_L'etoile_ gives students a night at the opera

The Tartan Online: L’etoile, which literally translates to “The Star,” tells the story of Lazuli, a poor peddler who falls in love with a princess, Laoula, who is destined to be married to the king, Ouf. When Lazuli denounces the king and slaps him, Ouf orders Lazuli dead, but his royal astrologer explains that with Lazuli’s death, the king’s death follows closely. Through a series of dramatic events, Lazuli ends up marrying Laoula, only to appear dead shortly after, having apparently been shot by officials. When Lazuli reappears alive after swimming in a lake, Ouf is so overwhelmed that he gives his blessing for Lazuli and Laoula to live happily together — a rare happy ending for an opera.

Eight new programs combine design, art, and technology

The Tartan Online: Last year, about 100 Carnegie Mellon faculty sat down to decide what Carnegie Mellon does best. The list was narrowed down to eight discreet categories that have become the eight concentrations available in the Integrative Design, Arts, and Technology Network (IDeATe) program.
In this program, students from any academic background can choose from one of eight interdisciplinary concentrations, which include: animation and special effects, entrepreneurship for creative industries, game design, intelligent environment, learning media, media design, physical computing, and sound design.

Audio Technology Redefining Art

Pro Sound Web: Theatrical productions have been staged in many forms and venues over the years, ranging from traditional proscenium arch theatres to outdoor Shakespearian-inclined stages, from theaters-in-the-round to “black boxes,” and plenty more.
But I recently checked out something altogether different, a new avant-garde opera production entitled Invisible Cities that was staged inside the general transit area of Union Station in downtown Los Angeles.

James Bedell: Broadway Green Alliance

Education content from Live Design Magazine: Lighting designer James Bedell of The Broadway Green Alliance stopped by Studio Live Design at LDI2013 to chat about the Alliance's new Greener Lighting Guide.

Artistic homes? Excerpts from a recent talk …

Jumper: Last week I gave a brief talk in Edinburgh (at an event sponsored by Mission, Models, Money) for a small gathering of leaders in the arts and culture sector. The aim was of the meeting was to examine and reframe thinking about building-based arts and cultural organizations. I happened to read a book on reframing over the holidays—Reframing: The Art of Thinking Differently, by Karim Benammar. Reframing is a technique that Benammar uses to help individuals and organizations ask themselves two questions: Why do we do the things we do? How can we do things differently?

Antipermanence: An Argument for Increased Infrastructural Ephemerality in America’s Nonprofit Theaters

HowlRound: Many theater practitioners believe that nonprofit theaters in the United States are ailing. Among them, the word “broken” is thrown around over and over on industry panels, in articles, classrooms, and many corners of the Internet, yielding significant intra-industry agreement that something is wrong. Around the country, organizations producing new and reimagined works for the theater have become bloated and complacent—traits which are reflected year after year in the work on their stages. Regurgitated formulaic family dramas, diluted, stale productions of last season’s mild Broadway success, and the perfunctory nods to diversity that, at best, result in tired productions of August Wilson, populate the stages of America’s nonprofit theaters.

Allison Jones, The Woman Who Helped Spur The Rise Of The Hollywood Geek

Fast Company | Business + Innovation: Allison Jones hates the word “discover.”
“Don’t use that. I don’t ever take credit for discovering anybody, except for McLovin on Superbad.”
The casting director is being characteristically humble. In fact, Jones is not only the reason that Christopher Mintz-Plasse was plucked out of an L.A.-area high school (a friend’s mom suggested he respond to the fliers that had put up around school seeking “nerdy high school boys”) and thrust into the spotlight as the scrawny, fake-ID-procuring sidekick in the 2007 Seth Rogen comedy, she’s also the reason that an ungodly tall and gawky commercial actor named Timothy Simons is now better known as Jonah on HBO’s Veep.

Actors' Equity Members Discuss Tour Wages

NYTimes.com: The Actors’ Equity union, which represents thousands of theater performers, laid groundwork on Monday afternoon for its next round of contract negotiations with producers, in 2015, by holding a town hall meeting about rank-and-file concerns over low salaries for several Equity tours of Broadway musicals.

Stuff To Ponder: The Working Job Interview

Butts In the Seats: Earlier this month, I read an interview with WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg about his company, Automattic’s, hiring process. The title of the interview, Hire by Audition, Not Resumes, is what caught my eye.
What Automattic does is pay potential hires to do short term work for them so they can get a real sense of the person they might be potentially working with long term. Mullenweg says they hire about 40% of those who tryout and have very low employee turnover.

What effect will the Super Bowl have on Broadway?

The Producer's Perspective: If you think The Return of the Polar Vortex is having a cooling effect on the Broadway Box Office, there could be an even bigger storm a brewin’ that’s set to arrive in two weeks.
Of course, I’m talking about the Super Invasion that takes place not just on Sunday, Feb 2nd, but the entire week before! That’s when the Super Bowl comes to town in what is going to be the first Super Bowl to be played outdoors in a cold weather environment.

Pittsburgh Public Theater's production 'Company' looks at N.Y. marriages

TribLIVE: When Stephen Sondheim's “Company” debuted on Broadway in 1970, it was revolutionary, Ted Pappas says.
It was the first plotless musical, and its story was circular, not chronological.
“It dared in its subject matter, tone and structure, and it succeeded,” says Pappas, who is directing and choreographing the Pittsburgh Public Theater production that begins performances Jan. 23 at the O'Reilly Theater, Downtown.

Opera review: Pittsburgh Opera's approach gives 'Dark Sisters' added punch

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The ending of Nico Muhly's "Dark Sisters" taps you on the shoulder before it punches you in the gut.
The main character Eliza -- one of the opera's five sister-wives who belong to a polygamist sect -- is about to depart from her family's compound in the American Southwest. "Only lonely me," she sings, as she prepares to leave the familiar realm she inhabits for the unknown world beyond, following the instinct that the latter must, somehow, be better.

Ask Doctor G

Carnegie Mellon University | CMU: Dr. Deborah Gilboa (A'92) is a woman of many talents.
From stage manager at The Second City to family physician and television host fluent in American Sign Language (ASL), she remains grateful to Carnegie Mellon University for its part in her varied successes.
The Chicago native came to CMU for its renowned School of Drama — celebrating its centennial this year — to concentrate on stage management and lighting design.

‘Fiesta Flamenca’ celebrates Pittsburgh’s Spanish folk scene at New Hazlett Theater

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: What’s the best way to catch a flamenco dancer? Cast a net.
No, sorry, that’s not right. The best way is to go to the New Hazlett Theater in Allegheny Square on the North Side tonight for Fiesta Flamenca, Pittsburgh’s biannual celebration of Spanish folk music.
It’s a wonderful, whirling experience of the music, singing and dancing that is of gypsy lore, presented by Carolina Loyola-Garcia and Alba Flamenca.

New Digital Platform, Stage 17, Bets on the Broadway Demographic

Variety: Stage 17, launching a public beta next month ahead of a wider rollout later in the spring, targets a mostly female demographic of tech-savvy, cultured 25-to-54-year-olds, an audience segment its founders believe are underserved for digital video content — and one that matches up neatly with the influential demo that has long been responsible for the majority of Broadway ticket sales.

Opera Gets Sexy: Brokeback Mountain Opera Dress Rehearsal Photos

Out Magazine: When we spoke to composer Charles Wuorinen about his Brokeback Mountain opera before rehearsals began at Madrid's Teatro Real, he said he was surprised by how rapidly social attitudes toward gay men loving and marrying had changed since he began the project, and he openly wondered how people would respond to the Brokeback Mountain opera’s tragic story.

These Intricate Collars Look Like Fish Bones, Are Actually 3D-Printed

gizmodo.com: These complex collars look like like they're made from freaky shark jaws or the skeleton of some crazy underwater menace, but they were actually borne directly from a 3D printer. MadLab designer Madeline Gannon did start with an aquatic inspiration, though—the virtual movement of a digital squid.

Cricut Explore could be the offspring of a printer and a paper cutter

www.gizmag.com: If you're a crafter, then it's quite likely that you spend a lot of time cutting intricate designs out of materials like paper, cloth or poster board. While it certainly adds to the artistic merit of the project if you do everything by hand, the fact is that not everyone has the necessary manual dexterity – or simply the talent. Well, before too long, such people will be able to make use of the Cricut Explore electronic cutting machine.

Directing, Creative Freedom, and Vandalism

Bitter Gertrude: Once upon a time I worked at a theatre that received two cease-and-desist orders in two seasons– one for copying dialogue from a Disney film word-for-word and performing it without permission, and one for rewriting the lyrics to Godspell. The artistic director of the company told me, “The New Testament is so boring! Stephen Schwartz would have LOVED what we did with it if he had seen it. Ours was SO MUCH BETTER.” She then proceeded to tell me that she had learned her lesson, and asked me to write a commission contract for a playwright that would give her “total artistic control” over what the playwright wrote. “It’s my idea to adapt [name of book she didn't write nor for which she possessed the adaptation rights] into a musical, so I own it.” Instead of writing her contract, I quit.

Stylebook Snapshot: Pittsburgh debutante designs her own dress

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Sarah Deiseroth, 17, of Fox Chapel was bored by the full-bottomed, strapless ball gowns common to cotillions.
"I didn't really find anything that caught my eye," she said about shopping for a formal white dress to wear to the annual charity Cinderella Ball, held Saturday night at the Omni William Penn, Downtown. "I didn't want something that I knew a lot of girls would be wearing."
The Shady Side Academy senior decided to design her own, with some help from Kenneth Chu, costume shop manager at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama.

Marc Maron on Playing Black Sabbath for Teens, Trying the Opera, and Being 'Late to the Party'

SPIN | Q & A: Veteran comedian and late-breaking podcast superstar Marc Maron released his latest special, Thinky Pain, via Netflix in October. The 90-minute show — which gets the CD and DVD treatment this week — finds him in his usual deep-diving, storytelling form, perched atop a barstool and waxing hilarious on topics ranging from a Chinese-food binge to a particularly notable Bill Hicks meltdown to dealing with "morning zoo" radio nonsense to making loved ones cry.

The Cost of a Musical on Broadway Infographic

Infographics Showcase: This infographic was able to bring the feel of theater into a single design.The colors used in the Wicked section were a perfect choice that fit well with the subject. The charts that were used to show the costs of the show were ones that have already been done. It would have been nice to see something a little more creative to show these costs especially when discussing such a creative topic.

Pittsburgh, Allegheny County explore reprieve for debt-ridden Wilson Center

TribLIVE: Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said he and Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto have been quietly trying to broker a plan to salvage the debt-ridden August Wilson Center for African American Arts and expect to make an announcement within the next few days.

Guy Hoffman: Robots with "soul"

Video on TED.com: What kind of robots does an animator / jazz musician / roboticist make? Playful, reactive, curious ones. Guy Hoffman shows demo film of his family of unusual robots -- including two musical bots that like to jam with humans.

End of film: Paramount first studio to stop distributing film prints

latimes.com: In a historic step for Hollywood, Paramount Pictures has become the first major studio to stop releasing movies on film in the United States.
Paramount recently notified theater owners that the Will Ferrell comedy “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues,” which opened in December, would be the last movie that would it would release on 35-millimeter film.

Four people hurt as Fuerzabruta set collapses on Roundhouse audience

Stage | theguardian.com: Three audience members and a performer were injured when a piece of machinery collapsed into the crowd at Friday night's performance of the popular circus show Fuerzabruta.
The immersive circus show, which is currently playing its third stint at the Roundhouse in London, was halted after about half an hour, when a piece of moving stage equipment – a mechanical sail that rotates above the audience – suffered a malfunction.

Having Gone Largely Unnoticed In The 'Game Of Thrones' Series, It's Now Impossible To Take Your Eyes Off It

Smatterist: You’re probably a big fan of Game of Thrones and you may have even watched the series at least a dozen times in anticipation of the new season. But through all those viewings, did you ever notice the attention to detail that goes into the show? For example, the costumes. Have you ever really looked at the intricate designs on all of them? You probably haven’t, but after seeing these, you won’t be able to ignore them.

Off-Broadway comedy funded by travel industry

Yahoo News: A new off-Broadway comedy about a pair of travel agents and their wacky clientele's demands has an unusual source of funding.
It's underwritten by the very industry it portrays.
"Craving for Travel" is the brainchild of Jim Strong, who owns a $40 million-a-year luxury travel company in Dallas and wrote two self-published books with the same name as the play. Strong's co-sponsors for the show include Viking and Holland America cruise lines, Travel + Leisure magazine and the Four Seasons hotel chain.

A Dancer & Health Insurance

FROM THE GREEN ROOM: Dance/USA's e-Journal: I have been without health insurance for one year, three months, and 10 days as of today. I am 27 years old, physically active, have no chronic health problems that require treatment or medication. I don’t smoke. I only drink on occasion (and then in moderation), and as a freelance dancer and part-time non-profit administrator in New York, I make about $22,000 a year after taxes. I am at once exactly the kind of person the Affordable Care Act was written for, and exactly the kind of person they are afraid won’t sign up.

National theatres to work together for first time on James history plays

Production News : The Stage: The national theatres of Scotland and Great Britain are to collaborate for the first time, with a major trilogy of history plays to premiere at this August’s Edinburgh International Festival.
The James Plays, an EIF co-production, will cover the lives of James I, II and III of Scotland. Written by Rona Munro, they will be directed by NTS artistic director Laurie Sansom. After opening at the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh, they will transfer to the National Theatre’s Oliver Theatre for a London run in September and October this year.

3D-Printed Nails Are Way Crazier Than Your Typical Press-Ons

gizmodo.com: Man, I really love nail art. You might not share the same kind of enthusiasm for crazy custom manicures, but we can all agree that the Laser Girls' 3D-printed nails are decidedly cooler than your average press-on acrylics.

Real estate experts say uses are limited for August Wilson Center suitors

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Investors might not line up to buy the August Wilson Center for African American Culture even if a former U.S. bankruptcy court judge gets the go ahead to sell it.
Interest in the Downtown property with the distinctive sailboat feature may be limited, given that it was built solely as a performing arts, exhibition and educational venue, real estate experts said Thursday.
"I don't know how big of a market there is for that kind of space," said Gerry McLaughlin, executive managing director of the Newmark Grubb Knight Frank real estate firm. "Like any single-purpose building, I've got to believe that it will not be easy to turn it into something else."

Russell Crowe film wins state tax credit

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The main hurdle to Russell Crowe returning to Pittsburgh has fallen as the state approved a film tax credit for "Fathers and Daughters" late Thursday.
Gabriele Muccino, who directed Will Smith to an Oscar nomination in "The Pursuit of Happyness," is expected to make the movie with Mr. Crowe, Amanda Seyfried and Aaron Paul. It could start shooting as early as March.

Billy Porter's 'While I Yet Live' to debut off-Broadway in fall

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The autobiographical play "While I Yet Live" by Tony-winning Pittsburgher Billy Porter will have its world premiere at the off-Broadway Primary Stages theater later this year.
"It's a kitchen-sink drama about me and my family, set in Pittsburgh," Mr. Porter said in June, a few days after he was honored as best actor in a musical for his role as the flamboyant Lola in "Kinky Boots." The play spans 1994 to 2008.

Belle of Broadway

Carnegie Mellon University | CMU: Carnegie Mellon University's Cherry Jones (A'78) was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame on Jan. 27 at the Gershwin Theatre in New York City.
The School of Drama alumna was welcomed along with seven other accomplished professionals: Ellen Burstyn, Jerry Zaks, George C. Wolfe, Lynne Meadow, Cameron Mackintosh, David Hays and Lorraine Hansberry.
College of Fine Arts Dean Dan Martin and School of Drama Head Peter Cooke were on hand to congratulate Jones on her accomplishment.

Small theaters reel as movies go digital

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Anyone who suspected movie theaters or drive-ins were crying wolf over the need to raise $65,000 or $75,000 for a digital projector need only look to "The Wolf of Wall Street."
Paramount Pictures has become the first big studio to stop releasing its major movies, including the Oscar-nominated saga about a stockbroker wallowing in excess, on film in the United States, the Los Angeles Times recently reported.

2013 Carnegie International's reach is local as well as global

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Carnegie International curators typically travel the globe to find the most interesting contemporary art to exhibit in Pittsburgh. One of the things that distinguishes the current International is the extent to which the curators have also managed to include the most interesting conversations they've had.

“The Mountaintop” at City Theatre

The Pittsburgh Tatler: The setting of Katori Hall’s play The Mountaintop (currently running at City Theatre) reveals nearly everything we need to know about what is at stake in the action: “Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel, Memphis, Tennessee, April 3, 1968” – the evening before Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on the balcony outside that very room. It is a dark and stormy night; and the cliché of that opening seems a deliberate one, an early indication of the play’s interest in taking its audience on a journey from stereotype and “what we (think we) know” to the unexpected surprises that are revealed when clichés, stereotypes, and everything we (think we) know is subjected to closer inspection.

Broadway's "Machinal" Gets a Helping Hand From the Audience

Metropolis - WSJ: The show must go on, even when the set breaks down.
At the opening of the play “Machinal” at Broadway’s American Airlines Theater on Thursday night, the giant rotating set stopped working a few minutes into the show, halting the production for about an hour. A team of volunteers, including stage hands and crew members who were attending the opening night performance as guests, saved the day by manually pushing the 30,000 pound set during scene changes.

The Russian Broadway Community Responds to Russian Anti-Gay Propoganda Law

fbomb: Anybody who has been paying even a modicum of attention to the 2014 Winter Olympics knows about the outrage caused by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to sign into law an act prohibiting the promotion of nontraditional sexual relationships to minors. The law isn’t only disappointing from a basic human rights perspective, but specifically worrisome for gay Olympians, who fear they may face discrimination or even arrest while participating in the games. Activists all over the world have made their feelings about this situation known — from American LGBTQ groups to Sweden to, now, even the Broadway community.

Public Theater Announces 2014-2015 Emerging Writers Group Cohort

Stage Directions: The Public Theater has named the 10 playwrights that will be a part of their 2014-2015 Emerging Writers Group. Selected from more than 475 applicants, the 2014-15 Emerging Writers are Kevin Artigue, Damon Chua, Keli Goff, Ricardo Pérez González, Glenn Gordon, Elizabeth Irwin, Paola Lázaro-Muñoz, Patricia Ione Lloyd, Jiehae Park, and Sarah Sander. The Emerging Writers Group is part of the Public’s efforts to support more writers. The cohort will receive a two-year fellowship at The Public which includes a stipend. Staged readings of works by Emerging Writers Group members are presented in the Spotlight Series at The Public. The playwrights also participate in a bi-weekly writers group led by The Public’s literary department and master classes led by established playwrights. Additionally, they have a chance to observe rehearsals for productions at The Public, receive career development advice from mid-career and established writers, and receive artistic and professional support from the literary department and Public artistic staff.

Lovecraftian rant about the horrors of Blackboard

Boing Boing: Anyone who's ever had the misfortune to attend or work at an academic institution that uses the horrible classroom software Blackboard knows that it is a worse-than-useless exercise in technological sadism that is responsible for more pain and suffering than practically any other technology in educational history.

Saturation of Shakespeare Offers Tough Choices

NYTimes.com: Not all potential theatergoers look to New York’s stages hoping to see singing Mormons or the warbling witches of Oz, and this season, producers would give their horses, if not their kingdoms, for their attention and ticket-buying dollars.
The current theater season has been a veritable snob’s paradise, with Broadway offering four Shakespeare productions, including an acclaimed “Twelfth Night” and “Richard III”; two plays by the Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter; and Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot.” Off Broadway has yielded two incarnations of “Hamlet”; a “Midsummer Night’s Dream” directed by Julie Taymor; and yet another “Twelfth Night” on the way.

Review: New opera tells emotionally intense story of 'Dark Sisters'

TribLIVE: Pittsburgh Opera's annual January productions at Creative and Performing Arts High School have built a loyal following. The shows feature uncommonly interesting repertoire, often contemporary opera, performed by the company's resident artists.

London’s Dark Musicals ‘American Psycho’ and ‘Stephen Ward’

NYTimes.com: There’s no accounting, it seems, for the unspeakable places a man might be driven by a wayward libido. On my first morning on British soil this month, I opened the newspaper to discover not one but three accounts of eminent entertainment personalities — a soap opera star, a disc jockey, a broadcaster — charged with molesting girls and women.

New Broadli App Will Help You Actually Use Your Sprawling LinkedIn Network

Fast Company | Business + Innovation: Unless you enforce a strict selectivity policy, there's a good chance your LinkedIn network has some significant percentage of complete strangers who may never be able to help you professionally--or who may, and you'd never know it.
New mobile app Broadli aims to rein in the perpetual disorganization of professional social networks, helping people find those connections, or connections of connections, who can help them most, and vice versa.

Jason Robert Brown, Back in New York, With ‘Madison County’

NYTimes.com: The composer Jason Robert Brown is never happier than when surrounded by musicians. Kibitzing with the string section, directing the percussionist to feather in the high-hat more softly, poking fun at his own orchestrations, Mr. Brown, 43, was in his element on a recent Thursday at a musical theater ritual known as the sitzprobe, an evocative German term for the first time the full orchestra plays with the cast.

SmartUse Touch Table: Bigger is Better

CAD Insider: Think of an iPad as big as a picture window. Luckily, it's on a stand, so you don't have to hold it. You and your team members can all look the same drawing in actual size wthout bang your heads together or getting in each others' space.

Is It Worth The Wait In Line?

ExhibiTricks: The Museum Exhibit Design Blog: Over this past year I've gone to several art exhibitions that, during the course of their runs, turned into high-profile "must see" events. Consequently, the exhibitions developed long waiting lines, which became stories themselves, which in turn generated even longer lines, and stories and social media moaning-and-groaning about the lines.

Can hoist hooks be repaired?

blog.cmworks.com: LodestarHook During my training sessions, I am frequently asked if hoist hooks can be repaired if they are damaged or broken. OSHA and ASME regulations provide specific requirements for hoist hook repair to help answer this question.
According to OSHA 1910.179 (L)(3)(iii)(A), hook repairs by welding or reshaping are not generally recommended. If such repairs are attempted they shall be done under competent supervision and the hook shall be load tested before further use.

NBC Will Air a Live Version of Peter Pan in Less Than a Year

jezebel.com: Thanks to all the people who hate watched NBC's live broadcast of Carrie Underwood screaming at American in a dirndl, NBC is going to go ahead and air a live version of Peter Pan. Excited? You should be — Miley Cyrus is rumored to be in talks for the lead (that's a joke, of course, but still — how far off could that be?).

Coming up April 5: The 2014 Thea Awards Gala

InPark Magazine: The annual Thea Awards organized by the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) recognize excellence in the creation of compelling experiences and places. The Theas Nominating Committee itself is a veritable who’s who of attractions industry legends, including the likes of Marty Sklar, Phil Hettema, Kim Irvine, Joe Rohde, Bob Rogers and Robert Ward (See IPM’s interviews with Marty Sklar, Phil Hettema and Robert Ward). Every year, this committee sits down to review something like 150 nominations and extract from that a slate of award recipients. Given that TEA represents an industry that is increasingly international in scope, a concerted effort was made to encourage nominations from all corners of the world and the 2014 slate of 13 recipients is very well balanced in that regard, with 4 from North America, 4 from Europe and 4 from Asia – plus the lifetime achiever, Garner Holt, who we are shining a spotlight on here.

More on Cirque Theatrical via Montreal Gazette

www.cirquefascination.com: Cirque du Soleil announced the launch of a new division called Cirque du Soleil Theatrical this week.
It will be headed by Scott Zeiger, a co-founding partner of Base Entertainment and a former executive at Clear Channel.
Zeiger’s job will be to develop new theatrical opportunities for Cirque du Soleil and to create content intended for Broadway, Las Vegas, London’s West End and other major theatre destinations around the world.
At the moment, Cirque shows play under the big top, or in arenas or specially designed permanent mega-theatres, mainly in Las Vegas.

Thanking the Directors

HowlRound: It’s American; you move. That’s what Americans do. You change houses. You move, you change. The furniture’s yours; you hope that, in some way, its disparate styles and combinations represent you, your larger life. But on any number of scheduled occasions, over a lifetime, you stand in a container of empty rooms and wonder why you’ve done what you’ve done: moved, relocated, upscaled, downscaled.

Safely Aloft

Occupational Health & Safety: Fall protection was number one among the top 10 most frequently cited federal OSHA standards in 2012. In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the leading cause of worker deaths on construction sites is falling. In 2011, a staggering 35 percent of total deaths in construction were due to an unprotected fall. While the existing OSHA general industry standards recognize the use of guardrails and physical barriers as the primary methods for employee protection against falls, those standards also recognize that personal fall protection systems can provide more effective means for employee protection.

Art in good health: how science and culture mix the best medicine

Culture professionals network | Guardian Professional: Anna Dumitriu turns bacteria into art. She has stitched strains of MRSA into a quilt; she has crocheted with the bacteria Staphylococcus epidermidis, found on her own bed. For her latest exhibition, The Romantic Disease – just opened at the Watermans arts centre in Brentford, west London – she has made a series of tiny lungs out of felt, dust and tuberculosis samples.

Miller Gallery director Astria Suparak removed as CMU plans "new direction" for gallery

Blogh | Pittsburgh City Paper: Miller Gallery Director Astria Suparak, who brought exhibits examining everything from Pittsburgh Steelers fandom to riot grrrl culture to Carnegie Mellon University, has been terminated, City Paper has learned.

Studio Live Design On Air: Kevin Adams

Education content from Live Design Magazine: Ellen Lampert-Gréaux, creative director of Studio Live Design, interviews three-time Tony Award-winning lighting designer Kevin Adams whose quirky, visually compelling design style won him top honors for American Idiot, The 39 Steps, and Spring Awakening. He is currently working on the Broadway version of Hedwig and The Angry Inch.

Safety Training is Overrated

Occupational Health & Safety: Before I get pummeled by every safety manager, trainer, and supervisor, let me explain why safety training is overrated. It is not because safety training isn't important, it's precisely because it is so important that it needs to change.

Not Burning Down the House

Stage Directions: Fire is almost commonplace in Broadway theatres this year. There was a burning cross onstage during A Time To Kill and three battens of fire lit up several scenes in the recent production of Romeo and Juliet. Special effects design consultant Jeremy Chernick assisted Gregory Meeh with the former show and designed the effects for the latter. To make the effect happen safely he leaned on his years of experience to help him understand both the engineering of the effect and the process of working within fire regulations and with the New York Fire Department.

#NFTRW

This week's rundown:

1. Why Weird People Are Often More Creative
2. Why Trying to Be Perfect Won't Help You Achieve Your Goals (And What Will)
3. What is a Lumen, What is Lux, and More LED Flashlight Technical Mumbo Jumbo
4. Disney Confirms That Frozen Will Skate Its Way to Broadway
5. SwatchMate Cube lets you capture and reproduce colors
6. Stuff To Ponder: What Is The Definition of Emergency?
7. Meryl Streep's Feminist Tribute to Emma Thompson
8. Actors Jam Meeting to Seek Higher Pay for Tours
9. Helen Kelly: The Hobbit Dispute
10. Create A Fake Artist's Portfolio In Seconds

Featuring Jody, Eleanor, Quin, and Jess

NFTRW Weekly Top Five

Here are the top five comment generating posts of the past week...

10 Movies That Define Pittsburgh

www.buzzfeed.com: Pittsburgh may not be America’s entertainment capital, but it has been the background for more than a few films. These 10 films came the closest to encapsulating the Western Pennsylvania experience, presented in chronological order

Posted by David at 1/24/2014 11:24:00 AM

The Weirdest Interview Questions Hiring Managers Ask

Fast Company | Business + Innovation: Glassdoor on Friday released its list of the top 25 oddball interview questions, which were compiled by its data science team based on tags and community feedback. While the list is tech-heavy, it's not just Silicon Valley that's fond of brainteasers. Other companies have been known to throw such curveballs, including Bed Bath & Beyond ("If you were a box of cereal, what would you be and why?”), Urban Outfitters (“You're a new addition to the crayon box, what color would you be and why?”), Applebee's ("What is the funniest thing that has happened to you recently?"), and Norwegian Cruise Line ("Do you believe in Bigfoot?").

Posted by David at 1/25/2014 03:46:00 PM

8 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Just Rely On SpellCheck

www.lifehack.org: “She could sew seeds better than she could sew clothes.”
The above sentence is one that I came across while reading a self-published novel the other day, and is a perfect example why one cannot merely rely on a spell-checking program to ensure that one’s writing is error-free. Although “sew” and “sow” are homophones (they sound the same despite having different spellings and meanings), they are obviously not interchangeable: we sow seeds, and sew clothes.

Posted by David at 1/24/2014 11:28:00 AM

Actor loses voice on stage during Sam Mendes's King Lear

Stage | theguardian.com: It is every actor's nightmare: losing your voice on stage in front of a packed house. But during Tuesday's preview performance of Sam Mendes's King Lear at the National Theatre, with Simon Russell Beale in the title role, that was exactly what happened.

Posted by David at 1/25/2014 03:44:00 PM

7 Things You Need To Do To Avoid Mental Burnout

www.lifehack.org: It’s way too easy to get swept up in the daily grind of work. Bringing home that stress cuts into your family time, and you already have enough going on with your home life. Trying to balance a social life and more on top of all of that only adds to the weight on your shoulders. When all of this adds up, you might feel like you can’t tackle anything, even the simplest of daily tasks. These tips will help you avoid mental burnout and all the unhappiness it can bring into your life.

Posted by David at 1/23/2014 01:29:00 PM