• The newly restored Cort Theatre on Broadway was formally renamed Monday after James Earl Jones, becoming the second theater on the Great White Way named after a Black artist. The honor adds to those the actor Jones has amassed, including two Emmys, a Golden Globe, two Tony Awards, a Grammy, the National Medal of Arts and the Kennedy Center Honors. "It means everything. You can't think of an artist that has served America more," director Kenny Leon told The Associated Press ahead of the ceremony. "He was in the military, he did his service there. He did his service on stage. He did his service on film, television, radio. He did his service everywhere and he's still doing it." The renaming comes after a coalition of theater owners, producers, union leaders, creators and casting directors hammered out a series of reforms and commitments in 2021 for the theater industry to ensure equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility. One requirement of the so-called New Deal for Broadway was that the Shubert, Nederlander and Jujamcyn theater chains have at least one of their theaters named after a Black artist. "I couldn't think of anybody more deserving of this honor," said Leon. "When I think about it, I think about young kids ... standing up outside of that theater and looking up and saying, 'That's it: The James Earl Jones Theatre. That represents the good in all of us.'"
• Steven Spielberg premiered "The Fabelmans" to thunderous applause Saturday at the Toronto International Film Festival, debuting an autobiographical film the 75-year-old filmmaker said he's been building toward his whole life. "The Fabelmans," which Spielberg wrote with Tony Kushner, draws extensively from the director's childhood -- his parents, played by Michelle Williams and Paul Dano, and his early formation as a filmmaker. "It's something obviously I've been thinking about for a long time," Spielberg said. The director, whose three sisters were in the audience, added: "This film is for me a way of bringing my mom and dad back. And it also brought my sisters -- Annie and Sue and Nancy -- closer to me than I ever thought possible. Gabriel LaBelle plays Sammy Fabelman, the fictionalized young Spielberg. "The Fabelmans" will release nationwide Nov. 23.