Carnegie Mellon Appoints Elizabeth Bradley To Second Term as Head of the School of Drama

Carnegie Mellon University has appointed Elizabeth Bradley to a second five-year term as head of the School of Drama in the College of Fine Arts.

"Liz¹s progressive vision has moved the school and the university to a higher level of academic excellence.² said Carnegie Mellon Provost and Senior Vice President Mark Kamlet.

A committee that included faculty and staff from the School of Drama unanimously recommended Bradley¹s re-appointment. The committee was appointed by Hilary Robinson, dean of the College of Fine Arts, and headed by Susanne Slavick, former head of the School of Art. In its report, the committee praised Bradley for her highly regarded impact on the mission, program and reputation of the Drama School.

³Liz Bradley has won recognition and respect for many admirable qualities and accomplishments as head of the School of Drama. Liz¹s vision has led to more varied and bolder theater seasons of high artistic and production values,² the committee wrote in its report. ³The works featured often offer more challenge and intellectual substance than previous years before her headship. There is an Œedgier¹ approach to the theater season, diversifying beyond typical theater conventions. This vision is compelling and welcomed.²

Bradley has forged relationships across the campus, fostering valued interdisciplinary collaboration. She has brought pluralistic contemporary perspectives to the work of the Drama School through pioneering initiatives, such as the International Artists Residency program. Students have responded enthusiastically to a number of innovations, including the invention of ³Playground,² an annual festival of independent student work. Bradley also led an intensive three-year process to renew the Drama School curriculum, which has been cited as a model of academic assessment and planning.

"I am pleased that Liz will continue her good work at the School of Drama,"
Robinson said. "She has positioned the school to build upon its excellent national and international reputation in a way that will benefit the school and the College for years to come."

Bradley is a producer, presenter, festival director, arts advocate, and international cultural consultant. She came to Carnegie Mellon in September
2001 after a wide-ranging career of almost 30 years in the performing arts.
Prior to joining Carnegie Mellon, Bradley was CEO of the Hummingbird Centre for the Performing Arts in her native Toronto. The Centre presents multidisciplinary attractions from around the world, including many of the major artists of the last decade. Her theatrical producing credits include Tony-nominated Broadway productions, Edinburgh Festival premieres and extensive U.S. tours to major houses such as the Kennedy Center and City Center in New York. She has worked directly for artists as manager and agent, and occupied a senior management position for the Stratford Festival of Canada. A Past Chair of the International Society for the Performing Arts, an organization that links arts leaders from 51 countries, Bradley was instrumental in the creation of the Inaugural International Arts Forum in Beijing in 2001. Significant policy changes promoting increased openness to artistic exchange and expression were announced at the Forum. Bradley is programming consultant to the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and has served as jury member for the Heinz Foundations Creative Heights program.

She was founding Artistic Director of the first edition of the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts held in October of 2004. The Festival brought nine U.S. premieres of cutting-edge, multi-disciplinary performance work to Pittsburgh to complement the visual arts showcased in the Carnegie International. In the fall of 2004, before performance in the Festival, the first International Artists Residency Program welcomed Theatre O to an intensive five-week immersive visit to the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama.
Bradley recently served as chair of an advisory board review of the Theatre School at DePaul University, and also served on a review team for the School of Communications at Northwestern University.

Founded in 1914, the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama is a pre-professional conservatory program educating young artists at the graduate and undergraduate level in the complete range of theatrical specializations.

Charting the Course of the Show, 'Pirate Queen' to Launch On-Line Diaries and Web Events

Yahoo! News: "On Sept. 12, The Pirate Queen producers will launch a 'castcom,' billed as 'an on-line web communication which gives our cast and creatives an opportunity to tell you their story and bring you, our viewer, behind the scenes on our journey to Broadway.'"

Poet's play draws on past, present

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Recently, Hazo's writing has taken him down a slightly different path as he readies his play, 'Watching Fire, Watching Rain,' for its world premiere by the Jewish Theatre of Pittsburgh."

Hedy Weiss

New York Times: "“Irresponsible” — Edward Albee.
“Ignorant” — Stephen Schwartz.
“Incapable of understanding standards of professional and ethical conduct” — Tony Kushner.
The reviews are in for Hedy Weiss, a theater critic for The Chicago Sun-Times for more than 20 years, and they’re not pretty."

Backlash brewing over 'Watching Fire'

Post Gazette: "The hero of Samuel Hazo's 'Watching Fire, Watching Rain' is a Jew and a blacklisted Hollywood director. In an art-meets-life twist, a whispering campaign about Hazo's stance on Israeli-Arab politics may be hurting ticket sales for the world premiere of the play at the Jewish Theatre of Pittsburgh."

Stage Preview: Hazo harks back to McCarthyism in new play

Post Gazette: "In 1950, screenwriter Dalton Trumbo went to prison, where he remained for nearly a year. As one of the infamous Hollywood Ten, Dalton was convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to answer the questions of the House Un-American Activities Committee about communist activity in Hollywood. Trumbo won two Oscars under pseudonyms during the 1950s but, because he was blacklisted, didn't receive a screen credit again until 1960."

Stage Review: Felix stages smart version of Shepard's 'Fool'

Post Gazette: "Sam Shepard still writes, though less frequently than in his fecund youth. Then, three decades back, he was an essential new theatrical voice, the tumbleweed parallel to the urban David Mamet. And just these few years later (so it seems), he's an American classic of dysfunction, loneliness and despair."

Stage Review: PICT's 'Beckett's Women' is intense and skillfully staged

Post Gazette: "Part of Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre's 'BeckettFest,' 'Beckett's Women' consists of five of Beckett's shorter plays. All of them feature Beckett's distinct take on time, space and character, with a persistent theatricality located in rhythm and tone, rather than action."

Robert D. Mitchell, Set Designer is Dead at 77

Lighting&Sound America Online - News: "Robert D. Mitchell, who worked closely with the legendary scenic designer Jo Mielziner, in addition to his own design career, died from complications of complications from epithelioid hemangio endothelioma on August 18. He was 77."

To see or not to see: Was review of musicals fair?

Sun Times: "The facts regarding my review of Stages 2006, the festival of new musicals produced earlier this month at Theatre Building Chicago, are clear and simple and of crucial importance. And had these essential facts been investigated by the powers that be at the Dramatists Guild of America, and all those distinguished members of the Guild who so blindly and unthinkingly engaged in a letter-writing campaign based on a total lack of honest information, the attack launched against my ethics might well have been reconsidered."

Change of Direction

The Dallas Morning News: "Clearing the way for a new artistic director to program the Dallas Theater Center's anticipated 2009 move to downtown's Dallas Center for the Performing Arts, Richard Hamburger announced Tuesday that he will leave the group next spring after 15 years."

Lower Scores, Fewer Students

Inside Higher Ed: "Mean scores on the SAT fell this year by more than they have in decades. A five-point drop in critical reading, to 503, was the largest decline since 1975 and the two-point drop in mathematics, to 518, was the largest dip since 1978."

Museums and charities fear partial-gift tax-law change

Chicago Tribune: "Provisions in the new federal pension law change the tax rules on charitable donations of fractional interests in such property. The changes complicate a practice known as the partial gift and could dissuade collectors and others from making donations, experts say."

Theater of the Deaf in danger of collapse

Chicago Tribune: "For nearly four decades it has provided a cultural bridge between the hearing and the hearing-impaired, but unless federal and state agencies come to some agreement about its financing, the National Theater of the Deaf may be unable to carry on much longer."

Purnell Film Society

As the school year begins, here's an invitation to join the Purnell Film Society. For those who are new, the PFS exists to watch and discuss, as a community, films we think are important to the work we do. Some films may be connected to a class or an upcoming production, or they may be those movies you've heard about but have never seen. All showings take place in Purnell and are free.

Interested? If you're already a member, you don't need to do anything. To join the Purnell Film Society, go to:
https://lists.andrew.cmu.edu/mailman/listinfo/purnell-film-society
Enter both your email and your name in the appropriate blanks; you will be subscribed to news about PFS and your name will be automatically added to the membership list. This is a news-only list; for now, it serves to send out notices.

Please note: Creating a membership list is not intended to restrict or discourage attendance in any way. Because legally the Purnell Film Society is a private organization and cannot be about public or commercial showings, the list is created only to monitor the community it serves (that is, you).

Questions, comments, or (most important) suggestions for upcoming programming are always welcome. Please contact Tina Shackleford or Matt Gray. We'd love to hear from you.

Our first showing will be Saturday, September 9 -- more information to come soon!

AFTRA, Comedy Central Laugh Together

Backstage: "AFTRA is set to announce Wednesday a new three-year contract for shows on Comedy Central, covering most animated shows for the first time and raising pay and benefits from terms of an agreement that expired more than two years ago."

Matthew Bourne's 'Edward Scissorhands' to Play New York City in March, 2007

Yahoo! News: "The dance theatre take on the 1990
Tim Burton fairy tale film will play the Howard Gilman Opera House at the Brooklyn Academy of Music March 13-31, 2007, according to the show's official website."

The Bitch of Broad Street

Philadelphia Magazine: "Jim Ryan sat in the greenroom at Act II Playhouse in Ambler, debating whether he should open the newspaper. The curtain for the eight o’clock performance of the musical Closer Than Ever would be going up in an hour. Ryan would be onstage, singing as part of the five-person cast, all professional performers with résumés that include off-Broadway and high-profile national tours. The show had opened six days before, on May 19th. But today was D-Day. Today, in the Inquirer, was the review — by theater critic Toby Zinman."

`General' true to its vision of a traitor

Chicago Tribune: "Come fall in Chicago, the thriving, 10-year-old Timeline Theatre Company typically begins our theatrical conversation. And this year's season opener --Richard Nelson's 'The General From America,' a potent and provocative 2002 dissection of the notorious Gen. Benedict Arnold's 18th Century defection to the British -- is a very juicy start from this city's leading non-Equity theater."

Pedestrian-Vehicle accident project course --THIS SEMESTER

90-868 Public Policy project--A Study of Pedestrian-Vehicle Interactions in the City of Pittsburgh

"As many of you realize, the city of Pittsburgh is not a friendly place for pedestrians nor for bicycle riders. Over the past year there have been a number of accidents, most causing injuries but some causing deaths. Most of you know that a 19 year old female student, Wei Wei Wang, of Woodbury, N.Y., was struck by a car as she crossed Forbes Ave. at Margaret Morrison St. on the evening of April 11.

She died in UPMC hospital the next day. Over the past few years other students, staff and some faculty have also been hit by cars. And, of course, vehicles have hit a number of other pedestrians in the city, some were badly injured and others killed...."

PLEASE CONTACT JOEL TARR WITH ANY QUESTIONS.

Joel A. Tarr
Richard S. Caliguiri University Professor of History & Policy Department of History Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Walnut Street Theatre Is Eligible for Barrymore Awards Again

Yahoo! News: "The Barrymore Awards program is produced by the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia and is the only comprehensive awards program in the region, recognizing artistic excellence in theatre."

Beau Rivage, Closed by Katrina, Re-Opens with HES

Lighting&Sound America Online - News: "Exactly one year to the day that Hurricane Katrina ravaged Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, MS, the hotel is re-opening Aug. 29 featuring a large installation of High End Systems lighting and control products."

Chicago Sun-Times Irresponsible Review of Musical Workshop

Dramatists Guild: "On August 16, 2006 The Chicago Sun-Times ran a review of Stages 2006, a three-day musical theater festival that had presented eight works-in-progress at the Theater Building from August 11th through August 13th. The review was written by theater critic Hedy Weiss, against the expressed wishes of the festival, which had asked Ms. Weiss not to review any of the works since they were still in the developmental stage. The following is Guild President John Weidman's letter to The Sun-Times expressing the Guild's view of this matter."

Go West, Young Actors

The New York Sun: "It's hard to make a career as an actor in New York: Unless you wind up in a long-running show, most jobs last two months or less. Rent is high, the competition is intense, and much of the time, you don't know where your next paycheck is coming from."

Actors without an audience

globeandmail.com: "Five years ago, tour operator Mimoza Jakimi used to bring 100 Americans a day to Southern Ontario on packaged holidays that included tickets for shows in Toronto or trips to the Shaw and Stratford festivals. Today, that U.S. business has simply disappeared, and she's lucky to sell a handful of single theatre tickets to day-trippers from Buffalo."

Patent Fight in Online Academia

Wired News: "Every day, millions of students taking online college courses act in much the same way as their bricks-and-mortar counterparts. After logging on, they move from course to course and do things like submit work in virtual drop boxes and view posted grades -- all from a program running on a PC."

It's time to engage with Islamic art on its own terms - not as a bridge between east and west

Guardian Unlimited Arts: "When you hear the words 'Islamic culture' these days, you are less and less likely to think of a carpet. But a carpet forms the centrepiece of the Victoria and Albert museum's new Jameel gallery, displayed in a glass case, but laid out on the floor, as a carpet should be. "

Painter Said to Be Focus of FBI Probe

Los Angeles Times: "The FBI is investigating allegations that self-styled 'Painter of Light' Thomas Kinkade and some of his top executives fraudulently induced investors to open galleries and then ruined them financially, former dealers contacted by federal agents said."

Professional Theatre Internships

Florida Studio Theatre, a professional, Equity regional Theatre in Sarasota, FL has two remaining openings for internships in the upcoming
2006-07 Winter Season. Internships are available in the following areas:
Technical Theatre/Production (work directly with the TD and designers in building scenery, loading and rotating shows, props, scenic painting, sound, electrics and show running), and Literary Management (script solicitation, New Play Development, the Readers' Circle, and research
opportunities.) Learn by working hands on with Theatre Professional in your field. Stipend of $75 per week and free furnished housing provided.
The internships run from September 12, 2006 through June 10, 2007. For more information, log onto our website at www.fst2000.org. Email cover letter and resume with references or letters of recommendation to: James Ashford, Casting and Literary Coordinator, Florida Studio Theatre, EMAIL - james@fst2000.org.

101 ways to organize your life with Project Management

lifehack.org: "Project Management Source hosts a pretty long - behold, 101 ways - to organize your life within the project management perspective. It covers the areas of leadership, personnel management, recognition, relationship, communication, morale, self-management, stress, planning etc. "

Welcome Back!

Our Welcome Back Event is today, starting with an all-school meeting in the Chosky at 5:30 today.

Don’t miss this and the chance to see the Freshmen get introduced followed by the annual beginning-of-the year BBQ.

See you there!

Darwin in Malibu

New York Times: "Sometimes just the premise of a play is enough to make you like it. Here in 2006, as news reports tell us that more than half of Americans don’t believe in evolution, Crispin Whittell’s “Darwin in Malibu” comes along, transforming the argument between science and creationism into a comedy. And just to make things juicier, Mr. Whittell has turned the discussion over to the original characters: Charles Darwin; his staunch defender Thomas Huxley; and the voice of organized religion, Samuel Wilberforce, the bishop of Oxford."

Megan Dodds to Repeat Role in U.S. My Name Is Rachel Corrie

Playbill News: "Dodds played Rachel Corrie in the April 2005 Royal Court Theatre production, and reprised the role both at The Royal Court and at The Playhouse Theatre in London's West End in spring 2006."

Our strange fascination with box-office numbers

Slate Magazine: "With the summer-movie season winding down, it's worth asking where the titanic battles took place: at the theaters, where The Da Vinci Code, Superman Returns, and Snakes on a Plane were released, or in the newspapers, where their box-office receipts were displayed?"

Jacko tribute heads to West End

BBC NEWS : "Thriller Live features more than 80 performers including a gospel choir, children's ballet and West End singers and dancers to reinterpret the singer's most memorable songs."

Cuban artists had worldwide influence-- in spite of Fidel

Star-Ledger: "They say that on the same day Fidel Castro finally entered the government palace in Havana, while many of his troops were still celebrating in the heart of the Habana Vieja (the old city), he and Che Guevara decided to play a round of golf at the elite Havana Country Club, just behind El Malecón (the sea wall) right along the downtown harbor."

Colorado Ballet to get orchestra accompaniment

Rocky Mountain News: "Colorado Ballet and the Denver Musicians Assn. have reached an agreement that will provide live orchestral accompaniment for the dance company's first three productions in the upcoming season, which begins Sept. 29 at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House."

New York Fringe Festival Includes Fast and Slow in the Making

New York Times: "But it will soon become a little easier to see the standout productions. On Sept. 5, two producers who have presented at the Fringe will inaugurate a new series that provides audiences with a second chance to catch the most buzzed-about shows, which are often sold out (or gone) by the time you hear of them. Ten of the audiences’ and critics’ favorites from the current festival will run in repertory at two downtown theaters through Sept. 24 in what the organizers, Britt Lafield and John Pinckard, say will become an annual showcase called FringeNYC Encores. "

Iraq’s top cultural official resigns

The Art Newspaper -- News: "Donny George has resigned as President of the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH) in Iraq, citing his frustration at lack of funding and at growing interference from the radical Shi’ite party now in control of the government ministry to which SBAH is attached. "

Do Do That Voo Doo: Porter's 'Fifty Million Frenchmen' Gets NYC Revival With 1929 Libretto

Yahoo! News: "Echoing the fizzy, optimistic Jazz Age that spawned it, 'Fifty Million Frenchmen follows a group of well-to-do Americans unleashed in Paris and looking for excitement,' according to Lost Musicals."

Eric Bogosian - Jo Bonney - Suburbia

New York Times: "But the play was written in 1994, and as Ms. Bonney and Mr. Bogosian prepare for a new production at the Second Stage Theater next month, he brings in pages that are reworked to take into account the reality she wants reflected in the piece, about an American anyplace where everything, yet nothing, has changed. He really gets into shredding the old pages in front of his director and the somewhat awestruck young cast."

Hopper's Iconic Painting Nighthawks Comes to Life on Stage in L.A., Aug. 27

Playbill News: "Dan Castellaneta — 'The Simpsons' star and west coast stage veteran — appears in the world premiere of Douglas Steinberg's Nighthawks starting Aug. 27 at the Kirk Douglas Theatre."

Andrew Lloyd Webber Eyes a Russian Classic for New Musical

Playbill News: "The Daily Mail reported Andrew Lloyd Webber plans to write a musical based on the Russian novel, 'The Master and Margarita,' Mikhail Bulgakov's fantastical tale of the Devil, a talking cat, Christ and Pontius Pilate, a tormented writer named Master and a girlfriend named Margarita, who becomes a witch."

Carnegie Mellon Announces Appointment Of New BHA and BSA Interim Director

Carnegie Mellon Press Release: August 21, 2006: "Carnegie Mellon University has named Franco Sciannameo interim director of its Bachelor of Humanities and Arts (BHA) and Bachelor of Science and Arts (BSA) programs. He succeeds Patricia Maurides, who has decided to step down after seven years as director."

BRECHT ANNIVERSARY BRINGS REVIVAL OF BEST WORKS (2006-08-16)

PRI: "Fifty years after his death in East Berlin on Aug. 14, 1956, legendary leftist playwright Bertolt Brecht is being remembered with a rash of exhibitions, panel discussions, films, readings and performances of his famous plays, confirming his lasting international importance in the theater world. "

Think for yourself

Lifehacker: "Allen, a personal development blogger from Ireland, has written up ten different ways you can develop independent thinking"

'3/4 of a Mass for St. Vivian': A Fully Realized New Work

Washington Post: "Actually, 17-year-old student Phoebe Rusch was a mere 15 when she wrote 'St. Vivian,' a two-character drama about mismatched girls who strike up a deep, delirious friendship. But that was two years ago, and, you know, like, whatever. (That kind of gauzy teen-speak, by the way, is delightfully absent from this insightful script.)"

Performing play in native state is Fringe benefit

IndyStar.com: "Hoosier Jaci Denning is excited to debut her original one-woman play, 'Taking Orders, Making Change,' at this year's Indy Fringe Festival. She plans to produce it in a Hollywood theater next."

Updating 'The Fantasticks' for a New Revival

NPR: "The abduction is referred to as a 'rape', and the original song offers all sorts of possible options: 'rape with Indians', 'a comic rape', 'a gothic rape', etc. The song has caused some concern over the years; not least, for Tom Jones. He's directing the new production, in which he also acts."

Did Critics Feel Nostalgic at The Fantasticks?

Broadway.com Buzz: "The Fantasticks, the Little Musical That Wouldn't Die, is back in New York at the new Snapple Theatre Center. The classic love story, which originally ran from 1960 to 2002 at the Sullivan Street Playhouse, features Burke Moses as El Gallo and composer Tom Jones (billed as 'Thomas Bruce') as the Old Actor, a role he also played 46 years ago. Were critics moved by the nostalgia of the longest-running musical in history?"

Critics Revisit August Wilson's Seven Guitars at the Signature

Broadway.com Buzz: "The late, great August Wilson's sprawling, bluesy drama Seven Guitars has brought its music to off-Broadway's Signature Theatre. The work, set in the 1940s, features direction by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, who starred in the original Broadway mounting in 1996. Did critics find the revival pitch-perfect?"

Inmates relive their own stories on...

heraldsun.com: "This Saturday, Stone will take the ArtsCenter stage along with six other women to present 'Snapshots in Time,' an autobiographical work revealing the scars, regrets and hopes of lives interrupted."

A theatrical life

Courier Journal: "In various jobs with the Broadway Series for the past 20 years, Broecker has met and befriended a multitude of stars."

Breaking down 'Fences'

LA Times: "INSIDE a vacant former furniture store, former Negro League baseball player Troy Maxson wrestles with his betrayal of his wife, Rose — and silently but equally powerfully, with the emotional fallout from generations of racism and inequity."

50 Common Interview Q&A

lifehack.org: "Bhuvana Sundaramoorthy has collected some (actually 50 of them) frequently asked interview questions, which makes it very handy when you are going to have an interview. Best of all, there are answering tips associate to the questions. "

Steps When You Can’t Get Started Writing

lifehack.org: "Starting to write is difficult, when you have no flow of ideas. I think many of you encountered this issue, and Judy Rose has no exception. She got together a set of steps to help herself on walking the first step."

And Your Little Dog, Too: A Preview of the Fall 2006 Broadway Season

Playbill News: "The fall season on Broadway in many ways represents the triumph of the 2005-06 Off-Broadway and regional seasons. "

"Tools II for System Designers" at the New York City Center September 12th 2006

Lighting&Sound America Online - News: "John Taylor and Ralf Zuleeg from d&b audiotechnik's International Application Support Team will lead a rapt audience safely through the dark caverns of technical mumbo-jumbo and geek-speak into the pure radiance of audio enlightenment, all in plenty of time to prevent working sound designers from having to sublet their Brooklyn walk-ups and move back with their parents. "

ETCP Introduces November New York/LA Exams

Lighting&Sound America Online - News: "The ETCP Council announces two new exam administrations will be held in 2006 in addition to those held at LDI. The electrical, arena rigging, and theatre rigging examinations will be offered in New York, NY (for IATSE Local One members only) and the Los Angeles area on Saturday, November 11, 2006."

Fascinating history at Timeline

Chicago Tribune: "There's a hefty gap in Chicago's theater scene between the big players--with their ample budgets and high-profile artists--and the little guys, squeaking it out on the fringe where scrappy ingenuity is the name of the game."

Fascinating history at Timeline

Chicago Tribune: "
There's a hefty gap in Chicago's theater scene between the big players--with their ample budgets and high-profile artists--and the little guys, squeaking it out on the fringe where scrappy ingenuity is the name of the game."

Cold-Calling Survey

LIVEDESIGN: "Are 'cold-call' jobs a myth? Is marketing yourself as a designer worth the investment? If it works for you, what are you doing to make it work? Tell us when you last got a great gig by calling or applying out of the blue. Or tell us why you think that kind of thing never happens."

InfoComm Named Among Fastest Growing Tradeshows

Lighting&Sound America Online - News: "InfoComm International® today announced that its tradeshow InfoComm has been named among the fifty fastest growing tradeshows in the US by Tradeshow Week magazine. It is the only audiovisual technology show to achieve this distinction."

10 tips for keeping your desk clean and tidy

lifehack.org: "Messy desk decreases your productivity. You do not have space to work with stuff. Psychologically you just feel overwhelmed. Chanpory Rith at LifeClever has shared his tips on keeping his desk clean and tidy "

Stage Review: Mixed goods in Pandora's Box

Post Gazette: "But at Pandora's Box, the new company making its ambitious debut with an alternating rep of condensed, 75-minute versions of 'Titus' and of Moliere's comedy 'Amphitryon,' the audience kept a pretty straight face, thereby missing some of the fun."

Space for 'Rent': Non-equity production shines spotlight on locals

Post Gazette: "As Matthew Hydzik points out, by performing in a series of coming-of-age musicals, he's been getting a post-graduate course in 'teenage angst through the decades.'"

Rupert Murray, Producer and Lighting Designer, Dead at 55

Playbill News: "A U.K. native, Mr. Murray attended Trinity College Dublin and had lived in Dublin ever since. He worked as a freelance lighting designer and theatre producer over the years. He was most closely associated with his lighting design for Riverdance and the rejuvenation of the St. Patrick's Day celebrations in Ireland in the 1990s."

Signature's August Wilson Celebration Begins Aug. 24 With Guitars Opening

Playbill News: "The revival is part of Signature's 15th Anniversary Celebration and The August Wilson Series, the first New York exploration of the late writer's body of work. Three Wilson plays will be staged by Signature in 2006-07."

High Fidelity to Play the Imperial Theatre

Playbill News: "High Fidelity will follow Dirty Rotten Scoundrels into the Imperial Theatre. The new romantic musical comedy is scheduled to begin previews on Broadway Nov. 20 with an official opening Dec. 7."

Acoustics, they are a-changin', complains unhappy Dylan

Guardian Unlimited: "Forty years ago, at a Manchester concert, an outraged folk music purist yelled 'Judas!' at Bob Dylan when he put down his acoustic guitar and plugged in an electric one. Now, though, it is Dylan's turn to berate modern music technology: in an interview published this week, the 65-year-old songwriter dubs modern recordings 'atrocious' and claims no one in the past 20 years has released a record that has sounded any good."

Titus Andronicus / Amphitryon / Endgame

Pittsburgh City Paper - Performance: "Here’s a fun subject: Authorial intent! In the world of theater a battle can rage between playwright and director. The writers assumes the play to be his or hers while the director regards the script as a blank canvas on which he or she can splash marvelous new colors. Amazingly, in most cases it works out; the beauty of theater, after all, being the celebration of collaboration."

New job: Load-In Carpenters needed!

Looking for people between September 3rd and 9th for the changeover to As You Like It at the California Shakespeare Theater. Great outdoor location, safe, fun work environment. Challenging non-traditional scenery installation, will make a good change of pace for capable technicians from many fields.

Reply here or:

email: dave@calshakes.org
office: 510.548.3422 x121
cell: 510.812.9726

High End Systems Hosts Open Houses Throughout US

LIVEDESIGN: "HES products to be shown include all three versions of Studio Command, new features for DL.2 including Collage Generator and Curved Surface Support, Catalyst v4 Media Server, and the Hog iPC and Wholehog 3 lighting consoles."

"Rules of the Road: How NOT To Audition"

actorsequity.org | News #038; Media: "Equity's Central Region EEO Committee will present a free workshop, open to all Actors, Equity and non-Equity, on Monday, September 18, 2006 at 6:30 PM. 'Rules of the Road: How NOT To Audition'"

"Collaborate! Communicate! Celebrate!"

actorsequity.org | News #038; Media: "Featuring performances, awards and interviews celebrating women working with women in the arts"

Patrick Quinn Selected As Equity’s New Executive Director

actorsequity.org | News #038; Media: "The Council of Actors’ Equity Association (Equity) has announced the selection of Patrick Quinn as Equity’s ninth Executive Director in the history of the Union, effective October 5, 2006. Mr. Quinn, who for the last six years served as Equity’s President, succeeds Alan Eisenberg, who leaves after 25 years in the position."

Airport rules 'costing musicians'

BBC NEWS: "Strict security measures at UK airports are having a 'devastating impact' on musicians, says the Musicians' Union."

The Fame Motive

New York Times: "Money and power are handy, but millions of ambitious people are after something other than the corner office or the beach house on St. Bart’s. They want to swivel necks, to light a flare in others’ eyes, to walk into a crowded room and feel the conversation stop. They are busy networking, auditioning, talking up their latest project — a screenplay, a memoir, a new reality show — to satisfy a desire so obvious it is all but invisible."

Three story, mobile Victorian mansion for Burning Man

Boing Boing: "'The Neverwas Haul is a fantastic steam-powered, mobile 3 story Victorian mansion that is being constructed for Burning Man 2006 by a team of industrious lunatics.'"

Theater Review: Great acting draws humor, tragedy from enigmatic 'Endgame'

Post Gazette: "There are giants striding the Charity Randall stage. Chief among them are Samuel Beckett and his bleak, jaunty 'Endgame,' an ironist's tragedy about the final days. As staged by Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre, it's absorbing intellectual vaudeville with comic surfaces and thrilling tragic depths."

Yiddish Theater - Eli Broad

New York Times: "Eli Broad, the Los Angeles financier and philanthropist, said on Tuesday that he had donated $186,000 to pay for cleaning, restoration, archiving and a permanent display. The cache includes programs, photographs, plays, costumes, music manuscripts, props and other material."

Daniel McIvor, Fringe Festival Playwright, Is a Discovery Waiting to be Discovered

New York Times: "In “Never Swim Alone,” a dazzlingly entertaining portrait of male one-upmanship that reveals the New York International Fringe Festival at its very best, Daniel MacIvor took what could have been an ordinary tragedy involving two highly competitive American men and a dead girl, and scrambled it. The end became the beginning, the beginning the end, and the middle turned into a boxing match in which battles over careers, sexual endowment and real estate (“I heard you rent”) are organized in rounds refereed by a woman in a blue bathing suit."

Female Cops Gather in True Blue, Getting a Reading in FL

Playbill News: "The author will direct her play, in which 'five women, all undercover cops, meet regularly for drinks, games and relaxation. Late one night they get a call that changes all their lives.'"

Quinn Ascends to Executive Director Chair at Actors' Equity

Playbill News: "The Council of Actors' Equity Association announced on Aug. 22 the appointment of Patrick Quinn as the Union's executive director, effective Oct. 5."

Telling their tales

TheStar.com: "It may not have the scale or grandeur of Martin Luther King Jr.'s, but Djanet Sears also has a dream: that some day, the voices of black playwrights will be an integral part of Toronto's and Canada's theatre scene."

The show must go on growing

Guardian Unlimited: "When is a theatre show finished? I don't mean what time does the curtain come down (or rather not come down in the case of Edinburgh where curtains and traditional stages are thankfully in very short supply) but at what point do the cast and director stop working on the show in order to improve it?"

Gear-Source Announces Martin Partnership for Used Gear Site

Lighting&Sound America Online - News: "Gear-Source, the online seller of used, discontinued, and overstock lighting and audio equipment, has launched a new Web site dedicated to marketing used Martin inventory. The site, www.MartinCheckMarked.com features a 'Check Marked' program developed with the Danish lighting company; it's a sliding-scale, in which five checks designates an item as almost new and one check indicates a product that has extensive usage hours."

Seven Career Killers

lifehack.org: "Erin focuses this article onto young workers - as many of those mistakes are coming from inexperience. In particular, failing to network. Many people (included me in the past) think networking and engaging new contacts are only critical for getting a job."

Adobe Shares del.icio.us Links

lifehack.org: "Basement.org just posted that Adobe shared their links with the world. Look at some of the goodness they’ve found for you. "

Review: 'Frost/Nixon' relives showdown

Yahoo! News: "It shouldn't work. They are such different media, with incompatible strengths. To try to capture TV onstage is much like rendering film through dance."

News Writers at Odds with WGA

Backstage: "Network and local news writers are among about 750 news professionals at CBS and ABC who have been working under expired WGA contracts for more than a year, and guild execs are talking tough following a recent job action at an eye network affiliate."

Failure, Madness: A Playwright's Path

Backstage: "For 50 years, the Royal Court Theater in London's Sloane Square has acted as a crucible of young writing talent, launching many careers."

Ballet Preview: PBT welcomes aboard new dancers

Post Gazette: "The Pirates won't be the only local team that needs a scorecard for its players. For the coming 2006-07 season, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre will welcome 11 dancers to replace principals Jennifer Langenstein and Dmitri Kulev, who left to open their own school in California, plus several corps members while increasing full-time positions for the first time in seven years."

'Endgame' embodies example of Beckett's plays

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "The Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre's production of this contemporary classic is the keystone work in its BeckettFest, a centennial celebration of Beckett's birth that will offer access to every one of the playwright's 19 dramatic works."

Latino Theatre fest ends with dance-drama

Sun Times: "In the Catalan language of Spain, 'aiguardent' means brandy. 'Aiguardent' also is the title of the bravura solo first conceived and performed by Marta Carrasco in 1995 -- a work that was given its swan song Saturday and Sunday by the charismatic Spanish dancer-actress and proved to be an ideal finale for the Goodman Theatre's third Latino Theatre Festival."

New job: Light/sound operator needed

The Magic Theatre, San Francisco's home for new plays, is looking for a light/sound operator for their season opener, Sam Shepard’s, God of Hell. The operator will be using and ECT light board and SFX sound software. If interested please email Nick at nicks@magictheatre.org
Dates: Sep 18, 2006-Dec 31, 1969
Pay: 50.00 per show plus hourly during tech

j-o-b

Long Wharf Theatre, an established LORT B & D Theater, is looking for an experienced and motivated technician to join our production staff immediately for the 2006-2007 season.

Candidates should have a minimum of 3 years professional experience, excellent carpentry, metalworking and layout skills. Applicants must display leadership qualities and be capable of working closely with the TD, ATD. Strong candidates will posses the ability to troubleshoot complex problems and have a record of accomplishment in the areas of shop organization and scheduling. Additional responsibilities will include: supervising daily scene shop staff and large crews during load-ins and strikes. Knowledge of stage rigging, motion control techniques, tool maintenance and safety very important.

Salary competitive with excellent benefits. Summer work possible. 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 Prompt applications are encouraged.

Long Wharf Theatre is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Joyce Kozloff Exhibition

Regina Gouger Miller Gallery Presents Joyce Kozloff Exhibition Opening reception this Friday from 5 to 8 p.m.

The Regina Gouger Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University will present an exhibition of various cartography images that address world politics by Joyce Kozloff (AŒ64). The exhibition, ³Joyce Kozloff: Exterior and Interior Cartographies,² will run from Aug. 25 through Oct. 15 and will feature drawings, collages, prints, paintings and sculptures. An opening reception will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 25. All events and exhibitions at the gallery are free and open to the public.

Kozloff, born in Somerville, N.J., earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from Carnegie Mellon in 1964 and a master of fine arts degree from Columbia University in 1967. She has been active in the women artists¹ movement since 1970, when she was a founding member of the Heresies publishing collective.
For 15 years, Kozloff¹s art has centered on cartography. She¹s created representations of old maps, introducing visual and conceptual images that address issues in world politics.

³Joyce Kozloff continues to make a significant impact on contemporary art and culture. Her work is courageous, imaginative, fresh, intelligent and, at times, funny,² said Jenny Strayer, director of the Miller Gallery. ³We¹re especially pleased to have the honor of hosting this exhibition highlighting her recent work, including the ŒAmerican History¹ series in its public debut. Kozloff¹s perspectives on power, politics and place could hardly be more timely.²

As part of the exhibition, the gallery will also screen ³Disarming Images,² a three-channel video documentation focused on the rise of American protests against the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Kozloff is a member of the New York-based collective ³Artists Against the War.² She worked with fellow artists Ann Messner, Elaine Angelopoulos, Debra Werblud and Carole Ashley, who compiled video footage and still photographs of passionate protest and creative public action from 2001 to 2005.

Kozloff and Messner will talk about ³Disarming Images,² political unrest and the role of the artist as activist at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 22 in the gallery. Messner, creative director of the video as well as an adjunct professor at the Pratt Institute, has recently held positions at the Council of Humanities at Princeton University, Amherst College and Harvard University.

A full-color brochure produced by the Miller Gallery will be available at the exhibition. It features an essay by Eleanor Munro, writer, art critic and speaker, whose 1979 book, ³Originals: American Women Artists²(reissued in 2000), provided early in-depth interviews with 40 major artists.

From the Miller Gallery, the exhibition will travel to Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, where it will appear in abbreviated form from Nov. 2 through Dec. 16.

The Miller Gallery is open from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. Visitor parking is available in the East Campus Parking Garage, located on Forbes Avenue just east of the Morewood Avenue intersection. For more information, contact Jenny Strayer at 412-268-3877 or jstrayer@andrew.cmu.edu.

Exhibitions at the Miller Gallery are supported in part by a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; individual sponsors; and the School of Art and College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon.

ESTA Technical Updates at LDI2006

LIVEDESIGN: "ESTA's Tech Track at LDI2006 is the fast track to the latest technical updates and vital information from lamps and lenses to DMX, and networking. "

Young Suicide in the Eyes of Norwegian Playwrights Old and New, Ibsen and Non-Ibsen

New York Times: "At 59E59 Theaters, two Norwegian plays begin and end with the suicide of a young woman. The plays on this double bill could not be more different in depth and tone."

Lighting Designer Rudi Stern Dies at 69

Lighting&Sound America Online - News: "Throughout the course of a remarkably varied career, he took part in many experimental presentations of light; he was also part of many key social trends of his lifetime."

Change of Direction

The Dallas Morning News: "Clearing the way for a new artistic director to program the Dallas Theater Center's anticipated 2009 move to downtown's Dallas Center for the Performing Arts, Richard Hamburger announced Tuesday that he will leave the group next spring after 15 years."

Those who missed the 'L' at Belmont are not alone

Chicago Tribune: "'What's going on here? You would think the CTA would do a little proofreading,' said Michael Lim, 25, after noticing the AWOL Fullerton transfer information on the map during his daily commute from the Northwest Side to his job at a financial services company in the West Loop."

It’s Free Theater in the Park, but New Yorkers Are Still Paying a Price

New York Times: "Scores of New Yorkers who have seen “Mother Courage and Her Children” since the play began Aug. 8 have paid to see it, not with dollars and cents, but with a good night’s rest. The Shakespeare in the Park play, presented by the Public Theater, has created a kind of theatergoers’ endurance test, as people like Mr. Suker camp out overnight 24 hours before Ms. Streep steps onstage, hoping to get a ticket for one of the theater’s 1,872 seats."

Google launches free, kick-ass word-processor

Boing Boing: "Google has re-lauched Writely, the online word-processor they recently bought, in public beta. "

Broadway’s Touring Shows Find Seats Harder to Sell

New York Times: "the road, which by some measures brings in as much revenue as Broadway, is far more of a boom-and-bust business. It booms when Broadway feeds it appealing, palatable shows like “The Lion King” and “The Phantom of the Opera” and suffers when Broadway’s musicals are edgier or simply weaker. So while New York delivers reliable audiences, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Denver and the dozens of other stops on the road go a long way toward determining the health, or lack thereof, of the nation’s theater business."

Eyeing a little more green

LA Times: "Writers of live-action features get royalties when their work is repackaged and sold. But writers of animation don't. Their 'ancillary profit participation,' as it's known, is paid in multiples of zero. "

j-o-b

Digital Media Production Assistant

Job Description

Digital content company seeks part-time Digital Media Production Assistants for a video blog start-up company based in the Pittsburgh area. We are looking for candidates with experience operating handheld cameras, editing digital content, posting content to websites, and surfing the Internet. Experience in drama or film production a plus.

The company plans to film on location throughout the greater Pittsburgh area. Works hours are generally between 6 PM -12 AM Wednesday through Saturday.

Key Responsibilities

-Assist producer with all aspects of digital content production

-Travel to various filming locations in the Pittsburgh area

-Digital Video Camera/Lighting/Audio - maintenance/operation

-Digital Content Editing: compositing, titling and effects

-Audio Editing: source, dubs, soundtrack

-Web Site Maintenance (Minimal site editing)

-Content Conversion

Skills Required

-Apple or PC Computer Hardware

-Digital Audio/Video Editing Software

-Web Development/Publishing Software

-Digital Video Camera Operation

-FTP

We plan to hold interviews in late August and early September. Candidates will be selected in the mid-September time frame.

Please email resumes and letters of interest to:

vsmack@quarterbackconsulting.com

Attention: Cyrus Maaghul

Bertolt Brecht's influence cannot be overestimated

Carnegie Mellon Clips_News: "Bertolt Brecht's dramas continue to touch audiences and spark political criticism around the world 50 years after his death. He carped on capitalism and didn't mesh with the GDR--most importantly, he entertained. 'Bertolt Brecht is without a doubt the most important and influential dramatist of the twentieth century worldwide,' said Stephen Brockmann of Carnegie Mellon University, who is also a member of the International Brecht Society."

Copyright wars: film-makers eats themselves

Boing Boing: "This week's LA Weekly has a long feature on the copyright wars in Hollywood: not the side of the wars that has studios suing their customers, but rather the stuff that has film-makers suing each other. "

CW: No Talks Yet, but 'Model' has 'Contingency Plan'

Backstage: "In a letter to affiliates, CW chief operating officer John Maatta said the show will premiere as planned Sept. 20. Show reps added that all 13 episodes for the show's run through December already have been shot and have been unaffected by the walkout by a dozen of 'Top Model's' writers/producers, who are demanding recognition as members of the WGA."

PBT taking 'Nutcracker' on tour

Post Gazette: "The company will take Terrence Orr's production to Baltimore for the first time, playing the Hippodrome for seven performances Dec. 28-31 and extending the 'Nutcracker' run to 3 performances. The company will play the Benedum Center Dec. 8-23."

Silly side project turns into some serious comedy

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Underground theater is alive and well in this shrinking city, as evidenced by a group of mostly University of Pittsburgh alumni who have been circulating a cryptic pamphlet titled 'The Official Hodgepodge Society.' The comedy group's 'The Hodgepodge Society Ball!!!' debuted last Saturday and will take the stage again at 8 p.m. today in a Garfield art gallery."

At the Clamorous New York Fringe Festival, Silence Draws Attention

New York Times: "“Billy the Mime” is, to put it mildly, not for everyone. But in today’s theater scene, which so frequently tries and fails to provoke, it is impressive to see a savvy artist shock an audience into gales of laughter and then stun it into silence — all without saying a word."

American Theatre Wing Unearths Video Discussions With Professionals; Archive Is Free Online

Playbill News: "Classic discussions with playwrights Arthur Miller, August Wilson, Wendy Wasserstein, Harvey Fierstein, John Guare, Alfred Uhry, and David Henry Hwang are among the newly added treasures available in the American Theatre Wing's online archive of the long-running 'Working in the Theatre' seminars, the Wing announced Aug. 17."

Reading of The Seduction of Sheila Valentine — with Eder and Shew — Presented Aug. 19

Playbill News: "The musical, according to press notes, is set in the late 1950s and tells the “sad tale of two 40-something, once-famous actresses who find themselves too old to play the young romantic leads anymore, and too vain to play anyone else."

New Art Chief at Oregon Shakespeare Fest

Washington Post: "The Oregon Shakespeare Festival announced Friday that Bill Rauch, a guest director the past five seasons and co-founder of the Cornerstone Theater in Los Angeles, would take over next year as artistic director."

SCarrie!! The Musical

Pittsburgh Alumni: Come see a staged reading performance this weekend with fellow alumni at the Bricolage theater. A number of local alumni have worked to make this reading of "SCarrie!! The Musical" possible and you are invited to support their efforts. "SCarrie!! The Musical" is a tale of love, puberty, diabolical teenage angst, and telekinetic revenge, "SCarrie!!" is an unauthorized musical parmage (parody/homage) of the classic 1970 horror film "Carrie". This perfomance is directed by Carnegie Mellon alumnus Matt Morrow, A'96 and presented by Bricolage - producing director Tami Dixon, A'96 This event is for mature audiences only. The language and content might be offensive to some viewers. "SCarrie!! The Musical" When: August 20 or 21, 2006, 8 p.m. Where: Bricolage 937 Liberty Avenue, 3rd Floor Pittsburgh, PA Cost: Free For more information visit www.webbricolage.org. For reservations call 412-381-6999 or info@webbricolage.org. Seating is limited.

University Memorial Service for Professor Otto A. Davis

The campus community is invited to attend a service to honor the research, academic and humanitarian contributions of Otto Anderson Davis (Toby), who died this past May 9.

The service will be held on Saturday, September 16 at 3:30 pm in the University Center, McConomy Auditorium, with a reception to follow in the Schatz Dining Room .

Davis, the William W. Cooper University Professor of Economics and Public Policy, died this past May 9. He was a founder and second dean of the School of Urban and Public Affairs (SUPA), now known at the Heinz School.

An additional remembrance is planned for alumni during the October 13 -15 Carnegie Mellon Homecoming/Heinz School Reunion Weekend. This remembrance will be sponsored by the Heinz School Alumni Association Board.

Webisodes A Bone of Contention

Backstage: "In another labor-management disconnect over new media, NBC Universal has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board over a dispute involving Internet-based extensions to a handful of peacock TV shows."

Elvis-themed show planned for new MGM Vegas resort

Yahoo! News: "Cirque du Soleil said on Thursday it plans to create a permanent Elvis Presley show for the CityCenter hotel/casino now under construction by MGM Mirage on the Las Vegas Strip."

Naked performance with dead pig branded "sick"

Yahoo! News: "Kira O'Reilly's show, called 'Inthewrongplaceness' will be performed at the Newlyn Art Gallery in Penzance, southwest England, later on Friday."

Advice for students: New year’s resolutions

lifehack.org: "People in academic life, teachers and students alike, get a curious bonus — while everyone else trudges from January to December, we have a chance to begin anew with each semester, term, or quarter."

Assistant Director for A Midsummer Night's Dream

Craigslist: "Assistant director needed for PITTSBURGH SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARKS' October production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. "

Endgame Continues

Pittsburgh City Paper: "Samuel Beckett’s Endgame is hilariously bleak, and bleakly hilarious. It’s got four characters; two are Nagg and Nell, elderly imminent corpses who spend the play’s entire single act in onstage bins. The others are Hamm, a blind and crippled autocrat, and his servant, Clov, a man so indecisive he can’t leave the room."

Playwright unearths Hammond circus train tragedy

Sun Times: "Tucked away in Forest Park's Woodlawn Cemetery is a section called 'Showmen's Rest.' Buried there are 56 employees of the Hagenback-Wallace Circus train who lost their lives in a fiery crash on June 22, 1918."

Grasping the Reins of Reality

Inside Higher Ed: "Look around you. Virtually everyone in the room is engaged in a job different from the one they prepared for in college."

Cirque's Elvis show detouring to Vegas

Variety.com: "Months after saying they would take their first show featuring the music of the King to Europe and Asia, Cirque du Soleil toppers have changed their minds and decided Las Vegas is true Elvis country."

New job: Building Tech Roster

The Thickhouse near Potrero Hill in San Francisco is currently opening it\'s doors new light/sound operators for the end of 2006 season and the beginning of 2007 season.

The Thickhouse is undergoing a major overhaul with many space improvements and looking to bring together people with interest in new creative works.

As the new Technical Director, I am promoting a safe and friendly work environment coupled with just and timely compensation.

Pittsburgh: PMT Receives Two $50K Grants

Backstage: "Pittsburgh Musical Theater has been an established institution for over a decade, and grants from the Hot Topic and Hearst foundations, each awarded in July, will help to recruit and support new students, said founding director Ken Gargaro, a household name in the Pittsburgh theatre scene. PMT, as it is known, was notified last month of the matching grants, each for $50,000."

Facelift Lets Peninsula Players Pump Up Prods.

Backstage: "After 70 years, the Peninsula Players' theatre needed more than a facelift. The summer resident theatre, an institution in Door County since 1935, was utilizing a stage built in 1937, one with a backstage lacking wing space and practically no amenities for the actors. Audiences sat beneath a 50-year-old pavilion without raked seats on uncomfortable director's chairs."

Construction on NYC's Silvercup West Approved

Backstage: "The expansion of Silvercup Studios, adjacent to its main headquarters in Queens on the East River waterfront, is expected to generate 3,900 permanent jobs, 2,200 construction jobs and an additional 2,500 indirect jobs from its film and TV production soundstages and retail stores. "

Game Show Time Management

lifehack.org: "The part of the game show we’re going to consider is the lightning round. Near the end of various game shows is that spot where the contestants are thrown a bunch of questions, and they have to answer them in rapid succession. The pressure of speed makes for better tension, and that’s why they do it on TV. But here’s the part we should steal."

New to Management: A Learning Hit List

lifehack.org: "As the author of Managing with Aloha, I get some great questions from managers and leaders via email. This one came a few days ago:

Dear Rosa,

I just got a job as an intern. I’m pretty excited about it, for this company is growing like crazy, and they are known to give their graduating interns terrific opportunities if they’ve done well within their program. I’m hoping this will segue into my first management job when the term is over.

The manager I report to, clued me in to the fact that learning is highly valued here. In your book, you’re pretty passionate about learning too: What kinds of things do you think I should include in my list of things to learn while in my internship?

I’d appreciate hearing of your thoughts.
Sincerely,
Chris

I sent Chris my two Short 7 Lists for new managers, and I thought I’d share them with you too."

12 Keys To Winning an Argument

lifehack.org: "Aguments are an all too common part of life. They should be avoided if possible. But, if you can’t avoid them you may as well win."

7 Idea Dumping Tips

lifehack.org: "Now days I see the important of dropping things down. I have flow of ideas suddenly, and I need to ready myself so if it happens, I can drop down the ideas. And I like to be in that situation where I get ideas. LifeDev has the similar experience and provides 7 tips on when, where and how to effectively dump your ideas"

Hilarity of 'Harps and Harmonicas' to hit theater stage

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "The result, 'Harps and Harmonicas' won the 2005 Mountain Playhouse International Comedy Playwriting Contest. Audiences will see what the laughs are about when the play has its world premiere at The Mountain Playhouse Tuesday."

On 65th Street, Glimpsing Lincoln Center’s Future

New York Times: "It’s not so much the mounds of debris in Alice Tully Hall’s lobby or the churned-up pavement next to the Juilliard School that seem so startling these days at Lincoln Center. It’s what you will soon see for the first time in decades when you glance up from the middle of West 65th Street: the sky."

On London Stage, Celebrity Doesn't Ensure Quality

New York Times: "When is a star not a star? Increasingly, it seems, on the London stage, where several big names are looking smaller-than- life when glimpsed in three dimensions."

Airport officials seize dangerous Shakespeare research

Boing Boing: "An article describing the experience of a Vermont-based St. Michael's College professor Nick Clary as he tried to return home from London on the day the new restrictions were enacted. Officials confiscated thousands of pages of his research on Shakespeare, which was contained on three thumb-sized flash drives."

Stage Review: Apple Hill captures brooding tone of Williams' 'Cat'

Post Gazette: "Apple Hill Playhouse director Brad Dell seems to understand that it's all about the dialog when it comes to mounting a Tennessee Williams play. Mr. Dell's talented cast shows due reverence to the celebrated playwright's words in the Delmont theater's production of 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' running through Aug. 26."

Stage Review: Words go awry in new comedy 'Henry and Mom'

Post Gazette: "John Reoli launches his new theater company, Words, Words, Words, Productions with his own play, 'Henry and Mom.'"

Polish director takes first stab at Beckett

Post Gazette: "although Bradecki had directed more than 80 plays in English, Italian, Russian and French all over Europe and Canada, he had never actually directed Beckett. Nor had he ever directed in the United States. So when he received an e-mail invitation last fall from Andrew Paul to direct Samuel Beckett's 'Endgame' for Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre, he was intrigued."

Stage Preview: Pandora's box lifts the lid on a new company with serious goals

Post Gazette: "Most people assign Pandora's Box a negative connotation, but that doesn't bother Lofty Durham who, along with co-artistic director Elena Alexandratos, chose it as the name for their new theater company."

PICT tackles the complete works of Samuel Beckett

Post Gazette: "But that's not all. To mark this year's centenary of the birth of Beckett (1906-89), there have been celebrations and symposia throughout America and Europe. But PICT and its artistic director, Andrew Paul, believe that only they are offering a chance to see all 19 of Beckett's stage plays. The result, called BeckettFest, groups together the small, eccentric and visionary works to which Beckett turned when even the minimalism of 'Godot' and 'Endgame' began to seem to him verbose."

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Pittsburgh City Paper - Performance: "You don’t need me to lavish any more praise on Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer-winning Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, so let’s talk instead about the Apple Hill production now playing to the, one would assume, startled crowds in Delmont."

Equity and 4As Members: Do Not Accept Work on the Retirement Living Network

actorsequity.org | News #038; Media: "Members of Actors' Equity Association (AEA), American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA), American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) are advised that AFTRA does NOT have a contract with any programs made for the soon-to-be-launched Retirement Living Network. "

Stagemaker Training Now Available

Lighting&Sound America Online - News: "R&M Materials Handling, Inc. is pleased to announce the formal launch of the Stagemaker® Training Program."

Benedum Center Upgrades Existing Sennheiser IR System To Newer One

Lighting&Sound America Online - News: "So it was natural for Chris Evans, the Benedum's sound engineer, to contact the supplier of the original system-Sennheiser Electronic Corporation, a pioneer in IR-based listening systems for an upgrade. As it turned out, Sennheiser had just the solution. "

New York City Council Approves $1.2 Billion Silvercup Project

Bloomberg.com: "New York's City Council approved a film-studio company's plan to build a $1.2 billion complex of soundstages, office towers, apartments, shops and parkland on the Queens waterfront with a Manhattan view."

Tragedy On Jennifer Garner Film Set, Assistant Propmaster Fatally Injured While Working On Location Of 'The Kingdom'

The ShowBuzz: "An assistant propmaster was fatally injured on the set of a movie starring Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner. "

Prosecutors eye Madonna

News24.com: "Johannes Mocken, a spokesperson for prosecutors in Duesseldorf, said on Tuesday that a repeat of that performance in Germany could be construed as insulting religious beliefs."

Getting In on Grants in Los Angeles

Backstage: "Each was among the roughly 100 artists who attended a grant-writing seminar co-sponsored by The Actors' Fund of America and the Screen Actors Guild July 24 at the organizations' Hollywood headquarters. In talking with the actors attending, it became apparent that there is no shortage of creative, community-minded ideas in Los Angeles. Getting the money to make those ideas realities, however, requires a more practical mindset. "

New Dramatists Selects 8 New Residents

Backstage: "New Dramatists, a playwright organization, has selected eight new members of its resident company. The authors, who will hold the posts until 2013, are Tanya Barfield, Adam Bock, Sheila Callaghan, Kirsten Greenidge, Jason Grote, Carson Kreitzer, Young Jean Lee, and Chiori Miyagawa."

More Sexual Perversity in Chicago: 'Blue Martini' Plays FringeNYC

Yahoo! News: "In The Blue Martini, a group of Chicago twenty-somethings struggle to figure out the meaning of love, sex and life. 'Alcohol entangles a sexy and cynical bar critic, a repressed cute girl, a computer-game freak, and a churchgoing, bartending, handsome dude,' according to production notes."

A real trouper: Actor's back on the boards, with intermissions for dialysis

Post Gazette: "So says entertainer Gorman Lowe, who had been a fixture in the local theater scene until Type II diabetes caused his kidneys to fail seven years ago. For a time, he wasn't healthy enough to commit to demanding schedules of rehearsals and performances."

Stages' eight musicals show serious flaws

Sun Times: "the eight deeply flawed new musicals showcased in this year's Stages 2006 marathon at the Theatre Building seemed to suggest the artform has fallen on very hard times. None of the shows presented last weekend, whether in semi-staged or concert reading style, was ready for prime time."

Walmartopia, a Futuristic "Norma Rae," Begins Fringe Run Aug. 16

Playbill News: "Directed by Catherine Capellaro, Walmartopia will play the Henry Street Harry DuJur Playhouse through Aug. 22. Described as a musical send-up of 'big business and eternal smiley faces,' the work was penned by director Capellaro (libretto) and Andrew Rohn (score)."

Patty Griffin's Roadtrip Musical, With Bunin and Mayer, Will Park at Atlantic Theater in 2007

Playbill News: "The work has been in development recently under the direction of Michael Mayer, who will stage the full production at Atlantic, where Mayer's production of Spring Awakening was a sensation this spring."

Atlantic Theater Company

New York Times: "Far, far underground, beneath an enormous brick building in Chelsea, the Atlantic Theater Company has been quietly working to fill the fourth and last slot of its 2006-7 season. Which is why, in the middle of July, on a stool in a mostly empty theater, there sat Sutton Foster. Singing."

On the Internet, No One's Neutral

Backstage: "Because of the Internet, performing artists have more power than ever. They can create their own content and present it to millions of people for minimal cost. They can market themselves through their own websites, or through social-networking sites such as YouTube and MySpace. In short, the Internet allows artists to create and distribute projects outside the entertainment mainstream, if only as a means of one day securing a place within it."

Performers orchestrate rescue

globeandmail.com: "Scouring the city and calling out to performers across B.C., Festival Vancouver promoters found baroque-era replacements -- made of 18th-century wood and strung with catgut rather than modern steel for a 'warmer' tone -- for all 16 of the missed instruments for the musicians from Turin."

Sketchbook fuses mini-plays, visual art, music

Chicago Tribune: "Chicago theaters produce their share of festivals each year, but few are as consistent or as eagerly anticipated as Collaboraction's Sketchbook series. Currently in its sixth incarnation (in residence at the Chopin Theatre in Wicker Park), it is a pleasure to see the fest remains the single-best antidote for audiences with short attention spans."

New job: MANAGEMENT

Sacramento Theatre Company seeks a non-Equity assistant stage manager for our 2006-07 season, for five mainstage shows. Please apply to Production Manager, 1419 H Street, Sacramento CA 95814; martinb@sactheatre.org
Dates: Aug 29, 2006-Dec 31, 1969
Pay: $400/week

New job: SETS

Sacramento Theatre Company seeks a SCENE SHOP FOREMAN for our 2006-07 season.
Requirements
Build scenery as assigned by the Assistant Technical Director and Technical Director; Load-in and strike scenery in Mainstage and Stage Two; Maintain scene shop tools in good working order; Maintain a safe and clean shop working environment; Purchase materials as assigned by Technical Director; Maintain theatre seating as necessary.

Qualifications:
Must be able to read and interpret blueprints and construction drawings, possess basic carpentry skills and an ability to do math, and have a valid driver’s license.
Terms of Employment: Full-time during the season.
Personal time off is accrued at the rate of three hours for every eighty hours worked.
Health and dental coverage is available through STC.
An employee contributed pension plan (403b) is available.

Dates: Dec 31, 1969-May 13, 2007
Pay: $10-$13/hour DOE

New job: Wardrobe Supervisor

Sacramento Theatre Company is seeking a wardrobe supervisor for our 2006-07 season of seven shows in two theatres. Position is responsible for assisting Costume Shop Manager in organization and maintenance of costumes for dress rehearsals and performances of all productions on both stages. Duties include maintenance and light repairs, assisting actors with quick changes during performances, and hiring/supervising overhire dressers. Must be able to act independently, as liaison between actors, stage management and daytime costume shop staff. Season contract runs late September through end of May. Please submit to Production Manager, 1419 H Street, Sacramento CA 95814; martinb@sactheatre.org

Critics' Voices Become a Whisper

Los Angeles Times: "Who says critics don't matter anymore? The new trailer for Paramount's upcoming numskull comedy 'Jackass: Number Two' is full of quotes from reviews of the first movie. There's just one tiny twist: The studio uses the vitriolic reviews attacking the first film ('A disgusting, repulsive, grotesque spectacle' says an aghast Richard Roeper) to promote the new picture."

ANSI E1.20 Available Now

LIVEDESIGN: "ANSI E1.20-2006 Remote Device Management (RDM) for DMX512 has recently been published and is available for immediate purchase as a PDF or hardcopy. "

"Holocaust joke" comedians hit back at critics

Yahoo! News: "Jamie Glassman, a Jewish comedy writer who has worked on the often outrageous 'Da Ali G Show,' said at least two comedians had gone too far and reflected broader anti-Jewish sentiment at the festival which he called 'shocking.'"

How to Support Friends’ Projects

lifehack.org: "We’ve all been on one side or the other of this equation: we’ve done something new, something creative, and we’re really proud of it. We ask our friends to get involved, and tell us what they think, and the friend says, “Wow! That’s really great. I like it. I like it.”"

18 Ways to Stay Focused at Work

lifehack.org: "One of the rising blogger, Dave Cheong, has a good article on how to stay focused at work. I agree, sometimes it is difficult to stay focused in office environment - hallway chatters, and shoulder tapping distractions etc. Dave gives it all and provides 18 ways to stay focused. "

5 Things to Bring to College

lifehack.org: "Christopher S. Penn does the impossible: he records a daily podcast about financial aid and student loans, and he makes it interesting. The most recent episode I listened to (#331 by the way) had a really great list for college students heading back in a few weeks to their next semester."

City Expands Its Role in Brooklyn Cultural District

New York Times: "Responding to repeated delays, the city is taking a more aggressive role in developing the BAM Cultural District in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, removing control from a nonprofit planning group and shifting the site of a theater designed by Hugh Hardy and Frank Gehry."

Fringe identity crisis

Variety.com: "While few in the theater community imagine that all of this year's 217 shows are suited for the big time, even fewer forget 1999. That's the year 'Urinetown' dominated the fest, beginning its march to three Tonys and a two-year Broadway run. That and other transfers -- including 'Matt and Ben' and tuner 'Debbie Does Dallas' -- helped push the festival to a new level of relevance."

Worlds meet — in theory, anyway

LA Times: "By bringing major artists from a number of countries and disciplines together for a summer of shared projects on the UCLA campus, the Asia Pacific Performance Exchange, which began in 1995 and concluded its latest edition over the weekend, can develop potent new fusions of international music or dance. But the final two showcase programs of APPEX 2006 demonstrated one peculiarity of this blueprint. They suggested that the process leading to a performance could be richer and more memorable than the performance itself."

The Critics: Musical Events

The New Yorker: "July was New American Opera Month in the purple hills of upstate New York and western Massachusetts. You could hardly drive your Smart car from the lesbian bed-and-breakfast to the organic farm stand without running over an adaptation of a literary property."

Tighter Security Is Jeopardizing Orchestra Tours

New York Times: "Those husky cellos need an extra ticket. Hey, security! Watch that priceless Stradivarius. Double-reed players? They have long given up on carrying aboard those valuable knives and shaping tools used to mold the cane that transforms their breath into lyrical sounds."

First Vice President Retires; President of NY Production Local Elected to Position

-||- IATSE National -||: "Rudy N. Napoleone, First International Vice President of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes General Executive Board, announced his retirement today (July 27) at the IATSE General Executive Board Meeting being held in Calgary this week."

Sophomore Brunch

Second Year Council :: Sophomore Brunch

101 ways to massacre Shakespeare

Yahoo! News: "The Edinburgh Fringe richly deserves its reputation for artistic anarchy and every year The Bard is the target of bizarre adaptations at the world's largest arts festival."

Quality Leadership

lifehack.org: "Suppose someone asked you to list the most important qualities you would find in an outstanding leader. What would you say? Toughness? Authority? Decisiveness, perhaps? Tenacity? You could make a case for all of these. "

Pandora's Box Theatre debuts

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "The company will make its debut on Wednesdaynight in the Studio Theatre in the Cathedral of Learning basement on the University of Pittsburgh campus in Oakland. In addition to her role as one of the creators and artistic directors of the new company, Alexandratos will appear as Goddess of the Night in Moliere's comedy 'Amphitryon.'"

A Connection to Drama Both in and Out of the Ring

New York Times: "The scene would be unremarkable if not for the fact that Stevens is the chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission. On the nights he works his salaried job, he is among referees, inspectors and judges, not actors, and the action is in a ring, not an Off Broadway theater."

HOWTO: Make a realistic, grody wound

Boing Boing: "The latest installment of Instructables is deliciously grody: make an incredibly realistic wound out of latex and pigments."

Prof. Dr. Jorg Sennheiser Awarded The Title "LIPA Companion"

Lighting&Sound America Online - News: "The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) has awarded Prof. Dr. Jörg Sennheiser the title of 'Companion.' With this award, LIPA is expressing its gratitude to the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of audio specialist Sennheiser, both for his pre-eminence in the field of sound engineering and his long lasting support for the Institute."

The Twilight of the Ostrich-Plumed, Rhinestone-Brassiered Las Vegas Showgirl

New York Times: "PAULA ALLEN radiates the kind of sweetness one might associate with an unusually content librarian in some wholesome precinct of the heartland. But Ms. Allen, blond, leggy and 32, is a showgirl in Sin City. She is a principal dancer in Donn Arden’s “Jubilee!” at Bally’s, arguably the last true showgirl show in Las Vegas, which celebrated its 25th anniversary two weeks ago. This position, officially speaking, makes Ms. Allen a symbol of the city, a figure of living history. Feathered, rouged, high-heeled, headdressed, rhinestone-brassiered history."

For whatever reason, this year's Fringe lacked excitement

St. Paul Pioneer Press: "I've had good Fringe Festivals, and I've had bad Fringe Festivals. But I can't remember ever having quite such a ho-hum Fringe Festival."

Shakespeare fest gets new director

DenverPost.com: "Philip Charles Sneed, who acted with Annette Bening in the Colorado Shakespeare Festival's 1980 'Love's Labor's Lost,' has come home as the fest's new producing artistic director."

How 'Wicked' run has broken Chicago's curse

Chicago Tribune: "In a study released last month and based on an extensive survey of theater-goers, the League of American Theatres and Producers found that 'theater-motivated individuals' in large cities such as Chicago spend an average of about $92 per person on dining, hotels, parking, shopping and the like on the nights they are going to a Broadway-style show. Using those figures, that would mean an additional year of 'Wicked' is worth more than $86 million to the North Loop businesses that surround the theater."

Hidden Gems: The Daily PlanIt

lifehack.org: "Remember that really cool feeling when you were in seventh or eigth grade and you first heard a new band? You’d ask your friends, and they’d say, “Who?” And you’d think, YES! *I* discovered this band! Me! It didn’t matter that 300,000 other people had also “discovered” them, or that this was really their sixth album.

That’s how I just felt when I read around the posts at the Daily PlanIt."

Beckett unabridged

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "For years, patrons have been asking artistic director Andrew S. Paul when he's going include one of Samuel Beckett's 19 stage plays in a Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre season."

Collaboration in the Catskills: A Retreat for the (Theater) Troupes

New York Times: "AT Sugar Maples, a derelict summer resort perched here atop the northern Catskills, the Olympic-size swimming pool has been filled with concrete, and the roller skating rink has fallen into grave disrepair. Waist-high weeds obscure the ball fields. Roofs list, and doors dangle on their hinges. But in this dilapidated holiday spot, a new arts group, the Orchard Project, sees a warm-weather retreat for innovative theater artists. While other residencies, like the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, are devoted to playwrights only or playwright-director teams, the Orchard Project will try to serve entire companies who create work collaboratively."

ESTA Announces Four New Standards-Drafting Projects

Lighting&Sound America Online - News: "Four new projects were started at the Technical Standards Program's working group meetings held by ESTA on July 13 through 15 at the Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport Marriott South in Ft. Worth Texas. Anyone interested in joining a working group to work on these projects is invited to join. Information about joining a working group can be found at www.esta.org/tsp/working_groups/index.html."

Vincent Lighting Systems Launches First Behind the Scenes Giving Campaign

Lighting&Sound America Online - News: "Vincent Lighting Systems' philosophy has always included giving back to the entertainment technology industry, often through many hours of volunteer service by Paul Vincent and his staff. Now Vincent Lighting has launched the first Behind the Scenes Workplace Giving Campaign to help industry members in need."

"Hands" a good-natured what-not-to-do guide to Hollywood

Yahoo! News: "A shlimazl is someone who winds a clock only to have the spring break. A shlimazl can bring on a drought by buying an umbrella. If it weren't for bad luck, as the country song has it, a shlimazl wouldn't have any luck at all."

In About-Face, Equity Favors Elections

Backstage: "In an abrupt switch in tactics to establish a union presence at the American Girl Place theatre in New York, Actors' Equity Association will now seek to hold an election to further its aim, officials for AEA said Thursday."

Marco Millions, Waterwell's Re-Invention of O'Neill, Opens Aug. 12 in NYC

Playbill News: "'Marco Millions (based on lies) is the story of a Westerner encountering the East and the collision of cultures and economies that followed,' according to Waterwell. 'O'Neill's play was born out of his reaction to the American post-war boom of the 1920s, a time of capitalist triumph and commercial imperialism. It was the time, O'Neill thought, to recognize that the majority of the world didn't necessarily embrace The American Way. He saw history repeating itself.'"

New job: Charge Scenic Artist

Sacramento Theatre Company is seeking an experienced charge artist for its 2006-07 season. Please apply to Production Manager, 1419 H Street, Sacramento CA 95814, or e-mail martinb@sactheatre.org.
Dates: Sep 11, 2006-May 11, 2007
Pay: DOE

j-o-b-s

JOB OPPORTUNITIES NOW AVAILABLE

Auerbach Pollock Friedlander seeks qualified individuals with demonstrated experience in the theatre planning and design industry. Full time positions are available in the San Francisco, Minneapolis and New York offices.

Positions available include:

• Theatre Design

• Project Management

• Sound, Video and Communications Design

• Sound, Video and Communications Design Documentation

• Technical Drafters

Project work includes new construction and renovation of major music venues, multipurpose performance halls, themed event venues, university performance and teaching facilities, community theatres, outdoor venues and media facilities.

Interested parties should send a letter of interest and resume via fax or email, no phone calls please.

Mike McMackin, ASTC
Auerbach Pollock Friedlander
225 Green Street
San Francisco, CA 94111
Fax: (415) 392-7530
e-mail: Manager@AuerbachConsultants.com

No telephone inquires please. All inquiries will be kept confidential.

First Behind the Scenes Giving Campaign

LIVEDESIGN: "Vincent Lighting Systems' has just launched the first Behind the Scenes Workplace Giving Campaign to help industry members in need. Vincent Lighting’s philosophy has always included giving back to the entertainment technology industry, often through many hours of volunteer service by Paul Vincent and his staff."