Broadway stagehand strike over!
NEW YORK, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- The stagehand strike that shut down most of Broadway for nearly three weeks ended Wednesday night.
"The League of American Theaters and Producers and Local One of the I.A.T.S.E. are pleased to announce that a tentative agreement has been reached ending the Broadway strike," said a statement posted on the league's Web site.
"Performances will resume Thursday evening, Nov. 29."
Without providing details, League Executive Director Charlotte St. Martin called the deal "a good compromise that serves our industry."
"What is most important is that Broadway's lights will once again shine brightly, with a diversity of productions that will delight all theatergoers during this holiday time," Martin said in a statement. "We look forward to celebrating the season and welcoming our talented stagehands, and the theatergoing public, back to Broadway."
Local One President James J. Claffey Jr. added "the people of Broadway are looking forward to returning to work, giving the theatergoing public the joy of Broadway, the greatest entertainment in the world."
Most of Broadway has been dark since the stagehands struck Nov. 10.
The two sides had been locked in a dispute regarding the number of stagehands needed to open a show and keep it running.
International writers back WGA
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- Scribes in Berlin, Montreal, Toronto, Paris, Amsterdam, London, Sydney and Madrid marched in support of the striking Writers Guild of America Wednesday.
The International Affiliation of Writers Guilds issued a call for a day of action to support the WGA, which has been on strike since Nov. 5, at its meeting in Montreal earlier this month.
"Many writers struggle to make a living, yet the film studios and TV networks stand to make billions of dollars when writers' successful scripts are published on DVD or are downloaded from the Internet. All the writers are asking for is a fairer share of the huge profits to be made," said Brendan Barber -- of the Trade Union Congress of Britain, which represents nearly 7 million workers in 66 affiliated unions -- in a statement posted on the WGA Web site.
WGA picketers also held their own international solidarity event in Burbank Wednesday.
Screenwriter Jean-Yves Pitoun, a French native and WGA West member said: "Europeans are very carefully watching the writers, actors and directors in the (United States) because Rupert Murdoch is everywhere. Our negotiations with him here will have consequences for writers in Europe."
Green card, marriage focus of new TV show
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- A new TV reality show called "'Who Wants to Marry a U.S. Citizen?" is in the works, the show's producers, Morusa Media, have announced.
The series, which is being distributed independently, aims to orchestrate marriages between U.S. citizens and immigrants who have temporary visas.
Similar to the "Dating Game," one bachelorette, a U.S. citizen seeking a spouse, will interview three bachelors who are immigrants with temporary visas.
Towards the end of the show, she decides which bachelor she would marry, the producers said.
"We're out to prove love knows no borders," Adrian Martinez, creator of the show said in a statement. "Besides, that's what America is all about -- a multi-cultural nation."
Host Angelo Gonzales said the show makes it clear to all contestants that it does not guarantee marriage or legal status, but will pay for a wedding party and honeymoon should the show culminate in a marriage.
"We're just out to play matchmaker," Gonzales said. "There are thousands of U.S. citizens seeking a spouse, and just as many immigrants seeking the same. So we want to make it a win-win situation for all involved."
Late author Mailer wins 'bad sex' prize
LONDON, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- U.S. author Norman Mailer is the first writer to posthumously win Literary Review's Bad Sex in Fiction Award, the BBC reported.
The review presents the prize in an attempt to discourage writers from writing dreadful scenes of passion. It is bestowed upon the author of a bad passage in an otherwise well-written book.
Mailer, who died last month at the age of 84, earned the distinction for his lamentable description of an encounter in his recent novel, "The Castle in the Forest."
Four hundred guests turned out to toast Mailer's memory at a recent ceremony in London.
"We were sure he would have taken the prize in good humor," the judges told the BBC.
Jeanette Winterston's and David Thewlis' pitiable literary portrayals of sex were also nominated for the award and the offending passages from their novels were read aloud by actresses at the prize presentation.
