Fringe Festival, with 4 wins including Best Tragedy, a Sell-Out Award and an Extension Award to FRIGID NY’s “Little Shakespeare Festival”. This is Anti-Gone’s regional premiere.
Performance details:
1st leg of the tour: Preview performance at The RAT NYC, September 13th, 2026, 2:00PM. 68 Jay St Storefront, Brooklyn, NY 11201. Tickets are $25 at the following link: https://anti-gone-nyc.eventbrite.com
2nd leg of the tour: Performances at the ESL Rochester Fringe Festival, September 17th-20th, 2026, 5:00PM daily. The Biltmore Bar & Lounge, 47 State St, Rochester, NY, 14614. Tickets are $25 at the following link: https://rochesterfringe.com/tickets-and-shows/anti-gone.
3rd leg of the tour: Performances at the Scranton Fringe Festival, October 9th, 2026, 7:30PM & October 10th, 2026, 1:00PM and 5:30PM. Electric City Trolley Museum, 300 Cliff St, Scranton, PA, 18503. Tickets are $15 at the following link: https://scrantonfringe.org/events/anti-gone/
Cast & Crew:
Producing Organization – Needs More Work Productions.
Director, Producer, Composer, Antigone – Sivan Raz (Founding Artistic Director of Needs More Work Productions).
Choreographer – Gianna Vasquez Bartolini.
Arranger – Joni Griffith.
Music Director, Chorus Leader – Alexa Adler.
Dance Captain, Ismene – Camille van Putten.
Haemon – Olivia Hight.
Creon – Erin Arnold.
Teiresias, The Guard – Shir Ringer.
Translator – Ian Johnston.
Equity & Inclusion: The cast and crew of Anti-Gone is fully composed of women and non-binary/trans creatives. Within it, we are proud to present the stories of individuals of BIPOC and immigrant heritage and from the Disabled community. It has been one of our top goals throughout this process to interpret this classical play through the lens of communities who rarely get to present their own take on such tales, and we are thrilled to have a diverse cast of extremely talented creators. We are also able to offer a script perusal or audio introduction for Deaf/Hard Of Hearing & Blind/Low Vision patrons, email needsmoreworkproductions@gmail.com to inquire.
Needs More Work Productions creates spicy, bold, and colorful theater for a better tomorrow. Specializing in site-specific and immersive shows, they perform unique adaptations of beloved classics in the urban spaces of New York City. Needs More Work Productions’ shows center themes of social activism, creating thought-provoking conversations directly between audience members and performers. Said to “raise the bar for indie theater”, their philosophy of hopeful action is a standout in the NYC independent theater scene. The company is led by visionary Artistic Director, Sivan Raz.
Content Warnings: The show includes discussion of death, burial, execution, grief, arguments, police/army, war, suicide, religion based politics, sexism. No violence is presented onstage. Email needsmoreworkproductions@gmail.com for more information.
“EPSTEIN ORATORIO”–JEFFREY EPSTEIN FILES INSPIRE NEW PLAY (THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1 AND FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2 AT 7PM AT LA MAMA ) · Sep 8th
(via Don Summa, Richard Kornberg & Associates.)
LA MAMA ETC
PRESENTS TWO-NIGHT-ONLY READING OF
EPSTEIN ORATORIO
BY KAREN MALPEDE
STARRING KATHLEEN CHALFANT
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1 AND FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2
LANGUAGE OF THE EPSTEIN FILES
UNFOLDS AGAINST THE VIVID
STORYTELLING OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY
EVENT BENEFITS THE PUBLIC INTEGRITY PROJECT
ORGANIZATION SUING FOR RELEASE OF EPSTEIN FILES
La MaMa ETC announces that its two-night-only benefit reading of Karen Malpede’s Epstein Oratorio, directed by Alex Keegan, will take place on Thursday, October 1 and Friday, October 2 at 7pm at La MaMa’s Ellen Stewart Theatre, 66 East 4 Street. The reading stars Tony Award nominee and Drama Desk Award winner Kathleen Chalfant.
The event, which has been organized by Evangeline Morphos, Michal Gamily, and Julianne Hoffenberg, will benefit the Public Integrity Project, which is currently suing the U.S. Attorney General for the release of the Epstein Files (https://
Poetic and darkly comic, Epstein Oratorio, an exposé of the ‘Jeffrey Epstein class,’ unfolds against the myth of Demeter and Persephone. Hades presides over both the modern and mythic worlds while a male chorus speaks in language drawn directly from the Epstein files and mainstream media coverage. The victims’ stories are based on real accounts. By weaving fiction and myth, the play confronts the trauma of sexual violence and imagines the possibility of change.
The readings of Epstein Oratorio will be followed by brief talkbacks with Substack journalists Wajahat Ali and Ellie Leonard, who have done extensive research and written commentary on the Epstein files. The play, published by Tough Poets Review, will be available for sale at the event.
Karen Malpede is the author of 22 produced and published plays, and co-founder with her late husband, actor/producer George Bartenieff, of Theater Three Collaborative, an Obie Award winner for its I Will Bear Witness, the diaries of Victor Klemperer. She is the author of the new memoir, Last Radiance: Radical Lives, Bright Deaths. Epstein Oratorio is Malpede’s fourth major collaboration with Kathleen Chalfant.
For over 30 years Kathleen Chalfant has been one of the most respected actresses on the New York stage. She is the recipient of Drama Desk, Outer Critics’ Circle, Obie, Lucille Lortel, and Drama League Awards for her groundbreaking performance in off-Broadway’s Wit, and of a Tony nomination for her work in the landmark play Angels in America. In 2025 she received Best Actress honors from the National Society of Film Critics for her performance in the film Familiar Touch.
La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club is dedicated to the artist and all aspects of the theatre. La MaMa’s 65th Season, ONENESS, focuses on creating solidarity and community, exploring ways to build connections for cross-sector coalition and inviting artists, activists, organizers and community members into the creative process. We build audiences that are integral to the creative process. Our local and global community members who gather in our physical, digital, and hybrid spaces to see new work are often the first audience for that work. La MaMa believes art is a force for change.
La MaMa has been honored with 30+ Obie Awards, dozens of Drama Desk, Bessie Awards, Villager Awards, the 2018 Regional Theatre Tony Award, and most recently a 2023 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Special Citation. We are a creative home to artists and resident companies from around the world, many of whom have made lasting contributions to the arts, including Blue Man Group, Bette Midler, Ping Chong, Jackie Curtis, Robert De Niro, André De Shields, Adrienne Kennedy, Cole Escola, Bridget Everett, Harvey Fierstein, Diane Lane, Charlotte Brathwaite, Charles Ludlam, Haruna Lee, Tom Eyen, Spiderwoman Theater, Tadeusz Kantor, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, Meredith Monk, David and Amy Sedaris, Stephanie Hsu, Julie Taymor, Kazuo Ohno, Tom O’Horgan, Heather Christian, Andrei Serban, Liz Swados, and Andy Warhol. La MaMa’s vision of nurturing new artists and new work from all nations, cultures, races and identities remains as strong today as it was when Ellen Stewart first opened the doors in 1961. For more information, visit: lamama.org.
Epstein Oratorio plays for two nights only—Thursday, October 1 and Friday, October 2 at 7:00pm at La Mama’s Ellen Stewart Theatre, 66 East 4 Street. The running time is 45 minutes. Tickets are $40 general admission and $25 for students and seniors. Tickets and additional information are available by visiting https://lamama.org/
***** KING LEAR REVIEW – IAN MCDIARMID IS A TITANIC, HEARTBREAKING WONDER · Sep 7th
(Mark Lawson’s article appeared in the Guardian; From emperor to king … Ian McDiarmid as Lear at the Crucible theatre. Photograph: Johan Persson)
Crucible theatre, Sheffield
The 82-year-old actor gives a performance of absolute authenticity and clarity as the erratic demagogue in a uniformly impressive production
The word “nothing” is spoken four times in four lines in the opening scene of King Lear, among 30 uses across the play. This feels the key to Titus Halder’s Sheffield Crucible staging, which really makes something of nothingness, crowned by an unusually age-appropriate performer as the “fourscore and upward” English king: 82-year-old Ian McDiarmid.
The dark pit of Richard Kent’s design might be a nuclear after-blast. Like Peter Brook’s mid 20th-century stage and film versions, in a previous era of existentialist international tension, the interpretation radiates terminal uncertainty. Characters address pleas and prayers to “the gods” in the direction identified with heaven but with a growing knowing that nothing is there.
It is also clear that the kingdom Lear ruinously tries to divide between his three daughters is already past its rule-by date, probably due to his eccentric leadership. In a moment of apparent clarity during his mental decline, Lear says, “I will be jovial”, and this often unremarked line seems the base note to McDiarmid’s titanic performance.
Fode Simbo as Edmund and Katie Wimpenny as Goneril. Photograph: Johan Persson
Giggling dirtily when speculating about his daughters having “issue”, he grins manically out of sync with situations. His threat to inflict “terrors” on the world even though he “does not know yet” what they are is not, as often, the forgetfulness of dementia but political bullshitting that wins a knowing laugh from the audience. Leaving his court unsure what he will say or do next, the erratic head of state is also transactional, giving real chill to the dismissal of the banished Cordelia: “Her price has fallen.”
But, while it might be no surprise if this Lear suddenly imposed tariffs on France, the portrait of power is much broader: this demagogue, unfashionably, admits fault and reaches forgiveness.
The acting paradox of Lear is that the textual extreme physical frailty must co-exist with the ability to carry Cordelia’s corpse and the vocal depth to serve the dense poetry. Because of this, middle-aged actors are often cast.
birth-date realism raises obvious risks, McDiarmid perfectly combines bodily authenticity (the problem of transporting the dead daughter cleverly sidestepped) with absolute verbal clarity on the required range from explosion to self-reflective emotion. When Lear’s heart broke, so did mine.
‘QUEENSBRIDGE’ BY MARLIN THOMAS (REVIEW FROM NEW YORK) · Sep 1st
By Bob Shuman
Queensbridge, by Marlin Thomas (now playing at Theater for the New City’s Dream Up Festival, until 9/13–schedule below), is a history of disenfranchisement, an embrace of the rejected: evictions, robberies, murders, exhaustion—a pileup of the disremembered. What unites the characters—for they are real people, in real life, across generations–is their government housing complex, Queensbridge, just a ride away on the F train in NYC, to Queens—actually, the largest group of residential housing in North America, with 7,000 tenants: missing fathers, broken families, discrimination, unemployment, unpaid rent, dislocations, and soul abandonment, drugs. Urban planning on steroids.
The play is a gauge of acceptance and shame; its set, in the TNC lower-level Cabaret theater, is only six second-hand chairs—but its lackluster washed-out setting is a microcosm of seating for multitudes. A table. A laptop. A projection of the greenery at the entrance to the apartments, where a jazz bass is playing. DeMone Seaphin has directed the ensemble for choreographic, double-fisted acting (theater students might want to become aware of the scenes and monologues, in Queensbridge, for auditions). American pain. The narrator, Pharaoh (Lionel Russell) looks directly at us, yet the impression is not one of discomfort or intimidation, from the audience’s point of view, but rather, of witnessing. His wingman is Jeremy (Jamil Denard Jr.): he’s a big young man (a very big young man)—wouldn’t want to run into him in a dark alley. But, to his credit, he does love his Mama.
Thomas is embracing everything society wants to reject—the people we move away from on mass transit, the errant, from New York public schools—where little more than half of students, from grades 3-8 are proficient in English or math (and the cost per student is the highest in the country: $35, 796 per pupil in 2024). Wait till they have to do paperwork. The temptation is to see Queensbridge in terms of the past—through the genius of James Baldwin or Claude Brown. Even Thomas might be called by the faraway designation of neorealist, a documentary investigator, examining the intersection of poverty and social reality. The uncomfortable truth, which doesn’t seem to have a genre yet, is the unappealing recognition, that people belong to machines, are tuned out, long gone. Right now: compliant, distracted, or listless—some sociologist’s success story somewhere must have been to keep the subways quiet and, possibly, safer.
Devices; muscle shirts; rings; necklaces; sunglasses in the collar openings; small earphones, not buds; flowers, a florist balloon; in a row, under the grab rails: brand-new running and walking shoes; sandals; shorts; jeans; baseball hats; t-shirts; a man kisses his son on the head; acne scars on a wide face. The first sight of a tattoo is at 42nd Street; green hair at 8th Street. How can all that life be so humbled?
Maybe Thomas knows all that. He’s talking to me, in the theater lobby: “If you want to shout or make noise, during the performance, go ahead.” A woman keeps saying, “O.K.” (near the box office). Thomas has actually lived at Queensbridge, this monstrosity, most of his life. He writes about the honor a young person can try to have, even when there is nothing. He also writes about the luxury of honor. A “wonderful” call comes in: “A lady saw Queensbridge last night: Just wanted to tell you how she loved the performance.” Yet the characters may be the people we must move away from on mass transit (Deric Gochenauer’s enactment of motor stereotypy, or the like), similar to the co-dependent women in Tennessee Williams’s visceral play The Mutilated (that feeling of stale booze and sweat, you want to take a shower after seeing). Queensbridge, is comparable, also, to Grenfell, the story of the tower apartments fire, which ripped through low-income housing, in London, in 2017, the basis of Gillian Slovo’s 2023 verbatim play. Queensbridge, however, is smaller, more pent up.
Ashley Victoria Scott, is the quilter, Mrs. Treadway, in the drama, a poignant role: “No one’s telling my story but me”; “white people writing about black people don’t seem right.” The petty thieves, thugs of the Manfredos (played by Gochenauer and Levi Buckmaster, as Tony—he’s carrying a baseball bat). Mr. Rosenberg (Sheldon Young) sees money can be made, hauling goods floor to floor. The bureaucrat (Wayne Miller): the Voice of NYCHA. A young woman of today, the Interviewer, getting an A for her academic project on the development complex, the projects, the low-income housing (Sherell Williams). What’s stable for a kid in the world of public housing? Not the Bungalow ice cream truck, which stopped coming. Not the fire hydrants, on a hot summer like this, which you can’t break into and turn on yourself anymore. Only the cops will come consistently, when a fire alarm is pulled.
O.K.
I am talking to a public librarian now, in the Bronx, who is agreeing with my choice of a two-year lease renewal—he did the same recently, a time-saver. He thinks it’s less of a hassle with the landlord. Summer is the busiest rental and moving season in the city, but nothing is changing in Queensbridge.
I should say that I recommend the show; it is the kind of work, with a social vision, which I find important.
I am also writing to Ms. LaSalle, at the New York Department of Finance, to renew a Rent Freeze: “I hope you are well. I am sending you my new lease (a two year lease), effective 11/1, 2026 through 10/31, 2028, so that my Rent Freeze records can be updated . . .
I have decided to stay, in my current apartment, two more years.”
(c) 2026 by Bob Shuman. All rights reserved.
Visit Theater for the New City.
“Queensbridge” by Marlin Thomas, directed by DeMone Seraphin
World Premiere, 75 min.
Cabaret Theater, $15
8/29@ 8:00 PM, 8/30 @ 2:00 PM, 8/30 5:00 PM, 9/5 @ 5:00 PM, 9/8 @ 9:00 PM, 9/10 @ 6:30 PM, 9/11 @ 9:00 PM, 9/12 5:00 PM, 9/13 @ 2:00 PM
Queensbridge is the largest public housing project in North America.This production renders it through an oral history project that became a play.
During an oral history interview, a decades-long resident of the nation’s largest housing project recounts the trauma of living there, his complicity in it, and his attempt at redemption. A man called Pharaoh holds court for an interviewer recording the history of his home. Around him, the neighbors of six decades return. Each interview is a record of how a person arrives in a place like this and what the place makes of them. The play is political but not partisan. Threaded through every memory is the Voice of NYCHA — the smooth, official account of the development, contradicted line-by-line by the people who actually lived there. https://QueensbridgeStagePlay.US
INFLUENTIAL HUMANISTS: THE WINNERS OF THE GOETHE MEDAL 2026 · Aug 28th
(Elizabeth Grenier’s report appeared on DW, 8/28. Agents of intercultural dialogue: documentary theater director Prodromos Tsinikoris)
The prestigious German cultural award recognizes the artistic work and commitment to cultural dialogue of Arvo Pärt, Anita Raja and Prodromos Tsinikoris.
Prodromos Tsinikoris: Documentary theater as a bridge between cultures
Born in the West German city of Wuppertal in 1981 as the son of Greek labor migrants, Prodromos Tsinikoris is one of the leading voices in contemporary Greek and European theater.
As a theater director, actor and dramaturg, he creates documentary productions exploring the themes of migration, social inequality and historical perspectives.
His audio walk “In the middle of the street” centers on homeless people during Greece’s financial crisis.
The documentary theater production “Clean City,” co-created with Anestis Azas, focuses onthe lives of migrant cleaners, juxtaposing their personal testimonies with the rhetoric of neo-fascist movements who want to “clean” Greece of its foreigners and refugees.
In the play “96%” Tsinikoris deals with the Holocaust of the Jews of Thessaloniki and the looting of their property during the Nazi occupation.
From 2015 to 2020, Tsinikoris directed the Experimental Stage at the National Theater in Athens. Today, he is co-curator of the International Forest Festival in Thessaloniki and teaches at the National Theater’s directing school in Athens.
Many of Tsinikoris’ plays have been developed and presented in Germany. His work has also circulated broadly across Europe, particularly through documentary theater festivals and major public theaters.
Edited by: Brenda Haas
HOW HARRY POTTER HELPED A UKRAINIAN POW SURVIVE 4 YEARS IN RUSSIAN CAPTIVITY o · Aug 26th
(Yulia Zhukova’s report appeared on Radio Liberty/ Radio Free Europe 8/25/26.)
For four years in Russian captivity, Ukrainian marine Oleksandr Ivanov retold the entire Harry Potter series from memory to his fellow prisoners. The defender of Mariupol says the stories gave them something to look forward to. After his release in a prisoner exchange, Ivanov received a letter from the author of the books, J.K. Rowling. But, he says, he wishes he had never had a reason to receive it.
DOLLY PARTON (1946-2026) · Aug 26th
(Caroline Sullivan’s article appeared in the Guardian, 8/25/2026; Photo: Thomas Funeral Home.)
Glamorous and astute singer-songwriter whose bountiful talent had an appeal reaching far beyond her country roots
The singer Dolly Parton, who has died aged 80 after suffering from cancer, had a ready fund of quips, most mercilessly self-deprecating. “It takes a lot of money to look this cheap” was perhaps the most famous, and undoubtedly the one that best captured her appetite for glitz and mischief. Bountiful talent as a singer and songwriter was the bedrock of her success, but her wit and maximalist approach also charmed the public. She was a much-loved figure even to those who knew none of her music apart from the huge hits Jolene and I Will Always Love You: at the Glastonbury festival in 2014, she attracted what was reportedly the largest crowd in its history.
“Borderline absurd” was the Guardian’s approving verdict on that show, during which Parton tooted a rhinestone saxophone and improvised a song called Mud (her crystal-studded white suit survived the weather unsullied). But that was just a workaday gig for a character who was always “on” in public. Ebullient and warm by nature, she created a persona that had no real precedent in country music – she was a fantasy figure who was also very real. The exterior fakery, modelled on “a whore or a high-class prostitute, not even so much high-class”, as she told Rolling Stone in 1980, was grounded by deep intelligence and honesty.
While many of her songs covered classic misery territory – shamed single mothers, sickly children – she was the anomalous star whose own life was happy. Once she was able to, she helped others: from 1988, local schoolchildren, from 1995, through a book reading programme that went international, and later with aid for people affected by wildfires and hurricanes, and medical research. Parton’s appeal was multi-generational and boundary-defying; one of the first country stars to cross over, she played a major role in taking the genre into the mainstream.
She often used her figure to her advantage, saying in 2010: “I developed fast and by the time I was 15 or 16, I realised the effect it had on men.” She ignored advice to play down the sexiness, feeling it an expression of her natural ebullience. Maximising it by wearing clothes cut to emphasise what the New Yorker called “breasts like launching missiles” probably did not hurt her chances when she moved to Nashville at 18 to find a record deal. She was soon taken on as a songwriter by Combine Publishing, and at 19 signed by Monument Records as an artist.
Despite getting a foot on the ladder quickly, she came up against Nashville’s then-characteristic treatment of female singers. They were viewed as adjuncts to men, as Parton experienced during eight years from 1967 as sidekick to the musician Porter Wagoner on his popular TV variety show.
Becoming a familiar television face had only a middling effect on her record sales at first – her own releases were usually outsold by the 20 duets she released with Wagoner. The last laugh in their partnership was hers, however. Leaving in 1974 to go fully solo, she wrote I Will Always Love You as a farewell to him. It was successful as a single for her, and attracted the attention of Elvis Presley, who wanted to record it but demanded 50% of the publishing rights. She refused, and had cause to be glad she did. Covered by Whitney Houston for the soundtrack to her film The Bodyguard in 1992, it became one of the best-selling singles of all time, earning Parton enough, she said, “to buy Graceland”.
Wagoner had invited her to join the show when he heard Dumb Blonde (1967), her first song to reach the charts. It admonished those who failed to see past her flashy facade: “Just because I’m blonde, don’t think I’m dumb / ’Cause this dumb blonde ain’t nobody’s fool.” Once she had invented the persona, she was always the first to joke about it, even titling a 2008 album Backwoods Barbie. There were endless gags about whether she was supporting her breasts or they were supporting her, and even more about their effect on others: “They were holding me backstage – they kept wanting to see my IDs. Well, I think they wanted to see IDs – maybe it was just double-Ds,” she told the audience at the 2017 Screen Actors Guild awards, where she presented Lily Tomlin with a lifetime achievement award.
The sharp brain under the platinum wig calculated how much bawdiness she could ladle on, but it was her ability as a singer, writer and multi-instrumentalist that made her Nashville’s best-known female export. A soprano with a remarkable vibrato and east Tennessee twang, she could sound airy or weighed down by sorrow; either way, her voice was among the most recognisable in music. It fetched her 10 Grammy awards, 11 from the Academy of Country Music and numerous others, including a Golden Raspberry for worst original song from a film. The offending item was a track called Drinkenstein, written by Parton for the 1984 comedy Rhinestone, but performed by its star, Sylvester Stallone.
Her childhood sounds like the plot of a country song, which it was – the singles Coat of Many Colors (1971) and My Tennessee Mountain Home (1973) were based on her early years in the isolated Smoky Mountains hamlet of Locust Ridge. She was born in the small town of Pittman Center and raised “in a little log cabin on the banks of the Little Pigeon River”, the fourth of 11 children (a 12th, Larry, died soon after birth) of Avie Lee (nee Owens) and Robert Lee Parton. Her part-Cherokee mother kept house and her father was a tobacco farmer and sometime construction worker.