Billy Porter: Dignity, Defiance, and the Art of Being Seen

evanjsegal.substack.com: Billy Porter stands in a powerful lineage of Pittsburgh storytellers who learned to use the stage as both sanctuary and bullhorn. Taylor Allderdice High School, with its unassuming hallways and scrappy theater tradition, helped shape a young Billy who was already testing the limits of what performance could hold—joy, pain, and a fierce insistence on being fully seen.

GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN To Have World Premiere At Pittsburgh Playhouse

www.broadwayworld.com: The world premiere production of Girls Just Want To Have Fun, a new musical inspired by the cult-classic film written by Amy Spies and featuring a score of 1980s chart-toppers, will play Pittsburgh Playhouse’s PNC Theatre from November 11-22, 2026.

Tony Robbins to unleash a powerful immersive experience

AV Magazine: Imagine the scene. You walk into the first of five zones of a new 90-minute Breakthrough immersive experience in Miami next year. You are greeted by a huge volumetric video installation of Tony Robbins, the personal development leader, who guides you and everyone else present through a “priming” session.

The Phantom of the Opera and the Legacy of Its Iconic Wardrobe

Vogue Australia: The year was 1986. Her Majesty’s Theatre in London’s West End was buzzing with anticipation as audiences gathered beneath its ornate nearly 100-year-old ceilings, unaware they were about to bear witness to the beginnings of a cultural phenomenon. For composer Andrew Lloyd Webber was about to debut his newest musical to the world—an adaptation of a modestly successful novel by French author Gaston Leroux about an outcast living beneath the bowels of the Palais Garnier in the 1880s.

POC Arts Nonprofits Face Severe Staffing Challenges, Survey Finds

hyperallergic.com: How do you operate a museum or cultural center without any full-time staff? The nonprofit Museum Hue surveyed institutions founded and led by people of color (POC) across the Northeastern states and found that over a third of respondents lacked a single full-time employee.

Sorry-Grateful: 2 New Books Show the Many Sides of Sondheim

AMERICAN THEATRE: Don’t meet your heroes, goes a popular axiom. In the case of Stephen Sondheim, the composer/lyricist who redefined the possibilities if not the sound of American musical theatre, the wisdom of that advice might depend on when you caught him: in his early years, when he was learning at the feet of Oscar Hammerstein II while cannily maneuvering among peers and collaborators and chafing at the era’s, and his medium’s, restraints; in his ascendant 1970s period, when his struggle to assert his unique voice gave him a short-tempered, even manic aspect; or in his later éminence grise phase, when he mellowed into a kind of encouraging father figure for younger generations.

In Uptown, TimeLine Theatre moves into its new home, nearly a decade in the making

WBEZ Chicago: Mica Cole stood on the stage, with tears in her eyes. The occasion was TimeLine Theatre’s first public showing of its brand-new building — the culmination of years of near-constant fundraising, nomadic productions, unexpected delays and stress-inducing construction woes.

Costume designers collaborate to clothe ‘The Birds’

News | oudaily.com: OU University Theatre will open “The Birds” Friday, where actors will debut their performance and costume designers will showcase their creations. The play is an Indigenous adaptation of a Greek comedy by Aristophanes by the same name. The play, written by Yvette Nolan, follows two characters who leave the modern world seeking freedom and find the utopian land of the birds.

Monica Barbaro: ‘Yesterday I went home thinking I’m a terrible actor and they’re finding out’

Theatre | The Guardian: “I feel like I’m imitating an American accent, but it really is mine,” Monica Barbaro jokes. The actor has spent the morning rehearsing in an English accent for her stage debut in the National Theatre’s revival of Les Liaisons Dangereuses. During interviews, she says, she switches back. “I feel it’s best to use my own voice.”

Guest Review: ‘10 Out of 12': Immersive Theater Done Right

onstagepittsburgh.com: Theater is an art form that continues to expand humanity’s understanding of reality through many different formats. We’ve seen the changes that theater has gone through and continues to do so, adapting to encapsulate the reality of modern times and tell stories that grab attention and bring us, the audience, into the world. Quantum Theatre’s production of 10 Out of 12 does exactly this.

Review: Quantum Theatre's '10 Out of 12' Experience Is an Unconventional Love Letter to Theatermakers

onstagepittsburgh.com: Tech rehearsal in theater is the crew’s time to sync to a show’s rhythms and iron out the wrinkles that develop with hundreds of light and sound cues, entrances and exits, performers hitting their marks, wardrobe and set changes ,,, it’s where it all comes together. Or it doesn’t. No matter. The show must go on.

ANNY 12: the new 12" battery-powered by LD Systems

LightSoundJournal.com: With the ANNY 12, LD Systems introduces a 12″ battery-powered, 2-way full-range mobile PA system, designed to combine the convenience of a Bluetooth speaker with the performance, sound quality, and connectivity typical of a professional PA system. The goal is to offer a versatile and easily transportable solution for all those situations where powerful sound is needed without the availability of a power outlet.

NFTRW Weekly Top Five

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

Theater Tickets Are Cheaper in London Than New York. What Gives?

The New York Times: The hottest celebrity on the London stage is a four-foot-tall bear with a fondness for marmalade. Tickets to “Paddington: The Musical” are hard to come by — the show is consistently sold out — and costly, by British standards: The best seats, when bought directly from the show itself, are 250 pounds, which is about $330.

You Can Now Explore Over 100 Objects From the Met in 3D

mymodernmet.com: As part of its Open Access initiative, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has published more than 100 high-definition 3D scans of art historical objects. These models have been carefully curated from the museum’s collection, which encompasses some 1.5 million works across media such as sculpture, painting, textiles, jewelry, calligraphy, and more.

Traits that make a fab shop employee stand out

www.thefabricator.com: What makes a good shop employee? That’s a question that sounds simple on the surface, but if you’ve spent any amount of time in a fabrication shop, you know there’s a lot more to it than just showing up and punching a clock. Every shop may have its own flavor, with different equipment, products, and expectations, but for the most part, we’re all looking for the same core qualities in an employee. You can teach someone how to run a machine, but it’s a lot harder to teach them how to care.

In Conversation With Hanna Puley, The Costume Designer Behind 'Heated Rivalry'

elle.in/fashion: If you haven’t stumbled upon the HeatedRivalry frenzy over the past few months, you must be living under a rock, or, at the very least, offline. Ever since the series first aired earlier last year, it has spiralled into a full-blown obsession. And now, with the show officially streaming in India on Lionsgate Play, a whole new audience is catching up, and catching feelings.

Broadway Meets Wall Street As One Show Finances Another

www.forbes.com: Broadway has become more like Wall Street. Similar to how Ford Motor Company invested in Rivian Automotive, the upcoming musical Chimney Town has invested in the Broadway musical Cats: The Jellicle Ball. As a co-producer of the Broadway show, the future show is billed alongside other producers above the title and a few sentences about it are printed in the programs distributed at each performance.

 

Performers in Wichita need more than Century II. Is a new center still possible?

klcjournal.com: As the Wichita Symphony Orchestra rehearsed “Rhapsody in Red, White, and Blue” last month, some musicians on stage were wearing coats and gloves. Because doors elsewhere in Century II had been opened for an RV show, the building’s heating system couldn’t keep up. Had the temperature in the Concert Hall gone much lower, rehearsal would have had to be called off.

Anolis enjoys Light + Building Expo

LightSoundJournal.com: LED lighting manufacturer Anolis enjoyed a busy and positive Light + Building 2026 expo in Frankfurt, Germany, where it launched two new products – Calumma Arts in collaboration with French Light and Calumma UN (Ultra Narrow) – and engaged with a host of visitors from across Europe and around the world.

Six Flags Great America 50th Anniversary Celebration Announced for 2026

Coaster101: Six Flags Great America will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2026 with a special Six Flags Great America 50th Anniversary Celebration event featuring new entertainment as well as numerous limited-time offerings and throwback guest experiences.

Sonia Friedman: Ambition and risk-taking suffer when production costs increase

www.thestage.co.uk: Sonia Friedman has warned that rising production costs are denting ambition and resulting in ‘fewer risks’ being taken

‘Curated chaos’: Danny Boyle on the ‘pop culture spectacular’ he is bringing to London’s Southbank Centre

Theatre | The Guardian: Out of chaos come great cultural movements, according to the director and producer Danny Boyle, who will inflict a little curated chaos on London’s Southbank Centre with what has been described as an “epic, one-off pop culture spectacular”.

Sweetwater Expands Again

Church Production Magazine: The nation’s largest music store — located on the Sweetwater campus in Fort Wayne, Indiana — is getting even bigger. Sweetwater is unveiling a significant update to its retail store, which includes two new dedicated home audio listening rooms.

A Simpler Approach to Distributed Audio: The BZBGear BG-AMP150WD with DSP and Dante

Church Production Magazine: In church production, small pieces of infrastructure often do the most invisible—and most critical—work. Distributed audio systems rarely get the spotlight, yet they shape first impressions before a single worship note is played. From parking lots and outdoor walkways to lobbies, cafés, and restrooms, these systems are responsible for creating a welcoming environment that feels intentional, polished, and consistent.

Yiwen Yu Advances Narrative-Driven Costume Design Across Global Short-Form Productions

FinancialContent: Costume design is increasingly being recognized as a core storytelling mechanism within short-form screen productions, as cross-cultural methodologies introduce new levels of visual precision and narrative clarity. Work developed by costume designer and fashion art director Yiwen Yu reflects this shift, positioning wardrobe as an integrated narrative system shaped by character development, cultural context, and audience interpretation.

Traits that make a fab shop employee stand out

www.thefabricator.com: What makes a good shop employee? That’s a question that sounds simple on the surface, but if you’ve spent any amount of time in a fabrication shop, you know there’s a lot more to it than just showing up and punching a clock. Every shop may have its own flavor, with different equipment, products, and expectations, but for the most part, we’re all looking for the same core qualities in an employee. You can teach someone how to run a machine, but it’s a lot harder to teach them how to care.

Laserworld has officially unveiled the new Cube Series

LightSoundJournal.com: Laserworld has officially unveiled the new Cube Series, a completely new product line of compact and versatile show lasers designed for the modern pro-lighting and entertainment industry. Available in four power configurations—Cube 1, Cube 1.5, Cube 3, and Cube 7—this series sets a new standard for mobile DJs, indoor events, and small to medium-sized clubs.

YESCO Restores, Modernizes Iconic Gateway Signs in Encinitas, California

Sign Builder Illustrated, The How-To Sign Industry Magazine: YESCO, the 106-year-old company known for creating, repairing and maintaining internationally recognizable signs, announces it has completed restoration and modernization of the iconic Encinitas Gateway Sign spanning Coast Highway 101 in Encinitas, Calif. The project revitalized one of the city’s most recognizable landmarks, preserving its historic character while introducing energy-efficient LED technology designed to ensure the sign’s longevity for decades to come.

Pittsburgh Opera Announces 2026/2027 Season: General Director Christopher Hahn Previews the Program Before Retirement

onstagepittsburgh.com: On April 2, Pittsburgh Opera announced its 2026/2027 season. The upcoming season comprises five carefully curated productions in order: Rigoletto, Orpheus & Eurydice, Partenope, Working for the Macbeths (World Premiere), and Romeo & Juliet. As announced by Pittsburgh Opera in March 2025, Christopher Hahn, who has led the company as General Director since 2008 and served as Artistic Director since 2000, is set to retire in May 2026.

Ayrton Diablo shines in “Masquerade”

LightSoundJournal.com: Five-time Tony Award-nominated lighting designer Ben Stanton chose Ayrton Diablo S fixtures for the latest interpretation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s iconic “Phantom of the Opera”: an immersive production called “Masquerade” staged on West 57th Street in Manhattan. ACT Entertainment is the exclusive distributor of Ayrton lighting in North America.

Broadway Meets Wall Street As One Show Finances Another

www.forbes.com: Broadway has become more like Wall Street. Similar to how Ford Motor Company invested in Rivian Automotive, the upcoming musical Chimney Town has invested in the Broadway musical Cats: The Jellicle Ball. As a co-producer of the Broadway show, the future show is billed alongside other producers above the title and a few sentences about it are printed in the programs distributed at each performance.

Makita GSL02Z 8 1/2-Inch Cordless Miter Saw

Journal of Light Construction: Smaller, more compact battery-powered miter saws have become quite popular over the last few years, offering greater portability than their beefier siblings while delivering most of the benefits. I’m generally a fan of smaller, more portable tools but I wanted a miter saw with greater capabilities and precision than most of the smaller 7 ¼-inch saws had to offer.

Axial Flux Motors: Understanding Their Advantages and Application Uses

Power & Motion Tech: Electrification of various vehicle and mobile machinery applications has introduced a range of technologies to the market, including different types of electric motors which play an important role in powering many of the systems in an electric vehicle. Axial flux motors are one such electric motor technology increasingly being utilized in hybrid- and full-electric systems.

Out Here gives a fresh musical spin to the family drama

Chicago Reader: In Out Here, a new musical by Leslie Buxbaum and Erin McKeown, which has its world premiere at Court Theatre this month, the characters wrestle with what it means to be open and spontaneous without losing everything they thought they wanted. Dawn thinks she wants a divorce, and she reconnects with her college sweetheart, Robin, who she broke up with when she thought it would be too hard to build a family in a same-sex relationship. Brian starts a new relationship with Gina. And Cleo and Jett, Robin’s nonbinary child, try to figure out what it all means for them as their parents restart their romantic lives in midlife.

This Piece May Not Be Fed Into Any LLM or Other AI Software for Any Reason Whatsoever

HowlRound Theatre Commons: I recently heard that a large theatre organization screened plays for a competition by feeding them into a large language model (LLM). Then, I read two more accounts on a playwriting forum about other theatres that did this for marketing or public relations purposes. A couple of months ago, this happened to me firsthand. I learned that a theatre put a draft of my new play into an LLM to generate marketing materials. I expressed my concern to the theatre immediately, and I corresponded with a lawyer at the Dramatists Guild of America who gave me language that I could incorporate into my plays moving forward.

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.

Hybrid Wood/Steel Framing

www.jlconline.com: Not every job requires it, but steel has become increasingly common on our projects as engineers continue to raise the bar on their tolerances for deflection and shear strength. For anyone not familiar with the details of steel construction, it can be intimidating at first to unroll a set of structural plans with a lot of steel called out

Judge Demands Public Roadmap for Live Nation Settlement as Scrutiny Mounts Over Deal

TicketNews: The federal settlement that abruptly pulled the Department of Justice out of its antitrust case against Live Nation and Ticketmaster is now facing heightened scrutiny, with Judge Arun Subramanian ordering the parties to publicly outline how they plan to move the agreement through Tunney Act review.

‘The Book of Mormon’ Is Sorry if You Were Offended for 15 Years

The New York Times: No one involved knew what to expect as the musical with the bizarre title prepared for its arrival on Broadway in 2011. There had been no tryout. Two of its authors, Trey Parker and Matt Stone of “South Park” fame, were newcomers to the theater, except that, as teenagers, Parker played Sammy Fong in “Flower Drum Song” and Stone played Danny Zuko in “Grease.”

Schmigadoon! Will Welcome Fans to Broadway Dress Rehearsal

Playbill: The upcoming Broadway bow of Schmigadoon! is inviting fans to its final invited dress performance later this week. Ahead of the first preview on April 4, fans will have the opportunity to attend the show’s April 3 dress rehearsal at 7 PM at the Nederlander Theatre.

Adobe settles DOJ cancellation fee lawsuit, will pay $75 million penalty

Ars Technica: Canceling a software subscription is supposed to be easy—that’s what US law dictates. Adobe, however, has played fast and loose with its Creative Cloud subscriptions in the past. The company was sued by the Department of Justice in 2024 due to its practice of hiding hefty termination fees when customers signed up. The case has now been settled, with Adobe agreeing to a $75 million fine and matching free services to users of its products.

Here's What You Can Expect With the Burning Man Temple 2026

mymodernmet.com: The legendary Burning Man is a temporary city that is reconstructed, in differing forms, year after year. Artists and architects build structures with the intention of removing them. How can they impart meaning to something that will soon be dismantled? For 2026, designer James Gwertzman approaches this challenge with the Temple of the Moon, a project that combines parametric design, environmental responsiveness, and ritual space. The forthcoming structure will be at the heart of this year’s event.

South Africa's Market Theatre hits 50

NPR: When it first started in the 1970s, South Africa's Market Theatre staged plays considered to be so subversive that it became a regular target of the apartheid government's zealous censors. Even the fact that its audiences were made up of Black and white South Africans mingling together was unheard of in a city where the law separated areas and people by race.

To speak out or not to speak out?: Claudio Tolcachir directs “Mejor no decirlo/You Shouldn’t Have Said So” at Barcelona’s Teatre Goya

The Theatre Times: What does it mean to be honest with your partner? This is the premise that governs Salomé Lelouch’s entertaining two-hander, Mejor no decirlo/You Shouldn’t Have Said So which presents a couple in their sixties (or possibly early seventies), played by María Barranco and Imanol Arias; it is his second marriage, less is known about her past, but both have a tacit understanding of when to keep quiet and when to speak out.

The Oscar Wilde Awards

The Knockturnal: The US-Ireland Alliance celebrated its 20th Oscar Wilde Awards honoring Domhnall Gleeson, Maura Tierney, and Lee Cronin last night in Hollywood. Painting the town green and white, guests gathered at the Ebell of Los Angeles. Academy Awards 2026 nominees, industry executives, musicians, and stars of film and TV gathered to celebrate the myriad contributions of the Irish to film.

Are Chicago’s theater awards broken? The Jeffs face growing backlash

WBEZ Chicago: A week after “boos” rained down in a ceremony honoring some of Chicago’s top storefront theater companies, the Joseph Jefferson Awards — known conversationally as “the Jeffs” and akin to the local Tonys — are facing backlash.

In Jesa, Jeena Yi Wrote the Asian American Family Drama She Always Wanted to Be In

Playbill: Who doesn’t love an American family drama? A family, sitting in their living room, fighting and rediscovering each other is the bread and butter of the American theatre. Actor Jeena Yi has long loved classics like Death of a Salesman and Long Day’s Journey Into Night, even as she knew she would never be cast in those plays.

In Conversation With Hanna Puley, The Costume Designer Behind 'Heated Rivalry'

elle.in/fashion: If you haven’t stumbled upon the HeatedRivalry frenzy over the past few months, you must be living under a rock, or, at the very least, offline. Ever since the series first aired earlier last year, it has spiralled into a full-blown obsession. And now, with the show officially streaming in India on Lionsgate Play, a whole new audience is catching up, and catching feelings.

Smooth Operations: Successful Transitions Are The Key To Effective Worship Services

ProSoundWeb: There’s a moment every Sunday (sometimes several) where the entire experience hinges on what happens between the “big” elements. Not the sermon. Not the opener. Not the worship anthem. I’m talking about the parts we almost never rehearse, rarely script, and too often ignore until something goes wrong. I’m talking about transitions.

Asia’s biggest indoor transparent LED screen boosts mall

AV Magazine: Asia’s largest indoor transparent LED screen is now operating at the CentralWorld mega-mall in central Bangkok, Thailand. The 10mm pixel pitch installation, built from Unilumin’s UVF series, covers 2,400 sq metres of transparent LED surface.

Drama Desk Awards names Tom Schumacher as 2026 Harold S. Prince Award honoree

www.broadwaynews.com: The 2026 Drama Desk Awards will honor former Disney Theatrical Group president Tom Schumacher with the Harold S. Prince Award. Schumacher, who worked in various divisions of the Walt Disney Company for nearly 40 years

Michael Arden and Douglas Lyons to Develop Happy Feet Stage Musical

Playbill: Put on your best penguin outfit because Happy Feet is headed to the stage. Warner Bros. has announced that its 2006 animated musical about a tap-dancing penguin will be adapted into a live jukebox musical, with the hopes of eventually coming to Broadway.

The Unpredictable Issue Facing Universal After ‘Harry Potter’ Reboot

disneytips.com: Universal has spent years gradually expanding its Wizarding World. But with a full-scale Harry Potter reboot now in motion, questions are rising about whether those details can – or should – stay frozen in time.

Embracing Universal Memory

howlround.com: I began working in theatre in my twentieth year, at the start of the 1990s, at the National University of Rwanda. The country was then in the midst of a civil war, and theatre became, for us as young students, a means of understanding and representing the singular moments the Rwandan society of that time was going through. We were not writing plays; we limited ourselves to performing African classics, most often by authors from West Africa.

How the Forbidden Fruits Costume Designer Conjured Up the Outfits of a Mall Baddie Coven

Coveteur: There's a specific alchemy when a group of women comes together in a close, intimate friendship. It can be the most transformative force in the world. It can also be the most consuming. In the new film, Forbidden Fruits, the girls who work at Free Eden—a high-end, trendy boutique in a Dallas mall (clearly a nod to Free People)—are the ones everyone else secretly wants to be. But whether it's as magical on the inside as it looks from the outside, is another question entirely.

“Thrice welcome”: The power of three in As You Like It

Folger Shakespeare Library: We all know that Shakespeare loved twins, but less talked about is how much he adored triplets. From the three weird sisters in Macbeth, to King Lear’s three daughters, to the rhetorical majesty of “Friends, Romans, countrymen,” Shakespeare understood well the power of three and deployed it, perhaps most unexpectedly, in his popular comedy As You Like It.

The Bride!: Mark Russell – Production VFX Supervisor

The Art of VFX: I was contacted by the producers of the film as they were beginning to assemble the creative team to meet with Maggie. I had worked with most of them before and the studio, so it seemed like a natural fit. Maggie and I got a long well. I loved the spirit of the film and was thrilled for an opportunity to work on a film less focussed on typical themes.

You Can Now Explore Over 100 Objects From the Met in 3D

mymodernmet.com: As part of its Open Access initiative, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has published more than 100 high-definition 3D scans of art historical objects. These models have been carefully curated from the museum’s collection, which encompasses some 1.5 million works across media such as sculpture, painting, textiles, jewelry, calligraphy, and more.

Trump Takes Aim at the Kennedy Center—Architects Launch Legal Revolt

Architect Magazine: In Washington, D.C., where monuments are typically treated as untouchable symbols of national continuity, a legal battle is unfolding that could redefine how the United States treats its architectural legacy. At the center of the fight is the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts—a building that is not only a cultural institution but a national memorial—and a sweeping set of proposed changes by Donald Trump that critics say threaten to irreversibly alter it.

‘Arcadia’ brings everything to the stage, from mystery, passion, time travel to science

The NATRAT: How do you discuss every idea in the universe within three hours? The late playwright Tom Stoppard tried to answer this in his play, “Arcadia,” which was performed by the School of Drama from Feb. 26 to March 16 and directed by Kyle Haden, the senior associate head for the School of Drama.

‘Death of a Salesman’ on Broadway Has Help From Something Old

The New York Times: When the director Joe Mantello began working on his new production of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” now in previews on Broadway, he did the obvious: He read the script. The play’s published text, taught in schools as a pillar of American theater and a tragedy of the American dream, was full of stage directions and descriptions of the set that, Mantello said in an interview, kept cluttering his mind. So he asked the Miller estate whether there was a version stripped of all that.

Reflecting on 5 Years of Lightapalooza

Residential Systems: Five years ago, I signed a contract with the Hilton Anatole in Dallas to host a conference that didn’t exist yet. There was no track record, no ticket sales, no guarantee that anyone would show up. What I had was a conviction, built over four decades in the custom integration channel, that lighting was about to become the next major category for progressive integrators, and that someone needed to create the place where that transformation could happen.