Rocky Horror Show musical director sent threats to self to end production and avoid cast drama

Boing Boing: You'd think someone involved in The Rocky Horror Show couldn't get enough drama. But the musical director of a production in Vermont got so fed up with cast theatrics that he sent a series of threats to himself in a successful effort to shut the show down. Kenneth Grenier, 26, of Hyde Park, was cited for making false reports, according to Essex police.

Beth Leavel Will Be Inducted Into Muny Hall of Fame

www.broadwayworld.com: Tony Award winner Beth Leavel, who stars as Katie Connelly in the Muny production of Meet Me In St. Louis, will be inducted into the Muny Hall of Fame, honoring her contributions in more than a dozen Muny productions over four decades.

Interview: Faeron Wheeler of ONE-ACT PLAY FESTIVAL at The Masque Theatre

www.broadwayworld.com: We’ve been building the Festival each year, getting smoother and smoother with our operations. This is obviously great for the entire production team! I also think that we have really hit our stride with the range of scripts that were available to choose from for the Festival. The variety in this year’s lineup is wonderful - something for everyone.

Lollapalooza 2026: Year of the Flood Review

consequence.net: Festivals are concerts on Hard Mode. Acoustics and attention work differently outdoors, distractions abound, and no matter who you’re seeing, most of the crowd probably came to see someone else. Veteran performers of coffee shops and clubs are met for the first time by indifference, and they can surprise themselves by leveling up — or bombing — in ways they never imagined. And sometimes it rains.

Ballet Preljocaj Upgrades to ETC Halcyon Titanium Ultra Bright Moving Lights

LightSoundJournal.com: Ballet Preljocaj, one of Europe’s most prestigious contemporary dance companies, has selected ETC Halcyon Titanium Ultra Bright moving heads to modernize its lighting inventory and transition from legacy HMI technology to LED. Following a comprehensive market comparison, the company identified the Halcyon series as the ideal solution to meet the rigorous demands of its international touring productions.

Feature: GIRLSTORIES LEADERSHIP THEATRE at Powerstories Theatre

www.broadwayworld.com: Powerstories Theatre is thrilled to announce the return of its presidentially-recognized Girlstories Leadership Theatre, launching a new season in September 2026 with renewed vision and inspiring leadership.

What's the ONE Exhibit Tool You Can't Work Without?

ExhibiTricks: The Museum Exhibit Design Blog: There's that old party game where somebody asks, "If you were stranded on a desert island and could bring only one book (or album, or snack), what would it be?" I've always thought exhibit developers deserve our own version.

What Does Christopher Nolan Think About Film Criticism?

brobible.com: Christopher Nolan took a cutting shot at film criticism during his promotional tour for The Odyssey. According to Nolan, the belief that identifying a storytelling mechanism therefore invalidates it has become a “fundamental flaw” in modern criticism.

Maxi Gilbert Selects 67 Claypaky HY B-EYE K25s for La Oreja de Van Gogh Tour

LightSoundJournal.com: For the new tour by Spanish pop icons La Oreja de Van Gogh, Lighting Designer Maxi Gilbert chose 67 Claypaky HY B-EYE K25 fixtures, placing them at the very core of his technical design. The production deliberately prioritizes light over LED walls to shape the stage architecture and drive the show’s visual narrative.

Pledge-of-Support Partners Make Donations at USITT 2026

Behind the Scenes: Behind the Scenes was honored to receive generous contributions from five Pledge-of-Support Partners during special check presentations at the 2026 United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) Conference & Stage Expo in Long Beach, California.

The Day I Pleated With Iris van Herpen

hyperallergic.com: “Hands are like a language,” Iris van Herpen says as we pleat a textile together inside the recreated atelier at the center of Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses. “Each pair that joins me in creating this dress will influence the DNA of the garment.” A first of its kind, the live installation at the Brooklyn Museum invites visitors to work alongside the Dutch fashion designer in creating a garment that will evolve over the course of the show’s run.

Immersive Horror Play 'A Ghost in Your Ear' Sets New York Premiere

variety.com: Jamie Armitage‘s immersive horror show “A Ghost in Your Ear” has set its New York premiere at Audible‘s off-Broadway Minetta Lane Theatre following a sold-out London run earlier this year.

Variety's New Leaders: Class of 2026

variety.com: Leadership can mean leveraging one success to create the next — and navigating hundreds of crucial steps in between. It can also mean being the best team player you can be, finding the right story, signing the right client, packaging the right product or developing the right promotional campaign.

Guest Column: The Fee You Didn't Know You Were Paying

Event Marketer: Open the exhibitor services manual for your next show and scroll past the carpet and the electrical order forms. Somewhere in the labor section sits a line item called the EAC fee. It is sometimes listed at upwards of $350. At some shows it is charged more than once for the same contractor. Very few exhibitors can explain what they are buying.

'Come From Away,' the Acclaimed Musical About a Small Town’s Response to 9/11, Gets Its First Pittsburgh Production

Table Magazine: When the United States closed its airspace on September 11, 2001, thousands of planes had to land — and, in the confusion and shock of the moment, it didn’t matter much where. Hundreds of planes found the nearest available airport or made for regional hubs; about 240 were diverted into Canada.

A quick overview of three CAD modeling techniques

www.thefabricator.com: Mainstream 3D CAD offers many alternative modeling techniques that can be combined to arrive at about the same ending point. The “best” modeling technique is a moving target, but completing the model without delay is a bonus. Opportunity cost (time to completion) always should be minimized.

Motorola's Razr Wheel Debuts at Lollapalooza 2026

The Knockturnal: Towering above the festival grounds, Motorola’s razr Wheel, the first Ferris wheel in Lollapalooza’s history, offered attendees panoramic views of the Chicago skyline while providing a welcome break from the crowds below. The free attraction quickly became one of the festival’s most popular gathering spots, giving fans a chance to experience Lollapalooza from a completely new perspective.

Royal Ballet & Opera In Need of Investment for Stage Infrastructure to Remain Open

OperaWire OperaWire: According to a report obtained by the Times of London, the building will need about £60 million over the next three years just to “keep the building open and functioning” and as much as £200m over the next decade. The report suggests that it will cost at least £20 million a year because of its “obsolete infrastructure.”

EDINBURGH 2026: Anna Thomas Q&A

www.broadwayworld.com: BWW catches up with Anna Thomas to chat about bringing How To Juggle A Ferret to the 2026 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Kennedy Center Halts Free Public Tours After Five Decades of Service

The New York Times: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is stopping free public tours of the center, which had been a mainstay of the cultural institution for more than five decades, according to an internal memo.

Insta360 Luna Ultra Review: This Is the Only Gimbal Camera You Need

gizmodo.com: I honestly had to ask myself: Could my one camera be a vlogging cam? I still resent the very concept to a certain degree. I don’t find my life or my face interesting enough that it deserves to be tracked from every angle, capturing every moment of my bland visage’s reaction to my ordinary life, even if Insta360’s Luna Ultra makes it so dang easy—and I’ll admit it, fun—to do just that.

Why ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Could Be A Turning Point For ScreenX

www.forbes.com: ScreenX is built around a simple idea: why settle for one screen when you can have three? In addition to the main projector, it adds two more, to project additional images onto side-wall screens for a wraparound 270° view of the action.

Pittsburgh Public Theater and Pittsburgh CLO officially merge without a name

triblive.com: After more than 130 combined years of entertaining Pittsburgh audiences, two of the city’s biggest theater companies have become one. Pittsburgh Public Theater and the Pittsburgh CLO officially merged Friday, months after their boards approved the historic move. Now, the newly formed organization has one final act: choosing a new name.

How a Former Military Settlement in Taipei Became an Artist Residency

hyperallergic.com: Two tiny lightbulbs dangle from five feet of wire, blinking on and off to the rhythm of human breath. Magnets attached to the bulbs pull them together or push them apart at random, mimicking the relationships between people — or communities.

Gavin Newsom Urges State AGs to Settle Paramount-WBD Lawsuit

www.thewrap.com: California Gov. Gavin Newsom has expressed concern over 12 state attorneys general’s lawsuit seeking to block the pending $110 billion Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger.

Audience member faints on opening night of London play during graphic scene

The Independent: The opening night performance of Cleansed at London’s Almeida Theatre saw Sarah Kane’s provocative play live up to its reputation – with one audience member fainting during a graphic scene. First staged in 1998, Cleansed is one of five plays by the late playwright Kane, who died by suicide in 1999 at the age of 28. It is noteworthy for its visceral violence, prolonged nudity, and dark themes.

Dallas Theater Center to merge with AT&T Performing Arts Center

CultureMap Dallas: Two of the most prominent arts groups in Dallas, AT&T Performing Arts Center and Dallas Theater Center, are exploring a merger that they say would expand theater programming, arts education, and support for local artists while keeping both institutions' artistic identities intact.

Live Nation gives first look at Citizens Live at the Wylie as construction continues

WTAE: Soon, Pittsburghers will have a new place to watch concerts, comedy shows, and other live performances when Citizens Live at the Wylie opens Oct. 1. On Tuesday, Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 was invited inside for a first look at the construction progress.

A movement may be over. But nonprofit theatre lives.

hesherman1.substack.com: It hurt. As someone whose career began in and was nurtured by not-for-profit theatre, Oskar Eustis’ declaration last week, “I think the American nonprofit theater movement is over,” hit me and many others like a ton of bricks.

36 women+ playwrights commissioned to create new plays examining the current state of democracy in America

www.whatsonstage.com: A new initiative will bring together 36 acclaimed women+ playwrights from across the world, with each creating ten-minute plays that respond to shared questions about the state of democracy in America.

Public media survives first year since Congress and Trump killed funding

NPR: A year ago, President Trump drove a conservative backlash against NPR and PBS straight to Capitol Hill, where Congress stripped public radio and television stations of nearly all federal funding. When his signature turned that bill into law, Trump ended nearly six decades of bipartisan support for funding public media.

A Homegrown Model: Adult Film’s Evolution from Basement to Backyard to Beyond

The Brooklyn Rail: In the tight confines of a basement in Ridgewood, ten acting students swirled around each other, muttering lines from the plays of Tennessee Williams. “Too loud,” announced Ryan Czerwonko, the class’s instructor and artistic director of the DIY-theater and training company Adult Film. “Whisper.”

Song, Stage & Screen 2026: Musical Theater Conference

gordoncox.substack.com: An annual event organized by the International Society for the Study of Musicals, the 2026 edition of Song, Stage & Screen brought together about 100 scholars from 17 countries and five continents. (This year the conference was held online; next year’s is in Sydney.) The 2026 theme, “Musicals Everywhere,” invited participants to look at musicals through a global lens—which explains how this journalist ended up getting asked to give a keynote alongside professors and grad students from across the globe.

Kids' Night on Broadway Sets August Return; 21 Shows Are Participating

Playbill: Kids' Night on Broadway, a program of The Broadway League that sends kids 18 and under to Broadway shows for free as long as they're accompanied by a full-paying adult, will return August 25.

Interview: Department Chair Robert Caisley On the University of Idaho's Distance-Based M.F.A. in Theatre Arts

www.broadwayworld.com: The University of Idaho Department of Theatre Arts offers a distance-based M.F.A. in Theatre Arts geared toward Working Theatre professionals and seasoned educators. The 60-credit program can be completed in three years, or fewer through an M.A. to M.F.A. conversion option, and offers both synchronous and asynchronous coursework so students can continue working within their local theatre communities while earning their degree.