Arts & Lectures
2005-2006 Performing Arts Season News Release
For Immediate Release

February 28, 2006

Frank Rich, columnist for The New York Times, to deliver the lecture On Art, Culture and Politics at UCSB Campbell Hall

Summary Facts:

Esteemed author and New York Times columnist Frank Rich will speak on the intersection of news and pop-culture in his presentation On Art, Culture and Politics on Sunday, April 9 at 4 pm at UCSB Campbell Hall. His lecture will provide an interesting commentary on the cultural basis of current political and social debates. During his work over the past 25 years with The New York Times, Rich has gained prominence as a savvy political analyst. The New York Times Book Review has said, “There’s no denying that he’s an impressive writer and thinker.”

Many of Frank Rich’s critiques examine the ways popular culture shapes our political world. Rich has said he is “less interested in an ideological debate and the punditry that comes out of Washington where everything is seen as liberal versus conservative, Democrat versus Republicans” than he is interested in understanding the cultural phenomena that are the keys to understanding our society.

Rich gained notoriety when he was named chief theater critic for The Times in 1980 and was not so affectionately referred to as the “Butcher of Broadway.” As The Rocky Mountain News states, this gained him a “reputation of being able to shut down a Broadway show with a single bad review.” In 1989 he had a particularly infamous public dispute with British playwright David Hare after panning Hare’s play The Secret Rapture, leading to the show closing after a 10-day run. Although Rich attacked Hare’s direction more than his writing, Hare responded in print (thanks to famous—and very angry—producer Joe Papp releasing a private letter by Hare to Variety) arguing that Rich had an obligation to be a booster of dramatic theater.

In 1994 Rich became not only an Op-Ed writer, but also the first Times columnist to publish a regular double-length column for the Op-Ed page. From 2003-2005, his essays on the interconnectedness of politics and culture were on the front page of the Sunday Arts & Leisure section. He has also served as Senior Writer for The New York Times Magazine and Senior Advisor to The Times cultural editor for the paper’s overall cultural news report.

In addition to his work as a columnist, Rich has written several other publications. In 2000, his childhood memoir Ghost Light was published by Random House, and the film rights to the memoir have been acquired by Storyline Entertainment. James Ellroy has said, “Ghost Light is a superb memoir—rich in anecdote, dense in theme.” Hot Seat: Theater Criticism for The New York Times, 1980-1993, a collection of Rich’s drama reviews, was also published by Random House in October 1998. And in 1987 Knopf published his book co-authored with Lisa Aronson titled The Theater Art of Boris Aronson.

Before joining The Times, Rich was a film and television critic at Time magazine. Earlier, he had been film critic for the New York Post and film critic and senior editor of New Times magazine. He was a founding editor of the Richmond (Va.) Mercury, a weekly newspaper, in the early 1970s.

Courtesy of Borders, pre-signed books by Frank Rich will be available for purchase at the event.

Frank Rich is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and sponsored by KCLU Public Radio and with support from Nancy Walker Koppelman and Larry Koppelman. Tickets for the event are $25 for the general public and $15 for UCSB students, who must show valid ID when purchasing tickets and at the door. Ticket prices are subject to convenience fees. Tickets are on sale now and can also be purchased at the door, if still available.

For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.

Editor: For photos, please call
George Yatchisin at (805) 893-3494.

©2006 UCSB Arts & Lectures, University of California, Santa Barbara