Interview: Liz B. Williams of COME FROM AWAY at Ovation Theatre

BroadwayWorld: The Canadian musical Come From Away, which took Broadway by storm in 2017, has finally opened up to licensing possibilities for community theatres, just in time for the 25th anniversary of the events it portrays, the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. For this article, I sat down with Liz B. Williams, an actor in the Ovation Theatre’s production of Come From Away in Bakersfield, CA.

CAA's Young Hollywood Party Brings Assistants Together for Good

www.hollywoodreporter.com: The event serves as a benefit for Communities in School of Los Angeles, the nation’s leading dropout prevention organization, and is put on entirely by assistants on the CAA Task Force. This year’s party was thrown under the theme of Old Hollywood, and transformed Avalon Hollywood with decor, activations, music, and food and drink all courtesy of in-kind donations.

Interview: Sophia Walker & André Morin of OHIO STATE MURDERS and A NEW WORK IN PROGRESS at Shaw Festival

BroadwayWorld: Celebrated Canadian actors Sophia Walker and André Morin are, as they say, "booked and busy." Walker and Morin star in not only one Shaw Festival production this season, but two: Adrienne Kennedy's Ohio State Murders and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' A New Work in Progress.

Plot Luck: Jamie Davis Lights Michael Bublé's Summer Tour

Live Design Online: Michael Bublé's 2026 summer tour featured major outdoor festival and arena concerts across the UK, Ireland - including Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire – and international venues like VidantaWorld in Mexico.

From the Deep Archives: “The Regrouping of American Theater”

donshewey.substack.com: Oskar Eustis has been artistic director of the Public Theater for 21 years and recently announced that he will be stepping down from his position as of July 31, 2028. In an interview with the New York Times, asked about the state of American theater, he said, “I think the American nonprofit theater movement is over,” citing the financial challenges that plague a business model conceived decades ago that hasn’t kept up with the current economy.

The Best Places to Laugh This Fall at Comedy Shows in Pittsburgh

Table Magazine: The weather might be changing, but the fun doesn’t have to end with summer. Fall brings a variety of comedy show shenanigans to Pittsburgh, including a Stephen King roast just in time for Halloween, on-stage game shows and more. After all, the best way to end a day with fewer hours of sun is to embrace the darkness … of an intimate room full of laughter.

JAŸ-Z 30 to Debut Immersive Pop-Up Experience in Trafalgar Square

BroadwayWorld: Beginning 1 September, JAŸ-Z 30 will debut its immersive installation in London's Trafalgar Square, celebrating JAY-Z's Tottenham Hotspur Stadium concerts on 4 and 5 September and the 25th anniversary of The Blueprint and continuing the celebration of three decades of JAY-Z's music.

Check the Wall Before You Climb Faster

www.asianefficiency.com: Every Tuesday at 4 PM, I review upcoming tasks. 1.5 hours. If something doesn’t align with my top goals, I eliminate it. I keep this ritual because low-impact work still costs payroll. My time. My energy. Skip a week of it and it’s easy to spend the rest of the week on work that never should have made the list.

AQTIS 514 IATSE signs first term agreement with Netflix

finance.yahoo.com: The association representing audiovisual technicians (all those who work behind the camera) is proud to announce the signing of an agreement with Netflix. This agreement, reached following a majority vote by union members, is the result of discussions and negotiations that took place over several months.

Joel Crawford Gets Variety Creative Impact Award at SCAD Fest

variety.com: Variety will honor Joel Crawford, the DreamWorks Animation filmmaker behind the Oscar-nominated “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” and the upcoming “Forgotten Island,” with the Creative Impact in Animation Award at this year’s SCAD AnimationFest.

Timothy Bloom and Chase Parker to Receive 2026 Prince Fellowship and Prince/TLLP Fellowship

Playbill: The Prince Fellowship, formerly known as The T. Fellowship, was renamed in 2021 to honor the work of the late producer, director, and T. Fellowship founder Harold Prince. Prince created the program to usher in the next generation of creative producers.

Jackalope's Living Newspaper Festival Brings Today's Headlines to the Stage

www.newcitystage.com: The Living Newspaper, pioneered by the Federal Theater Project under the helm of Hallie Flanagan in the 1930s, was a project of the Works Progress Administration, part of a push to employ artists in the wake of the Great Depression. This revolutionary theatrical form has made it to 2026 with the help of Jackalope Theatre, who presented their Seventeenth Annual Living Newspaper Festival at their home in Edgewater’s Broadway Armory Park this past weekend.

10 Must-Visit University Art Museums in the U.S.

AFAR: If autumn has you thinking about school days but you’ve long since graduated, consider visiting a university art museum. These extensive art collections are often housed in strikingly modern buildings designed by powerhouse architects like the late Zaha Hadid. And most have free admission. In no particular order, these are 10 of our favorite university art museums for a dose of culture and a dash of campus-life nostalgia.

PPI Urges Court to Reject Live Nation-Ticketmaster Settlement

www.ticketnews.com: The Progressive Policy Institute is urging the federal judge reviewing the Justice Department’s proposed settlement with Live Nation and Ticketmaster to reject the agreement, arguing that meaningful competition would require not only separating Ticketmaster from Live Nation but breaking the ticketing giant into several smaller companies.

Meredith McDonough Becomes Trinity Rep's New Artistic Director

BroadwayWorld: This August, Meredith McDonough began her tenure as Trinity Repertory Company's seventh Artistic Director. McDonough, whose appointment was announced in March, joins Executive Director Katie Liberman and Board of Trustees Chair Kibbe Reilly in leading the storied nonprofit. This moment marks the first time in which all of the theater's leaders identify as women.

The Show That Makes New Yorkers the Stars of Their Own City

The New York Times: Dripping water from A.C. units. Getting priced out of your neighborhood. A damn-fine bacon, egg and cheese. ICE agents. Falling in love. Grieving a sibling’s death. Being proud of your identity. Moving to the city’s beat. And, obviously, Knicks in Five.

Pittsburgh CLO and Pittsburgh Public to Merge as Confluence Theater

AMERICAN THEATRE: In the latest news from a historic if bumpy theatre merger between Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera (CLO) and Pittsburgh Public Theater (PPT), a new name for the combined theatre has been announced: Confluence Theater of Pittsburgh. Confluence’s name was reportedly chosen by Pittsburgh residents themselves. According to release from the new company, it will combine the musicals that Pittsburgh CLO is known for with the classic and contemporary plays typically produced by Pittsburgh Public Theater.

Meet the Google Exec Trying to Convince a Skeptical Gaming Industry to Love AI

gizmodo.com: In a gold rush, the people who get rich aren’t the grubby prospectors digging for those nuggets in the muck; it’s the men who sell the shovels. In that vein, Google, with generative tools like Genie, Veo, and Gemini, is competing to become the biggest provider of AI for the gaming industry. I talked to the man at Google who’s in charge of selling the shovels.

AI, drone swarms and digital manufacturing workflows at IMTS 2026

Control Design: The International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) stands as the western hemisphere's largest manufacturing technology trade show, drawing around 100,000 attendees to explore miles of industrial manufacturing equipment. The event serves as an essential, hands-on marketplace where buyers can interact with capital machinery and automation components, collaborate directly with suppliers and solve real-world challenges.

Venice Immersive 2026 FOMO Guide

www.noproscenium.com: While Katrina Lat is on the ground for us at the Venice Film Festival’s now legendary Immersive showcase we’re still feeling some mighty levels of FOMO. At least for the pieces on this list we haven’t had the pleasure to catch in secret yet. What follows are a baker’s dozen picks from the In Competition section for what we’re most looking forward to experiencing — for the first or in some cases second time — both at the festival (in the case of Kat) and beyond (the rest of us, especially Noah).

Playmakers Repertory Company Will Launch North Carolina Folk Play Project

BroadwayWorld: PlayMakers Repertory Company has announced the launch of the North Carolina Folk Play Project, a new statewide initiative inviting writers and storytellers from across North Carolina to submit short plays exploring the stories, communities and experiences that make our state unique.

Dollywood details 2027 plans to honor Dolly Parton

www.themeparkinsider.com: In a presentation at the Pigeon Forge, Tennessee theme park today, Dollywood Parks & Resorts President Eugene Naughton revealed that Dolly Parton, before her death last week, had reviewed and approved expansion plans for the park and its hotels for the next 10 years. That means that Dolly's direct influence will continue to be felt at the park for the next decade and beyond.

Jasmine Amy Rogers, Ben Levi Ross, and Sam Tutty Are Winners of Clive Barnes Awards

Playbill: The 16th Annual Clive Barnes Award ceremony will be held on October 19 at 6:30 PM at the Martha Graham Studios in New York City. Hosted by Budd Mishkin of 1010WINS and Before the Cheering Started podcast, the annual Clive Barnes Awards recognizes young, outstanding talent.

Interview: Evan Taylor of SHIT-FACED SHAKESPEARE PRESENTS MACBETH at Southern Theatre

BroadwayWorld: No trash cans will be safe when Evan Taylor and the cast of Shit-faced Shakespeare present MACBETH 8 p.m. Sept. 25 at the Southern Theatre (21 E. Main St. in downtown Columbus). The last time the Boston theatre troupe performed at the Southern, Taylor played Laertes in HAMLET.

Disney's Piston Peak Balloon Test Triggered a Redesign

deeparrival.com: Disney Imagineers said an early balloon test for Piston Peak National Park showed planned elevations were too tall and prompted a redesign before construction advanced. The useful question is not only what changed, but what a traveler should do with the information right now.

Can More Pro-Shots Help Broadway’s Money Issues? Maybe, Says the Hadestown Film Team

Playbill: The Hadestown live stage film has successfully completed its run in movie theatres, taking home a very handsome $20.7 million over four weeks and making it the highest-grossing live stage film of all time (surpassing Hamilton)—and that's before you start counting on demand sales and rentals.

The Right Way To Install Piano Hinges Flush

www.obsessedwoodworking.com: Piano hinges, also known as continuous hinges, are one of the simplest hinge options available, yet they’re often installed incorrectly. Billy breaks down why these hinges are so useful, the common mistake many woodworkers make when installing them, and a better method that results in a flush, properly aligned door every time.

Maybe Paramount-Warner Should Leave L.A.: Joseph Kahn Opinion Column

www.hollywoodreporter.com: However, for L.A., it’d be a death blow. The infrastructure is already suffering with vendors going out of business and crewmembers quitting. If Paramount-Warners leaves, the built-in advantage of being a mecca for filmmakers with access to top talent, props and equipment disintegrates overnight. Studio stockpiles of props, wardrobe, cranes and cameras can truck over to Nashville or Austin. Crews can suddenly live in lower-cost states and afford homes and schools for their kids. They may have to pray to Baby Jesus a little more, but a little Holy Ghost Power never hurt nobody.

Meyer Sound names McMahon as chief operating officer

AV Magazine: Meyer Sound has named John McMahon chief operating officer, expanding a leadership role that has steadily expanded over his 20 years with the company. He joined Meyer Sound in 2006 after the company acquired Level Control Systems, where he was chief executive, and has served on the executive team since 2008.

The Doobie Brothers Invite America To “Walk This Road” On Tour With Cohesion Audio In Support

Live Design Online: Following the release of their sixteenth studio album, Walk This Road, seminal American rockers The Doobie Brothers embarked on a North American amphitheater tour of the same name, bringing together members Tom Johnston, John McFee, Pat Simmons, and Michael McDonald for twenty-five memorable evenings.

Solid State Logic To Showcase TCA Tour Fly-Away System At IBC 2026

ProSoundWeb: The Solid State Logic (SSL) fly-away TCA Tour production system, built from System T components in delivering the platform’s feature set in a portable desktop format for rapid deployment on location or on the road on broadcast, touring and live production applications, will make its IBC debut at the upcoming 2026 iteration of the show at RAI Amsterdam (stand 8.B45).

Ithaca College Clarifies That AI Major Had No Involvement in Theatre Administration Program Change

BroadwayWorld: Ithaca College has changed its Theatre Administration program for future students. Steve TenEyck, dean of the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, announced to current students that the specific program will no longer continue in its current form. Students currently enrolled will still graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Theatre Administration.

George Lucas on opening Lucas Museum: ‘This one almost broke my will’

Los Angeles Times: As George Lucas and Mellody Hobson introduced their new $1 billion museum to press, they focused on two things: the long arc of narrative storytelling and the long arc of their hero’s journey to make their dream a reality.

Bonnaroo to Take Off 2027 to Recover From Extreme Weather

variety.com: The annual festival, which takes place in Manchester, TN, has been plagued by severe weather over the past couple of years, leading to its cancelation in 2025 just a day after it started. In a post on its socials, Bonnaroo organizers explained that the extreme conditions are the root cause of needing to take a break in 2027 so that the campgrounds can recover.

NFTRW Weekly Top Five

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

Six announces end to Broadway run

www.whatsonstage.com: Six is the longest-running show in the history of the Lena Horne Theatre (formerly the Brooks Atkinson), the 40th-longest-running show in Broadway history, and the seventh-longest-running Broadway show to have originated in the United Kingdom. Its final performance will be 3 January, 2027.

Yes, opera has an age problem — because society has an education problem

The Standard: At the height of the summer season Glyndebourne’s lawns look bleached. A panorama of pale, straw-like grass, bone Panama hats, white starched shirts, white linen tablecloths and, crowning it all, puffs of white hair. I watch men in mothballed tuxes negotiate the rose garden, unsteady on their feet, and fragile, bird-like women in pearls pushing their husbands’ wheelchairs, as I worry I should intervene.

Six Workers at Ed Sheeran Concert Injured in Forklift Accident

consequence.net: Six workers were injured while loading out after Ed Sheeran’s Saturday concert at Ford Field in Detroit, according to reports.

How Paranormal Activity Created a Two-Story Haunted House Onstage

Playbill: Illusions designer Chris Fisher is no stranger to the paranormal. The 2025 Special Tony Award recipient brought the Upside Down to the Marquis in Stranger Things: The First Shadow. Now, he is conjuring sinister spirits in the new stage play Paranormal Activity, which opens August 25 at the August Wilson Theatre. Though—for all his knowledge and ingenuity on creating spectacular, seemingly impossible, feats of monsters and magic—Fisher can still find himself spooked by the unexplainable.

How to Identify AI Music

consequence.net: AI is a moving target, and the tricks that help us identify it can quickly become outdated. When Suno launched their music generating platform late in 2023, one obvious tell was what you could call the Forgetful Bassist, who seemed to never remember what had been played before, and chose a different groove every time the bass returned. Now, that tic has largely disappeared. But while the artifacts of AI have become more subtle, they aren’t too hard to find (obligatory: yet).

 

Paranormal Activity Opens on Broadway August 25

Playbill: Transferring from sold-out runs from London to Los Angeles, the stage adaptation of the 2007 screen horror favorite is directed by Felix Barrett and penned by Levi Holloway. The Paranormal Activity stage play is a story distinct from the film, following couple Lou and James who move from Chicago to London to escape their past, soon discovering that places aren’t haunted—people are.

Six announces end to Broadway run

www.whatsonstage.com: Six is the longest-running show in the history of the Lena Horne Theatre (formerly the Brooks Atkinson), the 40th-longest-running show in Broadway history, and the seventh-longest-running Broadway show to have originated in the United Kingdom. Its final performance will be 3 January, 2027.

Disclosure Day: Matthew Butler - Production VFX Supervisor

The Art of VFX: In 2022, Matthew Butler took us behind the scenes of the visual effects on Morbius. Since then, he has moved from the comic book world to the retro-futuristic adventure of The Electric State, and now returns to discuss his latest collaboration with Steven Spielberg on Disclosure Day.

Behr’s 2027 Color of the Year Takes Inspiration From Travel

AFAR: Travel is not immune to routine. Airports generally look the same, your coffee order doesn’t change, and checking in to a hotel is usually perfunctory no matter where you land. In order to make your accommodation feel distinctive, hospitality turns to design.

Curt Columbus Stages His ‘Getaway’ From Trinity Rep

AMERICAN THEATRE: “Some artistic directors stay too long,” Curt Columbus told me last month. “I’m not naming names, but we all know who they are.” The occasion for our conversation was his exit, after a little over 20 years, as artistic director of Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island. Columbus succeeded Oskar Eustis, who himself followed in the shadow of the theatre’s trail-blazing founder, Adrian Hall (though in fact Hall’s immediate successors were Richard Jenkins and Anne Bogart).

You Shouldn't Be Able to Profit From AI-Prompted Movies

www.hollywoodreporter.com: The unofficial Silicon Valley motto of “move fast and break things” may be an inspirational rallying cry for innovation, but it cannot apply to the fabric of society itself. It is high time our legislative bodies acknowledge the danger of that motivation and respond in kind, as we are in the midst of an unparalleled technological revolution.

8 things Gen Z sees as burnout that Boomers & Gen X just call having a job

stylegirlfriend.com: A 24-year-old and a 56-year-old describe the same Wednesday. The younger one says it was brutal. Back-to-back calls, a manager who wanted a revision, a Slack message at 6:40 that she answered from the couch. She uses the word burnout twice before she gets to what happened after work. The older one says it was Wednesday.

KDKA Debuts New First Alert Weather Sphere

Pittsburgh Magazine: At 9:20 a.m. KDKA’s meteorologist Ron Smiley goes live on air forecasting warm weather and sunny skies this week in Pittsburgh. Smiley holds a tablet where, with the press of a button, he is able to switch from a 3D map of Allegheny County to a view of Mount Washington, all from the comfort of the downtown studio. These visual aids are all thanks to KDKA’s new AR/VR technology.

Narrating High-Spice Romance.

Theater Is Hard.: My side-hustle is that I’m a professional voice actor. I’ve been doing it my entire adult life, but I should be much further along in my career. I took a 14 year self-imposed hiatus after my voice coach locked me in his sound proof office and jerked himself off to me reading sample copy for chocolate pudding. I wrote my entire #MeToo narrative here, definitely read it or listen to me read it. Or you can just read about it on CNN.

Caitlin Dobronz on the Evolution of Riverfront Theatre Company

onStage Pittsburgh: Founded in 1965, the Riverfront Theater Company has become a staple in the Pittsburgh community theater environment. As many of Pittsburgh’s community and regional theater companies are still finding their footing in a post-pandemic world, Riverfront’s Artistic Director Caitlin Dobronz is constantly searching for opportunities for the historic company to evolve,

How to Identify AI Music

consequence.net: AI is a moving target, and the tricks that help us identify it can quickly become outdated. When Suno launched their music generating platform late in 2023, one obvious tell was what you could call the Forgetful Bassist, who seemed to never remember what had been played before, and chose a different groove every time the bass returned. Now, that tic has largely disappeared. But while the artifacts of AI have become more subtle, they aren’t too hard to find (obligatory: yet).

Bayreuth Festival 2026 Review: Rienzi

OperaWire: Athletic is Schager’s signature acting style, but on this night he outdid even himself (in any of his Wagnerian incarnations, from Siegfried to Parsifal). And the fabled voice somehow lasted throughout over three-and-a-half hours of non-stop singing. Yes, he relied upon his insistent, high decibel superpower and yet there were moments of pliant gentleness in which the ageless tenor seemed to reach into a freshness that bordered on the supernatural. Schager’s authoritative enactment of such a punishing role will surely remain the standard for any who attempt it in the future.

Artists Want to Prove Their Work Was Stolen by AI. A New Study Says That’s Impossible

gizmodo.com: One way to figure out how something works is to take it apart one piece at a time, and see how it changes along the way. That was the approach taken by two AI researchers who wanted to understand how image-generating AI models arrive at their final outputs: Do they reference a particular image, the way a human portrait artist might look at a human subject while painting? Or is there some other process at play?

Seattle teens bring Peter Pan to McCaw Hall — with contemporary twist

The Seattle Times: More than 80 students aged 9 through 18 will take the stage starting Friday, singing, acting and dancing in “Peter Pan: Ready to Rise.” The show is this year’s Teen Summer Musical, a Seattle Parks and Recreations program in partnership with Acts On Stage Theater, a nonprofit focused on teaching theater to youth of color. Each year, the summer musical highlights a different contemporary theme.

San Francisco's The Portal Cinema Set to Open in Fall 2026

www.indiewire.com: Despite a passionate Bay Area film culture, San Francisco has been hit hard over the last 15 years by iconic arthouse and first-run movie theater closures. From the Landmark-owned Embarcadero Center complex shuttering in 2023 to AMC taking over the beloved indie Sundance Kabuki in Japantown 10 years ago, venue attrition has empowered newer but more commercial hotspots like the Mission District’s Alamo Drafthouse to thrive.

Unstacking Risers for an Elegant Handrail

Journal of Light Construction: I’m about to embark on an exciting build of a “dancing winder” staircase this summer, which I’ll document in a JLC article to come later this year. Before we get to that complex winding stair, however, I thought I’d begin easing into the topic of winding stairs with a discussion of the simplest design—a basic “quarter-turn,” or L-shaped, stairway with two half-flights of stairs, a lower one leading up to a landing, where it turns the corner and starts the upper half-flight.

Six Workers at Ed Sheeran Concert Injured in Forklift Accident

consequence.net: Six workers were injured while loading out after Ed Sheeran’s Saturday concert at Ford Field in Detroit, according to reports.

Es Devlin’s Immersive World Comes to FUTURA SEOUL

mymodernmet.com: British artist Es Devlin has spent more than three decades exploring what happens when people gather in a shared space. Her installations often transform architecture into a stage where books become gateways, light marks the passage of time, and strangers become temporary collaborators.

ANT FEST Will Return to Ars Nova in Septemebr

www.broadwayworld.com: Ars Nova will present ANT Fest 2026, its annual festival showcasing new work from emerging artists, this September in New York City. The festival brings together new theater, comedy, music and hybrid performances from artists developing adventurous and original work.

Flexible lead times balance speed and cost in metal fabrication

www.thefabricator.com: We at OSH Cut have always focused on speed. We quote instantly, and our standard lead times are usually just two to three business days, with options for same-day production. Still, rapid turnaround is expensive. While we’ve been able to keep prices reasonable and fair, default fast service makes it more challenging to serve cost-sensitive customers. As I write this, we’re tackling this challenge head on.

Yes, opera has an age problem — because society has an education problem

The Standard: At the height of the summer season Glyndebourne’s lawns look bleached. A panorama of pale, straw-like grass, bone Panama hats, white starched shirts, white linen tablecloths and, crowning it all, puffs of white hair. I watch men in mothballed tuxes negotiate the rose garden, unsteady on their feet, and fragile, bird-like women in pearls pushing their husbands’ wheelchairs, as I worry I should intervene.

We Call It Love: A Transracial Adoptee Celebrates Hedwig and the Angry Inch at 25

episodes.ghost.io: “We have enough identifying information of the birth parents, thus I made a request for the birth parents search to government agency and I will keep you informed of the progress.” This is the email I received in April 2025, a few weeks before my 38th birthday. It’s from Jeongmin, a Korean social worker, telling me in broken English that the search for my birth parents has officially started.

Merged groups announce Confluence Theater of Pittsburgh as new name

90.5 WESA: Confluence Theater of Pittsburgh is the name of Pittsburgh’s newest theater company — the result of the merger of two of its oldest troupes. The group announced the name Monday, about a month after the formal merger of Pittsburgh Public Theater and the Pittsburgh CLO.

10 Anticipated Productions for the 2026-27 Fall Season

OperaWire: The 2026-27 season is about to begin and audiences are getting ready to choose performances as they head back to the opera. With so much to choose from, OperaWire is breaking down 10 opera productions that are must-sees.