New job: NCTC seeks Technical Director/Master Carpenter

NCTC seeks Technical Director/Master Carpenter
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The New Conservatory Theatre Center, a not-for-profit organization, seeks a Technical Director/Master Carpenter. The TD will be responsible for the construction, load-in and strike of all sets for our Pride Season, Conservatory, YouthAware Programs and special events. TD must have extensive knowledge and experience in carpentry and scenic painting - preferably in production for the performing arts and general stagecraft. Basic knowledge of audio and lighting strongly desired. Computer experience to include: Windows, Word, Excel, and Outlook.

Must have strong project planning, problem solving, and management skills; Ability to monitor budgets and to work with diverse ethnic and LGBT communities; Ability to lift 50 lbs; Must have a CA drivers license.

NCTC's mission is to champion innovative, high quality, theatre experiences for youth, adults, and artists to effect personal and societal growth, enlightenment and change.

This is a full-time position with benefits. Salary range: $33 to $36K.

Resume with cover letter and references to: Jackie Jordan, Managing Director, NCTC 25 Van Ness SF, CA 94102 or email to: jackie@nctcsf.org. No phone calls please.

Vacation

News from the Real World will go on hiatus for a week and a half, starting tomorrow and returning Monday, July 2nd. Still there's plenty here to read, and you can always use the links on the left to go directly to the source sites. Hopefully readership will not plummet - but I got to take a break!

Wong Back in 'Herringbone' After On Stage Mishap Cuts Short Performance

Yahoo! News: "According to a WTF statement 'During a dance sequence, [Wong] collided with the piano bench and was cut in the thigh.' Performances resumed, with Wong, June 16."

June gloom hits Broadway as number of big shows exit

Yahoo! News: "With the weekend exit from Broadway environs of the ill-fated 'The Pirate Queen,' the grand exodus has only just begun.
Two more bite the dust Sunday: 'Talk Radio,' starring Liev Schreiber and directed by Robert Falls, which had always been scheduled for a limited run at the Longacre, and Harold Prince's 'LoveMusik' at the Biltmore, with Donna Murphy and Michael Cerveris, featuring a book by Alfred Uhrey and music by Kurt Weill."

Should we censor plays for overseas audiences?

Guardian Unlimited: "The fear of causing offence - and attracting litigation - means that the average British theatre foyer now offers more warning notices than a packet of cigarettes. In some cases, this means that while Hamlet might be a no-no for anyone under 14, Snow White is considered just fine and dandy for under-sevens - despite its tale of murder, revenge and a teenage girl living alone with seven men. Not to mention red-hot shoes that dance you to death, a punishment that even the Jacobean playwrights at their most nastily inventive couldn't come up with."

Michael Kennedy: The fading away of the critics is a blow to us all

Star Tribune: "Once upon a time, I had high hopes of impressing the world with my acting abilities. On my way to New York City from Burlington, Vt., I took a couple wrong turns and ended up in Minneapolis. I have yet to leave. I was instantly impressed with the growing number of theaters, museums, art galleries, music venues, dance companies, and the general artistic spirit of the place."

Using ALIGN command in 3D

Daily Autocad: "In this article, I will explain a very useful command, ALIGN, which is not known by a lot of people but is very useful in 3D applications."

NTCP Changes Name, Cause the Same

Backstage: "The Non-Traditional Casting Project, which for two decades has pushed for more opportunities for actors of color and actors with disabilities, has changed its name to the Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts, to clarify its mission and broaden its reach."

It's Queer, It's Here, It's for Everyone

Backstage: "Look at theatre fare across the country over the next two months: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender theatre is busting out all over. Well, of course. It's June, and that means Pride Month — the traditional time to celebrate all things queer and LGBT. "

Quantum Theatre creates collage of 'Billy the Kid'

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "In his program notes for Quantum Theatre's 'The Collected Works of Billy the Kid,' director Dan Jemmett rejects many of the things theatergoers hold most dear."

Irish & Classical Theatre presents well-cast, well-told 'Hedda Gabler'

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "By her own admission, the title character of Henrik Ibsen's play has stayed too long at the ball, or as she puts it, danced herself to a standstill."

Stage Review: PICT's 'Hedda Gabler' burns with passion

Post Gazette: "I have no idea what moved PICT artistic director Andrew Paul to schedule 'Hedda Gabler' -- perhaps it was chosen by visiting Polish director Tadeusz Bradecki. But Paul might have been thinking that Robin Walsh deserves a crack at it and Pittsburgh deserves to see her, and he'd have been right."

j-o-b Managing Director

The Montgomery Theater, located in Souderton, PA, is accepting applications for Managing Director. This suburban Philadelphia regional Equity playhouse seats 122 patrons. The Managing Director will report to the Board of Directors and be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the theater.
These operations are Administration, Financial Management, Community Relations, Marketing and Development including grant writing. The Managing Director will be part of the theater management team in conjunction with the Artistic Director and the Director of Production. Highly qualified applicants should have a Bachelors Degree (MFA preferred) or a minimum of five years arts management experience in similar nonprofit organizations with prior theater experience preferred. FT, Competitive Salary, Benefits, EOE. Qualified applicants should e-mail his/her resume with salary requirements to tq@montgomerytheater.org. Interviews will begin immediately.

(www.montgomerytheater.org)

'AmijimA' adds twist to classic Kabuki play

JS Online: "Although information technology can make the world seem flat, it remains big and round when it comes to the world of theater, where productions trying to bridge the gap dividing East from West frequently get lost in translation."

CMU's robot car passes early tests

Post Gazette: "Boss, the robotic car that Carnegie Mellon University's Tartan Racing has developed, today successfully performed a series of driving tasks, without human assistance, in an effort to qualify for the National Qualification Event of the Urban Challenge."

Actor injured in show

The Boston Globe: "Actor B.D. Wong gored his right thigh on a piano bench while dancing during a performance of the one-man musical 'Herringbone' at the Williamstown Theatre Festival last night. The injury occurred about 30 minutes into the show, which opened the festival's 53d season."

Placing sex at the heart of the circus

TimesOnline: "There are only two things the people desire, said Juvenal: bread and circuses. In a run-down Paris suburb, on a tense, sweaty, postelection Sunday, it’s easy to see why the more sensual emperors followed this line. When Collectif AOC explode onto the stage in a clatter of breakbeats and back flips, the sullen crowd are transformed into eager children again."

Who is Britain's best theatre director?

Guardian Unlimited: "There's no shortage of British theatrical talent, but who's our best director? I was discussing the question with an actor recently at a party and we both came up with the same answer. But, before revealing the name, maybe it's worth exploring the ramifications of the question."

ALIGN Command in 2D

Daily Autocad: "When I was making a furnishing work with an architect, Serkan who is a professional in his discipline in AutoCAD asked me to do this: “-Can you align the red edge of the triangle in the figure to the red edge of the square.”"

During Intermission, Cellphones Are Brandished in a Promotion

New York Times: "Typically you are told to turn off your cellphone before a performance. But at a recent Saturday matinee of “Spring Awakening,” the Broadway musical that garnered eight Tony Awards last week, the audience was told to do just the opposite."

Stage Review: Calderon classic 'Constant Prince' given a heroic try

Post Gazette: "So it is a treat for Unseam'd Shakespeare and visiting director/translator Rick Davis to give us a heroic tragedy by Calderon (1600-81), one of the great dramatists of the Spanish Golden Age. 'The Constant Prince' (1629) not only portrays a hero in language that is grander and more fulsome than modern taste; it even locates that heroism in a self-sacrifice undertaken on behalf of values that are largely repellent in their bigoted self-assurance."

In the Classroom, a New Focus on Quieting the Mind

New York Times: "As summer looms, students at dozens of schools across the country are trying hard to be in the present moment. This is what is known as mindfulness training, in which stress-reducing techniques drawn from Buddhist meditation are wedged between reading and spelling tests."

Shirley Jones dishes on Hollywood heyday

Post Gazette

Pittsburgh gets a summer gift: Shirley Jones

Post Gazette: "It's a mob scene in the Pittsburgh Hilton's Commonwealth Suite way up in the 23rd floor. On this recent mild June evening, women of all ages -- although mostly of a certain age -- are tripping over their ballgowns trying to get as close as possible to the night's guest of honor, a petite woman in diamonds and black sequins and a cap of short-cropped, snow-white hair."

Shirley Jones returns to 'Oklahoma'

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Actress Shirley Jones is 73 and has no intention of retiring any time soon -- or ever.
'I've been doing this since I was 17. I don't know anything else but this,' she says."

CMU exhibit brings 'transparency' to art

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "With a clever title like 'Glassnost,' the latest exhibition at Carnegie Mellon University's Regina Gouger Miller Gallery features works that are equally clever by nine artists who either are, or were, art instructors at the university."

Spiegelworld

New York Times: "VALLEJO GANTNER is a devotee of spiegeltents: those 1920s European traveling pavilions of teak and leaded glass, velvet and brocade, banquettes and beveled mirrors. He knows the handful of owners in Belgium and the Netherlands who rent the last surviving spiegeltents to a lucky few cities each year. And in his native Melbourne and in his former job as director of the Dublin Fringe Festival, he produced shows in spiegeltents that drew throngs."

Douglas Carter Beane - Xanadu

New York Times: "Douglas Carter Beane is having a Broadway moment. His play “The Little Dog Laughed,” a Faustian tale about a closeted actor navigating the demands of Hollywood hustlers, was nominated for a Tony Award for best play. (It lost to “The Coast of Utopia.”) Julie White, the show’s caustically funny leading lady, won the Tony for her performance as the actor’s conniving agent. Mr. Beane, whose other plays included “As Bees in Honey Drown,” has also written the book for the new stage adaptation of the 1980 movie musical “Xanadu,” which starred Olivia Newton-John as a beautiful, breathy muse named Kira (Kerry Butler plays her on Broadway) who comes to earth to help an artist open his dream roller disco and had songs by the Electric Light Orchestra. "

Broadway Road Show: Out-of-Towners on Tour

New York Times: "By the millions, day-trippers visit New York every year, to see the biggest Broadway shows. The matinees, more than other performances, rely on the bus trips, according to theater executives. “Especially the Wednesday matinee,” said Phillip Smith, the president of the Shubert Organization, “A lot of out-of-towners. They come for the musicals.”"

Movie theaters handing patrons shush buttons

cleveland.com: "If rudeness in a movie theater pushes your buttons, there now are buttons you can push back.
Regal Cinemas, the nation's biggest theater operator, is arming random patrons with wireless pagers to silently alert management to trouble during films."

Should Science Speak to Faith?

Scientific American: "These two allies compared notes from the front lines during breaks at a conference devoted to discussing clashes between science and religion held at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego late last year. In a dialogue they re-create here, the authors explained their respective tactics for engaging the enemy and tackled some of the questions that face all scientists when deciding whether and how to talk to the faithful about science: Is the goal to teach science or to discredit religion? Can the two worldviews ever enrich one another? Is religion inherently bad? In an extended version of their conversation available here, the authors also delve into whether science can ever test the “God Hypothesis.” "

'Witches of Eastwick' - Skinner, Noll & Donovan - Sing in Revised U.S. Staging of Onetime London Musical

Yahoo! News: "'Edgier' and 'sexier' than it was in London, with recent tweaks to the material, Witches is directed by Signature artistic director Eric Schaffer (the originating director), and he's hired a trio of big-voiced Broadway ladies - Jacquelyn Piro Donovan,
Christiane Noll and Tony Award nominee
Emily Skinner - to play the New England women who conjure the Devil, in the form of Tony Award-nominated baritone
Marc Kudisch."

Theaters think inside the box

Variety.com: "'Sometimes, you have to let them fail,' says Neil Pepe. The artistic director of the Atlantic Theater Company is talking about playwrights.
'It can be short-sighted to judge the worth of a play based on financial success, so there's a huge plus to producing plays in an intimate theater.'"

'Spring' brings crop of producers

Variety.com: "The Playbill for the winner of eight Tonys lists a staggering 29 producers, who came together in a long and complex process."

Manhattan transfers

Variety.com: "Twenty-five awards were doled out during the Tony ceremony June 10 -- and 23 of them went to productions linked to nonprofit legit orgs."

Stage Review: Mild 'Magnolias' is crowd pleaser

Post Gazette: "You know summer is really here when the venerable Mountain Playhouse starts its 69th season with its solid professional casts and audience-friendly fare."

Restaurant review “defamatory. Owner can claim damages. Australian courts make reviews of anything impossible!

Dvorak Uncensored: "Australian food critics were left spluttering into their napkins yesterday after a court decided that an unfavourable review of a Sydney restaurant was defamatory, opening the way for the owners to claim damages. The critics said the decision could lead to reviewers of theatre, music, literature and art fearing to speak their minds in case they are sued."

Cat Destroys Lloyd Webber's Phantom Sequel Score

Playbill News: "London's Daily Mail reports that Lloyd Webber's new kitten Otto has managed to destroy the music he has penned for the upcoming sequel to The Phantom of the Opera. The six-month-old cat somehow climbed into the frame of Lloyd Webber's digital Clavinova piano, which features a built-in computer."

Bring on the dancing hobbits

Guardian Unlimited Arts: "It's the most expensive West End musical ever and has been three years in the making, but now The Lord of the Rings is about to open. Paul Arendt enters a world of elves, ents and leather-clad orcs "

NEW GAME FOR 'BOUNCE'

New York Post: "AFTER a disastrous workshop, a flop out-of-town production and a nasty lawsuit, 'Bounce,' the only new Stephen Sondheim musical in years, may finally play New York."

Are you late?

lifehack.org: "If you’re not the one, you undoubtedly know people who show up late. Sometime they cause a group of people to stop their momentum while the latecomer is brought up to speed. Those on time drum their fingers (figuratively if not actually), change their train of thought and engage in other time filling activities while the latecomer is briefed. I have heard those who were interrupted mumbling under their breath, rolling their eyes, and give other negative feedback – even if the latecomer can hear or see them."

10 Million Miles

New York Times: "For those of us with a soft spot for the confessional heartbreak ballads on country radio stations, it was a sign of hope that Ms. Griffin had ventured into the fields of musical theater, which could certainly use a new fertilizer. Even more auspiciously, she was collaborating with the Atlantic and Michael Mayer, the company and director responsible for “Spring Awakening,” a show that demonstrated that pop-rock of a nonsynthetic stripe can flourish on Broadway (and just won a passel of Tonys to prove it)."

PICT names new managing director

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Jameson Gilpatrick has been hired as the new managing director of Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre."

Inside Washington's 'Anatomy' Firing

Backstage: "But after twice using an anti-gay slur, Washington was doomed to lose the biggest role of his career because of timing, a track record of volatile behavior and pressure within the industry."

Study: Brighter Picture for Movie Industry

Backstage: "After a disappointing 2005, the six major companies have received official confirmation from the MPA that their all-media revenue from filmed entertainment -- comprising money from home video, television, theatrical and pay TV -- expanded by 8% in 2006 to reach $42.6 billion."

Stage Preview: Davis, Unseam'd reintroduce timely drama by Calderon

Post Gazette: "Back here again, you might say he's set his sights even higher. With his staging of 'The Constant Prince' for Unseam'd Shakespeare Company, he wants to reintroduce us to one of the world's great playwrights while dramatizing the clash of Christian and Muslim and suggesting the possibility of transcending sectarian passions."

The mania behind the curtain

Chicago Tribune: "After weeks of negotiating, I am going where no member of the general public has gone before, backstage during a performance of the Chicago production of the Broadway musical 'Wicked.' The retelling of the Wizard of Oz story has repeatedly broken box office records thanks, in part, to the adolescent girls who see themselves in the impetuous young Wicked Witch of the West."

SAG Closes Door to Resigned Members

Backstage: "The Screen Actors Guild has announced its national board of directors has approved new rules that will effectively make an actor's decision to consciously leave the union a permanent choice."

Unwelcome at Home, Student Play Is a Hit in New York

New York Times: "Backstage at the Vineyard Theater, Taylor Telyan, 18, was bent over an ironing board, ironing her hair. A few feet away, her friend and castmate Tara Ross, also 18, was applying makeup; outside their door, a couple of boys were sacked out on a couch, studying notes in binders. They had 35 minutes until their Off Broadway debut."

Avenue Q Tour Cast Readies for the Road as Musical Goes National

Playbill News: "'People still laugh like crazy, and there are a lot of people who haven't seen it,' said Avenue Q creator Robert Lopez about the acclaimed musical's upcoming tour."

Quantum stages 'wake' for famed outlaw Billy the Kid

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "European director Dan Jemmett has spent the past month searching for Billy the Kid inside the moldering Garden Theater on the North Side."

In the works productions showcase 'Momentum'

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "For theatergoers who like to start at the beginning, City Theatre's Momentum07 offers a cornucopia of choices, says artistic director Tracy Brigden."

Students spending spare time in high school with the CLO

Post Gazette: "There are seven South high school students 'attending' East High School this month as they dance and sing in the fictional high school setting of 'Disney's High School Musical.'"

PICT hires; openings; travels; Tony, Tony, Tony

Post Gazette

Stage Review: 'Daughter' isn't quite theater

Post Gazette: "Everyone's life is interesting, sometimes even to other people. Artists are often especially good at mining their own lives for that interest -- but the result isn't always theater."

Preview: 'Children of Eden, an original family musical

Post Gazette: "Stephen Schwartz's 'Children of Eden,' which opens tonight at Apple Hill Playhouse, is an original family musical by the same man who wrote 'Wicked.' That's 'original family' as in the Book of Genesis, since it deals with a subject that's anything but new: family dynamics between a heavenly Father and his children."

Preview: 'Pocahontas' opens children's season

Post Gazette: "It's appropriate that 'Pocahontas' opened the children's season this week at Apple Hill Playhouse, since the children's theater program there was started by another American legend -- Johnny Appleseed."

Stage Preview: Pride Festival premiere is a twist on Wilder

Post Gazette: "The fourth annual Pittsburgh Pride Theater Festival -- 'Where Gay Life Takes Center Stage' -- has a new wrinkle. Instead of two programs of four one-act plays each, one of this year's programs is given over entirely to the world premiere of 'Their Town,' a full-length comedy by Paula Martinac."

Stage Preview: City Theatre's 'MOMENTUM' reaches for bigger and bolder

Post Gazette: "City Theatre chef Tracy Brigden characterizes this year's weekend smorgasbord, 'MOMENTUM 07,' as 'bigger, better, bolder and broader' than its predecessors."

'Kid' author gives Quantum his blessing

PostGazette: "The literary life of 'The Collected Works of Billy the Kid: Left-Handed Poems,' first published in Toronto in 1970, remains the Canadian-based writer's most enduring work."

Stage Preview: Former house of porn becomes the refuge for 'Billy the Kid'

Post Gazette: "What the artistic director of Quantum Theatre had in mind was the North Side's Garden Theater, just rescued from the porn business after a long struggle by the City of Pittsburgh. When Jemmett walked into the Garden, he says, 'I felt like Peter Brook walking into the Bouffe du Nord.'"

FLUX still showing its flexibility

Post Gazette: "FLUX 15, this Saturday night at 8 p.m., has the usual mix of art, music and beer in a vacant commercial space, this time in two empty floors of a building on Sixth Avenue Downtown. There are two new, related features: a bike valet service and a commitment to make the party 'green.'"

This year's Cirque has much better balance

Chicago Tribune: "Some years ago in Beijing, I saw a pyramid of Chinese acrobats suffer a massive collapse. A panicked stagehand brought down the curtain -- which moved very slowly. But though arms were slipping and bodies were falling everywhere, the young performers still managed a kind of midair freeze, smiles in place until that curtain of deliverance hit the floor. Heaven knows what it looked like backstage afterward, but from the seats, it was among the most extraordinary displays of professionalism I've seen."

House Theatre's 'The Sparrow' Among 2007 Jeff Citations Recipients in Windy City

Yahoo! News: "The awards honor Chicago's non-union theatrical productions that opened during the 2006-07 season."

Rebels win the day at the Tony awards

smh.com.au: "REVOLUTION and rebellion were the theme of this year's big Tony Awards winners: Tom Stoppard's Russian revolutionary drama and the rock musical Spring Awakening about angry teenagers learning about sex."

Inside the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge

Boing Boing: "Flickr user and construction worker SF Emperor took an amazing set of photos from inside the new span as it's being built. "

Socrates as a Woman, and Other Twists on the Ancients

New York Times: "But beginning tomorrow, the Target Margin Theater company will make Socrates not only the lead character in a play, but also its co-author, with an adaptation of Plato’s “Symposium” retitled “Dinner Party.” If that is not a sufficiently unlikely theatrical combination, the adaptation will run in tandem with Aristotle’s “Poetics,” here called “The Argument,” by David Greenspan, the actor and director."

Tony claims Broadway casualties

Variety.com: "'Company' and 'Radio Golf' have become the first post-Tony casualties of the season, with the Broadway productions of both shows to shutter July 1."

J-o-b - Carpentry

OSF Job Opportunity
June 8, 2007

Construction Supervisor

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is seeking an experienced scenic Construction Supervisor to start for our 2008 Season. Construction Supervisor directly oversees all aspects for set construction, load-in, scenic elements during techs, and major maintenance for 5-6 of the eleven shows during the repertory season. Successful applicant must have a complete background in all areas of scenic construction, as well as a demonstrated ability to successfully supervisor others. Computer drafting abilities are vital. Full year contract begins fall, 2007

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.

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. 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.

Technical Interns Needed For LDI

Live Design: "Share the excitement of the 20th anniversary of LDI2007 in Orlando, FL. LDI's technical interns are volunteers who will work the week of November 11-18, 2007 in exchange for shared housing and a small per diem."

Jeff Citations are twice as nice in many categories

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: "It was a case of double or nothing when the Jeff Citations, which honor excellence in Chicago's many (and increasingly high-profile) non-Equity professional theaters, were handed out Monday at the Park West. Two winners were welcomed on stage in most of the top categories."

4 productions dominate Jeff Awards

Chicago Tribune: "Four hit local productions dominated the 2007 Joseph Jefferson Awards Citations, the annual celebration of artistic excellence in Chicago’s non-Equity theater community. Taken together, the House Theatre of Chicago’s production of 'The Sparrow,' Eclipse Theatre Company’s 'Blues for an Alabama Sky,' TimeLine Theatre Company’s 'Fiorello!' and Bohemian Theatre Ensemble’s 'Side Show' won the bulk of the awards (some of which are shared)."

Broadway likes moneymakers, but serious art gets the accolades

Los Angeles Times: "The message: Fluff might sell, but seriousness (sorry, 'Legally Blonde') is what the theater community stands by. Now if only art and commerce could join hands and turn out a show that's simultaneously — and unqualifiedly — a critical and popular hit. Then we'd all be smiling at revenue numbers that, despite their steady climb toward the billion-dollar mark, can't conceal such darker realities as a slew of multimillion-dollar flops (including 'High Fidelity,' 'Coram Boy' and the soon-to-be shuttered 'The Pirate Queen') and exorbitant ticket prices that have rendered Broadway a luxury item for the Zagat set. "

Customization Methods in AutoCAD.

Daily Autocad: "There are three different methods that can be used for customization, or in other words programming your own applications in AutoCAD. Below, you can see these three methods as sorted from less complicated to most complicated one."

Tonys - Broadway Box Office

New York Times: "Of the winners of the four top awards, two — “Journey’s End,” winner of the best play revival, and “The Coast of Utopia,” a record breaker for most awards won by a play, with seven — have already closed and have no current plans to tour. Another — “Company,” winner of best musical revival — has been in critical condition at the box office for weeks.
In fact, although this past season was crowded (at one point in late April, shows were playing in every theater but one), a sizable chunk of Broadway is going to be dark by the end of the summer."

'Spring' sales surge

Variety.com: "'Spring Awakening' had a good week even before its eight Tony wins Sunday prompted sales to go through the roof, with producers late Monday estimating that the rock tuner would sell in the realm of $1.25 million in tickets between the 8 p.m. Sunday start of the kudocast and the end of the day Monday."

Tales of the other Tony

Salon Arts & Entertainment: "Crowds of beautiful people decked out in gorgeous clothing. Music. Dancing. Yes, one of New York's most vibrant communities threw itself an amazing party Sunday night. Unfortunately, the Puerto Rican Day parade was ending just as I was due to take my place on the Tony awards red carpet and await the arrival of luminaries like Donnie Osmond and Doogie Howser."

Photo Gallery: Tony Awards

Post Gazette: "Post-Gazette theater critic Christopher Rawson was in New York City for the Tony Awards. Below are some photos. Each photo links to a larger version."

Exuberance no act at Tony Awards, parties

Post Gazette: "Something like 250 people were watching Sunday's Tony Awards at Carmine's, a large theater district restaurant on 44th Street, when it was announced that David Hyde Pierce had upset expectation and won the Tony for Best Actor in a Musical."

Pulling of nude artwork one signal of change at festival

Post Gazette: "In the weeks leading up to this summer's Three Rivers Arts Festival, the fate of the visual arts was the elephant in the room as locations of the main exhibitions were shifted and numbers of shows reduced."

Everything I Know About Design I Learned from The Sopranos

Design Observer: writings about design & culture: "Last night, after eight years, 86 episodes, and untold quantities of gobbagool, The Sopranos finished its run on HBO.

And this is what we've learned."

There's no science to what works on Broadway

Los Angeles Times: "William Goldman lobbed that dictum at the screen trade, but it just as easily applies to the just-concluded 2006-07 Broadway season. Goldman's contention that producers haven't a clue as to what will resonate with critics and the public stands in relief against one of the most eclectic seasons in memory. Included among the front-runners for the Tony Awards that will be handed out tonight at Radio City Music Hall are 'Spring Awakening,' a rock musical about 19th century German teens dealing with sexual abuse, suicide and abortion; 'Grey Gardens,' a quirky look at Jackie Kennedy Onassis' batty relatives bickering in a decaying East Hampton, N.Y., mansion; and 'The Coast of Utopia,' Tom Stoppard's epic about obscure 19th century Russian revolutionaries and intellectuals. "

Ringing the changes-

TimesOnline: "If they gave out Olivier Awards for bravery, the producer Kevin Wallace would win hands-down. It’s not just because of the insane task he set himself: taking a 1,200-page epic with mighty battles, ungodly creatures and a core cast of a dozen characters that on the big screen took ten hours and three films to tell, and compressing it into just three hours on a single stage. With songs. It’s because when his multi-million-dollar The Lord of the Rings extravaganza opened in Toronto last year to, let us diplomatically say, less than universal rapture, he remained cool under fire."

Tony noms fete Broadway's year of the biography

Los Angeles Times: "IF there's any doubt that we're living in a golden age of creative nonfiction, the nominations for this year's Tonys, which will be awarded tonight, should squelch it. Have there ever been more actors nominated for playing real-life characters? Glancing through the names of performers and parts, one could be forgiven for thinking that the Biography Channel had recently been hijacked by a squadron of Broadway all-stars. "

Why YouTube may be hazardous to our culture

Chicago Tribune: "He calls his new book 'The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet Is Killing Our Culture,' and it is a full-out, on-the-one-hand polemic.
He rails against YouTube, the blogosphere and Wikipedia, among other current Internet darlings that, in his view, devalue professionalism to the point of endangerment."

Disneyland launches "Finding Nemo" sub ride

Yahoo! News: "Walt Disney Co. on Monday launched a 'Finding Nemo' submarine ride with underwater animation at its Disneyland park, in an effort to use its Pixar film division to bolster theme park admissions."

Toronto's 'Seussical' and 'We Will Rock You' Are Top Getters in Dora Nominations

Yahoo! News: "The Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) administers the awards, which bring together a wide range of Canadian and international artists from several performing arts disciplines and backgrounds."

Managing 'what's in it for me?' workers

Marketplace: "Author Cam Marston's new book details how Baby Boom managers are having to deal with so-called New Millenials — young workers accustomed to praise who need more motivation to perform even simple job tasks."

Backstage at the Tony Awards

Variety.com: "'I did tell Jack O'Brien that if he wanted to a do a musical of this, I think 'Serfs Up' would be a good title,' Tom Stoppard cracked after his win for 'The Coast of Utopia,' his saga about Russian intellectuals in the 19th century."

Tony hopefuls await verdict

Variety.com: "Bruce Sabath, Kelly Jeanne Grant and the rest of the cast of 'Company' stood on the red carpet and cooed the opening strains of Stephen Sondheim's triple-nominated musical with a minor switch: They changed the name of Raul Esparza's character 'Bobby.'"

'Awakening' wins 8 Tony Awards

Variety.com: "Voters for the 61st annual Tony Awards Sunday night opted to leave the suspense to Tony Soprano, whose fate was being revealed in the Mob skein's farewell episode at the same time Broadway's highest honors were being handed out at Radio City."

Two dominate Tony Awards

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Two passionate works — 'Spring Awakening,' a pounding, post-rock musical of teenage sexual anxiety, and 'The Coast of Utopia,' Tom Stoppard's sweeping examination of 19th century Russian intellectuals — dominated the 2007 Tony Awards on Sunday."

No more porn

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Quantum Theatre, a group noted for its offbeat choice of venues, will produce a new play, 'The Collected Works of Billy the Kid,' from Thursday through July 1 in the space at 12 W. North Ave. that until March was an X-rated movie theater."

Tony Award Nominations and Winners

New York Times: "A list of winners of 2007 Tony Awards, with links to the original New York Times reviews."

Tony Awards

New York Times: "The 61st annual Tony Awards last night were dominated by two shows drawn from the 19th century: “Spring Awakening,” about sexually frustrated German teenagers in that era, won best musical and most of the other musical awards, while “The Coast of Utopia,” Tom Stoppard’s epic period trilogy about Russian intellectuals, set a record for the most awards won by a play in Tony history."

Complete list of Tony Award winners

Post Gazette

Stage Review: Public Theater relaxes with easy 'Gin Game'

Post Gazette: "There's no question that D.L. Coburn's 'The Gin Game' is a crafty, well-crafted play, turning what seems to be just a comedy of overreaction to a card game into a lament over the loneliness and constrictions of old age and how shamefully it is treated."

'Spring,' 'Utopia' coast through Tony Awards

Post Gazette: "'Spring Awakening' awoke passions on stage and among Tony Award voters, who declared the provocative punk-powered show the season's Best Musical, while Tom Stoppard's sprawling trilogy, 'The Coast of Utopia,' won for Best Play at the 61st Tonys last night."

Dishing the 2006-07 Broadway season

Slate Magazine: "Regarding last night's Tonys: While they were happening, I thought a lot about The Vertical Smile. Richard Condon, most famous as the author of The Manchurian Candidate, wrote this novel in 1971 but set it in the 21st century. Two of his characters meet for dinner and 'discuss both the shows on Broadway.'"

Successful APT thinking more about its future

JS Online: "That's a common trait in not-for-profit arts groups grappling with remaining financially solvent, and it was intensified for the APT by the chronic money crises of its early years. The company immediately achieved artistic distinction, but many seasons passed before the business side of the operation was equally successful."

The new revival on Broadway: audiences

Los Angeles Times: "As Broadway prepares for its big night tonight, it has more to celebrate than the annual parade of self-congratulations that is the Tony Awards. For the second straight year, Broadway has registered record attendance and gross revenues at a time when other forms of entertainment are looking at bleak bottom lines."

There's no science to what works on Broadway

Los Angeles Times: "'NOBODY knows anything.'

William Goldman lobbed that dictum at the screen trade, but it just as easily applies to the just-concluded 2006-07 Broadway season. Goldman's contention that producers haven't a clue as to what will resonate with critics and the public stands in relief against one of the most eclectic seasons in memory. Included among the front-runners for the Tony Awards that will be handed out tonight at Radio City Music Hall are 'Spring Awakening,' a rock musical about 19th century German teens dealing with sexual abuse, suicide and abortion; 'Grey Gardens,' a quirky look at Jackie Kennedy Onassis' batty relatives bickering in a decaying East Hampton, N.Y., mansion; and 'The Coast of Utopia,' Tom Stoppard's epic about obscure 19th century Russian revolutionaries and intellectuals. "

When it rains, it pours

TheStar.com: "When they get ready to announce the Tony Award for best actress in a musical in New York tomorrow night, you might expect Audra McDonald to be nervous."

Prague Quadrennial

New York Times: "When Arnold Aronson, a theater professor at Columbia University, received the offer several years ago to serve as general commissioner of the Prague Quadrennial, he knew it might be hard to brag about. “Everyone knows the Oscars, the Tonys, even the Venice Biennale,” he explained. “I tell people all the time what I’m doing, and they say they’ve never heard of it.”"

Hilton Theater

New York Times: "Although many theaters can claim a distinguished history of failed shows — such is the slim rate of commercial success for Broadway productions — an astute producer would be wise to ponder the unhappy correlation between flopdom and tenancy in this particular house. Given its size, it theoretically has the potential to be among the industry’s most profitable; somehow it hasn’t worked out that way."

61st Annual Antoinette Perry "Tony" Awards to Be Presented June 10

Playbill News: "The biggest night on the Broadway calendar is upon us. The 61st Annual Tony Awards will be presented June 10 at the famed Radio City Music Hall. There is no host again this year; instead, dozens of stars will present awards at the annual ceremony."

MakeUp and Hair needed for documentary shooting June 21-22-23

Craigslist: "Fun documentary crew shooting a short film about dogs and their owners seeks an easy-going crew member to do light hair and makeup, get releases signed and generally help out and support the team. "

Video, mixed-media play big roles in 'Best of Pittsburgh'

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "This is the second year that the Three Rivers Arts Festival is presenting 'Best of Pittsburgh,' a survey exhibition with a title that's a little hard to swallow if you are an artist living in Pittsburgh or the surrounding 16 counties and not part of the show."

Predictions: Tonys awaken to new century of wonder

Post Gazette: "Slugging it out for the most Tony Awards tonight (CBS, 8 p.m.; you can tape 'The Sopranos') will be 19th-century Germany and Russia. If that seems an odd state of affairs in 21st-century America, well, that's the perpetual wonder of live theater."

The Envelope Please...

I hope you are having a good summer. For those of you who can stand it no longer, you can now check out the Crew Head Grid on-line. A couple of notes to remember.

1. While it is complete enough to publish, it is still subject to change, as usual.
2. There are some people who still have a few assignments to be posted to the grid. So if you are thinking that this is all for you, you may be right, but there may also be more coming
3. The crew grid is not out yet, and some people on the head grid may also have assignments popping up on that list as well.
4. There are assignments on some productions not yet filled, which we intend to fill. So if you are looking at a show and wondering why there isn’t some particular position filled, be patient. That assignment may simply not be filled YET.

Enjoy your summer Crew Head Grid reading. As usual, any questions: ask!

The grid:

http://128.2.49.70/07-08/HeadGrid.pdf

'Poppins' Not Too Big to Tour; Schumacher Says Anything Can Happen

Yahoo! News: "The production at Broadway's New Amsterdam defies gravity in so many ways: the famed nanny (played by Ashley Brown) flies over the heads of theatregoers; chimney sweep Bert (2007 Tony nominee Gavin Lee) tap dances upside-down on the proscenium arch; an entire floor of the Banks household - the nursery - lowers from roof-level to eye-level; and the behemoth, oversize dollhouse home itself magically fades in and out."

N*W*C - Racial Slurs

New York Times: "Lest anyone think that a play with three ethnic slurs in its title is going to dance around the subject of race and the limits of tolerable discourse, be advised that the bombshells are hurled from its opening moments:"

Pittsburgh Public Theater plays the old 'Game' well

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "It would be easy for the jaded critic to dismiss the Pittsburgh Public Theater's production of 'The Gin Game' as an easy and economical way to fill an open date."

Nude video piece proved 'too risque' for PPG Place

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "A nude video installation by a local artist proved to be a little too risque for the Wintergarden at PPG Place. It was covered, unplugged, then moved to another site as part of the Three Rivers Arts Festival."

Bloggers find 'Life' on N.Y. stage

Variety.com: "Several Off Broadway projects are trying to capture the nuclear energy of the blogosphere by making online writing an integral part of live performance. Producers hope to create fresh artistic product that, thanks to the viral power of the Web, markets itself."

Fringe binge hits Edinburgh

Variety.com: "The Edinburgh Festival Fringe may goose its media profile this summer if Al Gore hits the Scottish capital to tubthump for Current TV, as the cable network he founded with entrepreneur Joel Hyatt launches its debut Comedy Award."

Broadway bounces toward billion

Variety.com: "That's how most legiters begin their assessment of the 2006-07 Broadway season, with the disclaimer that no single production scored all the ticket sales, got all the good press and upped the national profile of the Rialto, a la last season's Tony and box office champions 'Jersey Boys' and 'The History Boys.'"

The story, men behind Curtains

Houston Chronicle: "The famed team of composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb (Cabaret, Chicago), with librettist Peter Stone (1776, Titanic), had tinkered with Curtains on and off for more than 15 years. Unable to crack it, they had moved on to other shows. Yet they kept returning to their mystery musical because of its neat premise: a stage-struck detective solves a backstage murder and fixes the troubled show."

Handicapping the Tonys

WSJ.com: "You can count on one thing about this year's Tony Awards: The ratings will be lousy. They always are. Theater is an important part of American culture, but it isn't an important part of the life of the average American TV viewer, and even the highbrows who usually tune in the Tonys are more likely to be watching the last episode of 'The Sopranos' Sunday night."

Court Teaches Carol Burnett A Little Something About Parody

Techdirt: "Back in March, we noted the irony of famed comedian Carol Burnett suing the producers of the TV show Family Guy after the show included a brief parody of one of Burnett's famous characters. After all, Burnett should know all about parody"

How Not to Display Your Artwork on the Web

lines and colors: "In the thirteen years I’ve been on the web, twelve of which I’ve spent doing professional web site design, and the last two of which have sent me to hundreds of artists’ web sites, I’ve come to the inevitable conclusion that the thing artists want most when placing their art on the web is for it not to be seen."

Graham arrives at BU; festival kicks off today

Star-Gazette.COM: "After months of hoopla, the NYPENN Franklin Graham Festival opens today at Binghamton University's Events Center."

Pikes Peak Center bounces local play

peak - Gazette.com: "The cancellation of “WomenShoptalk While Real Men Wait,” a semi-autobiographical play about four sisters coping with domestic violence, came amid contractual disputes and conflicting accusations. "

Edinburgh Fringe announces record lineup

Guardian Unlimited Arts: "A record 2,050 music, theatre and comedy shows will be performed as part of this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival, organisers said today."

Politics as unusual?

Salon Arts & Entertainment: "Political theater is thriving in America -- just not on our stages. Most weeknights, more than a million people tune in to Comedy Central for a satirical double act by those matinee idols Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Their brand of headline-riffing humor may not have a long shelf life (my 'Indecision 2004' DVD has grown dusty), but it acts as a comic purgative to a long day's news cycle. These fake-news shows also enjoy a pedigree of politicized vaudeville (Will Rogers, Lenny Bruce, 'Saturday Night Live') and, given the crude theatricality of the current administration, seldom lack for material. '[Bush] is not a very good actor,' Arthur Miller noted tartly after Sept. 11. Not for nothing has Washington been called a Hollywood for ugly people."

106 Tips to Master Networking

lifehack.org: "A huge list from Donald Latumahina based on the book, Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi with Tahl Raz.
It’s all about becoming a better networker, someone with a lot of useful and fulfilling connections with other people. It’s all about who you know!"

A Professional Organizer’s Favorite Software

lifehack.org: "Call it an occupational hazard, but I really enjoy finding software that saves time and helps people be more productive. Here are a few things I have found that make my life and my client’s lives much easier."

Dallas Theater Center Names Moriarty New Artistic Director

Yahoo! News: "Moriarty, 40, will be the Dallas Theater Center's fifth artistic director in its nearly 50-year history and will lead the institution into the new, state-of-the-art Dallas Center for the Performing Arts Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre."

Theatre Promotion Prompts Outrage in L.A.

Backstage: "Lilly Thomassian, co-founder of the Luna Playhouse in Glendale, Calif., announced the promotion June 1, with a post titled 'Come see The Lady in Question dressed as a Nazi and get $10 off.'"

Asian-American Theatre's Brave New World

Backstage: "No more chopsticks, steaming cups of tea, or women in slinky cheongsam dresses. Maybe not even any Asian characters at all. If there is one thing the National Asian American Theater Festival is attempting to prove, it's that the old stereotypes are not necessarily what the current generation of Asian-American playwrights and actors is all about."

SAG Gets Strict in Admitting Ex-Members

Backstage: "Screen Actors Guild members may soon think twice before handing in their SAG cards: Those who resign from the union -- or already have -- will face a new, stricter procedure to rejoin the guild. As SAG's national director of organizing, Todd Amorde, reportedly told members at a May 19 meeting in Sherman Oaks, Calif., the decision to resign could have permanent effects."

Where Off Off Took Off

New York Times: "Last fall the theater company Peculiar Works Project took audiences back in time by way of a tour that meandered through Greenwich Village, stopping at Off Off Broadway’s earliest locales. Along the way actors performed excerpts from seminal works of downtown theater. But the company was only telling half the story."

Tony Awards

New York Times: "Let’s get one thing out of the way first: That 800-pound mobster in the room. Remember TiVo, people? The theater industry is counting on you to use it."

Shakespeare - Outdoor

New York Times: "ALL the world’s a stage, sure, but what might Shakespeare have made of the dramatic possibilities of a Lower East Side parking lot, with cars backing out right into the Capulets’ masked ball? Or “Love’s Labour’s Lost” on a stroll through Central Park, as helmeted bicyclists whiz by?"

I need a "film crew" for a relatively easy task June 16 & 17

Craigslist: "I am running a two-day concert at the former Ches-A-Rena in Cheswick, PA on the weekend of June 16 & 17. There are 17 bands each day that I need filmed to coordinate with a live sound board recording I'm getting of the bands for a future DVD release. To be honest, I DO NOT need anything super professional. While I don't want to waste my time with a shitty job, I'm not expecting to get a big time film maker considering my budget. Here's a basic rundown of what I would need. "

Young Frankenstein to Begin Previews at the Hilton Theatre in October; Tix On Sale in July

Playbill News: "Now that The Pirate Queen has announced it will end its Broadway run June 17, producers of Young Frankenstein have made the long-gestating rumors official. The new Mel Brooks musical will play the Hilton Theatre."

Dishing the 2006-07 Broadway season.

Slate Magazine: "Ah, there it is again! Young people don't go to the theater, and what can we do about it?

You're right that this season was a field day for longtime AARP members. Dennehy, 68; Langella, 69; Redgrave, 70; Plummer, 77; Seldes, 78; Lansbury, 81. Yes, many audience members share the years of their birthdays."

The Solid-State Lighting revolution is coming!

Dvorak Uncensored: "I’ve often said that the push towards compact flourescent lamps (CFLs) is premature and damaging in the long run. CFLs are bulky, contain mercury, and are at best a stopgap in applications requiring continuous lighting to reduce energy demands. But CFLs are not the future of lighting. Solid-State Lighting (SSL) is."

Broadway Fumes Over $250,000 Tab for Tony Numbers (Update1)

Bloomberg.com: "The Tony Awards ceremony on Sunday bills itself as ``Broadway's biggest night.'' For musicals featured on the program, which CBS broadcasts live from New York's Radio City Music Hall, it also represents a $200,000-plus gamble that either pays promotional dividends at the box office or hastens a closing notice on a multimillion-dollar investment."

How Not To Check Email At Work

lifehack.org: "Remember the 4 D’s when deciding what to do with each email.

* 1. Delete it - Delete
* 2. Do it - reply if under 1 minute
* 3. Delegate it - forward if actionable for someone else
* 4. Defer it - put away [folder/star etc] for later"

Nonprofit Arts Industry Reaps Billions

Backstage: "The nonprofit arts and culture industry continues to grow dramatically throughout the U.S., according to the latest findings from leading arts advocacy organization Americans for the Arts. The arts organization's survey, titled Arts & Economic Prosperity III, found nonprofit arts sectors in Chicago, Greater Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Greater Washington, D.C., together generate more than $1 billion per year. "

Bill T. Jones - Spring Awakening - Dance

New York Times: "At the premiere of Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane’s dance piece “Secret Pastures” in 1985, Mr. Zane’s parents noticed Madonna and Andy Warhol two rows behind them. Still skeptical about their son’s involvement with Mr. Jones on and off stage and the couple’s confrontational, self-revealing dances, they were nonetheless impressed. “Now you guys are beginning to get somewhere,” Mr. Zane’s father told them. “If you don’t blow it, maybe you’ll get to Broadway.”"

PG South preview: 'Boys' at Little Lake illustrates the humanity of the disabled

Post Gazette: "Tom Griffin's comedy 'The Boys Next Door,' which opens at Little Lake Theater next Thursday, deals with a group of people who are not often the subject of drama: the developmentally disabled. And as director and Little Lake artistic director Sunny Disney Fitchett and her cast have discovered, these individuals are 'next door' to many of us, even if we don't always acknowledge them."

PG East preview: Summer stock tradition lives on at Mountain Playhouse

Post Gazette: "While city dwellers often think of professional theater as an urban phenomenon, the long-standing tradition of summer stock endures at the Mountain Playhouse in the Laurel Highlands. Located in Jennerstown, the Playhouse is one of only 10 remaining resident summer stock theaters in the United States and the oldest."

Stage Review: It's hard not to laugh at 'Amish Burlesque'

Post Gazette: "How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm, after they've seen 'Nunsense'? Which is to say, if a bunch of nuns can sing and crack jokes, why shouldn't demure Amish womenfolk do the same?"

Stage Review: One-man show 'Male Intellect' explores that eternal question of what women want

Post Gazette: "Don't be put off by the title, guys. City Theatre's new Hamburg Studio offering, 'The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron?,' is neither a scorned woman's rant nor a snarky hen party."

Stage Reviews: In 'American Humbug' and 'Dr. Goddess,' political satire flows through 4th River

Post Gazette: "The Three Rivers Arts Festival has always included some theater, but this year's edition features it, with its ambitious 4th River Project.
The first weekend saw three theater openings. 'To Suffer in Silence' played for the weekend only, but the other two, both lively new political satires, one local, one national, continue through this weekend ('Dr. Goddess Goes to Jail') and next ('American Humbug')."

Terra Nova Theatre Group debuts with 'The Guys'

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "After 37 years of directing and performing in theater and 20 years of teaching theater, William Cameron has decided to try on yet another role."

'Pocahontas' teaches past at Apple Hill Playhouse

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "When you take the Hollywood glitz and glamour out of 'Pocahontas,' you're left with a simple Native American young woman. You're also left with a more realistic portrayal of the Powhatan Indian tribe and its encounters with the English settlers around 1600."

Family issues evolve into 'Mother's Daughter'

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "La Follette, an artist, puppeteer and performer who lives in Shadyside, developed the one-woman show that she will perform beginning tonight for the 4th River Project as part of the Three Rivers Arts Festival."

Playbill News: Guys and Dolls Revival Will Begin Broadway Previews in February 2008

Playbill News: "The acclaimed, Olivier-winning, Michael Grandage-directed production of Guys and Dolls, which was presented by the Donmar Warehouse at London's Piccadilly Theatre, will arrive on Broadway in 2008."

Material Source: Tapemonster.com

Toolmonger: "I originally found Tapemonster.com when I was playing in bands and needed board tape (that’s sized perfectly for labeling a mixer), gaffer’s tape (which doesn’t leave goo on stuff), and glow tape (to keep from running into mic stands in the dark). But even after I gave up my rock star dream for writing, I still order all sorts of stuff from these people: like colored electrical tape."

Curtain up on the future

Telegraph: "There is clear thought - as well as passion - in the town of the Bard at last. The Royal Shakespeare Company has just won planning permission to transform its centrepiece theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon within a £113 million reinvention of one of the country's most famous cultural centres."

All's well that ends well as Stratford returns to its roots

TheStar.com: "After an opening week in which its Shakespearean productions were far from its shining hour, one takes pleasure in reporting that the Stratford Festival's incoming regime seems intent on placing the work of the Bard front and centre in its first season."

Challenging the Measures of Success

Inside Higher Ed: "F. King Alexander, president of California State University at Long Beach, wants to change the way people evaluate what a college contributes. “I like to ask people: Do you want Princeton or Cal State Long Beach in your economy?”"

Photo Coverage: Theatre World Awards

(BroadwayWorld.com): "This year's Theatre World Awards, celebrating outstanding Broadway or Off-Broadway debut performances during the 2006-2007 theatrical season, was held at New World Stages on Tuesday, June 5, 2007. "

Broadway's 'Pirate' set to walk plank

Variety.com: "The epic musical by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg -- the team behind 1980s behemoths 'Les Miserables' and 'Miss Saigon' -- opened April 5 at the Hilton Theater to blistering reviews and will have played 85 performances and 32 previews when it shutters."

Kill Meetings to Get More Done

lifehack.org: "You’ve got your list of things you want to accomplish for today, and yet, after a series of meetings that you had to go to throughout the day, none of the things on your list got done.

That’s because meetings are almost always a huge drain on your time, and should be killed on sight."

'Male Intellect' mines laughs from gender divide

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "That premise gets a humorous, if lightweight, examination in Robert Dubac's 'The Male Intellect: an Oxymoron?' that's being presented at City Theatre through July 8."

Stage Directors, SM, Set, Costume, Lighting Designers

Craigslist: "Echo Theatre is located in Moon Twp., minutes from Sewickley and the Pittsburgh Airport. The final show of the season is 'Blithe Spirit' by Noel Coward. Rehearsals begin in mid-September with performances in October. "

Curtains for musical comedy?

Salon Arts & Entertainment: "Six years ago, Mel Brooks hit New York with his smash hit phenomenon 'The Producers' and inadvertently ushered in a new era of musical theater, one in which the old-style musical comedy -- the kind with a book, lotsa yuks, pretty girls and grandstanding performances -- was rushed back into fashion. For nearly three decades, that sort of feel-good enterprise had been locked in the deep freeze, first by the lumbering domination of the British mega-musicals, then by the heady, medicinal exercises of the atonal Sondheimarati. Brooks reminded theatergoers what they had been missing: fun."

Could RateMyProfessors.com Be Right?

Inside Higher Ed: "What if RateMyProfessors.com — the site that professors love to hate — is more accurate than they think? Or what if officially sanctioned student evaluations of faculty members — which many professors like to contrast with RateMyProfessors.com — are just as dubious as RateMyProfessors?"

Broadcasters Win FCC Expletive Dispute

Forbes.com: "An appeals court said a new federal policy against accidentally aired profanities on TV and radio was invalid, noting that vulgar language had become so common that even President Bush has been heard using expletives."

Shirley Jones honored in Pittsburgh

Yahoo! News: "Jones, who was born in nearby Charleroi, was presented the Richard Rodgers Award for Excellence in Musical Theater on Saturday."

Equity Re-elects President, 1st VP

Backstage: "Mark Zimmerman, national president of Actors' Equity Association, and Paige Price, the union's first vice president, were reelected to their posts over the weekend after running unopposed. Equity also elected 19 national board members to terms that range from three to five years."

How to Deal with a Nightmare Boss

lifehack.org: "“Nightmare bosses” can take on many forms, but 6 major categories come to mind: the Demanding Boss, the Bully Boss, and the Disorganized Boss, the Clueless Boss, the Know-It-All Boss, and the Poor-Communicator Boss. I’m sure there are others and often several of these traits can be found in your boss. A bad boss can have advantages if you use the situation as an opportunity rather than as a problem."

How To Write The Right Email Subject Line

lifehack.org: "Etiquette aside, first and foremost you should be writing subject lines in your emails to do certain things. Write too little and your email might get lost in your recipient’s clutter, write too much and you defeat the purpose of the subject line."

'Disney's High School Musical' makes a great introduction to theater

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Following close on the heels of its annual celebration of the high-school musical -- the Gene Kelly Awards -- Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera has begun its 2007 season with its production of 'Disney's High School Musical.'"

Ensemble Studio Theater Marathon Series A

New York Times: "So full credit to Neil LaBute for knowing how to get an audience in the gut. In “Things We Said Today,” the chief draw and the most skillful entry in the first evening of the Ensemble Studio Theater’s annual two-part marathon of short plays, he delivers a simmering pot of marital conflict that rises to a bloody boil at its climax."

Tony Awards Telecast to Compete with Race Cars, Basketball & Another Tony

Playbill News: "Its competition includes ABC's reality series debut of 'Fast Cars & Superstars' (pitting NASCAR racers with celebrities) followed by Game 2 of the NBA Finals of Cleveland Cavaliers vs. San Antonio Spurs; the return of FOX's 'The Loop' (paired with 'The Simpsons' and 'Family Guy' repeats); and the second hour of NBC's 'Dateline' (with repeats of 'Friday Night Lights' and 'Law & Order: SVU'). The Broadway broadcast has at least a slight leg up (by starting an hour earlier) on perhaps the biggest adversary it faces: the series finale of HBO's Emmy-winning 'The Sopranos' (which it starts at 9 PM)."

j-o-b Williamstown

I am hoping that someone out there might be able to help me out. I have had a couple people bail on me in the last 3 days and I would really like to fill the empty spots.

I am currently looking for a Sound Intern and a Carpenter.
The dates are: immediately through late August.

Michael Wade
Production Manager
Williamstown Theatre Festival
413-597-4485 - phone
413-597-3078 - fax

ALIVE & WELL

Chicago Tribune: "'Tis the season for pronouncements about the perilous state of the Broadway musical. Here comes the annual wringing of hands over the increased dominance of the jukebox musical, the crass European spectacle, the cheap movie spin off, or whatever malaise is proffered by those who love to compare this year's allegedly cheap-and-tawdry entertainments with the grand art of yesteryear."

Grand opera gets grander with state-of-the-art screens

SF Gte: "The retractable 5 1/2-by-9 1/2-foot screens and the vivid images projected onto them are part of a sophisticated new recording and broadcast system the Opera will be fine-tuning in the coming weeks. With $3 million from the Koret Foundation, from foundation president Tad Taube and wife Dianne and an anonymous donor, the company has put together the first high-definition video production facility built into an opera house in the United States."

The Landmark Theatre has your living room in its sites

Los Angeles Times: "As if to acknowledge how tough it's becoming to drag people out of their houses for a night at the movies, with home-theater technology getting better and traffic getting worse, the Landmark includes a number of domestic architectural touches. The most striking are three 'Living Room' theaters on the top floor that hold between 30 and 50 people each. They include sofas and side tables as well as overstuffed love seats and ottomans by the high-end French furniture company Ligne Roset."

Limits on Free Speech

Inside Higher Ed: "A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued the unanimous ruling in a case involving a challenge to a $100 spending limit set by the University of Montana. The court found that the university’s educational mission — and the relationship between the rules on election spending and that spending — gave the university the right to limit the speech encompassed by campaign spending."

Your “personal stress detox program” - lifehack.org

lifehack.org: "I have been thinking recently about the importance of taking enough vacation to get a real break from work. Here’s how to use the upcoming vacation season to make a huge impact on the load of stress that you’re almost certainly carrying around."

Build Your Social Networks

lifehack.org: "here’s what I recommend might be a good hack for building your own networking toolbag to cement your relationships with interesting and engaging people. Please note: I don’t care if this is your corporate website or your personal website. If there are policies or red tape about getting a new page added, or doing things outside the box, circumvent this. "

Stage review: Portrayal of high school a little off

Post Gazette: "The day of high school of which all students dream is finally within my grasp. Graduating removes a burden from my shoulders, for now I can both learn what 'relax' means and not carry several five-pound textbooks. With the end only a few days away, it's intriguing to revisit high school memories by attending Pittsburgh CLO's 'High School Musical.'"

Stage review: CLO's 'High School Musical' full of cheer

Post Gazette: "It began with incessant bombardment by TV, DVD and CD, followed by a lengthy siege of praise for marketing clout, then a crescendo of local anticipation.

And now the real thing is here -- the professional stage version of 'Disney's High School Musical,' adapted from the record-breaking, all-everything TV movie and soundtrack. Ta-da!"

Make Up Artist Needed

Craigslist: "Looking for make up artist to prep talent for commercial video."

Lighting Technician

Caigslist: "Experienced gaffer/lighting tech needed for commercial video shoot in the Greater Pittsburgh area. "

Risk-taking musicals cut loose on Broadway

Seattle Times Newspaper: "The short version of New York's most-promising new trend: Several refreshingly gutsy, nonformulaic musicals quietly sneaked into Broadway berths this season. And now they are raising a racket."

Fairy Use

You Won It! Now What Do You Do With It?

New York Times: "JEFF WHITTY keeps his Tony Award in a display case, among his collection of vintage trophies for cheerleading, raccoon hunting, ballroom dancing and elderly bodybuilding. Philip Bosco isn’t quite sure where his is at the moment. “I guess it’s up in my library somewhere,” he said."

Straight Plays

New York Times: "While the three previous seasons each offered 15 new plays, the latest fielded only 11. A glance at four seasons over 60 years — from 1946-47 (when the Tony Awards were first presented) to 2006-7 — suggests that the decline of the straight play is real. Everything else seems to be going up, including ticket prices and even the number of Tony categories."

New Dramas, New Voices, Below 14th Street

New York Times: "SPEND enough time in small New York theaters, and you will see your share of obscene solo shows, onstage violence and confessions of incest. But after reviewing productions for the last year in the margins of Off Broadway and the wilds of Off Off Broadway, I’ve discovered something much more shocking: hope for the American play."

Alliance Theater - Tony Awards

New York Times: "JUST days after learning that the Alliance Theater had won the 2007 Tony Award for outstanding regional theater, Susan V. Booth, its artistic director, was already trying to win another."

A Dialogue Between Plays and the World

New York Times: "It seems inevitable that every awards season eventually becomes an occasion to lament the state of the medium receiving the toast. We decry the pandering. We rage against the casting of movie stars onstage; we scream at the thought of a “Mission: Impossible VIII”; we persist in equating reality television with the end of reason. On Broadway, the critics moan, there are too few compelling straight plays and too many dopey musical revivals, a complaint leveled not out of some stuffy commitment to archaic aesthetics but because the countervailing evidence (lately at least) has remained so slim."

British Imports

New York Times: "The mania for all things British continued unabated this season on Broadway, and there’s no reason to believe it will subside anytime soon. The slow slide of the dollar versus the pound notwithstanding, American producers embark on shopping trips to snap up rights to hot London productions with the casual air most of us associate with popping into Duane Reade to pick up a new toothbrush."

Tony Awards - Nominees

New York Times: "The hugging continued all over the Tony nominees’ press reception on May 16: hugs with actors they knew, hugs with actors they’d never met, even hugs with people who were about to interview them. The hugging would continue — and had already been going on — at a steady stream of cocktail parties, luncheons, benefits, awards shows and press events."

Best Actor Nominees - Tony Awards

New York Times: "A wall of smoke separates Barry Champlain from anyone who might get close to him. The wall is erected eight times a week by Liev Schreiber, whose brilliant, chain-smoking performance as Barry, the antagonistic shock jock in the Broadway revival of Eric Bogosian’s “Talk Radio,” is the best argument going for the continued existence of cigarettes."

Washington Sunday preview: Terra Nova embodies hope as theater company

Post Gazette: "Terra Nova, which means 'new land,' was the name of Robert Falcon Scott's ship when he attempted to reach the South Pole in 1912. For Bill Cameron, it's the perfect name for his theater company, which will debut Thursday at Southpointe Golf Club with the 9/11 drama 'The Guys.'"

French artist is eager to turn Pittsburgh into 'City of Lights'

Post Gazette: "It didn't take any convincing to entice Lucette de Rugy, a French light artist whose work is in demand internationally, to come to Pittsburgh when she was invited to do a project here."

Pittsburgh Celebrates Glass: French artist will paint four Downtown buildings with light

Post Gazette: "For a magical month beginning Wednesday, four Downtown buildings will be transformed into spellbinding canvases painted with light."

Pittsburgh's architectural gems light up

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Beginning Tuesday night, Pittsburghers will see their city in a whole new light -- literally -- as six Downtown buildings will be lit like never before."

The role is the reward for 'Gin Game' actress Lois Markle

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "The Pittsburgh Public Theater's program notes for 'The Gin Game' actress Lois Markle list her Broadway and television appearances as well as what she calls her most rewarding regional theater roles."

Albany Close to Agreement to Ease Ticket Resale Limits

New York Times: "Gov. Eliot Spitzer and state lawmakers are close to reaching agreement on dismantling laws that limit the resale of tickets to musicals, plays, concerts and sports events, but concerns raised recently by the Yankees and Mets appear to have held up a final deal."

Toolmonger’s Top 5: The Week In Tools

Toolmonger: "It’s been a busy week here at Toolmonger. If you’ve been spending time in the shop — you should! — and you haven’t had a chance to keep up with Toolmonger this week, we suggest you start with these posts"

Pros Support Theatre's Young Playwrights

Backstage: "Now in its 15th year, the Blank Theatre Company's prestigious Young Playwrights Festival continues providing invaluable opportunities for budding teenage playwrights across the nation. The 12 winning submissions receive professionally mounted premiere productions. For the plays that the Blank chooses each spring from a large number of entries, the young scribes reap the benefits of hands-on experience during the production of their scripts, working with seasoned professionals who participate as mentors, directors, and actors. This year's four-week festival will open June 7 at the Matrix Theatre in Hollywood."

Barnes & Noble Welcomes Broadway Stars for Tony Week

Playbill News: "Broadway casts of 110 in the Shade, The Drowsy Chaperone and Curtains will take part in Barnes & Noble's 'Live at Lincoln' series in New York City."

Nunn to direct musical version of 'Gone'

Variety.com: "Produced by Aldo Scrofani of Columbia Artists Theatricals in New York and Colin Ingram in London, the production features music and lyrics by Margaret Martin. Nunn himself has adapted Margaret Mitchell's 1936 Pulitzer-prizewinner for the stage."

Mainstream embracing musicals

Variety.com: "After regularly yielding chart hits through the first half of the 20th century, tuners slipped out of vogue from the late '60s onward, exiled into nerd-dom. Yes, a few blockbusters had cultural impact beyond Broadway, such as 'A Chorus Line' in the 1970s or the British megamusical invasion of the '80s. But otherwise, tuners have barely registered on the hipness radar for decades."

Questions Are Raised About Firing of Soprano

New York Times: "Usually such last-minute changes are papered over with claims of illness or family problems. In this case Ms. Briggs’s manager, Anthony George, said on Thursday that he had asked that the announcement say that she had been released."

Perspective: SF Opera Cast Change Stuns Fans of Local Singer

Berkeley Daily Planet: "From David Gockley’s narrow point of view, the press release probably said it all in the first sentence: “After the final dress rehearsal for Don Giovanni, San Francisco Opera General Director David Gockley, in consultation with Music Director Donald Runnicles and members of the artistic staff, made the decision that soprano Hope Briggs was not ultimately suited for the role of Donna Anna in this production.”

But that bald statement, remarkably honest for the genre, leaves out in the cold all of the hundreds of Hope Briggs’ loyal fans in the Bay Area who are going to be deeply disappointed that they will be deprived of a chance to see the San Francisco-based soprano in what they were sure would be a perfect role for her."

j-o-b Shop Foreman

Berkeley Repertory Theatre seeks an experienced scene shop foreman to oversee a staff of 4, in our new, state-of-the-art scene shop.

Individual will be responsible for all aspects of scenery construction, loading in and striking of 7 productions over an 11 month season. Additional responsibilities include: maintaining tools and material inventories, monitoring build schedule, and ensuring a safe work place. Strong knowledge of current scenic construction techniques (wood and metal) theatrical applications of pneumatic, hydraulic, electrical and motion-control systems, and use of fly rail required. Excellent communication skills a must. Salaried position with full benefits.

Please send resume to: Technical Director, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison St. Berkeley CA 94704 or jsmith@berkeleyrep.org

EST's Marathon of Ten One-Acts, Including Plays by Diggs, Freni, Cho, LaBute, Horovitz, Begins in NYC

Yahoo! News: "Julia Cho,
Neil LaBute, Wendy MacLeod and
Israel Horovitz are among playwrights whose work will be seen in the not-for-profit Off-Broadway company's 2007 Marathon. Actors participating include Larry Pine, Grant Shaud, Bruce MacVittie, Morgan Hallett,
Dana Delany, Geneva Carr, Marin Ireland and more."

Unions, Advertisers Pick Firm for Study

Backstage: "The unions believe commercial payment is too low for basic cable and the Internet; they want day rates and the residuals to resemble more closely network rates. The JPC has fiercely (and successfully) resisted that. For their part, advertising officials want a streamlined payment process to reduce administrative costs."

Accident Halts London ‘Rings’

New York Times: "Performances of the $49.5 million London production of 'The Lord of the Rings,' with its cast of 50 actors and acrobats, were suspended for two days after the hydraulic stage machinery trapped the leg of Adam Salter, who plays a Ranger, The Times of London reported."

Looking for Field Audio and PA for shoot in Pittsburgh 6/5-6/6

Craigslist: "The Freedom Files, a documentary series about civil
liberties in association with the ACLU is
seeking a Field Audio operator and Prod. Assist in
Pittsburgh, PA 6/5 and 6/6."

Ellis student to stage benefit for cancer research

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "'There's nothing like a reality check to keep one humble and focused on the patient,' Kelley said. 'Patients get perceived by what disease they have or what treatment they're on instead of being recognized as an individual, so I think it's good for doctors and health care providers to see it.'"

The Rep's 'FBI Girl' adapts best-seller for stage

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Like the book of the same title, 'FBI Girl: How I Learned to Crack My Father's Code' follows Conlon's 1960s journey to young womanhood in an Irish-Catholic family in California. It's produced by The Rep, the professional theater company of Point Park University."

Pittsburgh's annual festival of all things artistic makes a few adjustments

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Kenneth Ashby has a prime spot at this year's Three Rivers Arts Festival -- directly across from the food court. The ceramic artist from Canton, Okla., said he isn't planning on sampling the fried Oreos, however."

Connecticut critics pick favorites

Variety.com: "New Haven's Long Wharf Theater and Goodspeed Opera House led the legit kudos from the Connecticut Critics Circle. Long Wharf took four awards, including the play nod for 'Uncle Vanya,' while Goodspeed drew three, including musical for 'Singin' in the Rain.'"

Paper Mill gets $3.5 million loan

Variety.com: "'This is the first step in a long-range plan to revitalize the Playhouse and ensure the theater's financial stability,' said board chairman Ken Thorn."

Harry Potter and the Marketing Event Horizon

New York Times Blog: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that the one thing central Florida most desperately needs is more theme park attractions. Likewise, children these days can never have too many ways to satisfy their craving for all things Hogwartsian. And J.K. Rowling could always do with another few million."

5th Floor Spaceship

A project over to the ETC on Second Ave featuring our very own Beth Semler and Andrew Moore among others.

5th Floor Spaceship