Monster Mash: Breaking news and headlines

-- Washington's Shakespeare Theatre Company opens 2009-10 season with Helen Mirren in "Phedre."

-- What's next for Orange County high school students whose production of "Rent" was banned? "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown."

-- Architect Thom Mayne talks about his design for the Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics at Caltech.

-- League of American Theatres and Producers' annual Broadway demographic survey finds the most popular method of purchasing tickets was online; tourists purchased 65% of the nearly 12.3 million tickets sold.

-- New Smithsonian Institution chief Wayne Clough shares his vision for the troubled organization.

-- Talk show host Jerry Springer set to give 'em the old razzle dazzle in West End production of "Chicago."

-- Designer Giorgio Armani donates $1 million for arts programs in New York schools.

-- Caryl Churchill's new play, "Seven Jewish Children," accused of anti-Semitism.

-- Spanish artist's Damien Hirst suicide sculpture stirs controversy at art fair in Madrid.

-- Will Eddie Izzard return to Broadway in Dario Fo's "Accidental Death of an Anarchist?"

-- Lisa Fung

Photo: Helen Mirren at last year's Academy Awards ceremony. Credit: Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times