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Billy Porter makes peace with himself: 'I set myself free, honey. No more secrets'

Billy Porter attends the 2020 Vanity Fair Oscar Party. "Fabulous and serious can go hand in hand. I am proof positive of that," he says. Frazer Harrison/Getty Images hide caption

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Author Interviews

Billy Porter makes peace with himself: 'I set myself free, honey. No more secrets'

Fresh Air

Fourteen years after his initial diagnosis, the Pose actor revealed publicly that he is HIV-positive. Porter says being open about his health status felt like a rebirth. His new memoir is Unprotected.

Billy Porter makes peace with himself: 'I set myself free, honey. No more secrets'

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Boston Modern Orchestra Project is honored for championing overlooked American music

Gil Rose and Boston Modern Orchestra Project recording in Mechanics Hall, Worcester, Mass. Chuck Furlong/Boston Modern Orchestra Project hide caption

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Chuck Furlong/Boston Modern Orchestra Project

Deceptive Cadence

Boston Modern Orchestra Project is honored for championing overlooked American music

The Gramophone Classical Music Awards recognized the group known as BMOP for its extraordinary service to overlooked American composers of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Boston Modern Orchestra Project is honored for championing overlooked American music

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A new museum in Nashville centers the artistry of Black musicians

The National Museum of African American Music, in Nashville. NMAAM/353 Media Group hide caption

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NMAAM/353 Media Group

Music

A new museum in Nashville centers the artistry of Black musicians

Nashville has long been associated with country music. But a museum devoted to African-American music, which opened earlier this year, sets the record straight about the city's diversity

A new museum in Nashville centers the artistry of Black musicians

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This new Broadway play doesn't have a script — but it does have a transcript

Will Cobbs and Pete Simpson play FBI agents interrogating Emily Davis's Reality Winner, in Is This a Room. Chad Batka hide caption

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Chad Batka

Theater

This new Broadway play doesn't have a script — but it does have a transcript

Is This a Room is based entirely on the transcript of the FBI interrogation of Reality Winner, the former NSA contractor who was imprisoned for leaking classified information.

This new Broadway play doesn't have a script — but it does have a transcript

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Pianist Simone Dinnerstein illuminates a lifetime in art with a new multimedia concert

Simone Dinnerstein in dress rehearsal for The Eye Is the First Circle. Maria Baranova/courtesy of Peak Performances hide caption

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Maria Baranova/courtesy of Peak Performances

Music Interviews

Pianist Simone Dinnerstein illuminates a lifetime in art with a new multimedia concert

The eloquent pianist used a work break imposed by the pandemic to learn something new: stage directing, a skill set she put to use in creating a multimedia recital.

Pianist Simone Dinnerstein illuminates a lifetime in art with a new multimedia concert

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Here are the White House's picks to lead the National Arts and Humanities Endowments

Left: Shelly C. Lowe, nominee for the chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Right: Maria Rosario Jackson, nominee for the National Endowment for the Arts chair Chris Richards; Photo courtesy of Maria Rosario Jackson/The National Endowment for the Humanities; the National Endowment for the Arts hide caption

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Chris Richards; Photo courtesy of Maria Rosario Jackson/The National Endowment for the Humanities; the National Endowment for the Arts

Arts & Life

Here are the White House's picks to lead the National Arts and Humanities Endowments

The White House has announced its nominees for the next Chairs of the National Arts and Humanities Endowments. If confirmed, the NEH pick would become the first Native American to become chair.

You Are What You Cook

Michelle Zauner (L) of Japanese Breakfast performs with drummer Craig Hendrix at the Intersect music festival at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds on December 07, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images hide caption

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Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images

Code Switch

You Are What You Cook

In her memoir, Crying In H Mart, released earlier this year, author and musician Michelle Zauner explores how cooking helped her understand her identity as a Korean American after her mother's death.

You Are What You Cook

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Terence Blanchard's Met Opera Debut Is A Singular Achievement And A Shared Success

Rather than a heroic journey, the story at the center of Blanchard's opera is one of self-discovery, with an assured, tactile specificity which includes a boistrous fraternity step routine that opens Act III. Ken Howard/Met Opera hide caption

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Ken Howard/Met Opera

Review

Editors' Picks

Terence Blanchard's Met Opera Debut Is A Singular Achievement And A Shared Success

WBGO

The composer's magnetically powerful Fire Shut Up in My Bones lands with a force of authenticity, a too-rare window into Black life in an operatic setting.

'Dear Evan Hansen' Actor Ben Platt Escapes From Anxiety By Being In The Spotlight

Ben Platt won a Tony award in 2017 for his starring role in Dear Evan Hansen. Now he's starring in a new film adaptation of the musical. Brian Ach/Invision/AP hide caption

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Brian Ach/Invision/AP

Movie Interviews

'Dear Evan Hansen' Actor Ben Platt Escapes From Anxiety By Being In The Spotlight

Fresh Air

Platt frequently worries about the past and what's to come, but there's one place where his anxiety tends to subside. "Being on stage, for me, is kind of the antidote to that," he says.

'Dear Evan Hansen' Actor Ben Platt Escapes From Anxiety By Being In The Spotlight

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Terence Blanchard Makes History At The Metropolitan Opera

Will Liverman (center) as Charles in Terence Blanchard's Fire Shut Up in My Bones. Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera hide caption

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Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera

Music

Terence Blanchard Makes History At The Metropolitan Opera

Fire Shut Up in My Bones, based on the Charles M. Blow memoir of the same title, is the first work by a Black composer to be staged by the Metropolitan Opera.

Terence Blanchard Makes History At The Metropolitan Opera

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4 Things To Know Ahead Of The 2021 Tony Awards

Audra McDonald and Leslie Odom Jr. will host different parts of the Tony Awards broadcast on Sept. 26: the awards ceremony and the following two-hour celebration of Broadway's return, respectively. Associated Press hide caption

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Associated Press

Theater

4 Things To Know Ahead Of The 2021 Tony Awards

The 74th Annual Tony Awards will be presented on Sunday, September 26 more than 15 months after they were previously scheduled. But these pandemic Tonys are by no means business as usual.

4 Things To Know Ahead Of The 2021 Tony Awards

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COVID Forever? Plus, Broadway's Back

People attending "The Lion King" arrive at the door as numerous Broadway shows re-open for the first time since closing in March 2020 on September 14, 2021 in New York City. Spencer Platt/Getty Images hide caption

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Spencer Platt/Getty Images

It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders

COVID Forever? Plus, Broadway's Back

Ever since the pandemic hit, life has been split into two timelines: before the pandemic and after the pandemic. But when will the "after" truly be after? Or will some version of the coronavirus be around... forever? Sam talks to The Atlantic staff writer Katherine Wu about continuing to live with some version of COVID-19. Plus, Sam talks to playwright Heidi Schreck and actress Cassie Beck, who are currently in rehearsals for the upcoming tour of the Broadway play What The Constitution Means to Me. As live theater returns, they talk about what the last 18 months have been like and how theater has changed for the long term.

COVID Forever? Plus, Broadway's Back

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To The Stage: After A Year Away, Broadway Is Back

People wait to attend the Broadway musical "Hamilton" after showing their vaccination cards on September 14, 2021 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Consider This from NPR

To The Stage: After A Year Away, Broadway Is Back

After a year away, Broadway's lights are back on. Some of the biggest productions have returned for vaccinated and masked audiences. From "Wicked" to "Chicago" to "Hamilton," theaters in New York are open at 100 percent capacity.

To The Stage: After A Year Away, Broadway Is Back

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