Paramount To Transform Hollywood With Warner Merger After AG Settlement That Clears Way For Warner Merger

www.forbes.com: An imminent settlement of the lawsuit by 12 states’ attorneys general blocking the $111 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery by much smaller rival Paramount Skydance removes one of the last barriers to a fundamental reshaping of Hollywood’s battered entertainment industry.

State AGs: Live Nation Deal Could Entrench Ticketmaster

www.ticketnews.com: Attorneys general from 17 states and the District of Columbia are warning that the Justice Department’s proposed antitrust settlement with Live Nation and Ticketmaster could do more than fail to restore competition — portions of the deal could actually strengthen Ticketmaster’s dominant position.

Heated Rivalry Musical Recoups Off-Broadway, Extends

Playbill: The acclaimed Off-Broadway run of Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody, which officially opened May 26 following previews that began May 12 at The Culture Club, has recouped its initial investment in 13 weeks.

Wenger Corporation Launches GearBoss Sports Rigging for Sports and Entertainment Venues

Lighting&Sound America Online - News: Wenger Corporation has announced the launch of GearBoss Sports Rigging, expanding the company's capabilities to provide engineered rigging solutions for sports and entertainment venues across North America.

Where Did the Creatives of the 2025-26 Broadway Season Go to School?

Playbill: As part of Playbill's Back to School week, take a look at our annual report on the colleges and universities with the most creative alums performing on Broadway in the 2025–26 Broadway season. Below you'll find this year's top 20 most represented schools for Broadway creatives (technically 22 due to ties). Take a look and see if your school—or a school you're considering attending—made the list!

Where Did the Actors of the 2025-26 Broadway Season Go to School?

Playbill: As part of Playbill's Back to School week, take a look at our annual report on the colleges and universities with the most alumni performing on Broadway in the 2025-26 Broadway season. Below you'll find this year's top 20 most represented schools on Broadway (well technically 22 due to ties). Take a look and see if your school—or a school you're considering attending—made the list!

Joseph Herscher’s Rube Goldberg Machines Create Wonder, Not Efficiency

The New York Times: Any busy morning routine can feel like a bit of a tap dance. But recently, Joseph Herscher turned getting ready for the day into a comically intricate work of choreography. Mechanized choreography, that is. Herscher, known online as Joseph’s Machines, has collected millions of social followers with videos of his pointedly inefficient chain-reaction machines. He’s a Rube Goldberg for the digital age.

Library of Congress opens experiential gallery for children

AV Magazine: The Library of Congress has opened The Source, an experiential research gallery where interactive AV technology helps children explore primary sources independently. Part of the A Library for You initiative, the 370 sq metre space uses projection-mapped animation, RFID-enabled objects and digital workstations to introduce visitors aged eight to 15 to the library’s vast collections in film, text, sound and image.

NYC Village Halloween Parade 2026: Theme and Route

www.timeout.com/newyork: New Yorkers, start stretching. The Village Halloween Parade is returning on Saturday, October 31, and its newly announced theme gives you permission to show a little skin, bare your bones or dance like nobody’s watching. This year, it’s “Body & Soul.”

Anonymous Content interview on 'Remarkably Bright Creatures' Emmy wins

www.goldderby.com: Anonymous Content, the entertainment company responsible for bringing Shelby Van Pelt's 2022 novel Remarkably Bright Creatures to life on Netflix, told Gold Derby that they celebrated the recent awards attention by making "a very generous donation" to World Wildlife Fund's "Adopt an Octopus" charity.

Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival to Feature Kid Capri and Eric Roberson

BroadwayWorld: The August Wilson African American Cultural Center’s (AWAACC) 2026 B.U.I.L.D. Residency Program, made possible with major support from the Joyce and George Wein Foundation, features Kid Capri, the iconic New York Grammy-winning rapper, DJ and producer, and Eric Roberson, the acclaimed R&B and soul singer, songwriter, and producer known as a pioneer of the independent music movement. Both artists will appear at the 16th Annual Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival co-presented by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield (PIJF) September 17 – 20.

Tim Blake Nelson Says It's Never Been This Bad for Indie Film

www.thewrap.com: Over the course of his lengthy career, Tim Blake Nelson has seen it all. An actor, director, writer and producer whose latest film, “The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd,” is premiering at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival, he’s seen the industry evolve dramatically over the decades. And although he’s continued to work through all of it, this hasn’t always been an easy undertaking — especially in independent film.

Preview: Mandy Gonzalez Sings the Songs of Lin-Manuel Miranda With PSO Pops

onStage Pittsburgh: Mandy Gonzalez, the original Nina in the Tony Award-winning In the Heights, possesses a genre-defying voice that inspired Lin-Manuel Miranda to gush that she is “one of the greatest singers on earth.” She has played some of the most memorable characters in some of the most memorable Broadway productions of the 2000s — Elphaba in Wicked and Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard among them — but it is her collaborations with the creator of In the Heights and Hamilton that brings her to Heinz Hall for Everything I Know: Mandy Gonzalez Sings Lin-Manuel Miranda, October 8-11, 2026.

Tateside leads AV integration at the OId Granada Studios

AV Magazine: Opened in 1956 as the UK’s first purpose-built TV centre, the Old Granada Studios is a landmark of central Manchester. Once home to Coronation Street, the studios are now at the centre of a major redevelopment featuring event spaces and hospitality venues including Manchester’s first Soho House and Mollie’s Motel & Diner. London-based system integration specialists, Tateside, led the vast AV installation across both the Soho House & Mollie’s sites.

Horton Foote Prize, Champion Playwriting Fellowship, MENA Grants, and More

AMERICAN THEATRE: The 1/52 Project has given out more than $675,000 in grants in the past five years to 46 early-career set, costume, lighting, sound, projections, hair, and makeup designers. Launched in January 2022, the 1/52 Project is primarily funded by Broadway designers who are encouraged to donate their weekly royalties to the fund. The project hopes to encourage early-career designers from historically excluded groups with the aim of diversifying and strengthening the Broadway design community.

AI and your intellectual property

www.thefabricator.com: In the 1980s, television stations across the U.S. picked up a tag line that originated in New York media for public service announcements that TV watchers from that decade will remember: “It’s 10:00 PM. Do you know where your children are?” Today, parents can track their children through their smartphones and tablets. They have a good handle on where they are most of the time. Can the same be said for manufacturing companies and their data? Do they know where that is?

Tommy Dorfman Targets Live Nation Settlement Loopholes

www.ticketnews.com: Longtime concert promoter Tommy Dorfman is urging the federal court reviewing the Justice Department’s settlement with Live Nation and Ticketmaster to reject the agreement, arguing that specific exceptions involving venue rebates and music festivals could preserve the same kind of industry leverage he says destroyed his own festival business.

Watch (and Hear) Emma Cline’s Buzzy New Novel Become an Audiobook

The New York Times: More than a quarter of American adults listened to an audiobook in the last year, according to a recent PEW Research survey. That’s tens of millions of people diving into one of the hundreds of thousands of titles that are now available with just a tap. They listen in the car and at the gym, in the bath and at the store, to stories narrated by one person and to full-cast productions with dozens of actors, music and sound effects.

O Wendy! My Wendy!

AMERICAN THEATRE: I knew of Wendy Wasserstein before I ever read her. You could argue this awareness goes back as far as my birth, as Dr. Michele K. Silverstein—the doctor who famously delivered Lucy Wasserstein, the daughter Wendy gave birth to at the age of 48, as described lovingly in Wendy’s 2000 New Yorker essay “Late Motherhood, Premature Baby”—was also my own mother’s obstetrician.

FEMME COLLECTIVE THEATRE to Present 18 Women-Focused Events

BroadwayWorld: An exciting program of theater brings the voices of leading and emerging women artists to a single venue at the Theater of the 14th St. Y (344 E. 14th Street) in dates through September and early October.

As the Kennedy Center’s fate hangs by a thread amid growing pressure from Trump, Rep. Joyce Beatty accuses him of being ‘unprofessional’

www.themarysue.com: The Kennedy Center closed Tuesday, the same day a federal judge blocked the Trump-appointed board’s effort to credit Trump for the building’s restoration by adding his name. U.S. District Judge Christopher “Casey” Cooper wrote in his ruling that the defendants “cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing,” the Associated Press reported. The Justice Department has appealed the decision.

Paramount-Warner Bros. Settlement: Guilds, AGs and Activists React

variety.com: After almost a year in the trenches pulling together his historic combination of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery, David Ellison has finally emerged victorious. On Monday, the Silicon Valley heir confirmed he’d reached a settlement with a group of state attorneys general, who sued to block the merger over antitrust concerns.

Rob Bonta, Facing Skeptics, Defends 'Very Strong' Paramount Deal

variety.com: Rob Bonta defended the antitrust settlement that allows Paramount to merge with Warner Bros. on Monday, saying in a 45-minute press conference that the deal includes independent monitoring and will result in more jobs in Hollywood.

5 Safety Picks for Jobsite Hazards

Builder Magazine: Modern jobsite safety extends well beyond hard hats and high-visibility vests. As labor shortages persist and worker well-being remains a top priority, manufacturers are developing products that help crews stay safer, more comfortable, and more productive in demanding conditions.

Interview: Director Devon Hayakawa On the Chicago Area Premiere of MEAN GIRLS at Paramount Theatre

BroadwayWorld: Paramount Theatre presents the Chicago area premiere of MEAN GIRLS, the hit musical based on the beloved film, in a fresh, Gen-Z take set in 2026. Directed by Devon Hayakawa, the production leans into everything that makes the show fierce, campy, bright, satirical, and surprisingly honest, while introducing a newly revised version of the script to Chicagoland audiences.

A History of Broadway Grosses

BroadwayWorld: Broadway grosses are a significant part of how both professionals and the public learn about Broadway on a regular basis. Each week, the Broadway League reports official statistics including how much money each show earned in gross ticket sales, how many theatergoers attended, and how this compares with the previous week.

Survey Says: ‘John Proctor’ Is the Most-Staged Play in the U.S.

The New York Times: “John Proctor Is the Villain,” a kinetic teen drama about a group of high school girls who are enraged and energized by the echoes of their own lives that they find in a classic play, will be the most-produced show in the country this season.

THE SHINDIG: HARD HATS AND HIGH SPIRITS to Benefit FST Expansion

BroadwayWorld: Florida Studio Theatre has announced new details for its annual fundraising celebration, The Shindig: Hard Hats and High Spirits, taking place March 8, 2027, in FST’s Hegner Theatre Wing. This year’s construction-inspired celebration honors the continued growth of the McGillicuddy Arts Plaza: the largest expansion in FST’s history and an ambitious investment in the future of theatre in downtown Sarasota.

People to Watch: Mfoniso Udofia

AMERICAN THEATRE: A writer for screen and stage, Mfoniso Udofia has made waves with her nine-play Ufot Family Cycle, which will wrap up its two-and-a-half-year Boston-area reign at the Huntington this fall. Udofia is also readying the world premiere of creation stories and all the important importants at Lincoln Center Theater, Sept. 15-Nov. 1.

Get the hex code of any color on your Mac screen with Digital Color Meter

boingboing.net: I recently learned that Macs have a neat little utility to get the color number of any color on the display. It's called Digital Color Meter. When you open it, a window pops up showing the color value at your cursor's location.

Theatrely31: Class of 2026

www.theatrely.com: What does the theatrical landscape of tomorrow look like? The Theatrely31 is our annual compilation of visionary actors, directors, and theatre makers poised for a meteoric rise. These trailblazers and emerging stars are carving unique paths within our industry, and we eagerly anticipate the exciting destinations they will take us to next.

How President Trump Broke the Kennedy Center

The New York Times: A storm brought down a five-foot piece of ceiling plaster at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts this month and its leadership sprang into action. One thing they did not do was repair the damage.

Backyard Theatre Festival launches new outdoor stage in Montreal

Intermission Magazine: The intercultural theatre company launched its new open-air stage at Cité-des-Hospitalières earlier this month. The former seat of the Religious Hospitallers of Saint Joseph, Cité-des-Hospitalières sits on Avenue des Pins at the northeastern foot of the iconic Mount Royal hill. The City of Montreal purchased the heritage complex in 2017 and converted it into a community space that currently hosts 33 non-profit organizations, including Teesri Duniya Theatre.

Disney Hires First-Ever Chief Technology Officer

www.hollywoodreporter.com: Disney has hired Karandeep Anand as its first chief technology officer, in time for an unfolding generative AI tools era. While also serving as senior executive vp, Anand comes to Disney after being CEO of Character.AI and also being a former Meta and Microsoft exec. Anand will report directly to Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro.

National Center For Choreography-Akron Awarded $500k Grant In Honor Of Christy Bolingbroke’s Leadership

BroadwayWorld: The National Center for Choreography-Akron (NCCAkron) has received a $500,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation in honor of Executive/Artistic Director Christy Bolingbroke's decade of visionary leadership. NCCAkron is currently celebrating its 10th anniversary as a connector, an incubator and research lab for artists, and a hyperagent for the national dance field.

Q&A: Rebecca Gerhard And The Doja Cat Ma Vie Tour

Live Design Online: Freelance video engineer, operator, and lighting technician Rebecca Gerhard was instrumental in bringing Doja Cat’s Ma Vie world tour visuals to life on stage. Traveling to 30 shows across five continents, Rebecca did everything from physically building the tour infrastructure on a Disguise system for visual consistency, through to using a Sockpuppet workflow to busk the whole operation live, night after night.

Interview: Madison Palmer On Originating Dyanne in MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET at Paramount Theatre's Stolp Island Theatre

BroadwayWorld: Paramount Theatre's production of MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET, staged in the new Stolp Island Theatre designed to immerse audiences in the world of Sun Studio, continues its long run. Based on the real events of December 4, 1956, when Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins had a chance encounter at Sun Studio in Memphis, the show captures one of the greatest impromptu jam sessions in music history, featuring 'Blue Suede Shoes,' 'Walk the Line,' 'Great Balls of Fire,' and more.

Feature: GRAND OPENING OF 'THE POSEY' During Stage 13 One Year Anniversary

BroadwayWorld: Just one year after Stage 13 Foundation for the Performing Arts began its mission of creating opportunities for young artists in Arkansas, the organization celebrated its first anniversary with another major milestone—the debut of its new performance space, the Stage 13 Sheridan Posey Performance Center, affectionately known as The Posey.

Who Is the New Director of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History?

Pittsburgh Magazine: A new leader will take the helm at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Carnegie Museums announced that Carey Scheide Miller has been appointed as the new director and vice president of the museum. Since 2023, she has served as the vice president and chief development officer for Carnegie Museums, leading outreach and philanthropic support for the four institutions under its umbrella.

Immersive Arts offers £8.5m to artists in new funding round

AV Magazine: The Immersive Arts programme has secured more than £8.5m to continue supporting UK artists working with immersive technologies until 2030. Since launching in 2024 with a £6m investment, the UK-wide Immersive Arts programme has awarded more than £3.2m in grants to 225 creative teams.

Costumes Ground A Multiverse in ‘Stuart Fails To Save The Universe’

www.forbes.com: For the many die hard fans of The Big Bang Theory, the continuation of the beloved sitcom through spin-offs has been a very real treat, but the latest series on HBO Max, Stuart Fails To Save The Universe, is by far the best and most hilarious offshoot from the original.

Crisis at the Kennedy Center: Why Its Main Building Is Going Dark for Two Years

time.com: The Kennedy Center Board of Trustees on Tuesday voted to immediately close the lauded arts institution’s main building. President Donald Trump, who is its Chairman, announced the decision on Truth Social. Hours before the vote, a district court ruled against the Board’s latest effort to add Trump’s name back to the building—this time, in recognition of his purported role in the planned renovations. The closure decision also came one day after leadership claimed that the cultural center was on the brink of bankruptcy.

SCHMIGADOON!’s Kaleigh Cronin Recalls Performing Until She Was 8 Months Pregnant: ‘I Felt Brave’

BroadwayWorld: At around 34 weeks pregnant, Kaleigh Cronin said farewell to her fellow Schmigadoonians in the Broadway musical Schmigadoon! — but felt so good, she could’ve stuck around for more. “Honestly, up until the day I went into labor, I was like, ‘I could still be doing this,’” Cronin, now mom to six-week-old Charlie Joseph De Simini — whom she shares with husband John De Simini — exclusively tells BroadwayWorld.

IBC 2026 Preview: The big picture, from proving flexibility to proving its worth

NCS | NewscastStudio: A framing conversation runs underneath every other topic at IBC 2026, running Sept. 11-14 in Amsterdam: how production, distribution, audience engagement and monetization continue to converge across the media industry, and what that convergence is actually worth to the organizations paying for it.

Judge orders Kennedy Center to provide 30 days' notice before making any major physical changes

PBS News: A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Kennedy Center to provide 30 days' notice before making any major physical changes to the building, including demolishing it as President Donald Trump has threatened.

‘Broadway Flea Market and Grand Auction’ sets fall 2026 return

www.broadwaynews.com: Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has announced the return of its annual “Broadway Flea Market and Grand Auction” to the Theater District. The 40th annual edition of the fundraiser will see West 44th and 45th Streets, Shubert Alley and part of Times Square transformed into an open-air market between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Sept. 27. The online silent auction is now live, with more lots to be added.

Preview: Premiere ‘Refugee Rhapsody’ Rolls In for PICT’s 30th Season

onStage Pittsburgh: What started as Pittsburgh Irish & Classic Theatre under Andrew Paul has been rocked by ousters at the top, the sudden death of Board Chair Eileen Clancy in October 2023, and the same financial woes that plague most American theater companies, large and small. Huffman, who took over as Artistic Director of what is now Pittsburgh International Classic Theatre in February 2023, has put her stamp on the company, with the emphasis on “international.”

Meyer Sound TIGRA Makes Canadian Debut At TCU Place

ProSoundWeb: TCU Place, a convention center and performing arts complex in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, is home to the first permanent deployment of Meyer Sound TIGRA line arrays in Canada, provided by Canadian distributor GerrAudio and installed by integrator Sapphire.

NFTRW Weekly Top Five

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

What You Can Do With a Theatre Degree Beyond Theatre

Playbill: You've all seen the semi-frequent discourse online—from disapproving elders who insist students study "practical" college degrees, to commenters wondering who can afford to study the arts, in this economy. Sadly, many people feel that a theatre degree, should you not end up working in the theatre, is obsolete.

Man Sentenced to 2-Year Jail Sentence After Strangling Fellow Theatregoer for Singing Along During We Will Rock You

Playbill: Seventy-five year-old Malcolm Potier was sentenced to jail time for strangling a fellow theatregoer at a 2023 performance of Queen jukebox musical We Will Rock You in London's West End. According to MyLondon, the sentence was handed down by Southwark Crown Court Judge Dafna Spiro September 10.

Alison Pill: Hollywood Parents Don't Let Their Kids Be Child Stars

The Ankler: “It is brutal for self-esteem. I only understood how brutal later in life.” That’s how Alison Pill describes her experience being a child star — words that echo a comment the late Hayden Panettiere made about her own time as a kid in the industry. “It’s the most brutal experience,” Panettiere, who died in August at 36, said during an interview earlier this year.

18 Years Later, 'Avengers: Doomsday' Is Bringing Back An Unusual Marvel Technique — But Could It Work Again?

www.inverse.com: There’s a lot that separates Marvel movies from “normal” movies. The biggest thing is, of course, the franchise itself, as each movie is the next chapter in an ever-growing saga. But Marvel Studios films also popularized the post-credits scene teaser, as well as surprise cameos that lead into other movies or shows. But one other surprising filmmaking technique has been part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe fabric from the beginning.

How Hollywood Shapes Our Understanding of Health

www.hollywoodreporter.com: Film and TV have always shaped how audiences see the world. Movies and shows have transformed how people think about mental health, addiction, sexuality, and countless other topics once considered too private for the big screen. But when it comes to one of the most common parts of our daily lives—living with illness—many of today’s most prevalent chronic diseases are still largely missing from popular entertainment.