Stop "Defending" Music Education

Peter Greene: Today I ran across one more xeroxed handout touting the test-taking benefits of music education, defending music as a great tool for raising test scores and making students smarter. It was just one more example among many of the "keep music because it helps with other things" pieces out there.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival goes union with IATSE

nwLaborPress | nwLaborPress: Backstage crew members at Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) in Ashland voted 37 to 25 to unionize with International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) in a June 10 election overseen by the National Labor Relations Board. The lead-up to the vote lacked the rancor of union campaigns elsewhere: Union supporters never trashed managers, and managers kept their “anti” campaign fairly mellow.

Why artists are saying no to TTIP

Business | The Guardian: A group of artists including actors Ruth Wilson, Andrew Scott and Juliet Stevenson and designer Vivienne Westwood are fronting a campaign ( artistsagainstttip.org) to raise public awareness of the trade deal TTIP (pronounced tee-tip) which is being secretly negotiated between the EU and the US.

Talkin' Broadway Regional News & Reviews - "Ever After" - 6/3/15

www.talkinbroadway.com: It isn't quite there yet, but Ever After, the brand new musical based on the 1998 movie of the same name, is so chock full of musical theatre excellence—in its delightfully witty and contemporary minded book and lyrics, its wide range of beautiful, rousing, and rollicking traditional theatre music, and in the richly entertaining singing, dancing and acting of its outstanding company—that it may well become one for the ages.

The Top Bottoms Of Broadway Are Stripping Everything Off For You–And For A Great Cause

Queerty: Each year Broadway’s best spice up Pride month with Broadway Bares, a night of burlesque benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Last year the event raised $1,386,105 for services for people with AIDS and critical illnesses.

College is not a commodity. Stop treating it like one.

The Washington Post: Pick up any paper or magazine, and you’re likely to see a front-page article on college: It costs too much, spawns too much debt, is or isn’t worth it. I entered academia 52 years ago as a student of Latin and Greek expecting to enter a placid sector of American life, and now find my chosen profession at the center of a media maelstrom. With college replacing high school as the required ticket for a career, what used to be a quiet corner is now a favorite target of policymakers and pundits. Unfortunately, most commentary on the value of college is naive, or worse, misleading.

The DoSeum, San Antonio’s New Children’s Museum, Turns STEM and Literacy Education into a Fun Adventure

InPark Magazine: The newest children’s museum in the coutnry, The DoSeum. Opened June 6 adjacent to San Antonio’s renowned Brackenridge Park, The DoSeum presents countless opportunities for children to discover, explore, create and learn. With world-class exhibits and sustainable, thoughtful architecture, it is poised to be one of the leading children’s museums in the nation. The museum will educate by using every inch of its 104,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space.

Acceptance Speech: Lisa Kron

YouTube: NAME received the 1992 Tony Award for his/her XXX in "SHOW" - Category

Ocean County Backs Steiner’s Attempt to Reopen Surflight Theatre

Surf City, NJ - The SandPaper: No agreement has been reached to save Surflight Theatre and the Beach Haven site may yet head to a bankruptcy auction on July 9. But the Ocean County Board of Freeholders has come down squarely on the side of former Surflight Producing Artistic Director Steve Steiner. The freeholders passed a resolution supporting Steiner’s effort to buy the Surflight complex and re-open the theater.

Review: Alvin Ailey Troupe Dances ‘Exodus’ at Koch Theater

NYTimes.com: When a choreographer creates a work for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, it can seem that only one option exists: try to make another “Revelations.” That, after all, is the signature work, the fail-safe masterpiece that closes nearly every performance. And although its representation of struggle and spiritual transcendence through dance has inspired many bad copies, it has also served as the model for many of the best pieces made for the troupe in recent years: Ronald K. Brown’s 1999 “Grace,” Rennie Harris’s 2011 “Home” — and now, Mr. Harris’s “Exodus.”

Generation NEXT: Carter Redwood, actor

New Pittsburgh Courier: Charismatic energy and infectious enthusiasm exude from Carter Redwood, 23, when he talks of being able to live in New York City as he pursues his acting career.

PICT postpones 'Saint Joan'; will move from Pitt theaters

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: PICT Classic Theatre has postponed its September production of “Saint Joan,” replacing it with the two-character play “Educating Rita” as part of a planned restructuring that was forced into action sooner than expected. The current season, the company’s 20th, was planned in August 2014, when the company expected it would be able to stay in the University of Pittsburgh’s Stephen Foster Memorial theaters until 2017. A few months ago, PICT head Alan Stanford got word that Pitt’s theater department would be expanding and needed the space by next year.

Acceptance Speech: Paule Constable

YouTube: Paule Constable of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time accepting a Tony Award during the Creative Arts Awards portion of the 2015 Tony ceremony, presented by City National Bank.

I'm a professor. My colleagues who let their students dictate what they teach are cowards.

Vox: When I read about professors being afraid of their own students and changing what they teach in response to that fear, I'm struck by two things. First, I understand why they're afraid. After my decade and a half in the classroom, I can confidently add to the chorus suggesting that universities increasingly treat students like consumers. As administrators seem more concerned with enrollment dollars than students' learning, instructors receive a clear message: "The customer is always right."

Alan Cumming: Hosting the Tonys was terrifying – and surprising

The Globe and Mail: On Sunday night, I had one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. I was with an old and dear friend. A deafening, low boom was emanating all around us. We were holding hands so tightly I could feel her fingernails piercing into my flesh. Our hearts were pounding, our dry mouths clicking. A kind man came forward from the shadows and opened a bottle of water. We both guzzled hungrily from it.

“Fun Home” Made History Last Night and This Is Entirely About That

Autostraddle: On the evening of June 7th, The Tony Awards were broadcast into a whole bunch of homes via teevee. On the evening of June 7th, history was made when Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori became the first entirely female writing team to win for book and score; when Sydney Lucas sang “Ring of Keys” to theatre enthusiasts across America; when the only show ever on Broadway about a butch lesbian won Best Musical. Fun Home took five total Tony Awards: Michael Cerveris won for best actor in a musical, Sam Gold won best director of a musical, and Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron KILLED IT as previously mentioned.

OpenEars headphones designed to bring binaural sound recording to the mainstream

www.gizmag.com: Binaural recordings use two microphones to capture sound in the same way it is captured by human ears. The spatial depth of the resulting 3D sound is often impressive, but it can only be fully appreciated when wearing headphones and the recording process tends to be reserved for professionals as it usually involves a dummy head with a microphone placed in each ear.

Full Text of Tony Winners' Acceptance Speeches

www.broadwayworld.com: As part of BroadwayWorld's expansive coverage of the 69th Annual Tony Awards, we are providing the full text of all of the 2015 Tony Award acceptance speeches; from the emotional to the bizarre, and everything in between. Keep up with all of the winners' speeches on our continuously updated list.

- Backstage Academy recruits Shannon Harvey to run Visual Production course

SASi | News: Harvey previously worked as Account Manager at d3 Technologies - one of the course’s core supporters – and will now be responsible for running the degree and ensuring it delivers against the industry’s current skills requirements and technology. Harvey’s experience covers the architectural, theatrical and entertainment industries, working with lighting, video, projection and special effects projects on a wide range of applications.

From Idaho to Yale to "Girls": How Jenn Rogien Is Making It as a Costume Designer

Fashionista: Charismatic, whip-smart, self-deprecating — those are ways one could describe Jenn Rogien, the Emmy-nominated costume designer behind hit TV series "Girls" (HBO) and "Orange Is the New Black" (Netflix). In just under a decade, Rogien has climbed the ranks from personal assistant to lead costume designer on not one, but two enormously popular shows, while embarking on collaborations with big-name apparel brands, including American Eagle and Sorrel, on the side.

Tony Awards Ratings Lowest in History of Show, Down 25% from Last Year

Showbiz411: So all that JLO and Josh Groban stuff didn’t work. The Tony Awards were down 25% last night from last year, the lowest ratings ever for the telecast. Lack of a star host was the issue, as Alan Cumming and Kristen Chenoweth were fun, but had no pull.

Mirren, O'Hara leading ladies at Tonys

www.usatoday.com: A grande dame of stage and screen and a beloved musical theater star both won their first Tony Awards Sunday night, and a show with a lesbian protagonist was awarded best musical. That musical, Fun Home, is based on Alison Bechdel's graphic memoir and also features a closeted father, played by Broadway vet Michael Cerveris, one of the show's numerous high-profile winners. The show also earned best book and score, and best director.

Big Night on Broadway

CMU News - Carnegie Mellon University: Not only did the Tony Awards® and Carnegie Mellon announce Corey Mitchell, theater arts teacher at the Northwest School of the Arts in Charlotte, N.C., as the winner of the inaugural "Excellence in Theatre Education Award," but CMU alumni came away with awards as well.

2 Keys to Acting Success From Pablo Schreiber

Acting Tips & Career Advice | Backstage | Backstage: Pablo Schreiber has found the key to longevity in the acting business. “Being successful is being able to put shit behind you,” he says. “It’s the hardest thing, but it’s the most important to being able to [act] for a long time.”

TV’s Top Female Directors Reveal Their On-Set Secrets

Variety: Tasked with bringing a script to life on the screen, television directors must juggle the realities of production while channeling their own creative visions. Variety gathered five directors at the top of their game to learn the secrets of their craft: Lisa Cholodenko (“Olive Kitteridge”), Lesli Linka Glatter (“Homeland”), Michelle MacLaren (“Better Call Saul,” “The Leftovers”), Gail Mancuso (“Modern Family”) and Jill Soloway (“Transparent”). One question, and they were off and running.

Watch Ruthie Ann Miles's Incredibly Witty Tony Awards Acceptance Speech

Colorlines: At the 69th Tony Awards, which took place Sunday night at Radio City Music Hall, Ruthie Ann Miles received the award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for her Broadway debut as Lady Thiang in the Lincoln Center Theatre's revival of Roger and Hammerstein's The King and I.

‘Fun Home’ Finds That Winning a Tony Is the Best Way to Market a Musical

NYTimes.com: The Tony Award for best new musical is always a boon for the winning show. But for “Fun Home,” which claimed this year’s prize on Sunday night, the award is likely to be a major turning point, allowing the production to reach new markets, and new audiences, that might have been initially put off by its searing exploration of sexuality and suicide.

Adventures as a Woman/Scene Designer

HowlRound: A master designer and educator, I invited Linda to be part of the series on Designing Women because she is a mentor and an important resource in our lives as designers and professors of design. Her designs for regional theaters across the country are whimsical, colorful, and deliciously fun, especially when designing musicals. For the more dramatic landscapes, they are compositionally powerful and engaging.

Fatality inquiry hears fraying straps played role in fatal stage collapse

www.edmontonjournal.com: Small ratchet straps contributed to the collapse of a concert stage at the Big Valley Jamboree that killed a woman in 2009, a fatality inquiry heard Wednesday.

The five-centimetre-long straps helped secure the stage towers, but ended up snapping during a sudden windstorm, consulting engineer Travis Hagglund told the inquiry, held at Camrose provincial court. The accident killed Donna Theresa Moore, 35.

An Earful in Prague

www.cmu.edu: The Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space is the veritable Olympics of theater. You might say the SXSW for scenographers, costumers and technicians, who create spectacle, onstage or off. At this year's festival in June, 27 students from Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama and eight School of Drama faculty will participate.

The Tonys Have Never Been So Dominated By Women

FiveThirtyEight: Was last season the year of women on Broadway? Based on Sunday night’s Tony Awards, it might have been. This year, seven women won Tony Awards, the highest number in Tony history. The seven women won eight of 17 Tonys1 in non-acting categories won by individuals, the largest percentage ever for the Tony Awards. With the exception of two categories, women won every category in which they were nominated.

STAGE TUBE: History-Making FUN HOME Duo Jeanine Tesori & Lisa Kron's Tonys Acceptance Speech

www.broadwayworld.com: Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori just took home the 2015 Tony Award for Best Original Score of a Musical, making history as the first female writing pair to do so. Kron was also the recipient of the Tony for Best Book of a Musical. Scroll down to watch their speech!

My Top 5 Favorite Moments of the 2015 Tony Awards.

The Producer's Perspective: I’m writing this blog in the wee hours after the Tony telecast, and the buzz at the couple o’ parties I went to after mine was that the show was a big ol’ hit. It was fast paced, funny and it even had a few surprises that made it as exciting as Saturday’s Triple Crown winning horse race.

Tony Winner Christian Borle Explains Why “You Dont Have to Chase Every Mouse”

www.playbill.com: Christian Borle took home the 2015 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for playing a rock ’n’ roll version of William Shakespeare in Something Rotten! In the media room, he explained a Roger Rees quote that he’d referred to in his acceptance speech. Rees’ advice when directing Borle in Peter and the Starcatcher was "You don’t have to chase every mouse."

Why are the Tony Awards so afraid of the Tony Awards?

EW.com: On Sunday night’s Tony Awards, history was made. Unfortunately, it was made during the commercial breaks. Early in the three-hour show, while viewers at home watched commercials for the wide array of insurance packages and pharmaceutical products that Madison Avenue seems to think are a perfect fit for either CBS or theater lovers, the audience at Radio City Music Hall got to see Lisa Kron win Best Book of a Musical for Fun Home, and then return to the stage to share the Tony for Best Musical Score with its composer, Jeanine Tesori.

Joe Manganiello Gives A Touching Tribute Honoring Theater Educators At The 2015 Tonys

Bustle: True Blood and Magic Mike star Joe Manganiello moved away from the screen and came to the stage during the 2015 Tonys. Joe Manganiello was at the 2015 Tonys to present the first-ever Excellence in Theatre Education Award. The awards show partnered with Carnegie Mellon University to honor theater educators in the U.S. who have made a big impact in the lives of their students. The inaugural award was given to teacher Corey Mitchell from the Northwest School of the Arts Charlotte, N.C. during the Sunday, June 7 ceremony on CBS.

Lee Siegel New York Times op-ed: Is this the worst op-ed ever written about student loans?

www.slate.com: Lee Siegel is an award-winning critic and an unrepentant leech. After pursuing not one, not two, but three degrees from an Ivy League university, he chose to default on his student loans at taxpayer expense, because he felt that paying them back would have hampered his ambitions of becoming a writer. “As difficult as it has been, I’ve never looked back,” he wrote this weekend in a New York Times opinion piece. “The millions of young people today, who collectively owe over $1 trillion in loans, may want to consider my example.”