CMU School of Drama


Friday, November 30, 2012

National Theater tops Evening Standard awards

Entertainment News, Legit News, Media - Variety: The National Theater emerged triumphant at the 58th London Evening Standard Theater awards, nabbing three of the eight competitive categories plus a special award for Nicholas Hytner for his dynamic directorship of the NT. Simon Russell Beale picked up his fourth Evening Standard Best Actor gong for his performance as Joseph Stalin in the NT preem of "Collaborators." He first won the category in 2000 for his Hamlet, then in 2002 for his perfs in "Uncle Vanya" and "Twelfth Night" and again in 2005 for the title role in "The Philanthropist."

Civic Light Opera season filled with hits

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: A mermaid who wants to be part of our world, a haunting phantom, a tap-dancing ingenue and seven high-stepping brothers, plus the one and only Buddy Holly are part of the just-announced 2013 Pittsburgh CLO summer season. The season opens May 31 at the Benedum Center with a pair of big song-and-dance classics. First up is "42nd Street," the enduring tale of a Broadway understudy's rise to stardom, summed up in the line: "You're going out there a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!" Following fast on its tap-dancing heels is "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," with new tunes for the stage in addition to the Johnny Mercer/Gene de Paul songs from the 1954 film.

'South Side Stories' is a vivid set of tales

TribLIVE: Most of us know the South Side as outsiders. It’s the place we go for theater and dinner, to prowl the bars of East Carson Street or a little retail indulgence in the shops. In “South Side Stories,” which opened last Friday at City Theatre, actress, playwright and South Side resident Tami Dixon shows us her neighborhood from the inside.

Point Park Conservatory's Seven Guitars

Pittsburgh City Paper: First things first: Seven Guitars, by August Wilson, is receiving a very solid production at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. If you have never seen Seven Guitars, rest assured that Point Park Conservatory does the play justice. The ensemble is young, but the performances are mature. As the luckless musician Floyd "Schoolboy" Barton, Trumaine Verret-Fleming is charismatic and passionate, and as the imbalanced King Hedley, Saladin White II ably juggles both crazy talk and a challenging Caribbean accent.

From Denzel Washington's 'Flight' to 'Parenthood': Inside the Fight Over Trademarks

Hollywood Reporter: When the Mayans foretold of a 2012 disaster, were they referring to a Hollywood "trademarklawpocalypse"? Consider these recent legal fights: The owner of William Faulkner's intellectual property rights sued Sony Pictures Classics on Oct. 25 over two lines used in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris. Anheuser-Busch, maker of Budweiser, objected on legal grounds to Denzel Washington's overconsumption of its beer in Paramount's Flight. And publishing house Rizzoli demanded in October that NBC stop using "Rizzoli" as Ray Romano's character name on Parenthood.

‘Mystery of Edwin Drood,’ Dickens’s Unfinished Novel

NYTimes.com: Set in the fictional cathedral town of Cloisterham, “Drood” is mainly the story of an opium-addicted choirmaster, John Jasper, secretly in love with Rosa Bud, the fiancée of his nephew, Edwin Drood, who disappears on Christmas Eve, under suspicious circumstances, shortly before the book breaks off. (Only 6 of a planned 12 serial installments were completed.) There is some dark, psychosexual atmosphere and a couple of nice comic moments, but by Dickens’s usual standards the book feels thin and underimagined.

Where the Girls Aren’t: Geena Davis Aims to Smash Stereotypes in Kids’ TV and Movies

Media on GOOD: Among her many credits, Geena Davis has played a professional baseball player, president, and housewife-turned-outlaw, Thelma. Her portrayals include steely-spined women who speak their minds. Yet when Davis became a mother and sat down with her toddler daughter, who is now ten, she noticed women were conspicuously absent. “Especially in G-rated movies, it seemed that there were far fewer female characters [compared] to male characters,” Davis told GOOD. She began asking other people if they’d noticed the imbalance and “most people either didn’t notice, or said, ‘No, no, no. That’s not true anymore. That’s all been fixed.’” Via Jezebel

Open Today: Summer 2013 White House Internship Program Application

The White House: Medical school student, volunteer firefighter, active duty member of the United States Armed Forces, fashion designer, spouse, sailor who’s completed a 3,000 nautical mile voyage, neuroscientist, Ph.D. student, professional DJ, high school math teacher, Division I athlete, parent, freelance videographer, ballerina, college freshman... The list above isn’t just a random collection of words and phrases. It’s actually a list of the interests, backgrounds and skills of a handful of former White House Interns – and it’s nowhere near exhaustive.

USITT Honors Raymond Kent and Westlake Reed Leskosky

Stage Directions: USITT-Ohio Valley Section honored Raymond Kent, associate principal and director of innovative technology at Westlake Reed Leskosky, with three awards in design at their recent fall conference. Kent won the USITT Peggy Ezekiel Award of Outstanding Achievement for Audio Visual Design for the Allen Theatre complex at PlayhouseSquare in Cleveland and the USITT Peggy Ezekiel Awards of Outstanding Achievement for Lighting Design and Audio Visual Design for The MOB Museum in Las Vegas. The Peggy Ezekiel Award is a professionally juried process and is presented annually since 1985 by the USITT-Ohio Valley Section to an individual in recognition of outstanding achievement in design and technology of produced work.

Evening Standard Theatre Awards: why our judges chose the winners

Theatre & Dance - Arts - London Evening Standard: Have 65 minutes ever passed with such scintillating, emotionally sweeping force? Not in some while, which helps account for the singular power of Nick Payne’s prismatic two-hander, which can now be seen at the Duke of York’s following a Royal Court Theatre Upstairs premiere last January that stayed fresh in our minds throughout the year. A puzzle play that director Michael Longhurst’s expert production keeps utterly lucid throughout, the narrative refracts the often anxious arc of a relationship through discussions of quantum physics, beekeeping and matters of love and loss, all the while playing with theatrical form itself. The result might sound overly cute or tricksy but Payne’s writing is neither of those things, instead achieving a buoyancy signalled in visual terms by the balloons clustered around Tom Scutt’s set. The play finds its ideal interpreters in Rafe Spall and the supremely open-faced Sally Hawkins, but then pretty much everything about Constellations feels heaven-sent.

6 Favorite Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Broadway Performances

backstage.com: The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has included Broadway numbers almost every year since 1980. This year, the casts of “Annie,” “Bring it On,” “Elf,” “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” and “Cinderella” will perform. In honor of the Thanksgiving must-watch event, we took a look at some of our favorite past parade performances.

Stagehand (Hourly, Multiple Positions)

HigherEdJobs: Stagehands will fill crew requirements for stage productions, load-ins, load-outs, installations, maintenance of stage spaces, etc.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

'Vanya & Sonia' & Yale

Entertainment News, Legit News, Media - Variety: Monday's opening of Christopher Durang's "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike" at Lincoln Center marked a reunion for the playwright and several actors. The scribe has lost count of the number of collaborations with Sigourney Weaver.

Stage review: Tami Dixon takes colorful walk on the South Side

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Imagine the woman hours spent in streets and homes and churches the past two years, listening, taping and transcribing before emerging as the proprietor of dozens of voices, all hoping to be heard. Then, the hours of writing and rewriting, memorizing and staging, rehearsing and performing -- all of that, for Tami Dixon to tell her "South Side Stories" in 75 minutes on stage. Worth it.

Stage review: 'Good People' adept in capturing life's jams

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: She's a tough one, that Margie Walsh, but a string of bad luck is testing the single mom's Southie spirit. She has just lost her dollar-store job, and her landlord is hinting at eviction for her and her disabled daughter. In her 47 percent world, where daily choices might be a dentist visit or the rent money, it seems as though there's no one to throw her a lifeline. Into that scenario, best pal Jean confides that she recently has encountered Margie's former boyfriend, Mike Dillon -- Doctor Dillon, now.

Westmoreland Cultural Trust kicks off season with kids favorite

TribLIVE: Westmoreland Cultural Trust is kicking off the holiday season with a family musical designed to energize children’s imagination. “Santa’s Enchanted Workshop,” onstage at the Palace Theatre for two afternoon performances this Sunday, is part of a national tour by Theatre IV, a division of Virginia Repertory Theatre based in Richmond. With book, music and lyrics by Richard Giersch and additional lyrics by Bruce Craig Miller, the show follows a young boy, Stanley, as he searches for Santa and discovers his Christmas spirit along the way.

Pittsburgh Public Theater's Good People

Pittsburgh City Paper: The history of Boston is a tale of two cities: On one side, there's Harvard, the Green Monster and the Liberty Trail. On the other, there's Whitey Bulger, the busing crisis and the Big Dig. Over here, Ivy League schools and hipster cafés. Over there, fistfights and crumbling tenements. Every city has its class struggle, but Boston's is old, entrenched and bitter.

Details of American Federation of Musicians Union's Network TV Deal

Hollywood Reporter: The American Federation of Musicians’ TV videotape agreement with ABC, CBS and NBC includes an unusually large 6 percent wage increase in the first year, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. That figure includes a 4 percent “market adjustment” to wages.

In Midtown, Disney Offers a 'Pop-up' Look at 'The Lion King'

NYTimes.com: Exhibits that offer a glimpse behind the scenes at films like the “Harry Potter” movies are becoming increasing common as part of so-called experiential marketing efforts by the Hollywood studios. Now, an entertainment giant with a major presence on stage as well as in film wants to find out if such exhibits could stimulate interest in Broadway shows.

Stop Wasting Time Today

FreelanceFolder: How much time do you waste in a typical day? Is it minutes, hours, or even more? The real answer might surprise you. All of those distractions add up. Worst of all a distracted freelancer is a less productive freelancer–and that can cost you money. In this post, I’ll examine six surprising areas that may be wasting your time. Then, I’ll suggest a strategy to help you avoid them.

NBA All-Stars Rock the "Bells" With Synchronized Dribbling

Co.Create: Creativity \ Culture \ Commerce: First came the barking dogs, then came Beckham’s balls; now, another unlikely noise is being used to approximate a famous tune. Okay, it’s balls again, but this time they’re of the basket-variety, so it’s totally different.

How to Make Your Job Search Productive

lifehack.org: Job searching is a time-consuming, stressful process. If you’re unemployed, it becomes your full-time job, and if you already have a job but are looking for a new one, it’s like taking a second job (that you can’t tell your first job about!). However, there are ways to organize your time and energy to make your job search productive — and a productive job search is one that gets you hired.

Evening Standard theatre awards honour Danny Boyle's Olympics ceremony

guardian.co.uk: The team behind the Olympic opening ceremony, led by director Danny Boyle, was honoured at the Evening Standard theatre awards on Sunday night, winning the second Beyond Theatre award, which "celebrates theatricality outside the confines of the auditorium".

'Newsies' Wins Actors' Equity Award for Outstanding Broadway Chorus

backstage.com: While major theater awards organizations focus on the best lead and supporting performances each year, at least the stage actors' union recognizes its own hardworking chorus members who toil outside the spotlight. The cast of Disney’s Tony Award-winning “Newsies the Musical” will receive the Actors’ Equity Association’s Advisory Committee on Chorus Affairs’ sixth annual ACCA Award for Outstanding Broadway Chorus, Equity announced today. According to Equity, this award is the only industry honor of its kind, recognizing the original chorus members of a Broadway musical.

Freelance Audio Visual Technicians

orlando.ebayclassifieds.com: AST's technicians thrive in challenging environments. We are in the business of creating live experiences, and need quick thinkers who can handle a variety of situations and people. Other skills and traits that make our technicians the best in the industry include:* A thirst for knowledge in the field of audio/visual technology. Our techs work with the latest technology in the business, and must be passionate about knowing every facet of its operation.* Since our techs work in the field at hospitality venues, it's important for them to deliver extreme customer service at all times.* Being passionate about your career is a sought for characteristic in all our technicians. The job sometimes requires long hours and challenging situations, and a successful candidate must love the excitement of the œlive and corporate experience to succeed.* Every event or meeting we produce is unique, and our techs must be quick thinkers, well groomed, flexible and have the ability to adapt in changing situations.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Yankees-themed play to round Broadway bases

Entertainment News, Legit News, Media - Variety: Baseball meets Broadway as producers Fran Kirmser and Tony Ponturo plan to commission a project inspired by the New York Yankees, working with the team and Major League Baseball.

Stage review: Tony-winning 'War Horse' is a true thoroughbred

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: War is hell on humans and horses, a truth transformed into a masterpiece of theatrical magic by the Tony Award-winning "War Horse." The play tugs at heartstrings like a maestro of emotions, conducting a finely tuned composition of bending and breaking and mending, and starting the process all over again. "War Horse" accomplishes that and more with a huge bound in the evolution of puppetry.

'Blonde' brings girl-power to the Geyer

TribLIVE: At first glance, perky blonde fashionista Elle Woods hardly seems like a role model for female empowerment. She is obsessed with her appearance, carries a little dog around with her and desperately follows her ex-fiance to Harvard Law School in the hope of winning him back. However, when Elle is accepted into the prestigious school and goes on to win a murder trial, her true strength is revealed.

Quantum Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theater's programs help kids connect

TribLIVE: “Out of your seats and onto the stage” might well be the rallying cry for a diverse selection of theater-education programs available to area youngsters. Unlike traditional classes in acting, singing and dance, these programs have goals that extend far beyond creating the next Broadway star or American Idol.

City Theatre's South Side Stories

Pittsburgh City Paper: Once word gets out, I seriously doubt there'll be many left to go around, so right now put aside this review and get as many tickets as you can for South Side Stories. The new work written and performed by Tami Dixon makes its dazzling premiere at City Theatre.

'UFC Undisputed' Video Game at Center of Tattoo Copycat Lawsuit

Hollywood Reporter: Remember when Mike Tyson's tattoo artist sued Warner Bros. to stop The Hangover: Part II, claiming the copyright on his tattoo was infringed in the film? Of course, this wasn't going to be the last lawsuit making such a claim that tattoos are works of original authorship and that publishers need permission to make copies.

Musicals Draw Best During Thanksgiving Week on Broadway

NYTimes.com: More Thanksgiving theater-goers attended big-budget Broadway musicals like “Wicked” and “The Lion King” last week instead of Broadway plays starring such Hollywood celebrities as Jessica Chastain (“The Heiress”), Katie Holmes (“Dead Accounts”) and Paul Rudd (“Grace”), according to box-office data released on Monday.

New Hobbit Video Diary Shows The Strain Of Post-Production

The Mary Sue: One of my favorite things in this world is seeing what goes into making my favorite films and television shows (I literally can’t get enough of watching foley artists work). So these Hobbit production videos Peter Jackson periodically puts out are super interesting. In this latest installment we see what’s been going on in post-production for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. That includes the soundtrack, goblin design, and yes, beard capture technology.

Don't Get Carried-Away - Grab This

Theatre Safety Blog: While touring the Mesa Arizona Arts Center (which is a fantastic set of four venues: www.mesaartscenter.com) the Technical Director, Robby Elliot, showed me a simple rig that they use to prevent unexpected run-aways in the fly system. Robby explained that due to the short time constraints imposed during some show strike operations, sometimes the stage crew gets ahead of the fly crew when unloading the battens. This leaves the counterweight arbors heavy and prone to accidents while the weight loading crew plays catch-up.

Should Universities Let College Athletes Major In Sports?

ThinkProgress: Amid the fog of scandal and shame at some of our biggest institutions, the role academics play in the big business of college athletics has come under more scrutiny. With players taking made up courses in made up schools, and with schools fudging grades to keep players eligible, the NCAA has taken steps in recent years to bolster academic standards. But it continues to ignore the most important fact that is staring top-level college sports in the face: many of the athletes are in school because the model we have created makes going to college the most logical step toward becoming a professional athlete. Many “student-athletes” are students simply because they are athletes, and the education they truly care about is the one that occurs on the field, not the one that happens off of it.

Libel on Twitter: You can be sued for libel for what you write on Facebook and other social media.

Slate Magazine: A British politician is seeking damages from high-profile Twitter users who repeated or retweeted a false report linking him to child sex abuse. The former Conservative Party official, Alistair McAlpine, is also asking lower-profile Twitter users who libeled him to apologize and make a donation to charity. The United Kingdom is notorious for its plaintiff-friendly defamation laws—but what about in the United States? Could an American be sued for libel based on tweets, too?

Columbia University MFA Students to Get Equity Status

backstage.com: Staying financially solvent while studying acting can be a challenge for many, but students of the Theatre Program at Columbia University’s School of the Arts and the Classic Stage Company (CSC) will benefit from a new agreement recently struck between the school and the Actors’ Equity Association (AEA). According to the deal, third-year MFA acting students will be eligible to join the AEA. Additionally, each year two MFA students in stage management will also be able to join.

Lucasfilm Recruiting

Lucasfilm Recruiting: Lucasfilm’s Training Department is seeking a Technical Specialist to perform two key roles: 1) to maintain training’s hardware and computing environment to ensure that we are prepared to provide effective training for Lucasfilm’s CG Production units – ILM, LucasArts, and Lucasfilm Animation and 2) maintain and develop vidcap, Lucasfilm’s open source application which captures X-Windows based desktop sessions into a movie file with audio. This challenging entry-level position will offer the opportunity to discover, develop, and expand one’s skills in a dynamic, diverse, and collaborative environment.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

NFTRW Weekly Top 5

Here are the top five comment generating posts of the past week:

Carnegie Mellon program helps children communicate

TribLIVE: A tsunami of excitement erupts when Jimmy Mason enters the room. The no-longer-orderly group of youngsters who had been waiting quietly surrounds the Carnegie Mellon University senior, greeting him as though he were a rock star and clamoring for his attention. Within minutes, Mason and the kids — students in grades 4 through 8 at the DePaul School for Hearing and Speech in Shadyside — are scrabbling across the floor in a fast-paced game of red light-green light. Carnegie Mellon program helps children communicate
-- 17 Comments Here

Who’s Afraid of the Dark?

Stage Directions: No light doesn’t mean no design in Odyssey Theatre Ensemble’s presentation of Theatre in the Dark The Los Angeles, Cailf.-based Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, never a company to shy away from a challenge in its four decades of well-received work, is offering audiences a true sensory experience with their premiere of Theatre in the Dark. The production is a collection of pieces that are presented almost exclusively in the dark.
-- 16 Comments Here

Ice Age Live is Painted with Light

Briefingroom on LiveDesignOnline: Luc Peumans from Genk, Belgium based creative visual design practice, Painting With Light, has designed lighting for the new “Ice Age Live” show, a vibrant stage adaptation of the 20th Century Fox ‘Ice Age’ animation movies featuring the same much loved characters and a new story.
-- 15 Comments Here

Circus Roboticus, Or: This Actor Is A Serious Heavyweight : Monkey See

NPR: Whenever the military rolls out some revolutionary new robot, folks are quick with the Skynet jokes. But in recent years, some robotic-evolution experiments suggest that robotic rebellion might end in applause rather than annihilation. Take, for example, the robot KUKA — the hulking star of a French nouveau-cirque performance, Sans Objet, which premieres at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Friday. It's no special effect; it's a real robot, developed by the automotive industry in the 1970s.
-- 15 Comments Here

How 'Angels in America' changed the national conversation

latimes.com: Queen Elizabeth called 1992 her annus horribilis. Bill Clinton defeated President George H.W. Bush and ended the Reagan era. Pope John Paul II lifted the Edict of Inquisition against Galileo, and the Toronto Blue Jays became the first non-American team to win the World Series. In April, a Simi Valley jury found four LAPD officers not guilty in the beating of Rodney King and Los Angeles exploded. In August, Pat Buchanan rocked the Republican convention with his infamous "God's country" speech ("better in the original German," observed columnist Molly Ivins).
-- 14 Comments Here

Monday, November 26, 2012

Ruled By Time

Radiolab: The self-declared Independent State of Trolheim does not recognize GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). Jay Griffiths argues that the question of what time it is in inextricably bound up with issues of power and politics. And we'll hear a piece from producer Aaron Ximm on the experience of listening to Beethoven's 9th Symphony for 24 hours straight- but only hearing it once.

RIGGERS' FORUM FOR NORTH OF ENGLAND ANNOUNCED

PLASA Focus: Leeds 2013 - Welcome: PLASA Events has announced the addition of a new event to run alongside its ever popular northern trade show, PLASA Focus: Leeds 2013. The PLASA Riggers' Forum will take place on Tuesday 30 April, at the Royal Armouries at Clarence Dock, only a short distance from Leeds City Centre.

Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots New

lajollaplayhouse.org: Yoshimi must choose between two boyfriends, but first she’s got to take down an army of pink robots. This magical tale of love and the struggle for survival is a poignant and humanistic story set to the music of The Flaming Lips.

A Merry Meal-Faculty & Staff News

Carnegie Mellon University: You don't have to be a king to be entertained like one. In a tradition that stretches nearly 30 years, Carnegie Mellon is celebrating the end of the semester and the start of the holiday with a madrigal dinner. The event is sponsored by the Office of Orientation, Student Affairs, Alumni Relations, Student Senate, Carnegie Mellon School of Music, Student Dormitory Council and CulinArt.

Recording: In The Studio: A Primer For The World Of MIDI

Pro Sound Web: MIDI is, to some, a great complicated mystery that they may never wrap their minds around completely. However, when understood even in the most basic sense, MIDI can be harnessed and used to make the impossible possible.

Live Sound: Case Study: The Ceremonies Audio System Design At The London 2012 Olympic Games

Pro Sound Web: Once L-Acoustics was selected as the loudspeaker of choice for the sound system at the Olympic Stadium for the Olympics and Paralympics at London 2012, the collective team faced a huge task. Exceptional sound was required to electrify a brand-new stadium with a capacity of 80,000 for opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics and Paralympics as well as for every single athletic event held within the Olympic Stadium over a 29-day period in total.

Scaffolding Near Linkin Park Concert Collapses, One Killed, 12 Hospitalized

PLSN: Nineteen Linkin Park concert-goers making their way from a parking area to Cape Town Stadium Nov. 7 were injured when temporary scaffolding supporting a sports drink advertisement fell in high winds. One of the injured, a female, later died at the hospital; twelve others required hospitalization after the accident.

Live Sound: MythBusters Test The “Frequency Of Fear” With Meyer Sound

Pro Sound Web: When Discovery Channel’s MythBusters set out to test the claim that subaudible low-frequency sounds near 19 Hz can instill feelings of discomfort, dread, and even outright terror, they turned to Meyer Sound and Dr. Roger Schwenke, the company’s staff scientist and honorary MythBuster, for assistance. The episode was aired on Discovery Channel on October 28.

Hollywood Unions Cheer Defeat Of Prop 32

Deadline.com: Entertainment industry unions today lauded the defeat of Proposition 32, the so-called “Paycheck Protection” initiative

May I Buy This Dance? Nope, Not Yet! A Pas de Deux With the Art World Heats Up

GalleristNY: One evening in mid September, some 300 people packed into the Judson Memorial Church for a panel discussion on the rise of dance in the art world. About midway through, Ralph Lemon dropped a bomb: “I wait,” he said, “for the day when a museum acquires a dance.”

Stage Directions Summer Study Directory Launches Online

Stage Directions: This year, Stage Directions is taking its Summer Study Directory online. The annual guide to summer programs for kids, teens, college students and professionals will now be a part of the Theatre Resources Directory online. Any program—whether it is a camp, a school, a college, university, or a training program run by a theatre—can submit their data online at trd.stage-directions.com to be listed in the popular summer directory.

Your Post-Election To Do List

ARTSblog » Blog Archive: So much attention is paid to the time leading up to Election Day that people often forget about how valuable the time is after the election to the when the winners are sworn in. This is an excellent opportunity to reach out to the newly elected and an excuse to reconnect with incumbents. Here at Americans for the Arts, we encourage our members to adopt the following “schedule” after any election.

University Job: Assistant Professor of Scenic Design, University of New Mexico

academickeys.com: The University of New Mexico, Department of Theatre and Dance, invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in the area of Scene Design beginning in August 2013. The successful candidate will be a team member working within an interdisciplinary environment and is expected to teach undergraduate courses in Scenic Design, Drawing and Rendering, Scene Painting, Design Seminar, and Design History and Styles.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Circus Roboticus, Or: This Actor Is A Serious Heavyweight : Monkey See

NPR: Whenever the military rolls out some revolutionary new robot, folks are quick with the Skynet jokes. But in recent years, some robotic-evolution experiments suggest that robotic rebellion might end in applause rather than annihilation. Take, for example, the robot KUKA — the hulking star of a French nouveau-cirque performance, Sans Objet, which premieres at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Friday. It's no special effect; it's a real robot, developed by the automotive industry in the 1970s.

Who’s Afraid of the Dark?

Stage Directions: No light doesn’t mean no design in Odyssey Theatre Ensemble’s presentation of Theatre in the Dark The Los Angeles, Cailf.-based Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, never a company to shy away from a challenge in its four decades of well-received work, is offering audiences a true sensory experience with their premiere of Theatre in the Dark. The production is a collection of pieces that are presented almost exclusively in the dark.

Carnegie Mellon program helps children communicate

TribLIVE: A tsunami of excitement erupts when Jimmy Mason enters the room. The no-longer-orderly group of youngsters who had been waiting quietly surrounds the Carnegie Mellon University senior, greeting him as though he were a rock star and clamoring for his attention. Within minutes, Mason and the kids — students in grades 4 through 8 at the DePaul School for Hearing and Speech in Shadyside — are scrabbling across the floor in a fast-paced game of red light-green light. Carnegie Mellon program helps children communicate

The Long Game

City Journal: Life is short, said Hippocrates, but art is long. There is a practical corollary to that great truth: elections are won and lost in the politics of the moment, but it’s the culture that makes the nation. In the aftermath of President Obama’s victory, conservative political thinkers will have to ask themselves some hard questions. How much of our defeat was due to strategy and how much to structure? How can we reach out to struggling workers without sacrificing our commitment to free enterprise and individual liberty? How can we speak to single women without losing voters committed to family values and the lives of the unborn? How can we welcome the children of illegal immigrants without compromising our belief in the rule of law?

ASSE Joins Campaign to Improve Hearing ProtectionOccupational Health & Safety

Occupational Health & Safety: The American Society of Safety Engineers is taking steps to improve hearing safety for workers. Joining the 85-3 Campaign, the society will be working to make the 85 dBA (decibel) noise protection level the nationwide standard for hearing protection.

Live Sound: Multiple Consoles: Top Engineers Weigh In On The Where, When, Why & How

Pro Sound Web: A few years ago, my company developed a prototype of a console switcher that would enable an engineer to quickly switch to a backup should the main desk go down, or quickly switch between multiple consoles at events such as festivals. But when we showed it to various engineers, the response was all over the place. Some thought it was a great idea, others felt that with modern processors, the need was no longer there, and some suggested fixes such as increasing the size to accommodate larger systems.

SparkFun’s LogicBlocks kit teaches digital logic

EDN: Sparkfun has just announced the release of their LogicBlocks Kit – a new educational product designed to help students and beginners explore the obscure concept of digital logic. The folks at Sparkfun say that LogicBlocks represents the first in a line of upcoming products the SparkFun Department of Education will introduce as a way of enhancing computer science education. These new products enable more creativity while teaching the fundamental aspects of understanding technology.

Circle Theatre To Present PIPPIN: A BOLLYWOOD SPECTACULAR, Opens 11/14!

chicago.broadwayworld.com: Meshing Bollywood’s bursting colors and rich style with Artistic Director Kevin Bellie’s inventive choreography, Stephen Schwartz’s classic Pippin explodes on the Circle scene in a brand-new light. PIPPIN has Music & Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and Book by Roger O. Hirson.