Chicks and the Drama Dick: PG's gumshoe goes in search of Bricolage's 'Bad Girls'

PostGazette: "In fact, it was a long time since he'd been out on any Post-Gazette gig at all. Two years since they had him stake out the place where the 'Cats' set was being built. Several more since he'd done background checks on that Boos dame and those lowlife Cratchits."

Stage Review: Kuntu opens season of poetic Penny plays

PostGazette: "Like his younger friend, August Wilson, Rob Penny (1941-2003) was a poet. But Penny was the first to be a playwright, and he served his friend as a theatrical mentor."

Dance Preview: Attack Theatre takes interactive to the next level

PostGazette: "Gone are the days when audiences could just sit back and applaud at the end of a performance. A recent conference sponsored by Carnegie Mellon University at the Hilton Hotel, 'Technology in the Arts,' offered new methods to engage audiences more fully in the creative process via cell phones, smart phones and interactive online Web sites."

Snow globe is part inspiration for 'Shaker'

PostGazette: "Snow globes, those miniature spheres that stir up a storm when shaken, have always provided a source of fascination. When Orson Welles died in 'Citizen Kane,' he dropped a snow globe and whispered that now-famous word, 'Rosebud.' Then, at the end of 'St. Elsewhere,' viewers found that the whole television series was a fantasy in the mind of an autistic boy (he owned a snow globe with a replica of St. Eligius hospital inside it). And, of course, many of us have owned our own snow globe."

Mamma Mia! coming back to Benedum

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "The blockbuster musical that reincarnated ABBA songs as a musical theater score will play eight performances at the Benedum Center beginning Wednesday."

Bricolage stages 'Chicks ... Bad Girls on Bikes Doing Bad Things'

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Beginning Friday night, the theater company will offer a fully staged production of Trista Baldwin's bawdy satire 'Chicks ... Bad Girls on Bikes Doing Bad Things.'"

Inbal Pinto Dance Company performs 'Shaker' at Byham

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Snow globes and the miniature worlds within those shakers are old and mild entertainments. But for the imagination of two Israeli choreographers, they were the stimulus to create an award-winning, hourlong ballet called 'Shaker.'"

Attack Theatre tackles risky business for Halloween

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "The dance company's directors, Michelle de la Reza and Peter Kope, decided to couple a macabre treatment of the alphabet they've called 'Dead End' with an improvisational piece called '(Insert Clever and Thought-Provoking Title Here),' in which an audience member will pick the title."

Loss of Major Funder Scuttles Milwaukee Shakespeare

Yahoo! News: "'Due to the current financial climate, the Argosy Foundation has eliminated support [for] Milwaukee Shakespeare in order to put itself in the best position to continue to grow and support the community in the future."

Cambodia's first rock opera opens next month

Seattle Times Newspaper: "Cambodia's first rock opera will premiere in Phnom Penh next month, a cultural milestone in the Southeast Asian country where performing arts were banned during the brutal Khmer Rouge years."

Lipsynch joins Luminato 2009

TheStar.com: "It's still a long way off from next summer's third Luminato Festival of Arts and Creativity, but the Star has learned that one of its major events will be the Toronto premiere of Robert Lepage's latest work for the stage: the nine-hour epic called Lipsynch."

The Two Best Books About the DMCA

Electronic Frontier Foundation: "The blogosphere is doing a great job examining the legacy of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which was enacted into law ten years ago this week. But people frequently ask me where they can turn for a more in-depth analysis of the DMCA, DRM, and their impact on digital culture. For them, there are two books I recommend first and foremost."

The Goldilocks Strategy for Choosing the Perfect Workload

Study Hacks: "The hardest part of building a quality student lifestyle is figuring out how much stuff you should be doing. Some students are clearly slackers. And some are clearly grinds. But for everyone else, especially those trying to follow the Zen Valedictorian Philosophy, a nagging question lurks: how do I know if I’m doing the right amount of classes and activities?"

Project Management: Add a Gantt Chart to Your Google Spreadsheet

LifeHacker: "Schedule and keep track of a project over time with a Gantt chart from a spreadsheet created in Google Docs thanks to a gadget from Viewpath."

Images of a Haunting Stage

Chicago Stage Review: "Chicago is filled with storied of haunted places and haunted theaters. From tiny black boxes to lavish, large scale venues, stories are told of strange occurrences. The old Iroquois, Biograph and Music Box Theaters all have chilling stories, both real life and supernatural. I am sure that there are folks out there with spooky tales to tell about Chicago’s decaying Uptown Theater. But more so than hauntED, this enchanting old movie palace proves to be hauntING to so many who have fought tirelessly to preserve it."

"Popular": Wicked Celebrates Fifth Anniversary on Broadway Oct. 30

Playbill News: "The New York production of Wicked — the international hit musical based on the novel by Gregory Maguire that features a score by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman — celebrates its fifth anniversary at Broadway's Gershwin Theatre Oct. 30."

Indi production filling crew spots for comedy

Craigslist: "R.L.S., an independent production group (co-op with Pittsburgh Filmmakers and Point Park University), is currently seeking a variety of individuals to aid in the production of a single camera style comedy series pitch."

'Addams Family' to spook Chicago

Variety: "New Broadway-bound tuner 'The Addams Family' has set a city and a date for its out-of-town tryout, bowing in November 2009 as part of the Broadway in Chicago series at Chi's Oriental Theater."

Carnegie Mellon Announces Public Phase of Comprehensive $1 Billion Campaign Targeted to Endowment, Future Growth

Carnegie Mellon University: "'This campaign will shape the university's future. Carnegie Mellon is one of the most imaginative and innovation-intensive universities in the world; a university that measures its excellence through its impact. This campaign has already enabled more innovation at Carnegie Mellon, and it will inspire more in the future,' said Jared L. Cohon, president of Carnegie Mellon."

The Miller Gallery Presents Major Exhibition of The Yes Men

Carnegie Mellon University: "'The Yes Men are among the most visible and effective activist-artists of our time, reaching countless people through Web sites, newspapers and television broadcasts,' said Astria Suparak, director of the Miller Gallery. 'Over the past decade they have fearlessly taken on the world's biggest corporations and bureaucracies. Infiltrating the elite realm of the influential and the moneyed, cloaked in the sheerest layer of authority — thrift-store suits, quick-print business cards and forged press releases - these social activators urge us to question where ethics belong in our capitalist-driven society.'"

Going abroad to make it at home

The Japan Times Online: "Mugensha Theatre Company is based in Tokyo, but it is probably better known in Britain. The company has played three London seasons — in 2002, '05 and '06 — since it was founded by director and actor Soun Kotakebayashi in 1995 with the intention of taking contemporary Japanese drama to Europe."

Ivey Awards Honor Twin City Artists, Productions

actorsequity.org | News #038; Media: "The Twin Cities, which prides itself on being second to New York in per capita theater attendance, hosted the Fourth Annual Ivey Awards at the Historic State Theatre on Monday, September 22, 2008."

JAZZ VOCAL ENSEMBLE

The JAZZ VOCAL ENSEMBLE
will present a concert this Sunday
7:30 pm
Alumni Concert Hall
Free, all are welcome.

The Ensemble is:
Jessica Meese, Laura Thoren, Nick Marcucci
Pat Curry, Sergi Robles, Ryan Townsend
Tim Ruff

Technical Direction - Schedule & Calendar

For the TD scheduling project, are we assuming that the situation with the Master Carp is equivalent to Ben, i.e. 10hrs/week? Thanks.

no, this would be a more traditional master carp rather than the educational model. Some supervision, some maintenance, some build, your discretion as to proportion.

'Rocky' returns for a riotous Halloween

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Stage Right artistic director Tony Marino says the cult classic has taken on a life of its own in the five years that the Greensburg professional theater company has staged the show. References to current events always surface as the comedy is updated, and this season, politics has crept back into the production."

NEA to Nurture 7 Varied New Plays

washingtonpost.com: "The National Endowment for the Arts has announced the selection of seven plays to be funded as part of its New Play Development Program. The pilot project, which is being administered by Arena Stage, is designed not only to underwrite new works already in progress but also to spot successful collaborations among artists, theaters, communities and other entities that might be used as models."

London Theater Set to Survive Closures, Gloom

Bloomberg.com: Arts and Culture: "Disaster-mongering is easy. If you read certain articles in U.K. papers such as the Daily Telegraph and the Evening Standard, you'll be forgiven for thinking that London's theaterland is about to suffer a catastrophe of biblical proportions."

Broadway's glass ceiling

guardian.co.uk: "The New York Times tells us this week that this is the Year of the Man. This year is nothing like last year, when there was actually one new play, written by a woman (me), on Broadway. At the tail end of the season a revival of Top Girls by Caryl Churchill snuck into the lineup too. And then lots of awards went to Tracy Letts - who is a man, but whose name sounds like it could be a woman's name. So that's TWO women and one guy whose name sounds like a woman's. It was exhausting dealing with all that estrogen. Time to give the men a chance."

Goodman Theatre Launches World Premiere of RUINED 11/8

BroadwayWorld: "Chicago's Goodman Theatre opens its “Strong Women, Strong Voices” Owen Theatre Series with the world premiere of RUINED"

Aviary plans $23 million flock of upgrades

PostGazette: "With an owl, a vulture and a flock of flamingos flapping around as props, National Aviary officials yesterday unveiled an ambitious $23 million expansion and renovation project that will keep birds of wildly different feathers flocking together on Pittsburgh's North Side."

Image Editing: Pixlr Creates and Manipulates Images Online

LifeHacker: "While it's not the most full-featured image editor you'll ever use, Pixlr makes it fairly easy to do some sophisticated (and unsophisticated) things with images online."

Cavenaugh, Scaglione, Olivo, Green and Akram to Lead Cast of West Side Story Revival

Playbill News: "Complete casting has been announced for the upcoming Broadway revival of the classic musical West Side Story, which is scheduled to begin performances at the Palace Theatre Feb. 23, 2009."

Fighting And Flying

Fighting and Flying - Upload a Document to Scribd

NFTRW Weekly Top Five

Here are the top five comment generating posts from the last week...

9 Tips For Staying Sane While Working at Home With Distractions

FreelanceSwitch - The Freelance Blog: "There are a lot of other distractions here, too, though, including fairly frequent loud family guests. But you have to learn to work around such things. I’m actually fortunate that I live in an otherwise quiet part of town, and can go for a walk in the forest if it gets too hectic at home."

Posted by David at http://cmuptm.blogspot.com/2008/10/9-tips-for-staying-sane-while-working.html#comments

College: 25 Most Expensive Colleges For 2008-2009

Consumerist: "Here are the 25 most expensive colleges for 2008-2009, based on total cost (tuition + room and board). Whooie, this is some pricey book-learnin'.
Highest Total Cost 2008-2009
College | Total Cost
1. Sarah Lawrence College | $53,166"

Posted by David at http://cmuptm.blogspot.com/2008/10/college-25-most-expensive-colleges-for.html#comments

Join Cirque

Cirquedusoleil.com: "We want to find the right people to join the Production and Operations teams, those individuals who have goals that coincide with the work we are doing on our projects. You will be able to take pride in being part of an international organization recognized for its creativity and innovation.
Join Cirque behind the curtain!"

Posted by David at http://cmuptm.blogspot.com/2008/10/join-cirque.html#comments

Walk Quietly When You’re Over the House

LiveDesign: "A theatre’s catwalk isn't likely to be something to get a prospective donor to open a checkbook or a publicist to write an inspiring marketing piece, but it’s an important part of the facility that affects its function. Straight or curved, expanded steel deck, plywood or concrete, removable rails or fixed. There are lots of choices."

Posted by David at http://cmuptm.blogspot.com/2008/10/walk-quietly-when-youre-over-house.html#comments

They Took My Beautiful Coke Machine!

Butts In The Seats: "Yes, we lost a good friend today as the guys from Coca Cola removed the vending machine from my building. This summer we had a fire inspection and were told that we couldn't have the power cable for the machine running under the door into the scene shop. The door wasn't pinching the cable in any manner and the inspector admitted that it wasn't necessarily a fire hazard. But apparently safe practice requires we not have the power cord run there even though it isn't a trip hazard either."

Posted by David at http://cmuptm.blogspot.com/2008/10/they-took-my-beautiful-coke-machine.html#comments

NFTRW Weekly Top Five - Last Week

Here are the top five comment generating posts from that week I was out of town...

America's Most Overrated Product: the Bachelor's Degree

Chronicle.com: "I have a hard time telling such people the killer statistic: Among high-school students who graduated in the bottom 40 percent of their classes, and whose first institutions were four-year colleges, two-thirds had not earned diplomas eight and a half years later. That figure is from a study cited by Clifford Adelman, a former research analyst at the U.S. Department of Education and now a senior research associate at the Institute for Higher Education Policy. Yet four-year colleges admit and take money from hundreds of thousands of such students each year!"

Posted by David at http://cmuptm.blogspot.com/2008/10/americas-most-overrated-product.html#comments

'Spamalot' shutters on Broadway

Variety: "The 2005 Tony winner for best musical will shutter after 1,582 performances and 35 previews, with a final gross estimated in excess of $175 million. (Cume currently is nudging $160 million.)"

Posted by David at http://cmuptm.blogspot.com/2008/10/spamalot-shutters-on-broadway.html#comments

Cirque director going big in Japan

TheStar.com: "'It would take a lifetime to understand Japan,' says François Girard, 'but I certainly have a love and fascination for Japanese culture and great respect for the Japanese people.'"

Posted by David at http://cmuptm.blogspot.com/2008/10/cirque-director-going-big-in-japan.html#comments

Can you run theatre lighting on a wind turbine?

Briefingroom on LiveDesignOnline: "One of the hottest topics in the lighting world at the moment is the green issue. Is tungsten dead? Is it possible to have a carbon neutral TV studio? Can you run theatre lighting on a wind turbine? The discussion that such topics generate will be just one of many at the 2009 Showlight event which takes place in Glasgow next May."

Posted by David at http://cmuptm.blogspot.com/2008/10/can-you-run-theatre-lighting-on-wind.html#comments

Case Closed: Legally Blonde Ends Broadway Run Oct. 19

Playbill News: "Legally Blonde, the pop musical based on the 2001 MGM film of the same name, ends its run at the Palace Theatre Oct. 19. When it closes, the production will have played 30 previews and 595 regular performances."

Posted by David at http://cmuptm.blogspot.com/2008/10/case-closed-legally-blonde-ends.html#comments

Pasadena Playhouse smells a rat

Culture Monster: "When asked about the unexpected guest appearance, Epps said, without missing a beat: 'Well, based on your review of the play this morning, I might quote David Merrick and actually ask if it was Charles McNulty. '"

Regional Theatre Gets Broadway Treatment

Backstage: "Eleven regional theatre actors will live like Broadway legends next summer under the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship, a new program that offers a $2,500 cash grant and an intensive week-long master class taught by Lynne Redgrave."

Big Bucks for Theater Chiefs Draw Criticism as Sign of Excess

Bloomberg.com: Arts and Culture: "Fresh out of the Yale School of Management, Todd Haimes joined the nearly bankrupt Roundabout Theatre Co. in 1983 and led its transformation into one of the largest U.S. nonprofit theaters."

How (and Why) to Develop a Social Media Handbook

Museum 2.0: "What is the ideal role of your marketing or PR team in the creation and distribution of content on the social Web? I'd aruge that it doesn’t make sense for marketing to create and control all of the content produced in Web 2.0-land. After all, they control very little of the content produced in exhibitions, shared via programs, and expressed by public-facing staff and volunteers. If your museum has many voices in the real world, you will most powerfully and honestly convey yourself virtually if you can reflect the diversity of your institution. The trick is figuring out how to organize and track it all."

Developing Productive Habits Requires Productive Action — How to Defeat the Cycle

Stepcase Lifehack: "Have you ever known someone who consistently fails to complete things? Have you ever known someone who always gets the job done on time? I’m sure you have. In fact, I’m sure most people you know fall into one camp or the other. Which one of these two types of people are you?
There’s a reason that 99.9% of people fall into one of these two camps, but not somewhere in between. How many people have you known that are just as likely to get things done as they are to let things slide? Come to think of it, I’ve never met a person like this in my life. It’s because the trend to complete or to procrastinate are not mere fluctuations in our mood or our environment, but habits in and of themselves."

Guitar Geek

Cool Tools: "Ever wonder what instruments, pedals and assorted gizmos Eric Clapton used on stage with Cream circa 1968? If you're a gearhound, amateur musician, professional journeyman, or weekend warrior, Guitar Geek is a fantastic resource (and a major potential time suck)"

Production: Fit To Be Tied (WIT #253)

ATW: "Playwrights Horizons’ production team for Fit To Be Tied — production manager Chris Boll, production stage manager Carol Clark, casting director Janet Foster, general manager Lynn Landis, managing director Leslie Marcus, Artistic Director of Playwrights Horizons Tim Sanford, playwright Nicky Silver and director David Warren — talk about their individual jobs, their backgrounds, and the steps in bringing this play to the not-for-profit stage."

City sets the scene for sorority thriller

PostGazette: "Yesterday was graduation day in Oakland -- not at the University of Pittsburgh or Carnegie Mellon, but for the fictional Rosman University, setting for the movie 'Sorority Row.'"

CMU plans $1 billion campaign

PostGazette: "Carnegie Mellon University yesterday announced a campaign to raise $1 billion, an amount aimed at advancing endeavors from new scholarships and campus life enhancements to research and teaching."

DIVA TALK SPECIAL: The Yellow Brick Road Not Taken

Playbill News: "Wicked fans flocked to the Gershwin Theatre Oct. 27 for The Yellow Brick Road Not Taken, a concert celebrating the fifth anniversary of the hit Broadway musical penned by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman."

CTG's 'Tiger' receives NEA nod

Variety: "Center Theater Group’s 'Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo' has been chosen by the National Endowment for the Arts as one of the inaugural selections in its NEA New Play Development Program."

Smokey’s return a special occasion

PittsburghCourier: "On Oct. 25, at 8 p.m., the Benedum Center’s spotlight will shine on the man whose legendary rise to fame is what dreams are made of; the one and only William “Smokey” Robinson is coming to Pittsburgh—a city that he sometimes calls home."

The Bard in a gruesome vein

smh.com.au: "EACH performance of Anatomy Titus Fall Of Rome uses three litres of fake blood. In a season of 96 shows, that is 288 litres."

Theater as fierce as the metaphors found behind prison walls

OrlandoSentinel.com: "A wintry sun beats down on two men, prisoners at Rikers Island, confined to side-by-side exercise pens for their one hour out of solitary each day. One of them, on trial for a murder he didn't mean to commit, doesn't seem to feel the light. The other man drinks it in -- but the sunlight he basks in may be only in his head."

Screams, shivers, and bumpy rides

The Tartan Online: "Pittsburgh’s ghouls, ghosts, and witches have risen once again this October to haunt the living. Haunted houses that lay quiet before are now alive with the noise of clanging metal chains and devilish screams. The countryside, too, is teeming with the supernatural, and not everything is as it seems."

A conversation with Staton and Quinto

The Tartan Online: "This year’s Homecoming was marked by B There, Carnegie Mellon’s capital campaign kickoff. Encased in a gigantic tent with floors, a robot, food, and music, the event was hosted by two notable Carnegie Mellon alumni"

Rep shortens "The Three Musketeers" run; Oregon Shakespeare Festival cuts 2009 budget

Seattle Times Newspaper: "In a press statement, OSF executive director Paul Nicholson noted the Ashland, Ore., theater complex 'anticipates a projected $750,000 deficit in 2008 as a result of lower investment returns and below budgeted ticket revenues.'"

Explosive Rock Musical Gives Voice to Smoldering Teen Angst

VOA News: "A Tony Award-winning musical 'Spring Awakening' explores the stage in adolescence when the discovery of sexuality brings sudden changes. Based on a 19th century German play, the musical is set to a rock and roll score and examines the tortured inner lives of a group of adolescents. VOA's Zhang Zheng and Joseph Mok have this report from Broadway, narrated by Elaine Lu."

Broadway lacks room for today's situation

Los Angeles Times: "With the signs and symptoms of capitalism's advanced-stage decadence all around us -- you can't turn on the TV without being bombarded by pharmaceutical commercials featuring randy oldsters -- it seems rather fussy, in a John Houseman kind of way, to complain about the weak tea being served by contemporary playwrights. But as Wall Street's hangover headache looks like it might actually be a brain tumor, it's hard for a theater critic to accept that one of the last places you'd turn for biting social commentary on our recessionary reality is the stage."

Free Theater Night Brings New Audiences

NPR: "There may not be free lunch, but last week, all across the country, there was free theater. More than 600 non-profit theaters in 120 cities offered a Free Night of Theater, to hook new audiences."

Bloodbath on Broadway: The credit crunch hits

The Independent: "They don't usually stop smiling in Spring Awakening, a relentlessly cheerful Broadway musical that won eight gongs at 2007's Tony Awards. But there were frowns aplenty backstage last week, when the cast were suddenly informed that they will all very soon be out of a job."

9 Tips For Staying Sane While Working at Home With Distractions

FreelanceSwitch - The Freelance Blog: "There are a lot of other distractions here, too, though, including fairly frequent loud family guests. But you have to learn to work around such things. I’m actually fortunate that I live in an otherwise quiet part of town, and can go for a walk in the forest if it gets too hectic at home."

Gallery: Cosplay Abounds at Zombie Fest in Pittsburgh

I09: "We've already shown you zombie Simpsons today, but where were Zombie Bride, Zombie Jesus, and Zombie Sarah Palin this weekend? They were chilling with over a thousand of their undead cohorts at the Monroeville Mall in Pittsburgh, where the horrific and the consumer-driven collided for a gory two days."

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Making Star Wars Look Like Star Wars Is More Difficult Than It Looks

I09: "What makes Star Wars look like Star Wars? That's one of the questions that The Old Republic's lead designer, Jeff Dobson has to face repeatedly in the course of working on the upcoming MMO set in George Lucas' playground and, as he told us, he still can't really come up with a comprehensive answer. He knows what's right when he sees it, but when something is wrong, he can't always put his finger on why it's wrong. So is there a Star Wars aesthetic? And if so, what is it?"

School of Music performs Italian opera

The Tartan Online: "This past weekend, Carnegie Mellon’s School of Music performed L’incoronazione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppea), an opera in three acts by Claudio Monteverdi. Conducted by music professor Robert Page, the performances on Thursday and Saturday had a different cast than the Wednesday and Friday performances."

College: 25 Most Expensive Colleges For 2008-2009

Consumerist: "Here are the 25 most expensive colleges for 2008-2009, based on total cost (tuition + room and board). Whooie, this is some pricey book-learnin'.
Highest Total Cost 2008-2009
College | Total Cost
1. Sarah Lawrence College | $53,166"

Lower Burrell native's costume a circus hit

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "As the lead designer for this year's Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Murin created the costumes that put the smile on Bello the clown's face and the blanket over the dancing elephant's back."

Dramatists Guild Will Honor Stein, Letts, Miranda, Lucas and More Nov. 18

Playbill News: "Christopher Durang will host the evening, which will begin at 7 PM with wine and hors d'oeuvres, followed by the awards presentation and entertainment at 8 PM."

New plays draw NEA coin

Variety: "Unveiled this week, the gifts include $90,000 each to L.A.'s Center Theater Group for its production next season of Rajiv Joseph's 'Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo' and Princeton, N.J.'s McCarter Theater for its upcoming staging of Tarell Alvin McCraney's 'Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet.'"

Background, evolution of puppets come through in Henson exhibit

AccessAtlanta: "Miss Piggy would never admit that she’s, well, a woman of a certain age. There’s no denying, however, that she and her fellow Muppets have been charming audiences of all ages for some 40 years — and still do.
Their enduring popularity is a testament to the creative genius of the late Jim Henson, whose imagination and accomplishments are the subject of “Jim Henson’s Fantastic World” opening Saturday at the Atlanta History Center."

Q&A: For director, "Fat Pig" is a beautiful thing

The Denver Post: "If this were a play merely about a man coming to terms with his own preconceptions about the importance of conventional good looks in a woman, well it wouldn't be a LaBute play. This is really the story about how the man's friends cannot trust, accept or deal with his choice."

Somebody forgot about Baby's songs in "Dirty Dancing"

chicagotribune.com: "Baby, you fans of the movie 'Dirty Dancing' might recall, has a rich summer of '63 in the Catskills. She learns to dance. She has a fight with her daddy. She loses her virginity.
In fact, she learns to do just about everything except sing. Which would be fine, except she's now starring in a Broadway show."

Teatro Luna playwright Tanya Saracho is drawn to 'people's darkness'

chicagotribune.com: "For 10 years, the women of Teatro Luna have created the kind of exuberant autobiographical shows that are now firmly the domain of the young, attractive and fashion forward -- in which frank conversations about love and sexual mishaps go hand-in-hand with stories about blended cultural identities and contradictory insecurities that make up the Latina experience.Perhaps the strongest voice to emerge from the ensemble is 32-yeard-old co-founder Tanya Saracho, a major playwriting talent who recently snagged commissions from the Goodman and Steppenwolf."

'Dirty Dancing': If Baby doesn't sing, is it still a musical?

chicagotribune.com: "Baby and Johnny out-sold 'Wicked' and 'Jersey Boys' in Chicago during the week of Oct. 6-12, pulling down an impressive $993,540 at the box office of the Cadillac Palace Theatre, according to figures published in Variety."

Playwright Sarah Ruhl puts modern spin on ‘Eurydice’

JS Online: "Sarah Ruhl has some advice for theater-goers. Stop thinking you must write a term paper in your head when you see a play."

Fire damages Loveland Stage Co.

Cincinnati.Com: "Temporary lights to illuminate newly donated $6,000 stained glass windows at a local theater company sparked a fire late Monday that destroyed the building and caused about $300,000 in damages, a fire official said today."

ESTA Announces the 2008 Rock Our World Award Winners

LiveDesign: "The first Rock Our World Awards were presented at ESTA’s Annual Dinner on Thursday evening. These awards, which recognize groundbreaking achievement by ESTA Members in new products, product applications, or projects were created to acknowledge the genius of both the creator of technology and the designer or integrator who applies the technology in a real world environment."

Bring the ETCP Exams to You

LiveDesign: "Would you like the ETCP Exams brought to your organization? Some groups have found that it is helpful to organize training or study groups to prepare and refresh and then offer the exams immediately after in a group setting."

Journeys Lecture

Monday, October 27th
4:30pm – Adamson Wing Auditorium, 136A Baker Hall
Bill Reinert, Toyota Motor Sales, USA
Mobility in the 21st Century: Challenges and Promises
Bill Reinert is National Manager of Advanced Technology for Toyota Motor Sales, USA. His primary function is to coordinate Toyota’s various research, development and marketing activities related to alternative-fueled vehicles and emerging technologies. He is currently working on several advanced hybrid electric products, direct hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, reformed fuel approaches for hydrogen, full-featured electric vehicles, city electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid concepts, ethanol fuels and sustainable transportation systems.

Thursday, October 30th
JOURNEYS LECTURE - First this semester
4:30pm – McConomy Auditorium, UC
Mary Catherine Bateson, Writer and cultural anthropologist; Robinson Professor Emerita, George Mason University; President, Institute for Intercultural Studies; Author of “Composing a Life”
The Changing Shapes of Lives
Just as an extended childhood made possible the human pattern of learning and transmitted knowledge and tradition, extended longevity suggests profound changes for our species. Some of these changes can be recognized in the study of individual lives that are often longer and more diverse than in the past and that depend on continuing learning.
We will need to rethink education from the earliest years and to restructure the relations between generations. At the same time, we need to think differently about time, to prepare for surprises, and to fashion a new rhetoric of hope and responsibility.
Booksigning to follow lecture.
Friday, October 31st
INDIA TODAY course opening session
(Lectures open to the public but seating limited - preference to enrolled students)
5-8 pm- Porter Hall 100
5:30-6:30 Sunil Wadhwani, Co-Chairman and Co-Founder, iGate Corporation
An Entrepreneur's perspective on India: Industry, Innovation and Education

6:30- 8 Arvind Panagariya, Jagdish Bhagwati Professor of India Political Economy, Columbia University School of International & Public Affairs
Booksigning to follow lecture.

Spread The Word About Behind The Scenes

LiveDesign: "Do you know someone in the industry who is having a hard time paying the rent because he or she has been out of work due to a serious injury? Or maybe you know someone battling cancer who met the cap on their health insurance long ago and is struggling to come up with enough money to purchase their medications every month. These are the people Behind the Scenes is trying to help."

Elation Announces 2008 Winners Of Elation Education Experience (E3) Competition

LiveDesign: "Elation Professional has announced the winners of its 2008 Elation Education Experience Award (E3) for young lighting designers who focus on the House of Worship (HOW) market.
Josh Johnston of Sheffield, Alabama;
Frank Meyer of Scottsdale, Arizona; and
Yoshihito Takahashi of Brooklyn, New York."

ETCP FAQs

LiveDesign: "Which ETCP certification is right for me?"

Community News Papers from across BC Online

BCLocalNews.com: "A busy end to the Tidemark Theatre year could be in jeopardy if unionized employees go on strike tomorrow."

Join Cirque

Cirquedusoleil.com: "We want to find the right people to join the Production and Operations teams, those individuals who have goals that coincide with the work we are doing on our projects. You will be able to take pride in being part of an international organization recognized for its creativity and innovation.
Join Cirque behind the curtain!"

Conservatory Hour

BRECHT'S "MOTHER COURAGE"

Mask and Movement performance piece, work-in-progess

Performed by the Actors/MTs in Movement IV; Masks by Design for the Stage

MONDAY OCTOBER 27, CONSERVATORY HOUR, RAUH STUDIO THEATRE

What is ESTA Anyway?

LiveDesign: "The Entertainment Services and Technology Association."

Walk Quietly When You’re Over the House

LiveDesign: "A theatre’s catwalk isn't likely to be something to get a prospective donor to open a checkbook or a publicist to write an inspiring marketing piece, but it’s an important part of the facility that affects its function. Straight or curved, expanded steel deck, plywood or concrete, removable rails or fixed. There are lots of choices."

Can Theater = Peace?

What: FREE food and GOOD talk
When: Monday, October, 27, 2008, 12 p.m. – 1 p.m.
Where: Purnell Room 103
R.S.V.P.: Sign up outside of Anya’s door so we know how much Pizza to order!

Please join our guests, young adults from Israel/Palestine, who are visiting Pittsburgh as part of an intensive seminar hosted by the Collegiate YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh. The group is called Moderate Voices for Progress and is made up of Jews, Christians and Muslims, all of whom are interested in using theater techniques to promote mutual tolerance and greater understanding.

Barbara MacKenzie-Wood will lead a discussion with these guests while you enjoy pizza.

PITTSBURGH PLAYBACK THEATRE

and the

YMCA Moderate Voices for Progress

present

JERUSALEM TO PITTSBURGH . . .

building bridges to coexistence

Experience an evening of improvisational theatre

as Jewish, Muslim and Christian artists

from the Middle East join with

Pittsburgh Playback Theatre . . .

Monday, October 27^th , 8:00 p.m.

Frick Fine Arts Building

Schenley Circle Oakland

Free admission 412-521-0444

http://pittsburghplaybacktheatre.org/project.html

Proposed legislation billed as means of luring film industry into state

cleveland.com: "Ivan Schwarz, who as executive director of the Greater Cleveland Film Commission remains a force behind the bill, says incentives are necessary if Ohio is to gain a slice of the $60 billion film industry."

Record Site Taken Down for Violating Own Copyright

News and Analysis by PC Magazine: "A donation-based record label is back online Tuesday after its Web-hosting company took the label's Web site offline for alleged copyright violations.
One problem, though. The label – Quote Unquote Records – produces all of its own content, and was perplexed as to how it could have infringed upon itself."

OK city funds 3rd attempt for public religious art

The Associated Press: "A conservative Oklahoma City suburb with a history of trying to incorporate religious art into public spaces has approved city funds to help pay for a statue of Jesus Christ to be placed downtown for Christmas, likely leading to another court fight."

US unveils Iraq culture aid

AFP: "US First Lady Laura Bush visited Baghdad's embassy in Washington on Thursday to unveil a 14-million-dollar US campaign to rebuild Iraq's cultural heritage and safeguard its treasures."

'Waterfalls' brought in $69 million for NYC

washingtonpost.com: "Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the public artwork by Olafur Eliasson that put four waterfalls in the East River and New York Harbor brought in an estimated $69 million for New York City, exceeding initial expectations of $55 million. The work drew 1.4 million visitors from June 26 to Oct. 13 to view the installation off Manhattan's East Side."

'Census' finds 1,100 make art for more than love

MLive.com: "'We want to put a spotlight on this sector and start thinking about it,'' said Tamara Real, director of Arts Alliance. She said the information is important for several reasons, among them judging the economic impact of the local creative sector."

Decoding the New Fall Protection Code

LiveDesign: "Some of the big changes involve the minimum load ratings for fall protection equipment. Snaphooks and carabiners were and still are required to be able to support a load of 22.2 kN (about 5,000lbs), but they used to be allowed to open a bit with a load over one kN (about 225lbs). Now, they must be able to support 61 kN without the gate opening as much as 3mm (about 1/8”). Furthermore, the minimum side load rating on a snaphook or carabiner has been increased by more than a factor of ten from 1.55 kN to 16 kN. There’s a fair amount of personal fall arrest equipment now in use that does not meet the new requirements."

Is It Cold in Here, or Just Me? Using Cryogens Safely

LiveDesign: "A few weeks ago, a technician from a regional opera company called the ESTA office with a list of questions about liquid nitrogen fog technology. Did the nitrogen vented from the storage dewar tend to pool, as butane will when released from an LP gas canister? (No, and it won't burn, either.) Would it be okay to store the liquid nitrogen dewars in an understage trap room? (Yes, if there is good ventilation.) Is the gas toxic? (No.) His questions went on and on"

Wesner Workshop 08

Entertainment Engineering

A Workshop

Friday and Saturday, November 14-15, 2008

(Friday 1-4, Saturday 9-4)

(location TBA)

(Course 93-771)

Instructor:

John Wesner, PE

Adjunct Fellow

Institute for Complex Engineered Systems

Entertainment Engineering? Why would anyone want to think about the pleasurable world of Entertainment and the staid world of Engineering in the same discussion?

Whether it was George Washington Ferris devising his Great Wheel for Chicago’s Columbian Exposition in 1893, Ed Morgan and Karl Bacon inventing the steel roller coaster to go inside of Disneyland’s Matterhorn, or Walt Disney’s Imagineers creating a realistic animated Abraham Lincoln for the 1964 World’s Fair on Long Island, engineering has stretched the boundaries for entertainment. Just how do you keep the water where you want it in a flume ride, or make people believe they are riding an interplanetary rocket without leaving their seats in a small room?

Looking from the other side, the entertainment industry is a major career field that not many engineers know much about, that has the potential to be challenging, exciting, and lots of fun. But just what can engineers do for this industry? And what are the ”big issues” for engineers working in the entertainment industry?

The Workshop content builds on the instructor’s experiences behind the scenes at Carnegie Mellon’s Chosky Theater, on behind-the-scenes visits at Kennywood and Walt Disney World, on a pair of short courses he took from the Walt Disney World education center (“Disney University”), and on discussions with several experienced engineers in the business.

Throughout the Workshop, the participants will peek behind a variety of entertainment media and attractions, where they will see the usually hidden engineered devices and schemes that are essential parts of bringing the excitement or pleasure to the entertained guests.

Magazine: Ready for our Close-up

Asians in America: "While there have been and always will be issues concerning racism, stereotyping, and insincerity, it is nonetheless an exciting time for Asian-Americans already in show business and an encouraging trend for those thinking about giving it a shot. AIA Magazine recently sat down with five New York city based professionals from different levels of stage and screen to discuss their craft, approach, and perspective towards the current state of Asian-American actors."

[Insert Clever and Thought-Provoking Title Here]

Attack Theatre:

"[Insert Clever and Thought-Provoking Title Here] is an evening of live music, video, improvisation, and the physical prowess of Attack Theatre in a comedic journey through a world of bears, broken bottles, and axe murdering puppet shows."

HALLOWEEN is just around the corner!

and

Attack Theatre’s upcoming performance

INSERT CLEVER AND THOUGHT PROVOKING TITLE HERE

The world premiere of Dead End, a macabre dance inspired by the work of Edward Gorey*, is a tale of death, lust, dance, and more death. Act Two unfolds with Untitled 2008, an improvisational contest that puts the audience in control as the performers vie for the Title.

Is at the Hazlett Theater on the North Side Oct. 31, Nov. 1 & Nov. 3 with post-show Halloween parties on Oct. 31 & Nov. 1

If you’ve never seen an Attack Theatre performance, this is a great opportunity. They are a dance company that incorporates theater, multimedia, improvisation, live music and Dance.

If you are interested in going please let me know and I will try to organize a group.

If we have a group of 5 people or more on a specific night we can get tickets at the group rate at $13/each.

Regular prices are $20/adults & $15/students.

Please stop by my office if you are interested.

~Alison

Back to Basics, Walking The Floor

LiveDesign: "In years past, I have spoken at several LDI Institute sessions, created content for various booths, been involved in programming, setup, or “manning” a booth. One year, I was even a judge for the various product awards that are given out. On top of all that, there are always meetings, special demonstrations, people to see, and, of course, obligatory party attendance."

Bryan Hartley: Outstanding Designer Of The Year

LiveDesign: "Tony Award-winning lighting designer Rick Fisher and scenic designer Jeremy Railton will also receive Designer Of The Year Awards at the awards event. Strand Lighting has sponsored Fisher’s award: Fisher is currently represented on Broadway with the hit London musical, Billy Elliot, which uses a Strand 500 series console, as programmed by Vic Smerdon. For more about Rick Fisher: http://livedesignonline.com/ldishowdaily/rick_fisher/index.html"

Wybron Introduces Infogate for the iPhone

Briefingroom on LiveDesignOnline: "Scheduled for release at LDI 2008, Infogate for the iPhone gathers invaluable feedback from lighting equipment and uses a wireless signal to transmit the data to an iPhone or iPod. With that wireless signal, users can inspect and manipulate equipment without being chained to a booth, board, or computer."

Majoring in video games

Los Angeles Times: "Game design has helped rekindle interest in computer science and become a hot new major at more than 200 schools across the country, according to the Entertainment Software Assn., a trade group. Because making games crosses several disciplines, the diversity of programs that offer such courses is staggering: Fine arts colleges, engineering schools, film schools, music schools and even drama programs are sending graduates into the fast-growing industry."

Cirque and the Beatles: 'All Together Now'

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "There were so many things director Adrian Wills had to consider when he started filming 'All Together Now,' a documentary featuring the partnership between the Beatles and the troupe Cirque du Soleil."

Pittsburgh Ballet tackles the '20s

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "The glittering parties and individual turbulence of America's Roaring Twenties captured by F. Scott Fitzgerald in his novel 'The Great Gatsby' holds alluring potential for ballet."

Female Playwrights to Hold Meeting to Discuss Bias by Theaters

NYTimes.com: "Frustrated by what they describe as difficulty in getting their work produced, enough female playwrights to make a standing-room-only crowd are planning to attend a town hall meeting on Monday night to air their grievances with representatives of New York’s leading Off Broadway and nonprofit theaters."

Throwing Song, Dance and Kitchen-Sink Drama Into the Stage ‘Billy Elliot’

NYTimes.com: "On-screen, “Billy Elliot” begins with close-ups of its hero, a boy whose passion for ballet liberates him from his working-class town. During the opening credits we see Billy dancing on his bed, flailing his arms and making funny faces, and we know he’s the reason the movie exists.

Onstage, however, the story starts with something bigger. In the musical “Billy Elliot,” in previews at the Imperial Theater, we first see a group of coal miners and their families, all singing a hymn as they prepare for the miners’ strike that shook northern England in 1984 and ’85. By the time Billy scampers on, the show is as much about his troubled community as it is about his personal journey."

Simon McBurney on Directing ‘All My Sons,’ With John Lithgow and Katie Holmes, on Broadway

NYTimes.com: "OVER a dinner of lamb meatballs and potato croquettes at the Norwood, a private club in Chelsea, Simon McBurney, the director of the Broadway revival of “All My Sons,” recalled talking with Arthur Miller about his work before the playwright’s death in 2005."

‘Blasted’ and ‘The Seagull’ Bring a Healthy Dose of Misery to New York Stages

NYTimes.com: "THE world is trembling with anxiety. Fingernails are being chewed across America as the presidential race enters its last innings, and the financial Tilt-a-Whirl of the past month has left everyone from Riga to Reykjavik to Rochester unsettled. I am surely not alone in averting my eyes when firing up a search engine for fear that my home page will feature a stock graph resembling a ski slope."

Primary Stages' Love Child Opens Off-Broadway Oct. 26

Playbill News: "'Real and theatrical worlds collide in Love Child,' according to an announcement. The comedy centers on 'the night a classic play spoke so loudly to its audience that its audience felt compelled to talk back.'"

Playback Theater builds bridges for Jews, Arabs

Post Gazette: "A dozen young Israeli Jews and Arabs have trave led all the way to Pittsburgh to work on interfaith coexistence through theater.
The visitors, who range in age from 22 to 35, are students or professionals in the fields of acting, photography, law, visual art, music and stand-up comedy. Among them are seven Jews, three Muslims and two Christians."

Center Theatre Group offers 100,000 $20 tickets for 2008-09

Los Angeles Times: "In a preemptive strike to keep audiences from trading an evening of theater for TV and a frozen pizza during troubled economic times, Center Theatre Group is announcing a new 'Entertainment Stimulus Package' that will make available 100,000 tickets at $20, available for all performances at all three of its theaters --the Ahmanson, Mark Taper Forum and Kirk Douglas -- for the entire 2008-09 season."

WINTER FORECAST: $EVERE

New York Post: "HERE'S a grim game theater insiders are playing: guessing how many Broadway houses will be empty in January."

THEY SAVED HITLER'S BRAIN Returning As Sci-Fi Musical Comedy Film

I09: "According to Variety, Napoleon Dynamite Producer Chris Wyatt and Mark Altman are launching a remake of the 1963 schlock classic 'They Saved Hitler's Brain' as a sci-fi musical comedy."

Were Critics Toasting Plow?

Steve On Broadway (SOB): "Last evening, director Neil Pepe's revival of David Mamet's 1988 play Speed-The-Plow opened at Broadway's Ethel Barrymore Theatre. Jeremy Piven, Raúl Esparza and Elisabeth Moss star in this first Rialto revival."

The Week in Tools: Toolmonger Top 5

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, which our readers helped to select"

Why I walked out of Doctor Atomic.

Slate Magazine: "First produced in 2005, Doctor Atomic is an English-language opera about nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and the first test of the atomic bomb he and his scientific team had assembled at Los Alamos in 1945. It was the test that would decide whether the bomb was ready to be dropped on Japan. And how destructive the device—until then just a theoretical construct—would be."

They Took My Beautiful Coke Machine!

Butts In The Seats: "Yes, we lost a good friend today as the guys from Coca Cola removed the vending machine from my building. This summer we had a fire inspection and were told that we couldn't have the power cable for the machine running under the door into the scene shop. The door wasn't pinching the cable in any manner and the inspector admitted that it wasn't necessarily a fire hazard. But apparently safe practice requires we not have the power cord run there even though it isn't a trip hazard either."

Vacancy at The Gravesend Inn

Gothamist: "It's haunted house season, and Theatreworks' high-tech haunted hotel, the Gravesend Inn (located at 186 Jay Street in Brooklyn), has returned. The creepy, creative project is produced by City Tech's resident theatrical troupe (part of the CUNY school's Department of Entertainment and Technology) and they claim to be a 'theme-park-quality Halloween attraction.' We went over to check it out for ourselves, and here are some sneak peeks."

'Wicked' writer explores phenomenon

Variety: "Gregory Maguire's first adult novel spent 26 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, but it took almost 10 years to get there.
After nearly two decades of writing children's books, Maguire wrote 'Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West' in 1995."

'Wicked' mints green on stage

Variety: "Everyone on Broadway knows 'Wicked' does wicked good business.
But after five years on the Gotham boards, the perennial top dog of Rialto sales has racked up the kind of numbers that make Hollywood sit up: Universal Pictures, the studio that first optioned the 1995 novel and one of the producers of the tuner, says 'Wicked' counts among its most profitable properties.
Period."

Stage helps off-Broadway hopefuls

Variety: "In the next few weeks, multiple productions will bow Off Broadway that were developed at under-the-radar legit org New York Stage & Film. A pipeline for Gotham theater since 1984, the company's summer Powerhouse Program at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., hosts an annual two-month slate that includes everything from full productions to development workshops and staged readings."

'Speaker Project': part sonic experiment, part clubhouse

The Boston Globe: "'Speaker Project' is part sonic experiment, part clubhouse, and all art installation"

Ceausescu meets Dracula in the ART's 'Pageant' from Romania's dark past

The Boston Globe: "It's easy to understand what stirred the dramatic imagination of playwright Anne Washburn as she contemplated the history, both recent and ancient, of Romania. What's more difficult to grasp, at least on a first viewing, is where her imagination has taken her."

Issues center stage in drama, comedies, musicals

MiamiHerald.com: "With politicians badgering their way into our consciousness every chance they get these days, it's easy to tell that the presidential election is upon us. On television, at the movies, in the newspapers, on the Internet, politics rule."

Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre shakes things up with two Pittsburgh premieres, starting with the season-opening The Great Gatsby.

Pittsburgh City Paper: "Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre may have reached a turning point. This season, after years of seeming to recycle a handful of story-ballet classics over and over, to the point of stagnation, artistic director Terrence Orr is stepping out of the company's comfort zone to offer audiences something different in the form of two Pittsburgh premieres."

Internship Opportunity

Pittsburgh CLO Academy – National High School Musical Theater Awards Internship

Begins immediately, ends July 2009

Pittsburgh CLO Academy of Musical Theater seeks an immediate graduate or undergraduate intern to assist in the development of the National High School Musical Theater Awards premiering on Broadway in June 2009. The NHSMTA are a project of Pittsburgh CLO and the Nederlander Organization using Pittsburgh CLO’s Gene Kelly Awards as a model for this unique showcase of high school musical talent.

This is an excellent opportunity to collaborate on a project with national exposure. Candidates will have the opportunity to work with producers and education directors from theaters across the country, and must possess exceptional communication, computer and organization skills. Successful candidates will also have formal experience in the performing arts and an interest in arts education, be available to travel to New York City for the awards ceremony in June, and must commit to working through July 2009.

Please submit a resume and specific cover letter for this position by Friday, October 31, 2008 to Andrea Shockling, Education Programs Manager, Pittsburgh CLO Academy at ashockling@pittsburghclo.org. Candidates should be prepared to show a writing sample. This is an unpaid internship, estimated at 20 hours a week with a negotiable schedule. University credit is available.

Additional information about Pittsburgh CLO and the CLO Academy can be found at pittsburghCLO.org. Please direct all inquiries about this position, or any other questions you may have, to Andrea Shockling. No phone calls please.

Peter Reder's Guided Tour elicited giggles in the dark at the Carnegie.

Pittsburgh City Paper - Pittsburgh: "They were a giggly bunch, last Tuesday night. Some older folks, some high school girls, a smattering of solo guests, but they all chuckled and guffawed with sugary enthusiasm. Maybe it was because they didn't really know what to expect. All they knew was that a man named Peter Reder would guide them through the Carnegie Museum, two hours after the doors had closed and the main lights were shut off. They had heard that Reder might mislead them. But what did he look like? What would he say, and where would they venture? The giggles were anxious."

With physical theater and invented language, Jo Strømgren Kompani explores bureaucracy in The Department.

Pittsburgh City Paper - Pittsburgh: "In institutional terms, Jo Strømgren Kompani is but a pup, this year celebrating one decade as an independent ensemble developing works of dance, theater, dance-theater and whatever other classification one could impose."

The Black Sheep Puppet Festival celebrates its 10th season.

Pittsburgh City Paper - Pittsburgh: "Long before Avenue Q debuted on Broadway and opened the eyes of millions, or at least a lot, of theater-goers, plenty of vanguard artists, writers and performers already knew puppets were bad-ass. Instead of yapping through uniformly turned-out mouthpieces in swanky Great White Way joints, they utilized hand-crafted instruments, household items, found objects and trash, bringing it to black-box spaces, dirty warehouses, outdoor amphitheaters and even former-brewery squats-turned-reclaimed-artist-quarters."

The Best of the Theatre Festival in Black & White

Pittsburgh City Paper - Pittsburgh: "An old bit of theater wisdom holds that the second production of a play is much, much more difficult to get than the first. There are many festivals and venues for the 'new' and the 'world premiere,' but a work has to have substance -- not just promise -- to earn subsequent showings."

The Clean House

Pittsburgh City Paper - Pittsburgh: "In the program for The Clean House, now receiving production by the University of Pittsburgh Repertory Theatre, we see that the setting is 'a metaphysical Connecticut.' That is, not the actual northeastern Yuppitopia, but a place that looks and behaves very much like it."

Free Theatre Belarus

PRI.ORG: "Belarus is called the last dictatorship in Europe. The government censors the arts, so performance troupe Free Theatre Belarus performs secretly, in converted houses, to avoid arrest. American playwright Aaron Landsman went to visit the group in Minsk."

Filling the Gap: Picking Up Where Art School Left Off

Fractured Atlas Blog: "Many of us graduated from arts programs without any real knowledge of our industry, such as: insider vocabulary, infrastructure, operations, power structure, salary norms, contract norms, historical/current trends, non-craft skill sets, etc."

Hairspray's Closing: Run And Tell That!

Steve On Broadway (SOB): "The Tony Award-winning Best Musical of 2003 -- Hairspray -- will close on January 4, 2009. But it won't be before the show's original Edna Turnblad enjoys one final victory romp across the boards of the Neil Simon Theatre."

PDF: Convert PDFs to Word Online with Three Clicks

Lifehacker: "Stuck with a PDF file and no application that will let you edit it? PDF UNdo Online is easy, free, works on any computer and there's no registration required."

Toxic Avenger: The Musical Is A Spine-Ripping Good Time

I09: "Toxic Avenger: The Musical is all sorts of spinal cord ripping, potty-mouthed, toe tapping fun. Based loosely on the classic Troma gross-out film The Toxic Avenger, the musical still has Melvin Ferd and his gooey toxic waste transformation into New Jersey's own superhero, who saves the land from pollution so we all 'won't get cancer and die.' It's the self aware lines like that paired with the phenomenal supporting cast that made this show a lot of fun to watch. We've got an exclusive video from the show, for you 'Hot Toxic Love' fans."

7 Intellectual Property Resources Every Freelancer Should Know About

FreelanceSwitch - The Freelance Blog: "Intellectual property (IP) law is a big, nasty, confusing world–one long-time blogger on copyright law and issues recently shut down his blog, partly because “the current state of copyright law is too depressing.” But if you’re a creative, innovative freelancer, and you’d like to protect the materials you create–your original writing,"

Plans for SLC Broadway-class theater includes other arts groups

Salt Lake Tribune: "Salt Lake City has choreographed how to finance downtown's Broadway-class theater, and how's this for a curtain call? There would money left over for other arts groups."

Choreographer hopes to spur thinking with 'The Department'

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "'My biggest inspiration of all is 'The Great Dictator' (the 1940 film spoof of Adolf Hitler by Charlie Chaplin),' Stromgren says. 'He's my biggest inspiration. As a kid, you remember the humor of ('The Great Dictator'). Later, you suddenly realize the serious danger of it all.'"

City Theatre stages world premiere of musical 'Long Story Short'

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Back in 2003, City Theatre commissioned Valerie Vigoda and Brendan Milburn to create a musical and handed the couple a stack of five scripts with the potential for adaptation."

Firsts fest: 'The Department' mixes theater, dance and gibberish

Post Gazette: "Timing is everything, particularly in dance. But political timing is another matter, as will be seen in the Jo Stromgren Kompani's 'The Department' at the International Festival of Firsts."

'I Love You' isn't perfect

Post Gazette: "I enjoyed the performers, the wit of some songs and the zip or pathos of others, but it just doesn't add up to a coherent, compelling whole. The songs generally stay discrete rather than working off each other and building toward some climax or revelation."

'Short' and sweet: Premiere of musical has roots in romance

Post Gazette: "'Long time coming' might be a subtitle of 'Long Story Short,' the world premiere musical with which City Theatre tonight opens its 2008-09 subscription season, although compared to some musicals, it's moved quickly."

China on Broadway shows 'Soul'

Variety: "'Soul of Shaolin,' the Chinese martial arts show booked into Broadway's Marquis Theater between 'Irving Berlin's White Christmas' and '9 to 5,' will be the inaugural annual offering of producing partnership China on Broadway."

'Spring Awakening' to close

Variety: "Rock tuner, with music by Duncan Sheik and book and lyrics by Steven Sater, has so far logged Rialto grosses of nearly $52 million. Teen-centric storyline, about 18th century German adolescents grappling with sex and death, helped the show win a base of young fans during the course of its run."

Actors Fund Pubs Stage Managers Unofficial Health Directory

actorsequity.org | News #038; Media: "This directory is comprised of over 140 referrals for physicians, physical and massage therapists, chiropractors, dentists, performing arts and sliding scale clinics and much more."

'7 (x 1) Samurai': David Gaines Skewers Skillfully

washingtonpost.com: "If the idea of attending a mime performance makes you want to impale yourself on a wakizashi, you should head to the Warehouse Theater, now housing a helium-souled spoof titled '7 (x 1) Samurai.'"

Carnegie Mellon To Present Alumni Awards During Homecoming, Reunion Weekend, Oct. 24-26

Carnegie Mellon University: "Margaret C. Eisenhauer (A 1983): An internationally acclaimed lighting designer for stage, motion pictures and concerts, Eisenhauer has also mentored many young professionals. Each year, she teaches Carnegie Mellon's Broadway Lighting Master Class and provides career advice to graduating students. Eisenhauer and her business partner, Jules Fisher (A 1961), have received many honors for their lighting designs, including Tony and Drama Desk awards for 'Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk' in 1996 and 'Assassins' in 2004."

Encounters build to a calming experience

PostGazette: "Hear that faint buzz? There's a secret society in Pittsburgh this week, a minuscule group being initiated into the delicious 'El Eco de la Sombra' ('Echo of the Shadow'), staged by Teatro de los Sentidos (Theater of the Senses) from Barcelona."

'2084' steps into Orwellian territory

Post Gazette: "Based on George Orwell's iconic novel of Big Brother, '1984,' this production at The Space Upstairs in North Point Breeze's Construction Junction transformed government surveillance into giant television screens with political talking heads, but kept the idea of an alienated society."

Main Street Meltdown

voices4democracy: "In a new, time-based event, called Main Street Meltdown the artists will install the word “Economy,” carved in ice, in Foley Square, using the New York Supreme Court as a back drop."

Sandblasting Fun

Technical Direction Tidbits: "One of the current projects I am working on involves sandblasting. I had originally planned to job the task out, but for a variety of reasons, we made the decision to do it in house."

Arts group rates the presidential candidates

Salt Lake Tribune: "The Americans for the Arts Action Fund, a Washington-based advocacy group, issued its report card on the presidential candidates' positions on arts and arts education Friday, after a wait of more than 18 months for information from Sen. John McCain's campaign."

Hollywood Wants Internet Providers to Block Copyrighted Files

NYTimes.com: "Now, there are signs that one topic next year will be whether I.S.P.’s should analyze traffic to block trading of copyrighted files. At least, Hollywood appears to be preparing for that debate. And it is trying to get allies among technology companies and artist groups."

Good design in just six minutes: AIA and AIGA bring Pecha Kucha to Pittsburgh

Pop City: "What happens when architects, designers and artists have six minutes and 40 seconds to present their latest labors of love?"

A supply-and-demand approach to the arts?

Los Angeles Times: "'Speaking as a former nonprofit administrator and fundraiser, I think [performing arts] groups should be looking to form partnerships or mergers, or even shut down and pass the assets on to healthier groups, if necessary, to keep their mission alive. As Jung quoted Freud: 'Sometimes the doctor should not try to cure at all costs.' Ditto for nonprofits: better to end an organization's life and pass assets on.'"

States’ Film Production Incentives Cause Jitters

NYTimes.com: "Already on the hook for billions to bail out Wall Street, taxpayers are also finding themselves stuck with a growing tab for state programs intended to increase local film production."

Surface: Microsoft SecondLight Adds Extra Layers to Surface

Gizmodo: "Microsoft seems to be throwing every wild touchscreen idea it can into research right now, first prototyping their weird SideSight cellphone motion detector earlier this week, and now revealing SecondLight, a “magic lens” compatriot to their Surface multitouch table."

Mastering the Art of Prioritization

Stepcase Lifehack: "There are two approaches to “prioritizing” the tasks in your to-do list that I see fairly often. By prioritization, I’m not talking so much about assigning importance to tasks, but deciding which will take chronological priority in your day—figuring out which tasks you’ll do first, and which you’ll leave to last"