Good morning! School’s been back for Studio Theater for some days now—-it’s deep in rehearsal for Circle Mirror Transformation—-but yesterday was founding Artistic Director Joy Zinoman‘s last, at least at the helm. WaPo‘s Jane Horwitz reports that Studio’s staff and admirers sent Zinoman off with a string of fetes and some gifts, like a gold watch set permanently to 8:08, the theater’s traditional curtain time. Zinoman will continue to teach in Studio’s conservatory—-but first she’ll tour Europe for four months. “Thirty-five years is a very long time, and to feel the responsibility of it being shared and also personally not having to measure out my life in coffee spoons,” she tells Horwitz.”The thought of freedom is really delicious to me.” David Muse is directing Circle Mirror Transformation—-it’s not the first play he’s directed at Studio, just the first as its boss.

Lots of DMV rap yesterday! Kingpen Slim, Ra the MC, Fat Trel, and Black Cobain all released mixtapes/albums. Looking forward to hearing the Black Cobain tape, especially—-the one time I saw him perform, at January’s Haiti benefit at the 9:30 Club, he slayed. Here’s a Slim song:

Also on my radar: A “Go-Go for Fenty” video with Junkyard, Stinky Dink, and Big G, though a Gray sign sneaks in around the 2:15 mark. The Latin American Film Festival announces its lineup, which, Ryan Kearney of TBD notes, includes an omnibus work featuring directing contributions from Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna, stars of Y tu mamá también and the less good Rudo y Cursi. The Vinyl District has been running great stuff all week from John Davis, who performs the songs of, um, John Davis this Friday at Story/Stereo.

And since we’re on the topic of freedom: Isn’t the lede of the New York Times Book Review’s cover review of the new Franzen novel a bit much? I’ll get back to you once I read the book.