On the Ted Radio Hour, linguist Anne Curzan says she gets a lot of complaints about people using the pronoun they to refer to one person.

I sometimes get into arguments with people where they will say to me but it can't be

singular and I will say but it is.

The history behind words causing a lot of debate that's on the Ted Radio Hour from NPR. Theater is one of the oldest art forms. It's a story unfolding in real time, a space

to commune with others face to face. A theatrical performance is a singular

experience. It can never be recreated even with the same play,

the same cast or the same audience. It embodies the saying you had to be there and

when it's done well it stays with you for years.

My absolute most favorite theater production is Cabaret.

The first time I thought I was probably close to 18 or so, I absolutely loved it. And then of course over the years I've seen the

Fosy production with Liza Manelli. And then last year I found myself clicking that I was going to an audition for a notice that came across my

Facebook feed for Cabaret and then about a month ago I had the absolute pleasure

of playing Frenchy and the gorilla in our local

community theater production. It's just so fun and flamboyant and raunchy and then it

gut punches you and forces audiences to face darkness, especially our own darkness.

Ashley, thanks for that message.

Between 1935 and 1939, 30 million Americans have the chance to see a play thanks to the Federal Theater

Project.

Two-thirds of these Theater Goaters had never seen a production before, but the project was

quickly destroyed by Congress's Un-American Activities Committee.

Nearly a century later, the theater's place in American life is shrinking.

The percentage of Americans who saw just one non-musical play once a year dropped from 10% to less than 5% between 2017 and

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