Live Nation says to buy Musictoday

Yahoo! News: "Live event and venue management company Live Nation on Monday said it agreed to buy a majority stake in Musictoday, which provides e-commerce services for artists including the Rolling Stones, the Dave Matthews Band and Christina Aguilera"

Children's Theater announces 37th Family series

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Junie B. Jones, The Snow Dragon, Horton the Elephant, the Berenstain Bears and a small fish named Swimmy will all be visiting here next year, courtesy of the Pittsburgh International Children's Theater."

Plays at Shaw Festival focus on women choosing a mate

Post Gazette: "Of the two great Ontario repertory theater companies, it's the Shaw Festival toward which I feel the greater affection. I admire the grander flights of Stratford, but the Shaw feels homier, more accessible."

In Beirut, Cultural Life Is Another War Casualty

New York Times: "The invitations had been sent long ago and the ads paid for and printed. Despite the shells shattering a few miles away, Ghazi Abdel Baki, a Lebanese music producer, was determined not to cancel the release of his label’s latest album at the Virgin Megastore in this city’s former opera house. For him it was also a small act of resistance on the second day of the war."

Act like a business? Why aim so low?

The Artful Manager: "In his recent monograph, Good to Great and the Social Sectors, Jim Collins makes a rather bold statement: 'We must reject the idea -- well-intentioned, but dead wrong -- that the primary path to greatness in the social sectors is to become 'more like a business.'' His point is that most businesses are poorly run, and that many business practices correlate with mediocrity, not greatness. So, to him, telling nonprofit organizations to 'run like a business' is like telling artists to lower their standards, or telling a visionary leader to 'aim low.'"

Union membership poses a dilemma for actors

DenverPost.coms: "They're going Equity. You've heard the term, and your eyes have glazed over. What does this mean, 'Equity,' and what does it mean to actors and their audiences?"

Disney Hall cost-overrun suit settled

LA Times: "A complex lawsuit over who should bear unexpectedly high construction costs for Walt Disney Concert Hall has been settled, with builders to receive $13.3 million from the hall's parent corporation and an additional $4.5 million under architect Frank Gehry's professional liability insurance policy."

On Board with the Bard

Backstage: "For the actors of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, which performs on the campus of the University of Colorado at Boulder, the experience is a kind of divine madness: more than 100 hours of rehearsal crammed into a few weeks' time, augmented with voice work, choreography, costume fittings, and memory drills. For newcomers it's a theatrical boot camp, albeit a highly enjoyable one."

Stratford stages the Bard, other fine theater with panache

Post Gazette: "It hardly seems fair they should be just two hours apart in southern Ontario, but there they are, and Pittsburgh benefits, because it's just a brisk five-hour drive north to the Shaw and about 6 1/2 hours to Stratford."

Bollywood calling

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "'Bombay Dreams' is not for those who come bearing expectations of complex characters, a serious plot and deep messages, says producer Nick Manos."

Shakespeare fest needs to weather more than storms

Chicago Tribune: "William Shakespeare's 'Pericles' played out on a restless, questioning and stormy night, a prairie wind billowing the fabric of a faraway sea and forcing Thaisa to wipe real rain from her eyes. 'Julius Caesar' started out clear and calm and certain -- with stars twinkling thoughtfully in the McLean County firmament. But just as Brutus and Cassius started talking conspiracy, ominous thunder crackled from the direction of the airport. And before we knew it, the Illinois senators were all wet."

Iraq on the fringe

Variety.com: "'Riverbend,' the pseudonym of an anonymous Iraqi woman whose blog has made her a political phenom, will be heard at the 2006 New York Intl. Fringe Festival. Her writings are heavily quoted in 'Fear Up: Stories From Baghdad and Guantanamo,' a documentary-style play that dives directly into the controversy over the Iraq war."

Chi vies for Latin auds at fest

Variety.com: "Playwright and performer Luis Alfaro calls it 'a congregation of Latino-ness,' but its official title is the Latino Theater Festival, running Aug. 4-20 at Chi's Goodman Theater."

Wounded Warriors Writers Program - Veterans

New York Times: "ONE of the last places that Michael Jernigan, a former Marine corporal, might have expected to find himself last week was a theater program in this small wooded town. But then a lot of unexpected things have happened since his Humvee was bombed outside Mahmudiya, Iraq, in August 2004, and shrapnel shot through his eyes and into his brain."

N.Y. tries to get fresh with auds

Variety.com: "Still, most orgs will tell you that that number is higher than they would like it to be. So they try to cultivate those younger single-ticket buyers by luring them with youth-attracting programs such as Roundabout's paperless discount program HipTix, Lincoln Center's Young Patrons program or Manhattan Theater Club's singles nights and student subscriptions."

Free Outdoor Theatre Comes to City Parks

Backstage: "The Classical Theater of Harlem has announced a series of free outdoor performances of Macbeth in public parks in both Harlem and Brooklyn."

The Allure of a 'Broadway Jukebox'

Backstage: "Dinner theatre producers — and actors who love musicals and steady paychecks — should take note: Arizona's Copperstate Dinner Theater has devised a show to satisfy everyone's taste."

Stage Review: 'Angels Fall' feels right at home at Red Barn

Post Gazette: "Lanford Wilson is an indispensable American playwright, not one of the heavyweights but with a sizable, intelligent, mainly off-Broadway oeuvre that is acute in its reading of American cultural character and discontents."

Unfair Labor Practice Charge

actorsequity.org | News #038; Media: "On Tuesday, July 25, Actors' Equity Association (Equity) filed an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) Charge with the National Labor Relations Board against American Girl Place, Inc. New York, the East Coast retail arm of American Girl Inc., the manufacturer of the popular American Girl Doll. The ULP Charge was prompted when the Company revoked a proposed raise to those actors who perform in the American Girl Place Theater in New York City and who are known to support Equity in efforts to unionize the actors."

Getting and Keeping Health Insurance

actorsequity.org | News #038; Media: "The Health Insurance Resource Center at The Actors' Fund of America will host a series of workshops on 'Getting and Keeping Health Insurance.' The programs will be held every Tuesday from 5:30 - 6:30 pm at The Actors' Fund, 729 Seventh Avenue, New York."

Role of a Lifetime: Quest for Sound of Music Star Begins on BBC July 29

Playbill News: "Hosted by Graham Norton, the series hopes to find an actress to play the lead role of Maria von Trapp in the forthcoming West End revival of the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and producer David Ian are co-producing the upcoming revival, and both are involved in the new television series."

j-o-b

OSF Job Opportunity

July 27, 2006

Scenic Carpenter
OSF produces eleven plays annually in rotating rep in three theatres. We are seeking an experienced Scenic Carpenter for its 2006-2007 Season. Candidates should have prior theater experience in wood and metal carpentry and stage rigging. Candidates should also be self-motivated, have a positive attitude, work safely, quickly and exhibit professional behavior at all times. Contract will begin October 2, 2006, and run to July 29, 2007; salary from $575/wk, dependent upon experience. Deadline for application is August 18, 2006.

At OSF we believe that diverse ideas, cultures and traditions reflect the broad diversity of the nation and enrich our insights into the work we present on stage. We are committed to diversity in all areas of our work.

We offer a creative and friendly environment, excellent benefits including dental insurance, vacation and a 5% matching retirement program along with a progressive wellness program. Send resumé, cover letter, salary history and references to HumanResources@osfashland.org or mail to Human Resources, OSF, 15 S. Pioneer St., Ashland, Or, 97520.

Equity Alleges Unfair Labor Practices

Backstage: "Actors' Equity Association filed charges of unfair labor practices against the American Girl Place Theatre earlier this week when producers revoked a proposed pay increase after the actors tried to unionize, according to Equity spokesperson Maria Somma."

Harry Potter actor to star in "Equus" on London stage

Yahoo! News: "The 17-year-old, currently making the fifth Harry Potter film, will star alongside Richard Griffiths, who plays his grumpy uncle in the wizard sagas."

Productivity Hack: Write Mini Process Flows

lifehack.org: "Creativity is one thing, but capturing it into a form that’s useful (to your needs) is another. I’ve got an idea that I plan to implement for myself: mini process flows. Now, your jobs that you’ll need done are different than mine. I’ll just show you mine as examples, okay?"

Billy Bragg gets MySpace's terms of service changed

Boing Boing: "MySpace has revised its terms so that musicians who upload to the site retain control of their works, and MySpace/NewsCorp/Fox can't sell those songs without contracting with the musicians."

Witching Hours

Pittsburgh City Paper - Performance: "Last summer, Mellon Park’s Rose Garden, with its looming trees and woodsy seclusion, seemed an ideal setting for Quantum Theatre’s production of Dark of the Moon, a supernatural melodrama about witches and mortals in a small mountain town. This summer, peripatetic Quantum — which has never before reused any of its mostly improvised venues — bets that the Rose Garden will also intensify its staging of a rather more notable play, one in which all the witches are fake even if the terror is more real."

Playbill News: Kimmel Center and Shubert Org To Work Together in Philly Market

Playbill News: "Presentations would take place at the Academy of Music or the Forrest Theatre, allowing both organizations 'the chance to perpetuate and enhance the presentation of legitimate theatrical attractions in Philadelphia.'"

Lloyd Webber: stage school graduates all sound the same

Guardian Unlimited Arts : "Andrew Lloyd Webber has delivered a withering assessment of stage schools, which he says are churning out performers of such uniformity that he can almost tell which school they come from."

Festivals' box office bonanza

Edinburgh Evening News: "EDINBURGH'S festivals are reporting record ticket sales as the Capital gears up for a five-week cultural extravaganza.
Box offices across the city are notching up best-ever advance sales as hotels and guest houses brace themselves for a massive influx of visitors."

A Dialogue With Alan Rosenberg and Paul Christie

Backstage: "If there's one thing Screen Actors Guild National President Alan Rosenberg and Second National VP and SAG New York President Paul Christie agree on, it's that their union has been embroiled in civil war for too long."

Human & nature

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Quantum Theatre goes back to nature both literally and figuratively as it stages 'The Crucible' in an open-air setting."

Music draws actresses to 'Patsy Cline'

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Neither of the young actors in Stage Right's two-woman cast of 'Always ... Patsy Cline' is old enough to remember the legendary country music singer whose life was cut short at age 30 by a plane crash in 1963."

Write on water with water, using wave generator device

Boing Boing:: "A circular tank developed by Mitsui Engineering in Japan called AMOEBA (Advanced Multiple Organized Experimental Basin), allows users to 'write' letters on 'stationary waves' of water."

Stage Preview: 'Crucible' players say the message -- sadly -- never gets old

Post Gazette: "Returning to the site of last year's 'Dark of the Moon,' the Rose Garden at Mellon Park, Quantum brings back that production's director, Rodger Henderson, and even Tony Ferrieri's woodsy set."

Big River

Pittsburgh City Paper - Performance: "Big River shouldn’t work. It’s a musicalization of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and his legendary ironic tone wouldn’t be an easy thing to get across on stage."

Indie Film Fall Production for Pittsburgh Professional Sports Film

Craigslist: "
Are you an avid steeler fan? Do you like film? Ever want to be apart of both?! We are now accepting applications for production in a new indie film this fall which will offer the benefits of being around players, seeing new stadiums and filming as we cover the Steeler 2007 season."

First Equity Theatre Opens

actorsequity.org | News #038; Media: "The River City Repertory Theatre (RCRT), the first professional theatre in Shreveport and Bossier City, Louisiana, opened on June 29, 2006 with a four performance run of Lillian Helman's classic, THE LITTLE FOXES."

Lawyer Is Upping the Ante in Claims of Idea Theft in Hollywood

New York Times: "The latest in a long line of gadflies who contend that it’s their job to keep the studios honest, Mr. Marder has spent the last two years capitalizing on having won a federal appeals court decision that makes it easier for writers who pitch an idea or circulate a script to make a claim of theft stick."

Hummingbird Centre reveals revamp plans

globeandmail.com: "The chief executive officer of Toronto's Hummingbird Centre for the Performing Arts says the landmark building is well on its way to 'rebranding' itself as a multipurpose, multicultural facility after the departure this year of its two long-term tenants, the Canadian Opera Company and the National Ballet of Canada."

When Anguish Among Artists Became Both Respected and Expected

New York Times: "When exactly did artists decide that they were different from ordinary mortals, that in all likelihood they were superior to the rest of us? Or, viewed differently, when were they granted such a privileged status? When did Western societies start venerating them as sensitive, misunderstood geniuses?"

L.A. Film & TV Prod. Days Decline Across Board

Backstage: "The decline follows modest but steady gains of 4.1% during first-quarter 2006 and an annual growth rate of 4.3% in 2005, according to the nonprofit group, which facilitates permits for on-location production in the region."

Play shows long road to 'Gone With the Wind'

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Based on actual events, the play deals with legendary producer David O. Selznick and his determination to finish 'Gone with the Wind' after he has shut down production of the landmark film. He calls in famous screenwriter Ben Hecht and director Victor Fleming, fresh off the set of 'The Wizard of Oz,' and the three set out to rewrite a weak script."

Amajuba: Like Doves We Rise

New York Times: "Tormenting memories dissolve into soaring music, and pain is salved by a collective embrace in “Amajuba: Like Doves We Rise,” a heartfelt, powerfully performed theater piece that opened last night at the Culture Project. Using just the basic resources of the stage — words and music, light and darkness, stillness and movement — the five actors and authors of “Amajuba” sift through the past, searching to transcend its wounds by taming the ghosts of history."

At Lincoln Center, Reynold Levy Is Loosening Things Up

New York Times: "Understandably, perhaps, some concertgoers were not pleased by the sight of a man floating in a glass tank, smack dab in the heart of Lincoln Center Plaza, as crowds and television cameras looked on for a full week in May."

14 Tips for Communicating Ideas

lifehack.org: "I’m finding that there are certain skills in communicating the information and building understanding that are important and useful. I thought I’d pass on some thoughts along those lines."

Homeland Security bans Canadian Band from US for 5 years

Boing Boing: "Canadian band The Grey can't enter the US for five years because they told US border guards they weren't playing a gig in the US. The guards checked the band's online touring schedule and went ballistic."

Attack Theatre finds Indonesia receptive

Post Gazette: "Despite the recent tsunami, earthquake and volcano warnings and a heightened terrorism threat, Attack Theatre's recent tour to Indonesia proved to be a slice of paradise."

Legendary Mixer Buford Jones Conducts Meyer Sound Seminar

Lighting&Sound America Online - News: "Buford Jones, Meyer Sound's tour liaison manager, has added his credentials to the company's education program with a new seminar offering that focuses exclusively on all aspects--artistic, technological, and psychological--of FOH mixing. "

They did it: A 'Fair Lady' even in foul storm

Philadelphia Inquirer: "It's a joke among theater critics that readers ticked at a review often begin an acerbic e-mail with a variation of: 'I was at the theater, and you couldn't have seen the same show I did.'
Well, I've got news for you. I was at the theater, and you can't see the same show I did. Because when you go, a storm will not be knocking out all the electricity 25 minutes before the last scene."

Watch TV and study? Research declares it a bad habit

Chicago Tribune: "Multitasking may be necessary in today's fast-paced world, but new research shows distractions affect the way people learn, making the knowledge they gain harder to use later."

August 1st ETCP Exam Deadline Approaching

LIVEDESIGN: "Applicants who wish to take the first ETCP Entertainment Electrician examination must have their applications postmarked no later than August 1, 2006. Arena Rigging and Theatre Rigging candidates also need to have their applications sent by this date. Those who pass these rigorous tests will become ETCP Certified."

Live Design International Awards To Be Presented at LDI06 in Las Vegas

LIVEDESIGN: "These prestigious awards will honor four outstanding individuals whose work has made an impact in our industry, as well as three products of the year that have been released in 2006 and represent important technological breakthroughs in their respective fields of lighting, audio, projection, and staging/rigging."

LDI2006 Registration is "Live"

LIVEDESIGN: "The LDI2006 conference program offers a full week of professional training, starting on Monday, October 16 and continuing through Sunday, October 22. "

New Web Site for American Society of Theatre Consultants

LIVEDESIGN: "The primary objective of the ASTC is to inform owners, users, and planners about the services that theatre consultants offer and about the value of those services to the achievement of effective and economically viable performance and assembly facilities, whether large or small, whether new construction or remodeling/renovation project."

45,000 fans rock to Bon Jovi as Steelers celebrate Super Bowl trophy

Post Gazette: "An estimated crowd of 45,000 people turned out for the Steelers Celebration/Bon Jovi Have a Nice Day Tour -- a show that amounted to much more than another black-and-gold pep rally in a city that seizes every chance it gets to wave its Terrible Towels at the world."

Where ARTS thou?

Star-Telegram: "'I'm astounded, with all these cable channels, that there isn't anything to watch,' she says. 'If I have to sit down to watch TV, I need something soul-fulfilling, enriching and beautiful to watch. All these reality shows make people look stupid. What's the gratification in that? . . . Donald Trump? Who is he to dominate my TV?'"

Hollywood Clicks on the Work of Web Auteurs

New York Times: "EVEN as David Lehre’s “MySpace: The Movie,” an 11-minute parody of the social-networking Web site, spawned a high-profile feeding frenzy, some of the Hollywood agents, managers and lawyers who were clamoring to represent him didn’t know much about who he was, what he did or what they would do if they got him. But they wanted him anyway."

calendarlive.com: STYLE & CULTURE - Just whose idea is it anyway?

LA Times: "In the new 'Age of Copyright,' dynasties are founded on cartoon characters, lawyers play extreme sports, and we all break the law. It's never been easier to stake a creative claim — or jump one."

Stagehands may vote to strike; Steelers show goes on

Post Gazette: "With contract negotiations stalled, members of Local 3 of the International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees will take a strike authorization vote this morning in advance of the event, which includes a concert by Bon Jovi."

Publishers with `film envy' want new role in adaptations

TheStar.com: "The Devil Wears Prada, the 20th Century Fox rendition of a best-selling novel published by Random House Inc., has racked up a surprising $83 million (all figures U.S.) in ticket sales so far. A $100 million gross is in sight in North America alone.
The Random House cut of the movie bounty for Prada?
Nothing. "

In London This Summer, the Hot New Play Is an Endangered Species

New York Times: "No matter where you are, the plays are always better on the other side of the water. Certainly the view from Broadway in May, when the Tony Award nominations were announced, offered a rainbow-crowned perspective on London as a loamy garden for exciting drama."

Theatre could use a good smackdown

TheStar.com: "I was there to find some clues as to why some leisure-time activities (wrestling) keep bringing in the fans with ease, while others (the arts) constantly have to fight to maintain their followers."

How many heads are needed for creativity?

Chicago Tribune: "In the romance of the Western imagination, art is proverbially fashioned in solitude, the writer scribbling away, forlorn in his garret, the painter at work in his atelier. But the exceptions touch some of our most beloved arts: movies, TV, rock music and theater. They're all concocted by that notoriously ill-fated process: the committee."

Stix hot with summer fare

Variety.com: "Legit producers are typing far-flung places into Mapquest this summer in the hopes of catching the next emerging hit."

L.A. raises 'Curtains'

Variety.com: "It was in the late 1990s when he was running the Williamstown Theater Festival. Here was this large-scale musical, from the team who wrote 'Chicago' and 'Cabaret,' which seemed enormous for the Massachusetts summer fest. When he took over as artistic director of Los Angeles' Center Theater Group in 2005, he started thinking about that still-unproduced tuner -- a murder-mystery set backstage at a musical theater."

Show Will Go On Despite Strike Vote

kdka.com: "Only a day before the Steelers Super Bowl Championship Concert with Bon Jovi, the union representing the stagehands who work at Heinz Field authorized a strike."

Company's Statement On Union's Vote

kdka.com: "'We had numerous meetings with IATSE Local 3 representatives in an effort to agree to wages, benefits payments and other terms and conditions so their members could work Sunday's concert and future concerts that we hope to produce at Heinz Field,' said Sacco. "

Plane made of printed parts flies

Boing Boing: "About 90 per cent of Polecat is made of composite materials with much of that material made by rapid prototyping.
'The entire Polecat airframe was constructed using low-cost rapid prototyping materials and methods,' says Frank Mauro, director of UAV systems at the Skunk Works."

Antaeus' Classicsfest Features Ambitious Slate

Backstage: "When the artistic directors of the Antaeus theatre company in North Hollywood created Classicsfest, an annual theatre festival of classics and original works with classical appeal, they hoped to help actors with a passion for this genre of theatre exhibit their talents in a town overly consumed with film and television performances. "

SAG Supports WGA Top Model Strike

Backstage: "Screen Actors Guild National President Alan Rosenberg and 1st National VP Anne-Marie Johnson expressed their support at a rally today held by striking writers from America's Next Top Model outside the show's production offices in West Los Angeles. Supported by the Writers Guild of America, West, the scribes walked off the job for an hour yesterday demanding producers address their July 12 request to join the union. "

Singers shine in 'King and I'

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "A tuneful, but streamlined, production of 'The King and I' is filling the stage at Mountain Playhouse through Aug. 6."

Stoppard’s Rock 'N' Roll Makes West End Transfer July 22

Playbill News: "The production, directed by Trevor Nunn, was presented as part of the Royal Court’s 50th anniversary season. The starry first-night audience included Vaclav Havel, Czechoslovakia’s leading playwright, dissident and, after the Velvet Revolution, the country's first president. Also present was Mick Jagger, whose Rolling Stones music was featured in the play along with many other iconic bands."

Steelers: Bon Jovi Is On, Despite Possible Strike

Yahoo! News: "A strike authorization vote is scheduled on Saturday for members of the International Alliance of Theatrical State Employees Local 3."

'Grendel': An Operatic Monster's Tale

NPR: "Monsters and humans share the stage in Grendel, a new opera that opens in New York Tuesday night. Based on the novel by John Gardner, the show tells the classic medieval tale of Beowulf, but from the monster's perspective."

The Call Board

Carnegie Mellon Clips_News: "In the nick of time comes the schedule for Carnegie Mellon's 2006 Summer New Play Festival. These workshop productions of plays by Carnegie Mellon playwrights are at 8 p.m. in the Purnell Center's Rauh Studio Theater, free to the public; for tickets, call 412-268-2407."

D.C. Fringe a 'Capital' Affair

Backstage: "There's nothing second-string about the excitement being generated in the Washington theatre community by the inaugural Capital Fringe Festival, running July 20-30. Over 90 arts groups will present nearly 400 performances in 28 venues, most in and around the recently gentrified Penn Quarter neighborhood."

Broadway Trade Group Names New Director

Backstage: "Charlotte St. Martin was named Thursday as executive director of the League of American Theatres and Producers, the trade association for Broadway and its national-touring industry."

"Top Model" strike looming

Yahoo! News: "Labor strife is heating up behind the scenes on 'America's Next Top Model,' where a dozen staff writer-producers are threatening a walkout Friday if the executive producer of the hit reality TV show does not agree to their demand for union representation."

Stage Review: Atmospheric 'Black Hammer' hits and misses

Post Gazette: "William Mayfield is one of those quiet Pittsburgh resources, a professional electrician who is also a playwright of two decades' experience and some visibility."

Three new works being cultivated at Steppenwolf

Sun Times: "Steppenwolf Theatre has devoted all of its 2005-2006 mainstage season to the production of new plays. So this summer's second annual First Look Repertory of New Work might very well seem like icing on the cake. "

As Layoffs Sweep Movie Studios, Hollywood Fears for Its Future

Los Angeles Times: "Never mind that movie ticket sales are picking up and that 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest' could become the biggest hit in motion picture history. As studios slash jobs and restructure to boost profits, Hollywood's creative and executive ranks are having a collective anxiety attack."

ANALYSIS: Changes at Disney signal 'strange tides'

Yahoo! News: "Hollywood is still reeling from Walt Disney Studios' move this week to consolidate its global distribution and marketing operations, cut way back on its release slate and reduce its work force by some 650 positions worldwide. The question is whether the newly pared-down studio is the face of things to come industrywide."

A $4 Million Misunderstanding

LA Weekly: "The event was directed by Culture Clash’s friend and colleague of several decades, José Luis Valenzuela, whose theater group, Latino Theater Company, was one of two organizations selected to operate the city-owned Los Angeles Theater Center (LATC) on Spring Street, after a highly contested competition."

Guthrie will fade to black after all

Star Tribune: "With demolition of Ralph Rapson's Guthrie Theater scheduled for early September, one last idea to save the cultural icon has failed."

Finances published online in an effort to rebuild reputation

The Art Newspaper -- News: "The J. Paul Getty Trust has announced it will publish detailed financial and governance information on its website (www.getty.edu) this month in an effort to restore its tarnished reputation. "

Tune in tip-tap shape gives `Dr. Dolittle' life

Chicago Tribune: "When I first saw the new musical stage version of 'Dr. Dolittle' in St. Paul last fall, the thing didn't so much need a show doctor as someone to perform last rites."

Coconut Grove Playhouse Closes

actorsequity.org | News #038; Media: "It was Equity to the rescue of its members when the famed Coconut Grove Playhouse in South Florida closed its doors in May, 2006 due to its highly publicized financial problems. With pay checks bouncing, thousands of dollars in hotel bills being charged to members' accounts, and the theatre in turmoil, Equity was able to reassure members and reimburse them with monies from the theatre's bond. "

New BAT Agreement

actorsequity.org | News #038; Media: "The new Bay Area Theatre (BAT) Agreement approved by the Western Advisory Board on July 11, 2006 features a 46% increase in health payments over four years and a 9% increase in salaries."

L.A. Arts Commissions Doles Out Record Grants

Backstage: "The Los Angeles County Arts Commission announced it has given a record $4,518,000 in grants to 228 nonprofit arts organizations for fiscal year 2006-07 through its Organizational Grant Program. The grants given reflect the recent doubling of appropriations for grants to nonprofit arts organizations, approved by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors last month. Two-year commitments were also made to organizations with budgets exceeding $100,000 for the first time. "

Stage Preview: Music of Berlin to end season

Post Gazette: "'Melody,' manages to get 43 of the Tin Pan Alley and Broadway composer's songs into a two-hour show with some biographical dialogue thrown in. The latter is based on Mr. Berlin's biography by his daughter Mary Ellin Barrett."

Stage Preview: 'Big River' winds way into Carnegie

Post Gazette: "To bring that vision of acceptance closer to reality in the world of local theater, Ms. Folmer has picked a show which is perfect for a the kind of multicultural cast of actors and singers with whom she has been hoping to work since the idea of doing 'Big River' was rejected by the Stage 62 board of directors eight years ago because of potential racial controversy."

Stage Review: Larger-than-life 'Values' is big fun

Post Gazette: "The Summer Company at Duquesne University's production of Noel Coward's 'Relative Values' is at once sedate and animated, tongue-in-cheek and earnest, and the play itself, one of Coward's lesser known, is well served by the treatment."

Stage Review: CLO stages a lively and robust 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'

Post Gazette: "But it is indeed that Roman historian's account of the Rape of the Sabines, via a parody ('The Sobbin' Women') by Stephen Vincent Benet, that provides the core story for 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,' the sprightly, thoroughly charming musical now enjoying a rare revival at Pittsburgh CLO."

Relative Values

Pittsburgh City Paper - Performance: "The Summer Company at Duquesne produces one of Coward’s last, Relative Values; though written in 1952, the play is set in 1929, and it’s about the turmoil launched in a British country manor when the lord of the house announces he’s marrying an American movie star."

'Brides' sends audiences home happy

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "When the title is 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,' you can be pretty sure you're not about to see one of Shakespeare's problem plays.
Lawrence Kasha and David Landay's musical with Johnny Mercer's lyrics, Gene de Paul's score and some new songs by Al Kasha and Joe Hirschhorn is precisely what you expect."

CASTING FOR STAGED READINGS

I'm casting for 2 staged readings for the CMU Festival of New Plays. PLease let me know if you are interested or available.

7/27 LOOKING FOR:
One 20-something woman to play multiple roles
2 people to play "ghosts" and read stage directions

7/29 LOOKING FOR:
One African-American male to play multiple roles.

**THESE ARE PAID GIGS!!**

~Laura Gross
urnella@aol.com

j-o-b

Production Coordinator, UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures

UCLA title code 6312: Senior Public Events Manager

Summary Statement:

Under the general supervision of the General Manager, serve as Production Coordinator, and Technical Director as needed, for the Department of World Arts and Cultures in the newly renovated Glorya Kaufman Hall. Responsibilities include: overseeing the technical production planning and implementation of all departmental public events; serving as Technical Director for specific departmental events; and managing the facilities rental program. The appointment may include teaching courses in areas of specialty and/or serving as designer. Manage production support for work in and outside theatrical environments, including site-specific work, theatrical dance events, conferences and intercultural and community-based performance.

The official 2-week posting will begin this Wednesday on the UCLA Campus Human Resources website www.chr.ucla.edu

Eye On LDI

LIVEDESIGN: "The 19th annual LDI trade show and conference will be held the week of October 16-22, 2006 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, and show organizers have a lot of exciting enhancements up their sleeves. This year the accent is on professional training with more choices, new configurations and the addition of the Live Design Projection Master Classes."

7 Keys To Effective Verbal Intervention

lifehack.org: "Reg Adkins at Elemental Truths has written an article on ways to perform verbal intervention for de-escalating a volatile person. "

Hot Feet

New York Times: "“Obviously, you always hope that the actual business side of the production could have done better, but stepping back, we accomplished a lot of things that we set out to do,” said Lon Olejniczak, the chief distribution officer for Transamerica Capital Inc. and the company’s force behind the musical. He spoke yesterday, after the closing was announced. The entire $8 million, including the company’s investment, will be lost."

CMU seminar has good vibrations

Post Gazette: "It's not often that an international array of people can come together as something akin to a family. But participants at the International Dalcroze Conference and Dalcroze Training Center, sponsored by Carnegie Mellon University through July 28, began with numerous cries of recognition, followed by warm hugs all around."

Auction of 1000 Stars

actorsequity.org | News #038; Media: "The Actors' Fund of America is launching its 7th Annual Auction of 1000 Stars online July 24 - August 7th. Participants will have the opportunity to bid on an array of once-in-a-lifetime experiences including walk-on roles in Broadway shows, VIP theatre and film premiere nights in Los Angeles, private dinners with some of the hottest names in the entertainment world and VIP seats at the Tonys, as well as rare autographed memorabilia from the stage and screen. All proceeds from the auction go to support the vital programs and services of The Actors' Fund."

Tommy Tune-ing 'Dr. Dolittle'

Sun Times: "It may look like the Cadillac Palace Theatre, but for the next 12 days, the landmark venue will serve as the show business equivalent of the E.R."

Reading: It's Not Just Outlet Malls Anymore

Washington Post: "On a recent Sunday at the GoggleWorks, a converted protective eyewear factory that is helping turn Reading, Pa., into a mid-Atlantic arts destination, you could see the following: pint-size ballerinas scampering beneath the oversize painted eyes in the parking lot; a teenage violinist accompanying a dancer's pirouettes in a second-floor studio; a 2,000-degree cavern of fire raging in the ground-floor glass-blowing studio; and lithographers, painters and sculptors hobnobbing with families, students and tourists."

Rare Instruments Purchase Causes Symphony’s Deficit

New York Times: "Dogged by missteps in its acquisition of 30 rare string instruments, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra says it expects to report a six-figure deficit for last season and is dipping significantly into its endowment to cover costs."

Bach, Beethoven... Buffett?

Philadelphia Inquirer: "It's not as if our orchestras didn't deserve support at the highest level of giving. The U.S. has a larger concentration of great and merely wonderful orchestras than any other nation - a trove worth mindful cultivation. And they need help. For several decades, the American orchestra has almost defined itself by fund-raising against the backdrop of crisis. The implied slogan: Give, or we'll disappear."

New job: Carpenter

Long Wharf Theatre, an established LORT B & D Theater, is currently taking applications for a scenic carpenter to join our production staff for the 2006-2007 season. Strong candidates must have a wide variety of scenic construction skills and be comfortable with all standard shop tools. Strong problem solving skills and basic understanding of mechanics and automation is a plus. Salary competitive with excellent benefits.

Contract Dates: July 2006 – May 2007. Send letter, resume, and references to: Ben Lampman, Technical Director, Long Wharf Theatre, 222 Sargent Drive, New Haven, CT 06511 or FAX (203) 776-2287. Email: ben.lampman@longwharf.org Long Wharf Theatre is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

New job: Stage Supervisor / Show Carpenter

Long Wharf Theatre, an established LORT B & D Theater, is currently taking applications for a show carpenter to join our production staff for the 2007-2008 season. Strong candidates must have experience running shows, running crews and be comfortable making repairs as needed during a show run. Responsibilities will include safety backstage, running automation systems, supervising run crew, maintaining scenery, and tracking supply budget. Strong problem solving skills and basic understanding of mechanics, automation, Microsoft Office is a plus. Salary is competitive with excellent benefits.

Contract Dates: Mid Aug 2006 – Early Jun. 2007. Send letter, resume, and references to: Ben Lampman, Technical Director, Long Wharf Theatre, 222 Sargent Drive, New Haven, CT 06511 or FAX (203) 776-2287. Email: ben.lampman@longwharf.org Long Wharf Theatre is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Kurdish artists should join BECTU

(KurdishMedia.com): "BECTU (Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union) is a union of artists in Britain that was founded in 1991 as a result of mergers among separate unions. The BECTU represents those working in broadcasting, film, theatre, entertainment and interactive media."

HES Debuts Podcasting

LIVEDESIGN: "Those with iTunes, a video iPOD or podcasting software such as Juice, iPodder or iPodderX can now tap into fresh feeds from High End Systems (HES). The Austin, Texas-based entertainment lighting manufacturer has just announced the debut of its new podcast program, developed and produced by its in-house marketing department. "

One Week More! 18-Year-Old 'Les Miz' Tour Begins Final Week

Yahoo! News: "After 18 years and 151 cities, the North American tour of the international award-winning musical Les Mis�rables will begin its final week of performances July 18 at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis."

Book summary: A Technique for Producing Ideas

lifehack.org: "Generating good idea is a fine art, if you have mastered it you will be successful in many fields. The author of the book, James Young, describes five steps on a technique of combining old elements together"

How to Answer the Toughest Interview Questions

lifehack.org: "Caroline Levchuck at Yahoo! HotJobs shows you ways to answer tough questions in the interview."

Wagner's 4-part 'Ring' a satisfying production

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Even abridged and reduced in orchestration, the power of Richard Wagner's 'The Ring of the Nibelungs' was an overwhelming experience when presented for the first time in the region last weekend by Opera Theater of Pittsburgh."

Frankenstein the Musical

New York Times: "For a few days last week on separate New York stages, two fictional creatures were causing havoc in their separate countrysides, killing and generally running amok. Lonely, with no one to talk to, looking for love in all the wrong places: it’s a shame that Grendel and Frankenstein’s monster had no way to meet across the centuries. Detested outsiders with serious communication problems, they might have hit it off."

Opera Review: Abridged staging of classic Wagner cycle rings true

Post Gazette: "It is with this version, cannily staged by Jonathan Eaton, that the feisty Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, in a collaborative effort with California's equally courageous Long Beach Opera, tested the waters successfully with the first two operas last summer and is now doing the first complete 'Ring' (abridged) cycle ever in Pittsburgh at the Byham. "

Ballet gets music funds

Post Gazette: "Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre has announced that the initial phase of its 'Say It With Music' fund-raising campaign has reached its $150,000 goal, securing live music for two 2006-07 productions."

Documentary in the Making...

Craigslist: "Are you interested in film making? Would you like to join a team of people who are making a Documentary? "

Afordable Co-ops In Yonkers

actorsequity.org | News #038; Media: "This is what you can do and be a part of the Yonkers Co-op, The Act One, originally founded and sponsored by the Actor's Federal Credit Union. This building was first offered only to members of the AFCU. The remaining units are now available to anyone within EQUITY, AFTRA and SAG. "

Take that as a warning

Guardian Unlimited Arts: "Theatres and films now routinely caution their audiences against hazards such as nudity, smoke, gunfire and even 'mild peril'. Have they gone too far, asks David Edgar "

Dutch musical celebrates life of artist Rembrandt

Chicago Tribune: "'Rembrandt The Musical' sounds like classic kitsch, part of the commercial hoopla surrounding the 400th anniversary of Rembrandt's birth July 15.
But the $12.5 million show is a lavish production that seeks to illuminate Rembrandt's exuberant and sometimes tragic life."

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Can 'Chorus' still line up auds?

Variety.com: "s it too soon -- or too late -- for the return of 'A Chorus Line'?
That was the question raised when a Broadway revival of Michael Bennett's landmark tuner about the lives of Rialto gypsies staked a claim on the Schoenfeld Theater for an Oct. 5 opening."

'King and I' takes a traditional tone

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "The Siamese setting often takes a back seat to the Western sets of the Broadway stage. Director Chan Harris hopes to bring a greater Asian influence to the Mountain Playhouse production, running Tuesday through Aug. 6. Sparse sets featuring sliding silk screens and Balinese dances will offer a different look to a familiar story."

Alienation effect

Guardian Unlimited Arts: "Playgoers leaving the National have become used to being able to buy the words they've just heard: sales of scripts sometimes rival those of programmes. NT audiences who have enjoyed Hare's ear-pleasing new version of The Life of Galileo, though, have to rely on their memories of the dialogue. A sign in the bookshops laments that there are currently no plans to publish the play."

Cultural Facilities Fund is an opportunity for arts organizations to expand and make repairs

The Boston Globe: "The cultural spending plan was unveiled last year, largely in response to a 2004 survey by the Massachusetts Advocates for the Arts, Sciences and Humanities, the Boston Foundation, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. The groups surveyed said they needed about $1.1 billion to repair, expand, or construct buildings in the next five years."

What's holding back Boston's opera

The Boston Globe: "There are two principal opera companies, Boston Lyric Opera and Opera Boston. The Handel and Haydn Society and the Boston Early Music Festival bring us staged baroque opera, and the most recent ``semi-staging' by Boston Baroque, Handel's ``Agrippina,' turned out to be the most exciting operatic event of this season."

Steppenwolf at 35 shows no fear of risk, reinvention

Chicago Tribune: "Anniversary seasons typically deliver self-serving, festive retrospectives. But in honor of its 35th birthday, the uncompromising Steppenwolf Theatre Company gave Chicago audiences seven difficult and brand-new plays of varying quality but considerable substance, picked without regard for commercial appeal, the delivery of spiritual balm on troubled times, or even, given the ample representation of postmodern novelists, previous playwriting experience."

Labour disputes threaten to disrupt recovery in Montreal film industry

Yahoo! News: "Talks between the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) and the Alliance quebecoise des techniciens de l'image et du son (AQTIS) broke down yet again last week, as the two unions continue to squabble over who has the right to represent the province's film technicians."

Shakespeare book sells for more than $5M

Yahoo! News: "The book is one of about 40 complete copies known to exist and one of the few in private hands. Its value was estimated at between $4.6 million and 6.4 million."

Preview: The nine lives of 'Seven Brides'

Post Gazette: "She's back at Pittsburgh CLO directing and choreographing the dance musical 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,' which was also her only previous CLO gig, in 1994, the only other time the show's been done here."

'Seven Brides' brings Irwin native full circle

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "For George Dvorsky, appearing in back-to-back Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera shows offers a nostalgic satisfaction.
Dvorsky, an Irwin native, today finishes his run as Pat Denning in Civic Light Opera's production of '42nd Street.' Tuesday evening, he begins playing Adam Pontipee in that company's production of 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.'"

Perfection in the Park -- that's the sounds of Sondheim

Sun Times: "'This will be wall-to-wall Sondheim, only without the walls,' quipped James Palermo, director of the Grant Park Music Festival, as he welcomed a huge crowd to the open-air Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park for Friday night's 'Sondheim in the Park' concert. And the glory of it, he added, was that it was entirely free."

Tommy Tune gives Dr. Dolittle a needed tuneup

Chicago Tribune: "Adrift from Broadway musicals since some ill-fated efforts in the mid-'90s, he took over a troubled touring version of 'Dr. Dolittle,' with songs by Leslie Bricusse, last year and has been touring with it as star and director for the past seven months. Tune, 67, and the show arrive Tuesday through July 30 at the Cadillac Palace Theatre. We spoke by telephone, and an edited version of the interview follows:"

‘Gatz’ and ‘The Great Gatsby’ Vie for Broadway Stages

New York Times: "THE GREAT GATSBY,” F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic Jazz Age portrait of Long Island society, has been a notoriously difficult novel to adapt, but it hasn’t been for lack of trying. Besides three films based on the book, the last decade has seen an underwhelming opera, a forgettable television movie and a film called “G” in which Jay Gatsby is imagined as a P. Diddy-like mogul named Summer G."

Actors on the London Stage: Listen Closely and You Can Hear the Neurons Firing

New York Times: "mental gymnastics are proving to be a compelling spectator sport on the stages of London this summer. In a season rich with A-list actors giving bright external life to the shadows of the human mind, it is often — more than anything that is actually done or even said — the thought that counts."

Program Aims to Keep Musicians in Big Easy

Wyoming Star Tribune: "Oestreicher is one of dozens of New Orleans residents who have signed up to help build the so-called Musicians' Village, a collection of houses in a section of the Ninth Ward flooded after the storm, in exchange for a bargain price on a brand new house."

Actors Fund, SAG to Host L.A. Grant Seminar

Backstage: "The Actors' Fund of America and the Screen Actors Guild will hold a special seminar July 24 with Joe Smoke, cultural grant program director of the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA), to provide information on grant programs for artists available through DCA."

Segregationist Michigan Mayor Is Subject of Developing Musical in Henry Ford's Dearborn

Yahoo! News: "Orville L. Hubbard, one of the most controversial and colorful characters in the history of Michigan politics, is the subject of a new musical getting a reading on the home turf of the late Dearborn mayor."

Pace yourself: How to survive 'DruidSynge'

Yahoo! News: "Veterans of 'The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby,' 'The Mahabharata' and a 10-hour 'Tantalus' already know the drill for theater marathons."

Up to Date in Kansas City: Seven New Musicals Get Readings in Festival July 15 & 22

Playbill News: "Could the next great American musical surface in Kansas City? Theatre League, Inc., is investing in that idea with the first annual Kansas City Crossroads Musical Theater Festival, starting July 15."

Guthrie Theater's Great Gatsby Begins Previews July 15

Playbill News: "The Guthrie Theater's production of The Great Gatsby, which opens the famed theatre company's first season in its new home in downtown Minneapolis, begins performances July 15."

Unions clash over moonlighting firefighters

Yahoo! Canada News: "The stagehands are members of IATSE (the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees) Local 63. They maintain that firefighters - taking work in their spare time - are stealing jobs away from them."

Firefighters take heat

winnipegsun.com: "A disgruntled group of unionized stagehands are turning the heat up on firefighters who moonlight at the MTS Centre in jobs the concert riggers say should be theirs."

IATSE turns down the compromise tendered by AQTIS technicians: Financial News

Yahoo! Finance: "The much-awaited meeting between representatives of the Quebec film technician's union, l'Alliance quebecoise des techniciens de l'image et du son (AQTIS), the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees (IATSE), and Senator Francis Fox, the Quebec Culture and Communications Ministry appointed facilitator, failed to bring the issue even a step closer to resolution"

Broadway in the Palm of Your Hand: Wing's Discussion Series Now Available for Video iPod

Yahoo! News: "A window to the wisdom of Broadway's major talents can be held in your hand with American Theatre Wing's free downloadable mp4 video files of the 'Working in the Theatre' seminars."

Chicago Dramatists opens stage for Many Voices

Sun Times: "Chicago Dramatists, an organization dedicated to developing new plays, is staging its first Many Voices Festival, which organizers hope will become an annual event embracing the work of ethnically diverse playwrights."

Sales of Midas Large format Analog Consoles Doubles in a Year

Lighting&Sound America Online - News: "Evidence that demand for Midas large format analog consoles is flourishing has been borne out by the latest sales figures, which have doubled in volume over this time last year, the company says."

Alternative medicine

JS Online: "For the past 30 years Barbara Leigh, who co-founded the company with Michael John Moynihan, has focused its work on access, diversity and imagination, with a goal of bringing free-to-the-public theater to those who might not otherwise have it in their lives."

Greece closing ancient theatres to repair wear and tear

CBC Arts: "Deteriorating under assaults from nightly performances, high heels and chewing gum, Greece's two main ancient theatres will be closed in August for urgent repairs, the Greek government has announced."

Cultural events affiliated with Gay Games

Chicago Tribune: "In addition to athletes from around the world, the seventh Gay Games bring a plethora of cultural riches to Chicago, with artists of all stripes hitting the city's stages, screens and galleries. There are cultural performances Tuesday and Wednesday in Millennium Park under the Gay Games title, and many more affiliated events--including these home-grown offerings:"

Stage Managers Networking Event

actorsequity.org | News #038; Media: "The Eastern Region Stage Managers Committee and the League of Off-Broadway Theatres and Producers held their first-ever Off Broadway Stage Managers Networking Event on June 19, 2006 in Equity's Council room in NYC. The four-hour event drew over 90 Stage Managers, and 13 Off Broadway producers, general managers and theatre owners."

Study: Show Biz Jobs Up in L.A. into 2008

Backstage: "Runaway production remains an economic drag on Los Angeles, but the entertainment industry will add 3,000 jobs in the area, and work here rose for the second consecutive year in 2005, according to a study set for release today."

League Dumps Program Book; CEO Resigns

Backstage: "The 195-member League of Chicago Theatres has lost a leader and disposed of a loss leader. In early June, president and CEO Deanna Shoss announced her resignation as of June 30, after only 11 months on the job. At the same time, the organization revealed it would cease publication of its four-year-old monthly program book, Chicagoplays, with the July issue."

Music matters too much to be made easy

Telegraph: "According to current wisdom, listening to music, reading poetry or contemplating a painting should not be thought of as work, least of all as hard work. Works of art that demand serious attention, time and effort are treated with suspicion because they might not appeal to a significant section of the population."

Lab workers to photogs: Kill the Purple Spotlights Already

Boing Boing: "Derek Lowe issues an impassioned plea to PR departments and photographers on behalf of all people who work in laboratories: enough with the kooky colored gel lighting effects"

How to train to get up earlier in the morning

lifehack.org: "Especially in winter, I found it hard to wake up early. Matthew Stibbe has feel the same but he has 10 tips on how to train yourself to wake up earlier. "

7 habits of highly effective junior designers

lifehack.org: "Chanpory Rith, a designer, talks about what are the habits junior designers have to practice in order to be productive and effective on their job. If you are a designer, or you are doing creative things for a living - you may want to hear them and adapt them"

REVIEW: 'Grendel' opens at NYC festival

Yahoo! News: "Evil is so good. For more than two hours, Eric Owens stalked the stage as a slimy beast in the New York premiere of Oscar-winning composer Elliot Goldenthal's opera 'Grendel: Transcendence of the Great Big Bang.'"

Stage Review: 'Happy Time' is happy night at Little Lake

Post Gazette: "A visit to Little Lake Theatre just now is a trip down memory lane -- personally, I mean, but I suspect in general, as well."

Stage Review: St. Vincent has some laughs with dinner-party farce

Post Gazette: "This is the 1988 farce by, of all people, Neil Simon. It came right between Simon's 'Brighton Beach' trilogy and 'Lost in Yonkers,' all darker comedies in which he reached with some success toward Chekhovian substance. But in 'Rumors' he took a break and tackled the very different mechanism of farce, and to do him credit did so with a cool craftsman's eye unseduced by sentiment."

Opera Preview: Opera Theater cycles through Wagner's epic

Post Gazette: "Over the past year, the Pittsburgh-based Opera Theater has been engaged in expanding that popularity. It has proliferated a condensed version of the epic by composer Jonathan Dove in an English translation by Andrew Porter that uses a smaller orchestra and reduces the 18-hour marathon to roughly 10 hours. It's the first time that the 'Ring' cycle in any version has been staged in Pittsburgh."

Apple Hill Playhouse spins 'Straw Into Gold'

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Written by Sally Netzel, the play is based on the Grimms' fairy tale and is part of Johnny Appleseed Children's Theatre's summer performances at Apple Hill Playhouse in Delmont."

Theatre Factory show recalls Berlin's genius

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Songs like 'God Bless America,' 'White Christmas, 'Alexander's Ragtime Band,' 'There's No Business Like Show Business' and hundreds more prompt recollections of the musical genius who kept the country singing through two world wars."

Director saves theater, looks for soul of Beirut

Chicago Tribune: "For more than a year, Ashkar has struggled to revive a theater known as Masrah al-Madina, housed in the city's old Saroulla cinema. She brings determination, defiance and not a little faith to the task, inspired by nostalgia. By saving the theater, she insists, she can save the avenue that hosts it, Beirut's storied Hamra Street, the remnants of what was perhaps the most cosmopolitan mile or so in the Arab world."

O'Brien to fill NEA legit post

Variety.com: "O'Brien will begin his job at the NEA in early September. He will design and lead national leadership initiatives, develop partnerships to advance the theater field, recommend panelists and manage the review process for theater and musical theater applications."

Feiffer and Lippa to Team for New Disney Musical

Playbill News: "Disney Theatricals has found its latest stage project. The New York Times reports that the Disney organization, whose latest Broadway venture is Tarzan (at the Richard Rodgers Theatre), will produce a new musical based on the children's book 'The Man in the Ceiling.'"

42nd Street

Pittsburgh City Paper - Performance: "I’d like to open with an unmitigated rave. The Pittsburgh CLO production of 42nd Street is not only the best production of this show I’ve ever seen, it’s probably the greatest CLO production of the past 19 years. (Which is as long as I’ve been reviewing CLO shows.)"

'Hyde' offers a walk on the wild side

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "The musical 'Jekyll & Hyde,' coming July 13 to Apple Hill Playhouse in Delmont, travels to 19th century London, where the doctor experiments with drugs that supposedly separate the good and bad in man's character."

'Marriage' is smart summer comedy

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "An extravaganza of Wildean wit, beautiful costumes and attractive settings, 'Boston Marriage' might best be described as the thinking person's summer comedy."

Seurat's "Sunday Afternoon..." recreated in Wisconsin

Boing Boing:"'On July 1st, the community of Beloit, Wisconsin came together on the banks of the Rock River to recreate George Seurat's 'Sunday Afternoon on the Island of LaGrande Jatte'"

Boing Boing: Metal armour stiletto heels from Babylon 5 by Sword & Stone

Boing Boing: "At the Burbank-based workshop of Sword & Stone, master blacksmith Tony Swatton forges handcrafted pieces -- some futuristic, some historically accurate -- for use in TV, movies, and on stage."

Ensemble finds wealth of opportunity at CLO

Post Gazette: "This many-legged entity is, of course, the Pittsburgh CLO ensemble, singers and dancers formerly known as the chorus, and it remains, as this week's CLO program justly claims, 'the heart and soul of the CLO season.'"

Tomorrow's world

Guardian Unlimited Arts: "Emotional houses, robot dance teachers and 3D TV - is this how technology will transform the arts? Leo Benedictus asks a panel of experts to gaze into their virtual crystal balls "

Rembrandt on stage

Guardian Unlimited Arts: "Rembrandt the Musical sounds like classic kitsch, part of the commercial hoopla surrounding the 400th anniversary of the artist's birth in the Netherlands later this week. "

New job: Designers, Stage Managers and Operators Needed for 2006-2007 Season

Custom Made Theatre Company (www.custommade.org) is looking for technical staff for its 2006 - 2007 season. We are a theatre company residing in a 65 seat house in the off-Market Theatres. Check out our website for more information about us.

Currently we are in production with The Heidi Chronicles, which has been extended through July 29. We kick off the new season in September with Equis. Other shows this season include Assassins, Candide (an adaptation), The Exception and The Rule.

We are looking for talented set designers, sound designers, costume designers, stage managers and board operators to work on one or more shows throughout our season. Contracts are on a per-show basis. We can offer a small stipend for your work.

Please e-mail your credentials to:

Marci Ring
Technical Director
www.ringme01@yahoo.com

The thinner's circle

New York Daily News: "Firing an opera singer for being too big sounds like firing a frog for being too green."

An Online Resume Service

lifehack.org: "Emurse is a web tool where you can create, send and share your resume on the web. If you want to create a new professional resume for your job hunting, you can use Emurse’s create option to edit your resume online."

WE NEED MAKEUP ARTISTS

Craigslist: "Looking for a few makeup artists for a big event Sept 9,2006

ONE DAY EVENT IN MONROEVILLE-NEAR THE MALL. "

Chekhov & Maria

New York Times: "Early in Jovanka Bach’s “Chekhov & Maria,” Anton Chekhov comes off as an inconsiderate jerk. His sister, Maria (pronounced MAHR-yuh), has spent the day preparing for his return from a trip. Dinner for two is in the oven, and Maria is giddy with anticipation. But Anton cavalierly decides to meet his pal Maxim Gorky for dinner instead."

Stage Review: Retorts delight in 'Boston Marriage'

Post Gazette: "Why is Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre doing a play by David Mamet? What about 'Boston Marriage' qualifies it as a Mamet play, other than the fact of his authorship? And what does any of it have to do with Boston?"

Draft Standard for Portable Feeder Cable Use Available for Review

Lighting&Sound America Online - News: "BSR E1.18, Standard for the selection, installation, and use of single-conductor portable power feeder cable systems for use at less than 601V nominal for the distribution of electrical energy in the entertainment and live-event industries, offers guidance on the selection, installation, and safe use of single-conductor portable power feeder cable systems used in the entertainment and live-event industries as power distribution systems."

50 `Simpsons' characters keep `MacHomer' bubbling

Chicago Tribune: "At the top of 'MacHomer'--wherein the Thane of Cawdor has to compete with Barney Gumble, Kenny from 'South Park,' Kermit the Frog and Matt Groening's crotchety high priest of idiocy, Homer Simpson--there's a little quiz. 'Who in the last 30 days has watched `The Simpsons'?' asks an inquisitive pre-recorded voice."

Are Short Plays Too Risky To Stage

Independent Online Edition: "It could take longer to buy a beer than to watch the new Beckett production in the West End. Claire Allfree asks whether theatregoers want plays that cost £1 a minute to watch"

Word is out on festival of new works

Arizona Republic: "The New Works Festival, now in its ninth year, has built a loyal audience of hard-core theatergoers who are happy to watch an unfinished play with actors performing, scripts in hand, on minimal sets."

Ashland troupe focuses on comedy and romance in outdoor season

The Seattle Times: "This summer, in the artsy Southern Oregon hamlet of Ashland, the days are scorchers, the evenings balmy and the classical theater fare lighter than usual."

Today, English. Tomorrow, Spanish.

The Boston Globe: "The outdoor performances (one language per night) mark the fourth year the company has staged a play in two languages, using an ensemble of mostly local bilingual actors. Because of a shortage of truly fluent Spanish-speaking actors in Greater Boston, many of the actors do double duty to fill out the cast."

Set Designer---Aida, The Media Theatre

The Media Theatre in Media, PA is currently accepting resumes for a set designer for their fall production of Elton John's "Aida." Those interested should send their resume via mail to: Jesse Cline, Artistic Director, The Media Theatre, 104 E. State St., Media, PA 19063. Or via email to Jesse Cline at rivereric@aol.com. EOE, competitive salary.

Bounds for greatness

Times Online: "Often billed as “the greatest male dancer of his generation”, Acosta has become almost as busy behind the scenes as he is on stage. "

Elegy for the video store

The Boston Globe: "As Netflix and on-demand change the way we rent movies, the corner video store is fading out. It's a greater loss than you might think."

Many variables affect cost of your MPAC ticket

MiamiHerald.com: "just as civic leaders are sure to extol the unifying power of the MPAC during the gala grand opening in October, the local populace is sure to wonder: ``What's it going to cost to see a show in there?''"

Stop, look and listen

SignOnSanDiego.com: "As common sense and good manners become lost in this era of cell phones, iPods and high-tech everything, loud talking at concerts and nightclub performances has reached almost epidemic levels."

The Surprise Ending? It's the Absence of One

Washington Post: "The ending of a film, or any narrative, bears a disproportionate amount of the artistic weight. Endings are the last thing we see, and the thing most likely to stay in the memory. "

7 tips of handling your Emails without feeling overwhelmed

lifehack.org: "I think because we are in 21st century, it is normal that everyone has hundreds of emails daily - and I am not an exception. The amount of emails mean that people are moving their communication channels to email. Once in a while I feel overwhelmed with emails, but most of the time my inbox is manageable."

A current glance at good old greed, corruption

Sun Times: "Norris is a prickly pear of a playwright all right, as he has demonstrated in his previous debuts at Steppenwolf -- 'The Pain and the Itch,' 'The Infidel,' 'Purple Heart,' 'We All Went Down to Amsterdam.' In fact, in many ways he seems to have modeled himself after Edward Albee"

Broadway Stars Rock for Charity July 10

Playbill News: "A host of Broadway favorites will take part in the 14th annual Rockers on Broadway concert, which will be offered July 10 at The Cutting Room to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS."

'Times' dances to Oct. B'way opening

Variety.com: "'The Times They Are A-Changin',' helmer-choreographer Twyla Tharp's dance-ical set to the tunes of Bob Dylan, has nailed down an Oct. 26 opening on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theater."

The filth stays in the picture, judge rules

Guardian Unlimited Film: "Hollywood last week won a protracted legal battle against companies which produce sanitised versions of its films on DVD when a US judge ordered those firms to turn over all existing copies to studio lawyers for destruction within five days of his ruling."

Never Mind the Monster, Watch Out for the Set of the Opera 'Grendel'

New York Times: "STAGEHANDS power-drilled screws into sheets of plywood on the stage of the New York State Theater one morning late last month. Four layers — comprising 1,100 sheets — were laid down over the spongy floor that usually supports the delicate limbs of dancers. And workers installed an aluminum truss underneath so the floor would not bow or collapse under the extraordinary weight it would have to bear."

Makeup Artist Needed for Horror Feature

Craigslist: "We need a makeup artist for our independent horror feature. Shooting will be from the 20th of July to the 10th of August. This job will entail standard makeup for film."

Live Nation broadens concert scope with HOB buy

Yahoo! News: "Rapino told Billboard that the HOB deal, announced July 5, shows the difference between the new, free-standing 'nimble and focused' Live Nation and its pre-spinoff incarnation, Clear Channel Entertainment."

Lavish Toronto production of Tolkien epic 'Rings' deserves chance to improve

Post Gazette: "Don't believe everything you read. In spite of the assertion in last week's Associated Press story about the early closing of 'The Lord of the Rings' that the show was generally trashed by critics, there are those who have had many good things to say."

Six Cirque shows seen in quick succession

Post Gazette: "Jane Vranish does the Cirque-it: In just a few days and nights in Las Vegas, the Post-Gazette dance critic sees all five of the Cirque du Soleil shows there, then comes home for more."

Cirque collaborators make sacrifices for 'Love'

Post Gazette: "It's been a 'Love' story the likes of which Las Vegas has never seen. When Siegfried & Roy were forced to cancel their longtime hit show at The Mirage after Roy was attacked by one of his tigers, the wheels were set in motion for the Cirque du Soleil/Apple Corps Ltd. collaboration of 'Love,' an homage to the Beatles."

Cirque du Soleil meets the Beatles

Post Gazette: "Beatlemania is back. But this time, the Fab Four's invasion has set its sights on Las Vegas."

Synge fest clocks in at 9 hours

Sun Times: "Nine hours is a long time to sit still for anything, but the creators of ''DruidSynge'' energetically cram enough murders, betrayals, unfortunate accidents, beatings, drunken brawls, raging thunderstorms and other assorted bad luck and mayhem into this theatrical marathon to capture all but the shortest attention spans."

Marriott's risky business

Chicago Tribune: "Lyricist Susan DiLallo and composer Stephen Weiner have their own professional mantra, conceived by Weiner, but voiced routinely by both:

'Musical theater isn't a profession. It's an illness.'"

Sundance jives to scribe vibe

Variety.com: "July marks the 25th edition of the Sundance Theater Laboratory, a three-week play development program that has nurtured idiosyncratic and critically successful works, including 'Spring Awakening,' 'The Light in the Piazza,' 'Grey Gardens,' 'Well' and 'I Am My Own Wife.'"

Court: Sanitizing racy content in films violates U.S. copyright laws

globeandmail.com: "“Their (studios and directors) objective . . . is to stop the infringement because of its irreparable injury to the creative artistic expression in the copyrighted movies,” the judge wrote. “There is a public interest in providing such protection.”"

Martin Launches RGB Laser 1.6

LIVEDESIGN: "Slightly larger than an average DVD player, yet able to take the knocks and blows of touring without misaligning, the RGBL 1.6 is capable of extremely deep saturated colors - especially an intense blue (442 nm), which allows the creation of true and pure white like no other laser in its class."

All the world's a (sound) stage

csmonitor.com: "Consequently, an industry devoted to providing alternative locations has blossomed around the globe, says Bill Lindstrom, CEO of the nonprofit Association of Film Commissioners International (AFCI). 'It's grown enormously in the past 20 years,' he says, adding that this year, its 21st Locations Trade Show in Santa Monica, Calif., brought in more than 260 exhibitors from more than 30 countries - a record high."

In a Pricey Market It Helped Ignite, Studio Theatre Will Buy Housing

Washington Post: "Finding affordable housing has always been a challenge for artists, but it is even more difficult in the area near Studio, where real estate prices have soared."

Machine Project scrapyard challenge this Sunday in LA

Boing Boing: "Each of the objects designed during the workshop is connected to a MIDI output device that will create sound. At the end of the day the participants will give a short performance / demonstration, playing their new creations to the rest of the group and public. "

Three World Premieres Punctuate WV's Contemporary American Theater Fest

Yahoo! News: "CATF will produce the world premiere of Kim Merrill's Sex, Death, and the Beach Baby, 'an outrageous and mysterious dark comedy set on the New Jersey shore'; Keith Glover's play Jazzland, which was commissioned by CATF and 'explores the mind of a troubled musician as he struggles to regain his talent while reconciling with the demons of his past'; and Richard Dresser's comedy, Augusta."

Philly's PlayPenn Confab Incubates New Plays

Backstage: "Despite its support of new work, Philadelphia lacked a professional new-play development organization until last year, when the need was filled by PlayPenn, a conference founded by Paul Meshejian, a local actor and director and a member of the People's Light & Theatre Company since 1989. "

Producers Use the Web to Romance Audience and Bring Them Back

New York Times: "The most obvious change is in ticketing, which the Internet makes simpler for customers and cheaper for producers. During the 2004-5 season the portion of Broadway tickets sold online more than quadrupled to 29 percent from 7 percent; this past season it continued to creep up, to about 33 percent. "

Annie

New York Times: "WHEN Julie Stevens was 9, she and her mother took a train to New York from their home in Philadelphia to meet with a child-modeling agent. That meeting, in 1979, lasted five minutes; the agent said it would be better if Julie were blonde. Later the pair wandered over to the Alvin Theater (since renamed the Neil Simon Theater) on West 52nd Street, where the hit musical 'Annie' had been running for two and a half years."

Shakespeare in War, More Timely Than Ever

New York Times: "The current investigations into the alleged rape and murder of civilians by American soldiers in Iraq have made such presentations tremble with inescapable timeliness. It seems fitting that Dominic Dromgoole, the new artistic director of the Globe (where he has bravely succeeded the popular Mark Rylance), should have begun his inaugural season with Lucy Bailey's Grand Guignol staging of 'Titus' and his own adrenaline-stoked production of another Roman war play by Shakespeare, 'Coriolanus,' whose arrogant hero (played as if he were a spoiled soccer star by the strapping Jonathan Cake) was schooled by his mother on tales of bloody and heroic combat."

Look Who's Barking!: Broadway Barks 8! Comes to Shubert Alley July 8

Playbill News: "Friends, animal lovers and award-winning actresses Bernadette Peters and Mary Tyler Moore co-host their annual Shubert Alley fundraiser, Broadway Barks 8!, which boasts dozens of celebrity presenters."

SAG Awards the Dales Scholarships

Backstage: "The Screen Actors Guild Foundation has announced hundreds of thousands of dollars in new scholarships for members embarking on or wishing to expand their theatrical education. The funds are also available to children of SAG members."

Small Theatres Receive J.P. Morgan Grants

Backstage: "The J.P. Morgan The Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York has awarded more than $150,000 in small theatre grants to 38 companies this year, including The Civilians, the Ma-Yi Theatre, New Georges and Theatre by the Blind. The program gives grants ranging from $2,000 to $7,500 to companies with annual budgets between $100,000 and $500,000. Since its founding in 1998, it has donated more than $800,000."

Casting Announced for Seven New Musicals in Kansas City Crossroads Festival

Yahoo! News: "Theater League is the Kansas City-based national musical theatre presentation and production company, which has satellite presenting programs in a number of American cities. It will introduce its Missouri audiences to readings of seven new works over two weekends, with presentations on July 15 and July 22."

'42nd Street' celebrates musical comedy

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "For those of us who agree with Julian Marsh that the two greatest words in the English language are 'musical comedy' there is no better expression of that enthusiasm than '42nd Street.'"

Haunted house build-notes

Boing Boing: "A group of Hallowe'en haunters who built an elaborate spook-house in a warehouse last October have posted elaborate build-notes on the project."

Complete list of Emmy nominations

Post Gazette

Auction of 1000 Stars

actorsequity.org | News #038; Media: "The Actors' Fund of America is launching its 7th Annual Auction of 1000 Stars online July 24 - August 7th. Participants will have the opportunity to bid on an array of once-in-a-lifetime experiences including walk-on roles in Broadway shows, VIP theatre and film premiere nights in Los Angeles, private dinners with some of the hottest names in the entertainment world and VIP seats at the Tonys, as well as rare autographed memorabilia from the stage and screen. All proceeds from the auction go to support the vital programs and services of The Actors' Fund."

Lookingglass goes scriptless with 'Wants and Needs'

Sun Times: "Lookingglass Theatre is all about experimentation. Imaginative adaptations, stunning physicality, creative sets."

'60s are perfect setting for `Julius Caesar'

Chicago Tribune: "Political assassinations and social unrest never go out of style, which is why 'Julius Caesar' lends itself endlessly to updating for different eras. But the 1960s seem to be a particularly ripe setting for Shakespeare's early tragedy."

They're Ba-aaack

Chicago Tribune: "Cheeky, profane, irreverent and thoroughly original, the shows aren't easily forgotten: 'Co-Ed Prison Sluts.' 'That Darned Antichrist.' 'Tippi: Portrait of a Virgin (An Afternoon Special Gone Bad).'"

Crackdown on 'dubious' under-16 stage schools

The Stage: "Leading education figures have declared war on unregulated dance and musical theatre schools for the under-16s which fail to meet basic standards of teaching and health and safety."

Research

Have you ever met a successfully working theatre artist who faithfully refused to work on any day of the week due to regular religious observance - any faith?

If so, what were the circumstances and how did the employer deal with it?

What is the policy about this type of absence where you typically work?

Irish and Classical takes on Mamet's 'Marriage'

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "A contemporary and gritty writer, Mamet is best known for the rapid-fire, profanity-laden and often very funny dialogue that erupts from the mouths of the aggressive, back-stabbing, wheeler-dealer male characters that populate his plays that include 'Glengarry Glen Ross,' 'Speed-the-Plow' and 'American Buffalo.'"

Bridges or fences in Pittsburgh theater?

Post Gazette: "The June 24 'community conversation' on diversity in local theater and dance, organized by Unseam'd Shakespeare, marked the 10th anniversary of August Wilson's challenge to America to provide better support for black theater."

Stage Review: Feel-good '42nd Street' dances back to a simpler time

Post Gazette: "An aspect of Independence Day is a look back at simpler times -- or simply at the way we would have liked them to be. This makes Pittsburgh CLO's '42nd Street,' which opened Tuesday night at the Benedum, the perfect July Fourth entertainment."

All-Star crawl: Cultural District lights up for an evening of arts

Post Gazette: "The All-Star edition of the quarterly Gallery Crawl on Friday night includes a solo show by Michael Oliveri, a survey of Pittsburgh artists, a tribute to the Negro Baseball League and lots of live music."

Apt. 3A

Pittsburgh City Paper - Performance: "Though he seems a relatively mild-mannered kinda guy, film actor Jeff Daniels sure has a lot of chutzpah. You see, he’s written this play, called Apt. 3A (receiving its Pittsburgh premiere at Red Barn Theater), and it’s all about two misfit souls falling in love."

AQTIS members present a major compromise - A settlement is within reach in the Quebec film industry; the ball is now in IATSE's camp

Financial News - Yahoo! Finance: "A solution to the union conflict which has plagued the Quebec film industry for months is now within reach thanks to a major compromise confirmed yesterday by AQTIS technicians who stated their opinion in a postal referendum. "

Area documentary crew may be docking at a marina near you

Carnegie Mellon Clips_News: "Next week, Carolyn Lambert will dock at a local marina and continue filming her documentary which explores the connectivity of those who live within reach of the banks of the Ohio River. "

Pirates put history on display

Carnegie Mellon Clips_News: "The Pirates yesterday unveiled a lineup that made history, and not the sad-sack version of events scrawled by the current team. The organization drew back the curtain on its new Highmark Legacy Square project inside the left-field entrance at PNC Park, where life-size bronze statues and interactive kiosks commemorate seven Pittsburgh Negro League greats"

Carnegie Mellon spin-off simulates safety

Carnegie Mellon Clips_News: "Funding from the Idea Foundry and a project from Mine Safety Appliances Inc. enabled Sim Ops Studios to spin out of Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center this spring. "

Video game designers try to help save the world

Carnegie Mellon Clips_News: "Parents may worry that violent video games are bad for their children, but the technology can help save the world by raising awareness of the world's downtrodden, a group of socially conscious game designers say. The creators of free educational games such as 'Darfur is Dying' and 'PeaceMaker' met with humanitarian activists at The New School University in New York on Tuesday for the third annual Games for Change conference"

ETCP Exam Deadline Extended Until August 1

LIVE DESIGN: "Due to overwhelming interest and an increase in space availability, the ETCP Council has voted to extend the application deadline to August 1, 2006 for the first ETCP electrical examinations"

art needed

Craigslist: "we have this fashion show featuring pieces influenced by history and we recently discovered that we will have more floor space available than originally thought so we can put in more stuff- yay! we are open to more visual art as well as vendors of vintage jewelry and such. "

Tony Taccone: Riding high on his recent successes, theater veteran has big plans for Berkeley Rep

San Francisco Chronicle: "If Taccone was approaching his 55th birthday in an expansive mood (he was born on the Fourth of July), it was well earned. He was closing his ninth year as artistic director with hits running in both Rep theaters -- Rita Moreno in 'The Glass Menagerie' and Theatre de la Jeune Lune's revelatory version of Molière's 'The Miser.' His Broadway directorial debut -- Sarah Jones' 'Bridge & Tunnel' -- had just earned Jones a special Tony award, and his off-Broadway production of Tony Kushner's 'Brundibar' had opened to glowing reviews."

Who's killing Death By Popcorn?

globeandmail.com: "Artists worry over copyright legislation as a new film is pulled from Harbourfront program"

PLASA Warns of Latest EU Directive's Impact

Lighting&Sound America Online - News: "With just hours to go before the controversial RoHS (Restrictions on Certain Hazardous Substances) Directive passes into UK law on 1 July, the Professional Lighting and Sound Association (PLASA) has issued a warning to its members about the forthcoming EuP (Energy-using Products) Directive, which may have the potential to hit manufacturers even harder than RoHS. The association is urging members to familiarize themselves with the new regulations well before they come into effect next year."

Video of new Pirates ride at Disney World

Boing Boing: "Striking doesn't begin to cover it. If this video is anything to go on, this is a spectacular revision to the Pirates."

Rent backdrops of Canada from CBC

Boing Boing: "The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has a great selection of 'scenic backdrops' you can rent for your next low-budg film-shoot"

10 Ways to Tweak Your Tech Resume

lifehack.org: "Okay, now you need to find a new job. As a techie you may thought you have so many things to mention to the recruiters. What are the best ways to include into your resume? "

Hundreds gather at The Point to sing Mr. Rogers' theme song as part of film

Post Gazette: "Organizers were hoping for 200 or so participants in the afternoon sing-along, but it appeared they had attracted two to three times that number to a grassy spot near the park's main stage. At a few minutes past 5, the cameras were rolling for the first of six takes of 'Won't You Be My Neighbor.'"

Poor attendance forces cancellation of renaissance festival

Post Gazette: "The festival's Web site bears the message, 'After years of trying to make the Festival grow and lack of finding financing and funding, we have run out of money and options on June 1, 2006. We have explored private lending institutions and investors, grants, stock offerings, and have met with local and state and economic development agencies, all to no avail.'"

'Boston Marriage' a good match for PICT, director says

Post Gazette: "If summer's when people like to let their hair down, maybe indulge in a little summer fling, why can't theater companies do the same? A departure from the norm is what Jeffrey M. Cordell is going for with Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre's production of David Mamet's 'Boston Marriage.'"

Strip clubs cover all the bases for anticipated All-Star biz

Post Gazette: "All-Star weekend is estimated to generate $52.3 million for the local economy, with some of it going right into the garter belts of the city's strip clubs. The weekend promises the strip clubs' ideal audience: guys with spending money coming into town for a few days, and nights, of fun."

Gaffer

Craigslist: "Looking for someone who knows how to light for 16mm on a low buget horror film."

Crew Needed for Horror Feature

Craigslist: "We are currently looking to fill crew positions for an independant horror film to be shot from the 20th of July to the 10th of August entitled 'The Thing In The Woods.' "

'Underpants' bears all in summer comedy

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Janet Jackson is not the first woman to have a wardrobe malfunction.

Clothing difficulties even occurred at the beginning of the 20th century. At least, according to the comedy 'The Underpants.'"

Nothing lost in shorter Las Vegas `Phantom'

Chicago Tribune: "In the new, shortened 'Phantom,' all the famous (or, depending on your point of view, infamous) emotional ditties are present and correct to the very last warbling note -- 'All I Ask of You,' 'The Music of the Night' and the title number. The orchestra is full, lush and Broadway-size. The story is involving and perfectly clear. And both the Phantom (played, at the performance I saw, by the surprisingly edgy Anthony Crivello) and Christine (beautifully but unpretentiously sung by Elizabeth Loyacano) have more than enough time to give their characters considerable emotional oomph."