Point Park dance season celebrates Pittsburgh ties

Post Gazette: "The talents of legendary choreographers, Pittsburgh natives and Point Park University students, faculty and alumni will take center stage during Point Park University's Conservatory Dance Company's 2010-11 season.
Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago will stage a one-night performance Sept. 25. The renowned original jazz dance company includes four Point Park alumni on its roster.

'Phantom of the Opera' doesn't diminish with time

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "When it debuted in London almost 25 years ago 'The Phantom of the Opera' ushered in the age of the mega-musical.
Andrew Lloyd Webber's Filled his musical to the saturation point with lavish and abundant scenery, flashy special effects — most notably its soaring, crashing crystal chandelier and its throbbing, emotionally overwrought score.
It captured the imaginations and affections of the casual theatergoing public.

‘Andrew Jackson’ and ‘Merchant’ Head to Broadway

NYTimes.com: "The hit Broadway revivals of “Hair” and “South Pacific” may have closed this summer, but they are continuing to pay important dividends for their producers, the Public Theater and Lincoln Center Theater.

Know When to Stop Talking

FreelanceSwitch: "I’m pretty sure I successfully managed to talk my way out of a new project. Yay. But at least I learned when to stop talking.

AutoCAD for Mac and iOS Announced

The CAD Geek Blog: "BIG NEWS – after an 18-year absence, AutoCAD is returning to the Mac! Of course, much to Autodesk’s dismay, this hasn’t exactly been a secret to nearly anyone following who follows the CAD industry. Now for the part I hadn’t expected (but makes perfect sense); AutoCAD is also coming to the iOS (aka. iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad).

Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre founder balances artistic risk, business sense

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Andrew S. Paul dreams big.
'I'd like to devote a festival to Chekhov. I want to do Alan Bennett's 'The Madness of George III.' But you need 35 actors. I'd like to do Stoppard's 'Coast of Utopia' trilogy. That also uses 35 actors,' Paul, the producing artistic director and cofounder of Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theater, says.
'I keep them in my head because, eventually, I will be able to do them. There's no reason to stop dreaming. If we didn't have aspirations, we would be really bored.'
Paul has neither the inclination nor the time to be bored.

Donmar Warehouse’s Broadway Transfers

NYTimes.com: "THE most counter-intuitive producing move on Broadway this summer was closing the hit play “Red” on June 27, just two weeks after it won six Tony Awards, including best play honors. Sure, its two actors, Alfred Molina and Eddie Redmayne, had to leave for other commitments. But with few plays on Broadway this summer — not a single nonmusical is running right now — the producers of “Red” stood to make a mint at the box office if they had recast with two big-name stars.

A day in the life of a theatre

thestar.com: "Looking forward to an enchanted evening at the theatre? Easy, right? Just buy a ticket.
Then, leave the rest to scores of people behind the scenes and at the front of house whose jobs are to make something so maddeningly complex seem so seamlessly carefree.

How the Washington Shakespeare Company came to offer Shakespeare in Klingon

Washington Post: "Don't you love that remarkable moment when roSenQatlh and ghIlDenSten exit the stage and Khamlet is left alone to deliver the immortal words: 'baQa', Qovpatlh, toy'wl'a' qal je jIH'?
No? Well, it always kills on Kronos.

Plays booking a novel source

Variety: "With a journo's typically unreliable 20-20 foresight, it's a good bet that the novel-to-stage adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's 'War Horse' looks to be one of the major events of the 2010-11 Broadway season. Then again, whether this Brit transfer turns into another hit (like 'Nicholas Nickleby') or a flop (like 'Coram Boy') won't be answered until April 14, when Nick Stafford's legit take on the book about a boy and his long-lost horse opens at LCT's Vivian Beaumont Theater.

Gemini's 'Beauty' mixes comedy, interaction to teach life lessons

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "In Gemini Theater's version of the classic fairy tale 'Sleeping Beauty,' viewers can count on additional quirky and modern twists, extra-funny characters and plenty of laughs, the show's directors say.

Technology in the Arts #72

Technology in the Arts: "In this episode of Technology in the Arts, Brad interviews Brett Jarvis, Technical Supervisor for THE RIDE, a multi-media, multi-discipline production that moves guests through midtown Manhattan on custom-built vehicles, while an ever-changing show featuring actors, performers, and everyday citizens unfolds on the streets before them. THE RIDE rolls out on September 16, 2010.

The ABC’s Of Getting “A”s and “B”s

College Candy: "In elementary school all that was required of us to get decent grades was coloring inside the lines. Middle school and high school introduced to the word “studying” and, soon after, a genuine dislike for the word. But college is where the work is no joke. The classes are hard. The workload is heavy. And the social scene is exploding. So how does a college girl stay on top of it all?

Edinburgh Festival Fringe - Voyeurs Have Roles, Too

NYTimes.com: "Sitting on a bus on a cool, misty evening here, an enthusiastic teenager chatted up nearly every one of the 15 riders, telling them about her recent move to Edinburgh from Nigeria, and about the things she planned to do in her Scottish environs. She and her “Auntie Martha” were on their way to a new life in an Edinburgh flat. A short time later, the bus riders would discover that this immigrant was not going to shop on the Royal Mile, visit Edinburgh Castle, see the Palace of Holyroodhouse or do anything else on her list. Instead, she was to be quickly assimilated into a world of sex slavery.

An Open Letter to Students on the Danger of Seeing School as a Trial to Survive

Study Hacks: "“The demands of imminent independence can worsen mental-health problems or create new ones for people who have managed up to that point to perform all the expected roles,” explains Henig. “[They] get lost when schooling ends and expected roles disappear.”
In other words, when you go through life thinking “if I can make it through this, things will be better later,” you eventually forget what “better” means.

Review: Theatrical Design and Production by Gillette

props: "The Sixth Edition of Theatrical Design and Production, by Michael Gillette was published in 2008. Gillette, a retired professor at the University of Arizona, first published this seminal textbook in 1987. Though pricey (it is a textbook, after all), it has not become the go-to text for stagecraft without earning it.

Use Two Identical Camcorders to Create Simple DIY 3D movies

Lifehacker: "Whether you're borrowing a buddy's or you've got two on hand, this clever guide will help you turn the output from matching video sources into 3D video.

Mendes to direct Spacey in 'Richard III'

Variety: "Sam Mendes will direct Kevin Spacey in Shakespeare's 'Richard III' in the title role at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, with an opening date in February 2012. Show will kick off the third and final season of Mendes' international series The Bridge Project, which has been pushed back from 2011 to allow the company to beef up the touring portion of the production.

Pittsburgh Ballet's new dancers to fill many shoes

Post Gazette: "The face of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre is still changing as the company prepares for its annual outdoor opening at Hartwood Acres Thursday. After slowly building the company to 30 members over the course of several years, artistic director Terrence Orr has cut the number of full-fledged company members to 28, which includes three apprentices.

Trevor Nunn to Be Visiting Professor at Oxford

Playbill.com: "Tony Award-winning director Trevor Nunn, currently represented on Broadway with the revival of A Little Night Music, will be the Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theater at St. Catherine's College in Oxford, according to the New York Times.

Replacement Casts Sometimes Improve Broadway

NYTimes.com: "Strange but true: The best new show in town this summer isn’t a new show at all, technically. The Broadway revival of “A Little Night Music” sings with new subtlety and emotional force now that the celebrated veterans Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch have taken over the key roles of Desirée Armfeldt and her caustic mum.

Sonic Alert Doesn't Want You To Sleep Through Class, Sends Free Alarm Clock

The Consumerist: "Justin writes that he is a college student and a heavy sleeper. Ordinarily, these are not a good combination, but he has a special weapon in the war on slumber: the Sonic Bomb alarm clock from Sonic Alert. The product is designed for the hard-of-hearing as well as sound sleepers. He explained his issues with the clock that led him to sleep in, and suggested some ways to improve the product. Instead of brushing off his concerns, Sonic Alert expressed concern that he was sleeping through class. They sent him--for free--a different clock with one of the features that would help Justin actually get up in the morning.

Rube Goldberg: The Man Behind the Machines

Gizmodo: "From the maddening board game Mouse Trap to that awesome OK GO video (to the hundreds of brilliant contraptions scattered across YouTube), Rube Goldberg machines continue to enjoy a widespread popularity. But who was Rube Goldberg in the first place?

How Do You Measure a Hit?

NYTimes.com: "For the sake of argument, let’s say that “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark,” the massive Julie Taymor musical opening in the fall, defies its doubters by earning glowing reviews, blockbuster word of mouth and a rise to the top tier of the box office charts. Not on the level of “Wicked,” exactly, but more like “Billy Elliot.” In other words, it’s consistently grossing somewhere in the ballpark of $1.1 million a week. Does that make it a hit?

New Kelly-Strayhorn Theater performance season cuts wide swath

Post Gazette: "Now heading into her third season at the Kelly-Strayhorn, Ms. Solomon's approach has had surprising appeal. Audiences are growing, even for more experimental productions such as Austria's Cie. Willi Dorner and the newMoves Contemporary Dance Festival. Audiences for those performances last year tended to be savvy and experienced. But the question-and-answer sessions afterward revealed some new patrons who wanted to learn more.

'Phantom of the Opera' on farewell tour

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "After 18 years on the road, the national touring company of 'The Phantom of the Opera' is nearing its journey's end.
Its Pittsburgh performances that run Wednesday through Sept. 19 are the next-to-the-last stop before the tour disbands.

A Fringe Festival That’s Too Tame? Too Bad

NYTimes.com: "A s someone who has covered almost every Fringe Festival since it began in 1997, the real problem now is that for the average theatergoer it remains too hard to find a good or interesting show. The reasons for this have as much to do with a lack of vision on the part of the producers as the talent level of the artists.

Overuse of Digital Devices May Lead to Brain Fatigue

NYTimes.com: "At the University of California, San Francisco, scientists have found that when rats have a new experience, like exploring an unfamiliar area, their brains show new patterns of activity. But only when the rats take a break from their exploration do they process those patterns in a way that seems to create a persistent memory of the experience.

Allen Says New York Too Expensive to Shoot Films

Backstage: "Woody Allen says he began shooting movies in European cities because he couldn't afford to do it any more in New York.

Autodesk Dorm Design Contest

The CAD Geek Blog: "Getting ready to go off to college (or know someone who is)? Autodesk is taking its free Autodesk Homestyler product that’s simple enough to use, even students from [insert name of college that (in your certainly unbiased opinion) have the dumbest students] can figure it out to the dorms. Just yesterday the Autodesk Dorm Design Contest was announced. The essence of the contest is this, design your dream dorm room using the free cloud-based Autodesk Homestyler product and win up-to a $500 back-to-school shopping spree at Target.

Students, Welcome to College; Parents, Go Home

Post Gazette: "When University of Minnesota freshmen move in at the end of this month, parental separation will be a little sneakier: mothers and fathers will be invited to a reception elsewhere so students can meet their roommates and negotiate dorm room space -- without adult meddling.

Lecture Previews

The Tartan Online

How To Avoid Writing an Awful Cover Letter

Gawker: "If you're wasting time reading this right now, you probably need a better job. That means you need a good cover letter. Allow us to give you some tips for success—with counterexamples from an all-too-real hilariously bad cover letter.

Project Photofly is Alive in the Autodesk Lab!

Lynn Allen's Blog: "So do you regularly check out the Autodesk Labs for great free software? Here you'll find all types of great programs to help make your design life easier (or at least more fun!). Just recently the Autodesk Lab posted Project Photofly - a great means of creating 3D models from photographs using the web. It's simply a process of stitching the photos together - absolutely amazing!

Meet Compulsion puppeteer Emily DeCola

Berkeley Rep Blog: "From our offices we can look down into the rehearsal hall, where actors Mandy Patinkin, Hannah Cabell, and Matte Osian, along with director Oskar Eustis and puppeteers Emily DeCola, Daniel Fay, and Eric Wright are working their way through Rinne Groff's Compulsion, our season opener.