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New York University's independent student newspaper, established in 1973.

Washington Square News

New York University's independent student newspaper, established in 1973.

Washington Square News

New York University's independent student newspaper, established in 1973.

Washington Square News

Alex Cullina

Alex Cullina, Theatre & Books Editor

Alex Cullina is the Theatre & Books Editor for WSN. A native Clevelander, he is a junior studying English and History in CAS. Growing up in Ohio before coming to New York, he’s very defensive of the Midwest, despite its many (many) flaws. Beside keeping up with the best in new film and TV, you can often find him curled up with a good book or the latest issue of The New Yorker.

All content by Alex Cullina
Left to right: guitarist Brian Robert Jones, Ezra Koenig, Chris Baio and touring guitarist Greta Morgan, of Vampire Weekend. The band played an impromptu acoustic show in Washington Square Park on the release day of their new album "Father of the Bride." (Staff photo by Katie Peurrung)

Vampire Weekend Plays Surprise WSP Set

The Grammy-winning indie rock group played an acoustic set in Washington Square Park earlier today, the same day they released their first album in six years.
Alex Cullina, Theater & Books Editor May 3, 2019

Indie rock royalty Vampire Weekend played an impromptu acoustic set this afternoon in Washington Square Park to a small, hushed crowd. The band played a mix of classics and...

Molly Shannon and Susan Ziegler in "Wild Nights with Emily." The new biographical comedy-drama depicts the love affair between poet Emily Dickinson and her sister-in-law and muse Susan Huntington Dickinson with warmth and humor. (via P2 Films)

Tisch Alum’s Film Shines New Light on Emily Dickinson

Writer and director Madeleine Olnek’s new dramedy “Wild Nights with Emily” uses relatively recent insights into the poet’s private life.
Alex Cullina, Theater & Books Editor April 17, 2019

Everyone knows the story of the 19th-century American poet Emily Dickinson: she was a spinster and a recluse, and she wrote her poems without intending for them to ever be published. “People...

The movie poster for Moonlight, an A24 film. (via A24)

Unpopular Opinion: A24 Films

Before you watch “Under the Silver Lake,” let’s revisit past A24 films and break down if they’re really as good as Tisch kids say they are.

Over the past few years, indie film studio A24 has taken over the independent movie zeitgeist, and certainly captured the love of the NYU community to the point where everyone...

The Gallatin Arts Festival runs April 8-12. The showcase of work by Gallatin undergraduates celebrates the school's unique interdisciplinary approach, focusing on work that straddles themes and media. (Staff Photo by Min Ji Kim)

Gallatin Arts Fest Embodies School’s Unique Spirit

The annual showcase of visual and performing arts work by Gallatin students celebrates the school’s interdisciplinary academics and community spirit.
Alex Cullina, Theater & Books Editor April 8, 2019

The 26th annual Gallatin Arts Festival, a weeklong showcase of artwork and performances by students in the Gallatin School of Individualized Study, kicks off tonight with a gallery...

A scene from "Dinner for Schmucks," a remake of the French comedy "Le Dîner de Cons." (via Paramount)

Unpopular Opinions: Remakes and Reboots

With A24’s “Gloria Bell,” the remake of the Chilean film “Gloria,” receiving a lot of early praise, the Arts Desk is looking at other remakes and reboots that are also up to par with, or better than, their predecessors.

From “A Star Is Born” to the upcoming live-action “The Lion King,” remakes and reboots have been mainstays in Hollywood for decades. Though it is easy to immediately discredit...

Sofia Alvarez, a playwright, screenwriter and professor in Tisch’s Department of Dramatic Writing. She co-founded the Blockchain Theater Project, a theater company that seeks to dismantle institutional barriers in theater. (Photo by Min Ji Kim)

Dramatic Writing Professor Brings Blockchain to Theater

Sofia Alvarez, a Tisch professor and the screenwriter of Netflix’s “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” is the co-founder of the Blockchain Theater Project, which draws on blockchain’s peer-to-peer model to dismantle the institutional barriers of the theater world.
Alex Cullina, Theater and Books Editor March 4, 2019

It was late 2017, the height of the bitcoin boom, and Sofia Alvarez, playwright, screenwriter and professor in Tisch’s Department of Dramatic Writing, was looking for a way to...

A self portrait by photographer Diane Arbus. Her work is a partial inspiration for "Fiction," a new experimental theater piece written and directed by 600 Highwaymen that questions fundamental assumptions about theater and art. (via facebook.com)

Tisch’s ‘Fiction’ Asks, ‘What Does It Mean to Be a Spectator?’

The new performance piece, written and directed by theatermakers 600 Highwaymen, explores the nature of art and spectatorship through the work of photographer Diane Arbus.
Alex Cullina, Theater & Books Editor February 28, 2019

What is theater? What is performance? What does it mean to watch? To be watched? Tisch Drama Stage’s “Fiction,” running through March 2 at Tisch’s Abe Burrows Theater,...

A view from the street of Steve Locke's “A Partial List of Unarmed African-Americans who were Killed By Police..." Locke's work examines the intersection of the personal and the political, addressing his own inescapable connection to oppressive power structures like racism and homophobia.(Staff Photo by Julia McNeill)

Gallatin Galleries Show Meditates on Sexuality, Masculinity, Race

In “Steve Locke: in the name of love,” the multimedia artist ponders what it means to be black and gay in America today.
Alex Cullina, Books & Theater Editor February 25, 2019

Steve Locke isn’t just angry. The artist’s work, spanning painting, sculpture, prints and other media, foregrounds the connections between anger, power, shame, desire and love....

Students in the production of “Rags”. (Courtesy of NYU Steinhardt)

Steinhardt’s ‘Rags’: A Tale of Trump’s America, 100 Years Ago

Steinhardt presents the newest version of an emotionally stirring musical tale of Jewish immigrants in turn-of-the-century New York City.
Alex Cullina, Books & Theater Editor February 11, 2019

Immigrants seek a better life for their children in the United States Unsympathetic government officials attempt to separate a mother and her child. Xenophobic nativists demand...

Terrance Hayes, poet and NYU professor, gave a reading at the Lillian Vernon Creative Writing House last Thursday. (Courtesy of the MacArthur Foundation)

Terrance Hayes Talks Trump, Teaching at NYU

At the Lillian Vernon Creative Writing House, the award-winning poet and NYU professor read published and unpublished work from a series he started after the 2016 election.
Alex Cullina, Books & Theater Editor February 4, 2019

Terrance Hayes, the acclaimed poet and NYU Creative Writing professor, came to NYU’s Lillian Vernon Creative Writing House on Thursday for a discussion and reading of some of...

via flickr.com

Unpopular Opinions: ‘Black Mirror’

The first spring 2019 edition of one of the Arts Desk’s acclaimed weekly series deals out hot takes on Netflix’s Emmy-winning sci-fi series.
Alex Cullina, Guru Ramanathan and Nicole Rosenthal January 30, 2019

Technology in the 21st century: what’s not to love? From smartphones and supercomputers to virtual reality and artificial intelligence, technology has radically altered our way...

Still from "Gatz" the eight-hour-long theater adaptation of "The Great Gatsby" playing at Skirball until Feb. 3. (Photo courtesy of Elevator Repair Service)

‘Gatz’ at Skirball: ‘Gatsby’ Reimagined for the Stage

Elevator Repair Service’s staged reading of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel is a great work in its own right.
Alex Cullina, Books & Theater Editor January 28, 2019

Everyone knows the story of “The Great Gatsby,” one of romantic obsession, obscene wealth, free-flowing booze despite Prohibition — and that iconic green light. But you’ve...

Melissa Lozada-Oliva

Melissa Lozada-Oliva

Doesn't Want to Be Relatable
Alex Cullina, Books & Theatre Editor October 11, 2018

Poet and performer Melissa Lozada-Oliva has never known how to keep her own secrets. “I have a deep need to confess things,” she said. “A big part of being a performance...

The Rise of Queer Cinema

The Rise of Queer Cinema

Alex Cullina, Staff Writer April 5, 2018
In the last few years, it seems like there has been an increase in the number of films both by and about queer people.
Performers in “RIOT,” an interactive dance experience showing in Skirball Center of Performing Arts.

The Politics of Joy in ‘RIOT’

Alex Cullina, Contributing Writer February 20, 2018
“RIOT,” Irish theater collective THISISPOPBABY’s multi-genre theater piece, is 100 minutes of spectacle –– both joyful and political –– being deadly serious and ridiculously fun.
Joe Carman throws a punch in Jeff Unay’s new documentary, “The Cage Fighter,” now showing at the IFC Center on Sixth Avenue.

The Two Worlds of a ‘Cage Fighter’

Alex Cullina, Contributing Writer February 5, 2018
Joe Carman has a secret. A retired mixed martial arts fighter and the subject of Jeff Unay’s new documentary “The Cage Fighter,” Joe has broken the promise he made to his family to stay out of the ring.
“A New Brain” is a 1998 musical based on the book of William Finn and James Lapine that follows the life of songwriter Gordon Schwinn who is diagnosed with a brain condition. Hosted by The Gallery of Players, the play runs until Feb. 18.

‘A New Brain’ Is a No Brainer

Alex Cullina, Contributing Writer February 5, 2018
Drawn largely from creator William Finn’s own life, "A New Brain" follows a creatively blocked songwriter who is hospitalized with a mysterious brain condition.
The 2018 Oscars Awards presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, will honor the best films of 2017 on March 4, 2018 in Los Angeles.

NYU at the Oscars, Again

Alex Cullina, Contributing Writer January 26, 2018
The Academy Awards' efforts to reform and diversify its membership shone a little brighter this year with wide-ranging nominees and multiple NYU alums.