State of Play

AMERICAN THEATRE: A little over 17 years ago, Todd London, then the artistic director of New Dramatists, began work on a study for the Theatre Development Fund (TDF) on the state of the field for new plays and the people who write them. This kind of intensive research “wasn’t really something they did,” he recalled, but there were major questions about the lives of playwrights that had never been answered with real data. How much money did playwrights actually make?

The Company Way: What Happened to the Acting Ensemble Ideal

AMERICAN THEATRE: Rodney Witherspoon II started his post-college career as an administrative fellow at Trinity Repertory Company in 2015. While at that theatre in Providence, Rhode Island, he remembers seeing photographs on its walls of the resident company. Those pictures introduced him to the company model, in which local actors are hired season over season, but they also highlighted its history: The photos ranged from original members instated in the 1960s to recent inductees, artists Witherspoon had watched grow during his time at Trinity Rep.

For Starters: How to Launch a Theatre Company in 2026

AMERICAN THEATRE: Every theatre company starts somewhere. Every small, grassroots arts organization and massive, multimillion-dollar producing institution has an origin story. It begins when the founders imagine the theatre they want to create—its mission, composition, audience, and funding—and figure out how to grow that from the ground up. It’s much easier said than done.

Raw Talent and Boricua Pride

AMERICAN THEATRE: Our TCG Conference advance team—Erica Lauren Ortiz, Kamilah Long, and I—arrived in San Juan for our initial site visit on July 9, 2025, just a few days before Bad Bunny (or Benito, as local folx affectionately call him) was to begin his 30-day residency. The Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport (SJU) is the primary gateway to the island and the busiest airport in the Caribbean.

Tough Love and Liberation

AMERICAN THEATRE: I sometimes joke in editorial meetings that the overarching theme of any issue of ours should simply be What the hell is going on? This seems especially true of our Spring issues, in which we seem to have a seasonal predilection for big-picture stories. In 2024, we turned our spotlight on audiences and the ways their changing behavior and preferences were affecting theatres’ bottom lines and impact.

Announcing the 2026 Outer Critics Circle winners — full list

www.broadwaynews.com: Winners have been announced for the 2026 Outer Critics Circle Awards. Recognizing plays and musicals that opened on Broadway and Off-Broadway in the 2025-2026 season, awards are distributed to individuals and theatrical productions across 27 categories. “Ragtime” and “Schmigadoon!” led the winners with five awards each.

Review: Perpetual Permutation: Exhaustion in Jeanine Durning’s ‘The Play’

onstagepittsburgh.com: Upon entering Attack Theatre for the informal showing of Jeanine Durning’s The Play presented in Pittsburgh this past Friday, one is met by a sparse scenic arrangement: two folding chairs, a bucket, a stage cube, a music stand, and a cushion. Nothing immediately suggests narrative development; rather, these everyday objects seem to pulse within the space like anxious potentials awaiting realization.

Museum to Open at Site of The Beatles' Final Public Performance

consequence.net: Called The Beatles at 3 Savile Row, the seven-floor museum will house never-before-seen material from the band’s Apple Corps Ltd archives, a recreation of the studio where Let It Be was recorded, rotating exhibitions, and a fan store. It will also offer visitors the opportunity to relive the Beatles’ final public performance: a rooftop concert documented in Peter Jackson’s Get Back.

Golden Goose and PlayLab present a playful exhibition to ignite childlike wonder

Wallpaper*: Multidisciplinary creative studio PlayLab has collaborated with some of the biggest names across music, fashion and design – including Virgil Abloh, A$AP Rocky, Pharrell Williams, and Justin Timberlake, as well as brands such as Vans, Adidas, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Nike, Rimowa, Fenty and Skims. Now, the practice can add Golden Goose to its expansive portfolio after collaborating on this year’s ‘Haus’ exhibition.

Ars Nova Launches $5M BIG DREAMS, BIG SWINGS Campaign, $1M Leadership Gift From Miranda Family Fund

www.broadwayworld.com: Ars Nova has launched Big Dreams, Big Swings, a fundraising campaign designed for the resiliency and sustainability of New York City’s premier home for emerging talent. The goal is to raise $5 million above-and-beyond Ars Nova’s annual operating budget.

Pittsburgh Public Theater, CLO announce joint programming

90.5 WESA: Pittsburgh’s two biggest theater companies have yet to finalize their merger. But Pittsburgh Public Theater and Pittsburgh CLO on Friday announced their first joint programming, which will take the stage this fall, and feature a returning hometown talent made good.

If Everything Depends on You, That’s a Problem

Church Production Magazine: Legacy is one of those words we often make too complicated because of the weight it carries. We often wonder what our legacy will be and attach it to public accomplishments, career milestones, and the dedication we have shown to our jobs. We talk about legacy as if it is reserved for the end of a long career, measured by plaques on walls or the memories people hold after we are gone.

Naked puppets take the stage at Montecasino

sundaytribune.co.za: TV Programmes like Sesame Street in America and Takalani Sesame here in South Africa teach values and life-skills to young children through the use of puppetry and songs. AVENUE Q applies the same principle by teaching real-life lessons and broaching hard-to discuss adult topics such as racism, pornography and a whole lot more in an entertaining and colourful manner!

‘Your Career Starts at the Beginning of the AI Revolution,’ NVIDIA CEO Tells Graduates

NVIDIA Blog: “You are entering the world at an extraordinary moment,” NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang told graduates as he delivered the keynote address at Carnegie Mellon University’s 128th commencement ceremony on Sunday. “A new industry is being born. A new era of science and discovery is beginning.”

Navigating Servomotor Selection: A Technical Guide

blog.seweurodrive.com: Choosing the right servomotor is crucial for the efficiency and success of any automation project. With a variety of options on the market, understanding the technical specifications and how they align with your application's requirements is key.

The Original Analog Interface: Caring For Our Nervous Systems While On Tour

ProSoundWeb: It’s been said that we never actually experience the world, only the inside of our own nervous system. Both command center and the original analog interface, the nervous system is where inner and outer worlds meet, a complex network via which we receive data about our surroundings, communicate, and take action.

Using Wood Grain With Intention

Journal of Light Construction: Wood grain is often the main attraction of stain-grade and clear-finished woodwork, yet I’m surprised how often I see new trim that has been installed without any consideration for the grain patterns in the wood. A little time and attention paid to wood grain can vastly improve the look.

IATSE Accuses Kennedy Center of Illegally Laying Off Workers Ahead of Trump Closure

www.yahoo.com: The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) has filed charges against the Kennedy Center, accusing management of permanently cutting union jobs as it prepares to close for a two-year renovation at the behest of President Trump.

Chisel Sharpening Basics

Journal of Light Construction: When I was younger, I worked in a restaurant and learned that sharp knifes were essential to being productive. It’s the same with carpentry— dull edges make for poor results. In my experience a dull chisel, planer blade, or saw blade can also be dangerous. Having to force the tool to do the work can lead to an uncontrolled outcome where part of you ends up catching the misdirected tool.

10 CMU Alumni Earn Record-Breaking 15 Tony Nominations

News - Carnegie Mellon University: From center stage to creative teams behind the curtain, Carnegie Mellon University alumni are once again leaving a strong impression on Broadway, earning a record-breaking number of Tony Award nominations this year. That momentum is carrying into awards season, where a number of CMU Tartans have been nominated for the 79th Annual Tony Awards®, set to take place June 7.

War of Worlds and Elvis shows close after company failure

AV Magazine: Layered Reality’s two immersive shows in London closed suddenly last week after the company’s parent company ceased trading. Ellipsis Entertainment, which was licensed to operate Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds: The Experience and Elvis Evolution, cited “significant headwinds across the entertainment industry” for its failure.

The future of automation returns to Chicago with 1,000+ exhibitors and 200 speakers

Control Design: Automate is North America's largest robotics and automation event. From artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics to motion control and vision systems, there's something for every engineer at Automate

Celebrities Who Started Successful Production Companies

Business Insider: For some actors and directors, launching a production company is a natural next step. But whether it's for creative freedom, to back projects they believe in, or to build a business beyond their own onscreen work, no two celebrities' production companies are exactly the same.

Real World Gear: Medium-Format Line Arrays

ProSoundWeb: The characteristics that qualify a line array as medium format, as opposed to small or large format, is somewhat arbitrary. For this overview, we’ve based the selection on the size of the largest driver in the array, considering those with 8-inch to 10-inch cones to be medium format.

PLASA managing director Peter Heath to retire from role

AV Magazine: Peter Heath is to retire from his role as managing director of the Professional Lighting and Sound Association (PLASA). He will remain in the position while a replacement is found and intends to continue to represent the association through the #WeMakeEvents campaign and in a consultancy capacity after retiring.

The Story Behind the 2026 Met Gala’s Dazzling Full-Moon Centerpiece

Vogue: When guests of the Met Gala 2026—including the night’s co-chairs, Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, and Venus Williams—step off the stone-inspired carpet and into The Metropolitan Museum of Art tonight, they’ll be greeted by a luminous moon.

Who Is Performing at the Three Rivers Arts Festival This Year?

Pittsburgh Magazine: Organizers of the Three Rivers Arts Festival have announced this year’s lineup for its free concert series and performances. The roster includes some big players and classic groups spanning multiple genres, as well as some newer names and local artists bringing a Steel City flair to the event.

The American Women Who Transformed Shakespeare Editing

Folger Shakespeare Library: Porter and Clarke were outliers in the rarified world of Shakespeare editing and scholarship. Why? Because they were female, queer, non-academic co-editors, in a world dominated by solitary male editors with university affiliations. They were the first editors to base their edition and analysis on the text of Shakespeare’s First Folio of 1623, a back-to-basics approach which got rid of three centuries of editorial attempts to “correct” or “improve” the original text.

Stephen Flaherty's 'Ragtime' and Carnegie Mellon Alums Feature Prominently Among 2026 Tony Award Nominees

onstagepittsburgh.com: Nominations for the 79th Tony Awards showcase the Pittsburgh theater community’s contributions to Broadway, including 11 nominations for the revival of Ragtime. Composer Stephen Flaherty, a Dormont native, won the 1998 Tony for Ragtime’s musical score, and will receive the Richard Rodgers Award on June 12, five days after the 2026 Tonys ceremony, at Pittsburgh CLO’s 80th Anniversary Gala.

Coursera AI Online Classes: Best Deals, Price, Subscribe Online

variety.com: As artificial intelligence reshapes everything from entry-level tasks to executive decision-making, it’s now more important than ever to learn how to use and leverage these tools to gain a competitive edge in an increasingly saturated job market. Platforms like Coursera are betting on this new premium.

IATSE Says Kennedy Center Violating Its Contract, Using Temporary Closure to Permanently Cut Jobs and Services

IATSE: The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) is condemning management of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, alleging the Kennedy Center is violating its union contract and laying off workers without meeting its legal obligation to bargain over the impact of a temporary closure.

Electrical Fire at Broadway Theater Closes ‘Book of Mormon’ Indefinitely

The New York Times: “The Book of Mormon,” one of Broadway’s biggest juggernauts, will be forced to close for an unknown period of time after an electrical fire on Monday morning caused significant damage to the Eugene O’Neill Theater, where the musical has run for the last 15 years.

We Spent a Week Quarantined on an Uninhabited Island with 80 Artists

Colossal: A muscular Englishman in a khaki kilt and black beret hops atop the edge of an old well clad in traditional Spanish tile, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows in what can only be called an act of bravery. High winds and rain pelt a group of visitors from all directions, and yet, this charismatic performer stands tall above the cobblestone to announce that he’s been living on this vacant island for nearly two centuries. He’s here to give us a tour.

14 Of The Weirdest Third-Party Drill Attachments You Can Find On Amazon

www.slashgear.com: The combi-drill is a wonderfully versatile tool. As a drilling and driving implement, it sits at the heart of virtually all home improvement, construction, and building tasks. Regardless of what job you're taking on, your drill is almost always going to be right there at your side. The essentiality of the power drill makes it one of the few items that are consistently necessary in a home tool kit.

The 2026 Met Gala dress code is ‘Fashion is Art’. But is it?

New Pittsburgh Courier: The first Monday in May marks the annual Met Gala: a collision of celebrities, designers and cultural icons. Established in 1948, the gala was originally a high-society event held to raise money for the Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.