PigPen’s doozy about the end of the world

San Diego Reader: The Old Globe’s multileveled set for The Old Man and the Old Moon — pilings, planks, and wooden boxes — suggests an ancient wharf. Downstage footlights and roughhewn boards say a 19th-century theater. As the audience enters, musicians dressed in bygone labor garb — suspenders and rolled-up sleeves — tune stringed instruments. Another strolls on, as oblivious to the spectators as they are to him. Two more enter, strumming instruments. It’s hard to say just when, but at some point all seven are playing the same riff. And before you realize it, they’re standing erect in concert formation and belting out a hearty, Celtic-inflected lay.

U.S. Veterans Use Greek Tragedy to Tell Us About War

The New York Times: The ancient Greeks didn’t go to the theater just to be entertained. Aristotle believed that audiences saw themselves reflected in tragic characters and that the very act of watching a character’s downfall helped purge them of emotions like pity and fear, a process he called catharsis or, roughly, “purification.”

More than 2,500 years later, a young classics major named Bryan Doerries wondered whether he could help a growing and vulnerable population in need of catharsis: veterans of the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of whom come home from combat with depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal thoughts.

Alanis Morrisette to gift world with “Jagged Little Pill” musical

Salon.com: We thought you oughta know: Alanis Morissette is writing a musical.

Titled “Jagged Little Pill” and based on her 1995 Grammy-winning album of the same name, the stage production will debut at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts in May of 2018.

Shoji still got it; Rock House Festival

Branson Tri-Lakes News Entertainment: There are some shows in Ozark Mountain Country that you simply go to see, then there are others you go to experience. Last week I went to see one of my favorite performers in this, or any other town, and no matter how many times I see the “Shoji Tabuchi Show,” the man never fails to amaze, captivate and entertain the heck out of me.

Why the Edward Albee estate is resisting a black Virginia Woolf.

www.slate.com: You have to give Edward Albee credit: 55 years after its Broadway debut, and less than a year after its author’s death, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? has once again become the most controversial play of the season, thanks to a production nobody will ever see. The 35-seat Shoebox Theater in Portland, Oregon, doesn’t feel like the natural epicenter of a flare-up involving artists’ rights, race, and intellectual property. But earlier this month, when the Albee estate denied producer Michael Streeter the rights to Woolf over his decision to cast a black actor, Streeter, “furious and dumbfounded,” took to Facebook, arguing that “the Edward Albee estate needs to join the 21st century.”

Big Splash With Lasers At The 2016 Stanley Cup NHL Playoffs For The Pittsburgh Penguins

www.livedesignonline.com: Pangolin and Lightwave International made a big splash during the 2016 Stanley Cup NHL playoffs for the Pittsburgh Penguins helping to guide the team to a fourth Stanley Cup NHL Championship. Lasers are a familiar game opening effect for the Penguins, and the 2016 season was no exception. Lightwave was challenged to enhance the laser show of the nhl playoffs to a level of primary entertainment, not just a special effect. Each round of the stanley cup 2016 playoffs called for more laser firepower, with the final hockey Championship round requiring laser power measured not in hundreds of watts, but thousands of watts.

To Invest in Your Child’s Theater Dreams, First Invest in the Theater

The New York Times: Dean Roth, the owner and president of a New Jersey company that makes parts for the tool-and-die industry, admits he has utterly failed to talk his teenage daughter out of pursuing a career in musical theater.

Instead of watching helplessly as she bounded down an uncertain career path, he became a Broadway investor to get an inside track: He said his initial $1,000 outlay, in the 2011 revival of “Godspell,” was “tuition for me to find out what the business was like.”

Watch: A Haunting

Pittsburgh in the Round: Readings are half-baked. That’s the point. Their final registry doesn’t exist yet; it’s being found. They are plays in flux waiting for feedback and the perfect sounds of rhythm. They are for actors to try things, for the writer to listen. They are for directors to plan and cut and encourage. But they are flawed and sometimes slow and confusing. You’re just hearing about something you should be able to visualize. The subtleties are lost because those choices have (for the most part) not been made.

Lillys and Mothers

HowlRound: This year was an extraordinary year in terms of the work of women on New York’s stages, and so worth celebrating. The Lilly Awards are my favorite way of celebrating. So many remarkable plays in which incredible women playwrights collaborated with masterful women directors. I had prepared a speech that simmered with a certain amount of rage over a gap I (and many other friends and colleagues) noticed this year between the women’s work on our stages and the somewhat muted critical response—which leads to the feeling that women are still hiding in plain sight.

Q&A with 'American in Paris' choreographer Christopher Wheeldon

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Christopher Wheeldon, the darling of the ballet world, became the toast of Broadway as director-choreographer of “An American in Paris.” The show earned 12 Tony Award nominations, including two for Mr. Wheeldon, who won for choreography.

'An American in Paris' dances home to Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “An American in Paris” is coming home to Pittsburgh, where it all began.

The Oscar-winning movie starred hometown song-and-dance hero Gene Kelly. The musical theater sensation — winner of four Tony Awards with 12 nominations — can trace its roots to the Pittsburgh CLO. Executive producer Van Kaplan, who with fellow producers Stuart Oken of Elephant Eye Theatricals and Roy Furman, conceived the musical, pulled together a creative team, took the financial risk and have reaped the rewards.

Confessions of a Box Office Manager: a terrible case of mistaken identity

WhatsOnStage.com: Well, there's no turning back now, I'm afraid. I've made my metaphorical bed and I'm going to have to lie in it. My box office colleagues are no help whatsoever, one having got wind of what's going on - and subsequently barricaded himself in the back office from whence I can hear him howling, gasping for breath and moaning "Oh God, this is classic" - while the other is bent double underneath her desk, silently laughing so hard that she is in danger of gagging into the waste paper bin at any moment.

How Theatre Can Help Us Understand Donald Trump and Brexit

The Theatre Times: When it comes to the chaotic policies of Donald Trump or the seeming irrationality of Brexit, traditional political explanations can fail to produce satisfactory answers. The Conversation

Political science may help to solve some of these riddles, but far from all. For example, scholars may be able to argue that those disappointed or marginalised by the US political establishment voted for Trump’s promises. Or they could claim that people voted for the UK to leave the EU because it was seen as the project of a rich elite.

Restoring Showbiz Pizza's Animatronic Robots!

Tested: Jack Turner is obsessed with Showbiz Pizza's iconic animatronic robots. He and his father have scrounged up these old characters to restore them to their music-playing glory! We chat with Jack about his project and how he learned to rebuild these robots to animate the same way they did in the 80s.

The Great Comet’s Denée Benton and Sweeney Todd’s Norm Lewis Have a Frank Chat About Race

Playbill: The discussion about opportunity and employment with regards to race is a long and controversial one in the history of theatre. Last year, the 2015-2016 Broadway season was seen as a banner year for diversity (in race, religion, physical ability etc), but many wondered if the display marked actual progress that would continue forward, or simply a fluke. The issue is not relegated to commercial New York theatre, of course. Recently, the debate garnered new fuel when a producer in Portland, Oregon was refused the rights to produce Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? due to his choice to cast a black actor in the featured role of Nick.

The Philadelphia Story

Pittsburgh in the Round: The Philadelphia Story is a play with contemporary conflict encased within the sepia-toned shell of old Hollywood America. Its relatively complicated social and sexual conflicts are cracks in the veneer of old-school American repression, yet their existence within spaces only the most privileged of the privileged exist in make them seem somehow exotic.

“Violet” at Front Porch Theatricals

The Pittsburgh Tatler: Suitcases!

That’s the first thing you see when you walk into the Front Porch Theatricals production of Violet. They fill a wall of shelves along the upstage wall of the space, and are also tucked underneath the platform on which the eight-piece orchestra plays. And as the musical progresses, suitcases of varying shapes, sizes, and colors serve not only as backdrop but also as props and furniture, becoming bus seats, card tables, the counter of a café, a bed, and even a candy tray.

Women Dominate the Stage Management Industry, So Why Are They Still Paid Less Than Men?

OnStage: Throughout my years at college, I was involved with 18 theatre productions. Whether it was performing on stage or working behind the scenes, I was involved in some aspect of every show we put on. It wasn't until about 20 minutes before I started writing this column that I realized that there was a commonality with every show I worked on, they almost all had a female stage manager.

A new era of resource sharing in Bay Area theaters

San Francisco Chronicle: Theater has never been among the Bay Area’s most cutthroat industries, but for years, the scene was marked by a polite but determined “every theater for itself” mentality. Not so any more. Changes in the economy, in the habits of theatergoers and even in the population makeup of the Bay Area have prompted a new era of cooperation and partnerships, which not only benefit the theaters but audiences as well.

Town Hall Announced to Address UMKC Theatre Budget Cuts

PerformInk: In response to pending budget cuts which threaten the strength of UMKC Theatre, specifically the MFA program, faculty, students, alumni and supporters will come together in a public, community-wide Town Hall meeting Sunday, June 4.

Organized to raise awareness and show support for UMKC Theatre, the town hall goal is to inform the university’s administration of the extensive community support for a program, which U.S. News & World Report has rated among the top graduate theater training programs in the country.

Memorial Day: Playing with Heart

Wenger | J.R. Clancy: “We hope our performances, especially over Memorial Day weekend, inspire a feeling of patriotism through our music,” says Technical Sergeant Jarrett Robinett.

He’s a percussionist with the United States Air Force Heartland of America Band based at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. It’s one of the smaller active duty units for the Air Force military band program, with 15 enlisted members and one civilian specialist.

Who Tells Your Story? : Unpacking the History of Whitewashing in Theatre and What to do About It

OnStage: The topic of whitewashed casting decisions in theatrical productions, both amateur and professional, rears its ugly head again and again. Again and again, you would think that something so egregious and, frankly, embarrassing would have seen itself fade out into the obscurity of a distant memory of bygone eras. Sadly, no. It just can’t seem to die. Article after article is written denouncing the casting of a white actor in a role written for a person of colour, and, again and again, these articles are met with the rabid defense of the cringe-worthy, archaic practice. “Best actor for the job!” they cry.

Ethnodrama and Her Opponent: The Drama in the Data

HowlRound: Johnny Saldaña, author and Professor Emeritus of Theatre in the Herberger Institute of Design and the Arts' School of Film, Dance, and Theatre at Arizona State University (ASU), began his plenary speech on the second day of the NYU Steinhardt Program in Educational Theatre’s Forum on Ethnodrama by asking what role ethnodrama has to play in a “post-truth” world. He identified President Trump’s personal driver as “the art of fabrication,” a description frightfully similar to the definition of theatre. Yet while Trump’s lies are fabricated with the purpose of deceiving, theatre lies to the audience in order to tell the truth.

Ethnodrama is, roughly speaking, the dramatization of data. It is theatre that is made out of research, often conducted in the form of interviews but also including primary sources like journal entries, field notes, and media artifacts. Saldaña calls it “reality theatre,” the ultimate goal of which is understanding.

Casting Directors Union Calls Out Broadway Producers’ Greed

Teamsters: While Broadway producers are celebrating “the highest grossing season in Broadway recorded history,” the industry’s casting directors are asking why producers are denying them health insurance. This week, the Broadway League announced that the latest season had grossed $1.5 billion. Despite those profits, the Broadway League has refused to bargain a first contract with casting directors, members of Teamsters Local 817, denying them employer-provided healthcare, retirement, and basic work protections.

La Nouba performer makes incredible recovery

www.clickorlando.com: - Karina Silva Poirier, an aerial performer with Cirque du Soleil's La Nouba in Orlando, survived a 30-foot fall during a rehearsal seven months ago.

After several surgeries and rehabilitation, Silva Poirier and her family are speaking with News 6 about her incredible recovery.
More Getting Results For Your Health Headlines

"I'm very happy to be here today,” Silva Poirier told News 6 morning anchor, Kirstin O’Connor.

Silk Road Rising’s Great Expectations is less a morality tale than a tale of easy moralizing

Theater Review | Chicago Reader: Charles Dickens wrote only two of his 15 novels in the first person: David Copperfield and Great Expectations. Both are semiautobiographical and centrally concerned with class mobility. But in key ways they're mirror images of each other. David Copperfield, published in 1850, charts the title character's fulfilling progress from poverty to fortune, his talent and determination bringing him success and happiness. Great Expectations, published a decade later, focuses on young, impoverished Pip—equally talented and determined—whose efforts to better his station bring him mostly anguish, doubt, and a crushing loss of self. Not only that, in Dickens's original version of the story, he doesn't even get the girl.

UCSC brings back the immortal ‘Zoot Suit’

www.santacruzsentinel.com: It’s difficult to imagine a more intimate pairing of a theater director and a play than Kinan Valdez and “Zoot Suit.”

Valdez is, after all, the son of the man who wrote the monumental nearly 40-year-old play based on the infamous 1943 “Zoot Suit Riots” in Los Angeles. That would be Luis Valdez, the legendary writer/director and founder of El Teatro Campesino.

Whitewashing 'In the Heights' in One of the Most Hispanic Areas in the Country

OnStage: In the past couple of weeks, the issue of casting shows racially correct has been a hot button issue not only on this site, but the entire industry as well. As more and more theatres are pushing for racially diverse materials and casting, the spotlight becomes a bit more glaring on the theatres that aren't and the feeble excuses they're coming up with.

Undercroft Opera Presents Puccini’s “La Rondine.”

Pittsburgh in the Round: Undercroft Opera is performing a Giacomo Puccini “rarity” this weekend at Carlow University’s Antonian Theatre – La Rondine (“The Swallow”), which hasn’t been heard locally since early 1982, when Pittsburgh Opera presented it here for the first time and the newspaper critics went to work panning it as weak operetta with few moments of importance. The work has never been considered one of the composer’s greatest efforts, in part because it is too often unfavorably compared to his Tosca, Madama Butterfly, La Bohème, and so on.

The Sudden Demise of the Theatre Graduate Program at Regent University

OnStage: Nestled in the popular vacation city of Virginia Beach, Virginiais a thriving University founded by well-known Christian broadcaster Dr. Pat Robertson. In 1977, he founded the then Christian Broadcasting Network University - a nonprofit graduate school that is known today as Regent University’s School of Communication & the Arts…

At least… it was… until last week.

The Albee Controversy: Throwing the Baby Out With the Racist Bathwater

Bitter Gertrude: For the, oh, seven of you out there who haven’t yet heard, the Albee estate denied the rights to a production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? because the company (Complete Works Project in Oregon) cast a Black man as Nick.
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First, congratulations, Complete Works Project, for being the center of a national controversy, and with such a banal play choice! I did multiple new plays that drew angry conservative picketers in other cities, and I never got so much as a pissy letter. That’s Berkeley for you. Enjoy the publicity, and I hope you take the ensuing donations and do a new play by a writer of color starring that Black actor.

Schenkkan's "Building the Wall": Trump's Terrible Dystopia

Clyde Fitch Report: If, like me, you’re expectant and braced for how irate American playwrights will depict the deleterious effects of the Trump presidency, you’ll be intrigued to learn that no matter what comes our way in the ensuing months and years, nothing is likely to be as bone-chilling as Robert Schenkkan’s Building the Wall.

We all remember what was to happen on Day One of a Trump administration: that oft-mentioned wall was to be built — and Mexico was to pay for it.

'Just Imagine' is a walk down memory lane for playwright Josette Kurey

TribLIVE: Josette Kurey didn't have to look far for inspiration for her first children's play, “Just Imagine,” which makes its stage debut on May 27 at the Theatre Factory in Trafford.

Kurey, who grew up in North Versailles, says she revisited her own childhood for her play that explores the positive aspects of having an imaginary friend.

Steel shipping containers to be transformed into offices in ETC's latest building expansion

Madison Wisconsin Business News | host.madison.com: In the past, they were used to cart merchandise across the ocean — perhaps clothing or other non-perishables.

Now, 40 corrugated steel shipping containers will see new life as offices for as many as 100 employees of ETC, Electronic Theatre Controls, in Middleton.

Playwright Threatens Fines Over Post-Show Discussion of His Play

OnStage: Given the times we're living in, theatre can provide an escape but also an opportunity to create dialogue. Whether it's to inform, educate or simply gain feedback, conversations between cast and audience (known as "talk backs") can be a valuable source of information and enlightenment.

But not everyone thinks so. When it comes to the work of David Mamet, hell hath no fury than if you try to discuss his work after the curtain closes.

High Ticket Prices Are Fueling a Broadway Boom

The New York Times: Musicals about the aftermaths of a teenage suicide and a terror attack proved unlikely sensations. Star turns by Bette Midler, Josh Groban, Jake Gyllenhaal and Glenn Close added sizzle. And, led by “Hamilton” and “Hello, Dolly!,” the hottest shows started charging once unthinkably high prices for the best seats.

The Broadway season that ended on Sunday was one for the record books. Box-office grosses, which have been climbing since 2013, rose 5.5 percent, to $1.449 billion, a new high, according to figures released on Tuesday by the Broadway League, an industry trade group.

Trump’s Latest Budget Proposes Eliminating the NEA (Again)

www.artsy.net: The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is once again slated for elimination under President Donald Trump’s 2018 budget proposal, released on Tuesday. As part of a $3.6 trillion slash to federal spending over 10 years—including major cuts to Medicaid and other social safety net programs—the arts agency would see both direct grantmaking and funding to states zeroed out. To ensure an orderly shutdown, the NEA would receive $29 million for salary and administrative costs through fiscal year 2018.

'Midnight Rider' Producer Loses Lawsuit Against Insurer

Hollywood Reporter: A judge rules that New York Marine didn't breach its contract when it settled with the family of camera assistant Sarah Jones and then refused to provide further coverage.

A California federal judge has dealt a blow to the producer of the abandoned Gregg Allman biopic Midnight Rider, handing a summary judgment victory to New York Marine and General Insurance Company and shrugging off news of an FBI investigation.

Rosco Silks Save A Rooftop Night Shoot

Rosco Spectrum: We all know the feeling of packing every piece of gear you anticipate needing for a shoot after discussing the plans with your client. We also know the feeling when inspiration hits, the shot changes, and you aren’t sure you have what you need to pull it off. This happened to me during a recent rooftop shoot – and the Rosco Silk® LED Soft Lights empowered me to pull it off.

A Black Actor in ‘Virginia Woolf’? Not Happening, Albee Estate Says

The New York Times: A decision by the estate of Edward Albee not to allow a production of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” to cast a black actor as a blond character is reigniting decades-long debates in the theater world over race, casting and authorial control.

A theater producer in Portland, Ore., said last week that Albee’s agent, representing his estate, refused to grant him the rights to present the play with a black actor, Damien Geter, playing the supporting role of Nick, a young biologist at a small New England college. The Albee office, through a spokesman, said the producer had mischaracterized the status of his application for rights to the production, but confirmed that it objected to a black actor in that role.

Violet by Front Porch Theatricals

Pittsburgh in the Round: Front Porch Theatricals’ heavenly production of Violet has a lot of baggage.

Johnmichael Bohach’s rustic, minimalist scenic design is primarily comprised of suitcases, chests, and duffel bags that the actors sit, sleep, and sing on. This concept is not only incredibly creative and whimsical, but it also artfully realizes the themes of travel and identity that are central to the musical.

Trees Instead of Super Models: Pemberton Bankruptcy Might Be Worse Than Fyre Fest

Amplify: A second indie music festival has imploded and left consumers footing the bill. Just weeks after the Instagram-tastic collapse of Fyre Festival, a second destination event has gone full meltdown, with several major music players working to contain the damage.

Pemberton Music Festival is officially bust, leaving in its wake an uncertainty for independently-promoted festivals just as the summer season is getting underway.

Q&A w/Mike Newnum – Luzia’s Technical Director

www.cirquefascination.com: Cirque du Soleil puts on a good show. Flowers blossom from elaborate costumes; performers plummet from fifty feet up in the air. Even the show’s technical director, Mike Newnum, says he catches his breathe when he watches what the team does.

The troupe’s latest performance, Luzia, a Mexico-inspired dreamscape, has had a challenging run. While the performances are carefully orchestrated, with each piece of equipment tested and routines practiced daily, mistakes happen. And sometimes they’re fatal.

In 2017, Casting A Black Actor Derailed A Staging Of This Famous Play

HuffPost: “I am furious and dumbfounded,” Oregon-based theater producer Michael Streeter wrote on Facebook last week. “The Edward Albee Estate needs to join the 21st Century.”

The short statement ― totaling just over 50 words ― claimed that the estate of the late Pulitzer-winning playwright had withdrawn the rights to his play “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” disallowing Streeter from staging the well-known production in Portland. Its reason, according to the post? Streeter had cast a black actor in the supporting role of Nick.

“Ironbound” at City Theatre

The Pittsburgh Tatler: Anne Mundell’s set for City Theatre’s production of Ironbound (a new play by Martyna Majok) consists of a tall rusting steel bridge support set atop a graffiti-covered concrete base that is surrounded by mounds of detritus and trash. This monumental girder, which looms over the desolate New Jersey bus stop where all of the action of the play takes place, writes the economic and infrastructural woes of the Rust Belt in visual shorthand, creating both a fitting metaphor and a suitably bleak setting for its protagonist Darja’s own disintegrating social and economic situation.

Who's Afraid Of A Diverse Cast?

NPR: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf is a brilliant, scalding and essential play that is often revived. But the Complete Works Project in Oregon won't present the play this fall because the estate of the playwright, Edward Albee, won't give permission for them to cast an African-American actor in the featured role of Nick, a young professor.

The play's director, Michael Streeter, refuses to fire an actor for the color of his skin.

How to Kill a Great Theatre: The Tragedy of the Volksbühne

dispositio: Almost two years ago, the Berlin government announced that Frank Castorf’s contract as the artistic director of the Volksbühne would not be renewed after the end of his current term in the summer of 2017, and that his successor would be Chris Dercon, at that point Director of the Tate Modern in London. But if you care at all about European theatre, you’ve probably heard about that, and if not – well, you can read more here, here, and here; and also have a look at this nicely in-depth report on how the news was received by employees of the Volksbühne workshops. If you read German, Nachtkritik has compiled a near-complete chronology, with tons of links, of the debate.

Is Creativity Overrated?

The Creativity Post: I must be honest with you. While I don't mind a good passionate discussion well just about any topic, I don't really like to argue with articles, or more accurately with their authors. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I like to see and hear whoever it is I talk with. But there are times when I can't just read an article and leave it as is. I find myself arguing with it inside my head. And sometimes, when that happens, I feel I have to respond. In a sense, Eliot Gattegno's article "Creativity is Overrated" is an excellent article, not because I agree with the author's opinions, but simply because it has driven me to respond.

Break It Down: Byham Theater

The 412 - May 2017: When you walk into the Sixth Street entryway of the Byham Theater, Downtown, you will see patches of green and black tile on the walls: These are originals from the early 20th century, says John Mumper, facilities manager at the Byham. The grand theater has plenty of history to go with its 100-plus years; let’s break it down.

The Kilroys Make Another List of Plays by Women You Should Know

AMERICAN THEATRE: Sequels typically promise to be, though they seldom are, bigger and better than the original. In the case of the second iteration of the Kilroys’ “List”—a nationally juried selection of unproduced or little-produced works by female playwrights—both benchmarks have been met, with more nominators involved and consequently more selections along a wider range of plays, aesthetically, culturally, and geographically. This year’s list features 53 plays, recommended by 321 nominators, up from last year’s 47 and 127, respectively—and, as Kilroy playwright member and listed playwright Sarah Gubbins helpfully pointed out, this year’s list reflects just the top 7 percent of nominators’ choices, while last year reflected the top 12 percent.

Asian Americans In Hollywood Still Waiting For The Spotlight

Code Switch : NPR: Ask some actors about their dream role, and they're likely to offer range of answers: a character from Shakespeare, a superhero, the lead in Phantom of the Opera. As for Daniel Dae Kim, a Korean-American actor who's had roles in Lost, Crash, and most recently Hawaii Five-0, his dream is to play a romantic lead. Any romantic lead.

In Memoriam: Corky Boyd, 50

Stage Directions: John “Corky” Boyd passed away suddenly on Sunday, May 7 at the age of 50. Boyd was a co-owner in Hudson Scenic Studios along with Neil O’Connor and Neil Mazzella. He had been with the Hudson for over 24 years and has been instrumental in developing the Hudson Motion Control system that powers many shows on Broadway.

The Five Types Of Impostor Syndrome And How To Beat Them

www.fastcompany.com: Many high achievers share a dirty little secret: Deep down they feel like complete frauds–their accomplishments the result of serendipitous luck.

This psychological phenomenon, known as impostor syndrome, reflects a belief that you’re an inadequate and incompetent failure, despite evidence that indicates you’re skilled and quite successful.

The Circus Leaves Town

BBC News: The air inside of a 25 foot cannon is hot and smells like metal. It’s dark and loud, and the moments before a launch - even for an experienced human cannonball like 32-year-old “Nitro” Nicole Sanders - are filled with real fear.

“There’s no feeling comfortable with it,” she says.

The cannonball act is deceptively simple: a cannon large enough to fit a human inside its bore “shoots” an acrobat high into the air, and she lands in a net or an airbag.

Feedback is not an option.

Dear Design Student: This is a tardigrade. It can survive in the vacuum of space. The design process cannot. Still, many designers try to isolate themselves, using the label “creative” (as a noun) and their “creative process” as defenses against other people’s feedback. Some designers will go so far as to work for free to avoid input from others.

But design is by its nature collaborative. It’s about solving problems. Unless you’re solving problems for yourself, it requires at least two people: a designer and a person with a problem.

The Collaborator Party Returns for its Third Year

Stage Directions: The Collaborator Party began in 2015 as a response to removal of the Tony Awards for sound design, and quickly grew into a nationwide grassroots community that was founded in mutual celebration of everyone working in professional theatre. As word spread across social media about the original event, “satellite parties” became commonplace in various cities, and the entire event has been livestreamed around the world to thousands of online attendees.

Dubai Festival City’s IMAGINE Using Panasonic Projection Earns Guinness Record as World’s Largest Permanent Projection Mapping

InPark Magazine: Guinness World Records has recognized IMAGINE, the latest multimedia attraction in Dubai, as the World’s Largest Permanent Projection Mapping after a three-month successful run, using over 60 Panasonic projectors covering approximately 4,857 square meter of projection area on the facade of InterContinental Dubai Festival City.

Twin Cities theaters of color worry about survival as Guthrie gets more diverse

StarTribune.com: Theaters that focus on the works of playwrights and audiences of color will become critically endangered if current funding patterns continue, artistic directors of five Twin Cities companies said this week.

That alarm was raised Monday during a spirited panel discussion at Penumbra Theatre titled “Sustaining Theatres of Color,” featuring the leaders of Penumbra and four other important small-to-medium troupes

Want To Live And Work Overseas? Take This Two-Week Trip First

www.fastcompany.com: You can only get so far by thinking about stuff. Sometimes you just have to go for it. Maybe “going for it” for you means landing a full-time job someplace abroad, or maybe it’s becoming a digital nomad–traveling around the world continuously and working for yourself. But whichever path you’ve got your eye on, you’ll eventually get to a point where you’ve done a ton of research, lots of mulling it over, and now feel both really inspired and completely hopeless.

Universal Studios Hollywood to introduce 'bone-chilling' Harry Potter light show this summer

LA Times: Windswept trees, chirping frogs, scurrying critters and squawking crows echoed throughout the room only to be drowned out by the sweeping overture of orchestral music.

The sights and sounds being manipulated in the studio on this day weren’t for a summer blockbuster or drama series. Instead, the work was part of an ambitious light show that Universal Studios Hollywood will debut at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Anything Goes

Pittsburgh in the Round: Are you are looking for a lighthearted break from reality with quirky characters, great songs, and dance routines? The classic Cole Porter musical comedy Anything Goes is Delightful, Delicious, and De-Lovely.

There are several versions of Anything Goes available to theater companies, with each offering a slightly different song list, running order and book (script) variations.

Why Metro Phoenix's Alternative Theater Scene Is Flourishing

Phoenix New Times: In the first scene of this three-act play — call it Who’s Afraid of Alternative Theater? or maybe Revenge of Master Ronald and the Boys — we find thespian game-changer Ron May standing in the dusty courtyard of a big, shiny, downtown playhouse. Circled by a small group of well-wishers, he is smoking a cigarette and rocking gently from side to side. May is not wearing a suit; he is not holding court on this opening night of the latest play he has directed. In blue jeans and shirtsleeves, he appears to be just another youngish theatergoer, chumming with friends at intermission. He does not look like someone who may have done something once thought impossible: elevating alternative theater in Phoenix.

Judge to Decide Vexing Question in Entertainment: License Needed to Show Body Tattoos?

Hollywood Reporter: If a film, television show or video game incidentally shows a copyrighted tattoo, is that infringement? The question has provoked several law journal articles and quite a bit of media coverage over the years without any firm judicial opinion. However, some guidance may be forthcoming thanks to a decision on Tuesday from a New York federal judge.

How the Syrian refugee crisis is playing out on the German stage

Salon.com: Since 2015, over one million refugees have entered Germany. As a political event, the so-called refugee crisis continues to color public policy and political rhetoric in Germany and around the world. The Conversation

Less well-known, however, is Germany’s artistic response to this crisis, especially on the stage.

“Falstaff” at Resonance Works

The Pittsburgh Tatler: Resonance Works artistic director Maria Sensi Sellner writes that the mission of the small company she founded here in Pittsburgh four years ago is to “showcase outstanding professional artists from Pittsburgh and beyond.” That’s a mission well-fulfilled this past weekend, which brought together an ensemble of world-class vocal and instrumental musicians to perform Verdi’s Falstaff at the Charity Randall Theater in the Cathedral of Learning.

Immersive Artists and Architects Share the Secrets of Their Practices

Creators: Their art practice conflates structural interventions with immersive installations, so it isn't surprising that Jonah Freeman and Justin Lowe partnered with Turner Prize-winning British architecture collective Assemble for a panel discussion this past Frieze Week. Moderated by Karen Wong, Deputy Director of the New Museum and co-founder of NEW INC, and held at A/D/O, a creative space in Greenpoint that's an architectural wonder in its own right. TACTICS. MATERIALS. RESULTS was centered on the intersection of art and architecture and the radically different approaches that can be taken when combining the two.

Print Isn’t Dead: Students Prefer It Over Digital for Academic Reading, Study Finds

www.cmu.edu: Millennials grew up using technology at an early age, but when it comes to academic reading they prefer print materials over digital formats.

The finding comes from a study conducted by Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar Reference & Instruction Librarian A. M. Salaz, alongside researchers from Qatar University and Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia. The work builds on prior research showing that in many cases students perform better academically after working with print materials.

ABC Is Staging a Bizarre Little Mermaid Musical Spectacular This Fall

io9.gizmodo.com: Live action musicals on network TV are all the rage these days, and now ABC is entering the genre with its own weird mishmash version of The Little Mermaid. But this version will be a two-hour special event that somehow promises to meld scenes from the animated Disney classic with live musical performances by an as-yet-unrevealed cast of “celebrity artists.” The hell?

Lowe’s Robotic Exosuit Will Help Workers Lift Heavy Stuff, Possibly Fend Off Aliens

Consumerist: If you’ve ever wanted to strap on a robotic exoskeleton to tussle with a xenomorph like Sigourney Weaver in Aliens, you might want to consider working at Lowe’s. No, the home improvement chain isn’t getting into the business of defeating extraterrestrial terrors, but it is working on a wearable robotic suit to help workers lift and move heavy things.

Makita Sub-Compact Drill and Impact Driver - 18v Goes Ninja

Home Fixated: Tool brands take their colors seriously, and when one of them deviates from the color everyone recognizes them by, it means one of two things: 1) They are making a statement to differentiate a particular tool, or, 2) their brand manager is getting fired. Makita has recently made a chroma-curious move and released a new line of 18v Cordless tools in, wait for it, black!

Stage review: 'Sive' sparkles as PICT returns to Keane's Irish rogues

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: In one sense, “Sive” is just a quasi-melodramatic Irish tragedy, like a rural “Romeo and Juliet.” But hearing its unexpected passages of dark, poetic passion, you’ll find it’s much more.

John B. Keane (1928-2002) is one of the master Irish playwrights, which means he’s a master of a high sort. Writing out west in County Kerry, he was initially condescended to by the Dublin arts establishment, but late in life his rich, earthy powers rose into favor, where they already had been with audiences.

Live Design Award Winner: Tal Yarden

www.livedesignonline.com: The third annual Live Design Awards honor a stellar group of theatre, opera, and concert designers as well as a leading architectural lighting design firm and a non-profit association. This year’s winners include: Es Devlin for brave new worlds in scenic design for concerts and theatre; the design team for Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet Of 1812 (Bradley King, lighting; Mimi Lien, sets; Nicholas Pope, sound; Paloma Young, costumes) for creating a truly exhilarating theatrical experience; Jonathan Deans for being a sound designer extraordinaire and winner of the second annual Abe Jacob Award for Sound Design; Tal Yarden for pushing the boundaries with cutting-edge projection and video design; Sooner Routhier and Robert Long for masterful teamwork for concert design and production; UVLD for continued excellence in corporate lighting design; and the Event Safety Alliance for selfless work in keeping our industry safe.

Twin Cities actor blows the whistle on 'unsafe' theater production

StarTribune.com: Patrons planning to attend a preview performance of a new adaptation of “Medea” at the Lab Theater in Minneapolis got a shock Thursday night. The preview had been canceled. So is the entire run of the drama.

While shows sometimes close before opening on Broadway, it’s a blue-moon rarity in Twin Cities theater for a company to rehearse a production and cancel it before previews.

What happened?

The Wu-Tang Clan sign language interpreter: How Holly Maniatty learned to sign for rappers.

www.slate.com: When Killer Mike took the stage last week at the Bonnaroo music festival, he spotted amid the crowd a white woman rapping along to his lyrics, shaking her body and contorting her face to the beat. The Atlanta rapper has his share of white, female fans, but he quickly realized this woman was different: Holly Maniatty wasn’t, in fact, a fan, but a sign language interpreter. Intrigued by her work, the rapper jumped down from the stage to the raised platform Maniatty shared with a colleague and started dancing with them. Curious just how far he could push his interpreter, he rapped every dirty word he could think of on the spot, picking up the speed of his flow to see if Maniatty could keep pace.

Glimmerglass Fest changing the way Upstate does opera

The Daily Gazette: The dulcet tones of a bel canto opera are relatively rare in the Capital Region.

Perhaps more rare are the rapping and heavy drums of a hip-hopera.

The Glimmerglass Festival is working to change that.

“ . . . I’ve worked hard to make it more accessible,” said Artistic and General Director Francesca Zambello.

The Festival, formerly known as the Glimmerglass Opera, has been running since 1975, although anyone who knew the scene back then might be surprised at what they would find today.

“We have a real variety,” Zambello said.

Theatre as Resistance

HowlRound: On November 9, 2016, we despaired. The republic that our parents had worked to build and defend seemed in existential danger. The institutions designed to protect us seemed hollow. All that we’d worked to achieve seemed fruitless.

Our union, Actors’ Equity Association, and the League of Off-Broadway Theatres and Producers had just agreed to a two-week extension of our contract after five months of tense negotiations.

Costume Designer Ane Crabtree On Creating The Handmaid's Tale's Ghastly, Gorgeous Dystopia

themuse.jezebel.com: If you’re watching Hulu’s adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale, nothing sends a chill down the spine like the visage of Elisabeth Moss, Alexis Bledel, or any number of Handmaids obscured by the “wings” of lily-white bonnets and bedecked in ominous, hooded red capes. (If you’re not, weeze a friend’s password asap and binge the first five episodes, the most recent of which was released last night.) It’s the uniform of childbearing women, stripped of their rights and distributed as property to the ruling Commanders—and their infertile wives—of a Puritanical near-future society called Gilead.

The Hats That Crowned Broadway

The New York Times: Does anyone still wear a hat? For designers on Broadway this season, the answer was yes, actually, they very much do. Here’s a look at a season of heady headwear.

Cirque du Soleil will use HoloLens to design sets and plan shows

The Verge: Cirque du Soleil has partnered with Microsoft to develop a way for the acrobatic entertainment company to test out stage setups and choreography in augmented reality using HoloLens. A working version of the technology was shown onstage today during Microsoft’s Build conference for developers.

Life threatening injuries in Sweeney Todd

Theatre People: School musicals should be a fun experience for everyone involved, but the recent staging of Sweeney Todd by an exclusive school in Auckland, New Zealand, resulted in two students requiring surgery for life threatening injuries.

Sweeney Todd is the musical tale of an English barber who kills his customers with a razor and turns their bodies into meat pies. It’s not a musical generally tackled by school communities, but an audience should be able to watch the show knowing that the events taking place on stage are not actually real. Unfortunately for Saint Kentigern College, the events on stage become frightfully real.

Chauvet Professional Holds Fourth Annual Student Lighting Showcase

Stage Directions: The historic Ricardo Montalban Theatre in Los Angeles glowed with the latest in lighting technology and new design ideas on April 1 when it hosted the fourth annual Chauvet Professional Student Lighting Showcase. An interactive educational event, the showcase has students from college theater programs collaborate on lighting projects, then have their work evaluated by noted lighting designers.

Portuguese Laser Artists Opened a Cosmic Portal in a Parking Garage

Creators: Geometric laser projections of different shapes and grids are exhibited on the walls of the Silo-Auto car park for a new installation, Epicentro, by OpenField Creative Lab. The parking structure sits at the center of Porto, a coastal city in northwest Portugal approximately three hours from Lisbon by car. Silo-Auto itself is an example of brutalist architecture, a fortress-like style of design popular from the 1950s to the mid-1970s. It's become an iconic landmark for the city, so OpenField Creative Lab decided to create this installation to "transmit the pulse of everyday life," according to their description of the piece.

Inside The Creative Problem Solving Of Broadway Film Adaptations

www.fastcompany.com: Films adapted to Broadway and vice-versa is by no means an even exchange. Both share the common creative challenge of avoiding a straight regurgitation of an existing work. However, filmmakers have a far more varied collection of storytelling tools at their disposal. It’s easy to take for granted techniques like close-ups and scene editing, but for Broadway directors and stage designers, they become paramount issues to solve.

WWII Film Casts White Actor as Native Hawaiian, Critics Accuse Production of Whitewashing

Colorlines: Yet another Hollywood project faces Whitewashing accusations for the casting of a White actor to play a person of color. This time, the backlash is focused on World War II drama "Ni'ihau," as Asian and Pacific Islander Americans and allies criticize Zachary McGowan's ("The 100") portrayal of real life Native Hawaiian Benehakaka "Ben" Kanahele.

NBC plans 'Jesus Christ Superstar Live' next Easter

www.usatoday.com: Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, who created the rock opera that premiered on Broadway in 1971, will be executive producers, joining Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, who have produced a number of live productions for NBC in recent years including The Sound of Music, Peter Pan, The Wiz and Hairspray. Bye Bye Birdie, with Jennifer Lopez, is due in December.

Liesl Tommy's brilliant take on Macbeth

DC Theatre Scene: It’s rare for traditional, big budget Shakespeare productions to find new angles on the major works of America’s most-produced playwright, and even more rare for those angles to work well without falling into “Why are we doing this again?” territory.
But unlike more pedestrian interpretations of the Bard or wholly unnecessary Hamlet in Space: the Musical! Productions, Shakespeare Theatre Company’s newest take on Macbeth surprises and delights with a fresh perspective on the Weird Sisters. Add that to some more traditional interpretive approaches and STC’s reliable eye-widening spectacle make for an audience-friendly and fun play, though perhaps not one that will appeal to purists.

Why the Most Creative Cities Are the Most Unequal

www.artsy.net: Richard Florida is famous for popularizing the theory that creativity helps spur urban development: Artists and other bohemian types make places fun and attractive, and knowledge workers cluster in open-minded, tolerant communities with culture and the amenities that generally come with it. These advantages can compound over time, creating super-cities like New York, London, and Los Angeles, where rents are high but productivity and incomes are even higher.

Broadway Records Releases The “2017 Tony Award Season” Album

Breaking Character: Tony Award Productions and Broadway Records have announced the first ever Tony Award® Season compilation album to be released on CD and digitally at most major music retailers including Barnes & Noble and iTunes/Apple Music on June 9, 2017. The CD is now available for pre-order at www.BroadwayRecords.com, www.TonyAwardsStore.com and www.Amazon.com.

Each musical from the 2016-2017 season, including the 2017 Tony nominated musicals, have been invited to contribute a song to this new compilation album. A portion of the proceeds from the album will go to the American Theatre Wing and Broadway League’s arts educations initiatives.

Production Notes: Stage Manager

Nevada Film Office: In theatrical productions, stage managers help to ensure that the artistic vision of the director is upheld and well executed. During pre-production, stage managers work closely with the director, production manager and technical director to keep track of rehearsal schedules, props, scripts, and cast and crew members. They record notes in a prompt book (also known as “the book” or “the bible”) about technical cues regarding sound, lighting and set changes, as well as other information concerning stage choreography and blocking.

One of the Toughest (Silent) Jobs at the Met Opera

The New York Times: From his aerie in the gilded ceiling of the vast Metropolitan Opera House, just behind the Sputnik chandeliers and some six stories above the stage, Tim Guscott fixed Anna Netrebko in his sights. Then he cast a beam of light so narrow and precisely aimed that it illuminated only that Russian diva’s head as she sang Puccini far below.

Do You Hear What I Hear? A Reasoned Response To A Common Criticism

ProSoundWeb: Like most people, I try to be professional and even-keeled in my interactions.

However, I’ll admit that I very quickly get irritated when a layperson says something like “[insert technical concept here] doesn’t matter. You can’t really hear that.”

ESTA Publishes Rigging System Inspection Standard

Stage Directions: Rigging system inspections are recommended as a component of theatrical workplace safety programs, but there are currently no industry-accepted guidelines for inspection frequency, who conducts the inspection, how the inspection is conducted, and what should be included in reports. The lack of industry-accepted guidelines exists both for owner-conducted and third-party inspections.

Sive by PICT Classic Theatre

Pittsburgh in the Round: The cut-away of an Irish cottage that serves as a set for PICT’s production of John B. Keane’s Sive (pronounced sigh-ve), looks a quaint place, if sparse and threadbare, but it will house a destructive tableau of hungry, grasping poverty. What befalls because of it prompts Nanna Glavin’s (Sharon Brady) bitter comment, “Women must pay for all happiness.” And it certainly is the women who must suffer the most for even the few scraps of comfort left to them.

Broadway Needs to Re-Think Their Size Issue

OnStage: I want you to do me a favor. The next time you see a Broadway show, or any show for that matter, I want to you pay very close attention the lead actors and I want you to consider this question,

Could a fuller-figured performer play that role? Would it have changed your perception of the show at all?

The answers, if you're smart, should be yes and then no.

Week at a Glance: 2017 Christmas Spectacular Auditions

The Rockettes: Spring has sprung and the weather may be warming up, but we already have Christmas on the mind! And so do 937 other dancers who lined up outside Radio City Music Hall last week in hopes of being cast in our 2017 Christmas Spectacular. 937! To break it down, that’s 102 male ensemble hopefuls, 340 female ensemble hopefuls, 77 Clara hopefuls and a whopping 418 Rockette hopefuls.

*The Three Musketeers*

The Tartan Online: In Carnegie Mellon School of Drama’s The Three Musketeers, the classic phrase of the eponymous trio, “All for one and one for all,” takes on a new meaning in the thrilling conclusion to Carnegie Mellon’s theater season. The show was held in the Purnell Center for the Arts from April 13 to 15 and April 25 to 29 at matinee times of 2 p.m. on Saturdays and evening times at 8 p.m. for every day of the production.

*Wife U*

The Tartan Online: Five shows in one weekend, and it was all sold out. Needless to say, committing to writing a review for this show without a ticket locked down was beginning to make me anxious. Fortunately, the School of Drama’s box office has a wonderful waitlist system, where you can receive the tickets of those who don’t show up at no cost at all. Thus, by arriving promptly on the scene, we were added to the waitlist, and soon ushered in to Purnell’s Helen Wayne Rauh Studio Theatre.

Broadway’s Big Swing Problem

OnStage: This past week I had the pleasure of staying in New York City for a dance intensive. Though I spent a good seven to eight hours a day dancing, I made sure to cram in as many shows as I could manage (and afford). One of those shows was Bandstand. I’d been following Bandstand since it was at Paper Mill Playhouse and was excited to see what promised to be an original, fresh show hit Broadway. I didn’t love some things (the book felt forced and awkward) and loved others (like seeing the actors playing members of the band— all incredible musicians— playing together on stage), but the main thing that disappointed me was— wait for it— the swing dancing.

Meet the Man Who Makes Broadway Autism-Friendly

Playbill: “You might be wondering how I got the greatest job in the world,” writes Harry Smolin in remarks he delivered to the cast of Broadway’s The Phantom of the Opera in November.

At 18, Smolin may be one of the youngest influencers in the industry. As a special consultant for the Theatre Development Fund’s Autism Theatre Initiative, Smolin—who himself has autism—is the voice and logic behind adjusted autism-friendly performances of Broadway shows. As TDF’s Director of Accessibility Programs Lisa Carling says, “Harry keeps us honest.”

Theatre Without a Theatre: On Found Spaces and Creativity in the Twin Cities

HowlRound: In Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, a substantial theatre community exists and thrives due to the culture and support of local communities and the state's art funding set-up. However, in spite of boasting dozens of theatre and performing arts companies of all sizes, the Twin Cities are not immune to a travesty happening in mid-sized cities around the United States: a venue shortage. Much has been reported about housing crises nationally, but as these cities go deeper into gentrification, we are also losing hundreds of actual, physical theatres nationally. In the past two years alone the Twin Cities has seen handfuls of theatres go under, not because of loss of funds or because of money mismanagement, but because rent gets overwhelmingly raised overnight, or because developers buy entire blocks and shut them down.

NFTRW Weekly Top Five

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

Can Art Legally Threaten the President?

www.artsy.net: The right-wing blogosphere wasn’t exactly tickled when an Alaskan assistant professor decided to decapitate President Trump last month. To be fair, the violence was only virtual—the teacher, artist Thomas Chung, had painted an image of the Captain America actor Chris Evans, naked, holding Trump’s severed, bloody bust by a lock of his infamous hair.

Posted by David at 5/04/2017 01:00:00 PM

Ringling's final circus to be on Facebook Live

TribLIVE: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus first wowed audiences in the 19th century. For the iconic American spectacle's final act, it will broadcast the final performance on a 21st century medium: Facebook Live.

Posted by David at 5/06/2017 12:35:00 PM

My Reactions to the 2017 Tony Award Nominations.

The Producer's Perspective: It seemed like just yesterday that the big question about the Tony nominations was how many Hamilton was going to get.
That’s right, my dear readers, a year has already come and gone, and just yesterday the 2017 Tony Award nominations were announced. (And I wouldn’t have been surprised if Hamilton had sneaked one in this year, somehow – Best Ridiculous Amount of Gross Box Off Receipts perhaps?)
So what did I think of the nominations this year?
Well, as a co-producer of Groundhog Day, I was pretty pleased. 🙂

Posted by David at 5/04/2017 01:07:00 PM

Phipps Conservatory Brings Larger-Than-Life Glass Art Exhibit to Pittsburgh

NEXTpittsburgh: When Dale Chihuly exhibited his glass art at Phipps in 2007, he left a lasting impact that would resonate with guests for years to come. Now, ten years later, Phipps is excited to present a new glass art show, SUPER. NATURAL., created by Jason Gamrath, a master glass artist from Seattle.
Gamrath creates botanical pieces that are remarkably accurate representations of their living counterparts — only on a massive scale. Standing anywhere from six to 14 feet tall, his larger-than-life pieces are sure to amaze.

Posted by David at 5/06/2017 12:33:00 PM

Creating a Galaxy of Sound

Uncrate: Everyone loses it over visual effects. The realism, or sometimes lack thereof, is what captures audiences and sparks conversations around the watercooler. But what you see is only half — and possibly even less — of what makes a film great. Close your eyes and you can imagine the action and movements on the screen. Mute the sound and the entire context of a scene can be lost. Star Wars broke the mold not just in its visual effects, but in the depth and complexity of its sound design, creating characters and vehicles whose aural design is as recognizable as its visual design.

Posted by David at 5/03/2017 11:44:00 AM

Pet Tales: Horses play lead roles in 'Beauty and the Beast'

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: In this version of the “tale as old as time,” Belle not only finds true love with the Beast, but also she gets to ride a big, beautiful white horse.

“Beauty and the Beast on Horseback” takes the popular Disney story to a whole new level at the 2017 PETCON Pet & Equine Expo at the Washington County Fairgrounds & Expo Center next weekend.

The 21st Century Safety Paradox

www.newequipment.com: As a research psychologist for NASA, Steve Casner spent decades analyzing how pilots think and helping turn those findings into safety protocols for the aviation industry. A few years ago he found a new calling: making the whole world safer.

Collecting decades of personal anecdotes and global tragedies, loads of safety data and even more common sense, Casner has authored Careful: A User’s Guide to Our Injury-Prone Minds

The Monologue Project celebrates Women of the African Diaspora in theater

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Voices will be raised Saturday in Pittsburgh, New York, Los Angeles and other cities nationwide to inaugurate The Monologue Project, an initiative aimed at celebrating Women of the African Diaspora and their impact on theater.

'Total Chaos': Fyre Festival Organizers Face Third Lawsuit

Rolling Stone: A third lawsuit has been filed against the organizers of the disastrous Fyre Festival. The complaint, obtained by Rolling Stone, alleges negligence, fraud, misrepresentation and violation of consumer protection laws in all 50 states (the latter charge filed so attendees from any state can join the suit if it is certified as a class action lawsuit).

North Coast Rep Honors SD Marty Burnett on 25 Years

Stage Directions: This year marks the 25th year of extraordinary set design and technical direction for North Coast Repertory Theatre’s Resident Scenic Designer, Marty Burnett. The theatre toasts his 25-year career, as he is the theatre’s longest-time employee. He began his career with North Coast Rep back in 1992, when he was hired by co-founder Olive Blakistone, to design the production of Chekhov in Yalta. Since then, he has created an astonishing string of successes that now number 187 to date, not including the numerous sets he has designed for North Coast Rep’s Theatre School.

Ringling's final circus to be on Facebook Live

TribLIVE: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus first wowed audiences in the 19th century. For the iconic American spectacle's final act, it will broadcast the final performance on a 21st century medium: Facebook Live.

Teaming Up: Performances in Hockey Arenas

performance.wengercorp.com: Across North America, the NHL’s Stanley Cup playoffs are underway. Hockey arenas echo with sound of slap shots, bone-jarring checks and roaring crowds. Ever wonder how these venues transform from hosting hockey games one night to a rock concert or other performances the next? As in successful playoff hockey, the answer is teamwork.

D-BOX Technologies powers Cirque du Soleil’s NFL Experience Times Square

www.cirquefascination.com: The state-of-the-art sports-themed attraction has been created by Cirque du Soleil in partnership with the National Football League.

NFL Experience Times Square will feature a leading-edge immersive theater with high-definition projectors and 185 seats powered by the motion of D-BOX Technology.

Phipps Conservatory Brings Larger-Than-Life Glass Art Exhibit to Pittsburgh

NEXTpittsburgh: When Dale Chihuly exhibited his glass art at Phipps in 2007, he left a lasting impact that would resonate with guests for years to come. Now, ten years later, Phipps is excited to present a new glass art show, SUPER. NATURAL., created by Jason Gamrath, a master glass artist from Seattle.

Gamrath creates botanical pieces that are remarkably accurate representations of their living counterparts — only on a massive scale. Standing anywhere from six to 14 feet tall, his larger-than-life pieces are sure to amaze.

Fyre Festival Employees Speak Out: Details Behind the Chaos

Variety: The Fyre Festival has achieved such notoriety in such a short time that it hardly seems possible that just a week ago, the first panicked tweets began to emerge from the Bahamas about the disorganized mess the heavily hyped event had become. A splashy video ad filled with models luxuriating on yachts and sun-kissed beaches had promised a designer music festival featuring Blink-182, Migos, Major Lazer, Disclosure and others on an island purportedly formerly owned by Pablo Escobar (who actually never owned an island in the Bahamas). Instead, attendees who had been promised luxury accommodation and meals prepared by celebrity chefs found flimsy tents, boxed lunches and near-total disorganization — and long waits for flights to return to the mainland after airlines began refusing to fly would-be concertgoers to the overcrowded island of Exumas.

Expanding Horizons: The World Of Audio Veteran And Sound Company Owner Chris Anderson

ProSoundWeb: “I often tell people that I feel like I formed a sound company by accident,” says Chris Anderson, owner and CEO of Anderson Audio, “but the company grew out of my personal career.” It’s a career that began early on, while Anderson was in the recording program at Lebanon Valley College.

Live Streaming: How To Reach A Wider Audience

ChurchProduction.com: With so many churches incorporating live streaming into their productions, it’s become increasingly more difficult to stand out amongst the crowd. You want viewers to tune in to your broadcast, but with so many churches broadcasting at the same time, it’s easy for your stream to get lost in the clutter. So what other options are there to get more viewers?

After 14 Years, Point Break Live! Returns to Seattle for One Night Only

Theater - The Stranger: Jaime Keeling's Point Break Live! is a ha-ha-fun drunken dorm room idea gone terrifically right. Take Kathryn Bigelow's tubular surfer-bro action-adventure bank-robber film starring Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze (RIP), put it in a theater, keep all the best lines, also keep all the water and blood, and then, just to add that extra special something, cast the show's lead role from the audience each night.

Protest Theatre. Schenkkan pushes back on a Donald Trump promise with Building the Wall

DC Theatre Scene: It’s in the air – an urgency to use theatre to get people into the conversation about what many see as our national crisis: the Trump presidency. Now Forum Theatre gets into the act presenting a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of Building the Wall.
I’m not sure it’s even a play. But I’m not sure that matters. The work and the conversations that it can ignite matter terribly.

My Reactions to the 2017 Tony Award Nominations.

The Producer's Perspective: It seemed like just yesterday that the big question about the Tony nominations was how many Hamilton was going to get.

That’s right, my dear readers, a year has already come and gone, and just yesterday the 2017 Tony Award nominations were announced. (And I wouldn’t have been surprised if Hamilton had sneaked one in this year, somehow – Best Ridiculous Amount of Gross Box Off Receipts perhaps?)

So what did I think of the nominations this year?

Well, as a co-producer of Groundhog Day, I was pretty pleased. 🙂

How Sports Illustrated Made The First Live-Action VR Film On Everest

www.fastcompany.com: It’s famously “there,” so a whole lot of people want to climb Mt. Everest. But the vast majority of them will never get anywhere near the peak in the Himalayas. Now virtual reality can take anyone to the top of the world’s tallest mountain.

For some time, it’s been possible to “climb” a computer-generated Everest, thanks to “Everest VR,” which lets users of high-end VR systems like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive ascend to 29,035 feet in an entertaining, albeit facile, facsimile of the experience of summiting. Save for a scene or two in which you disappear in a fog of wind and snow, though, you don’t get much of a sense of how incredibly dangerous climbing Everest is.

The Best Mid-Sized Multi-tools for EDC in 2017

Everyday Carry: We all know how great full-sized multi-tools are. In your workshop, desk, or your car, they're a toolbox worth of utility minus the actual toolbox. But for everyday carry, they're not always the best. While you do save yourself the trouble of having to lug around said toolbox, full-sized multi-tools aren't exactly featherweights either. Carrying one as part of your EDC isn't an optimal use of pocket space and can end up weighing you down.

Fyre Festival organizers blew all their money months early on models, planes, and yachts

VICE News: One month before thousands of well-heeled millennials were set to descend on a remote island in the Bahamas for the Fyre Festival to frolic on yachts, rub elbows with models, and hear acts like Blink 182 and Major Lazer, the organizers had a big problem.

Fyre Festival Disaster: Industry Vets Weigh in

Rolling Stone: Like everybody else who watched the wreckage of Fyre Festival, the "luxury" event last weekend in the Bahamas marred by shoddy housing, questionable meals and overall substandard conditions, veteran managers, agents and others in the concert business tell Rolling Stone they couldn't believe organizers neglected to supply attendees with basic food, water and lodging. Billy McFarland, who created the event with rapper Ja Rule, lamented to Rolling Stone last week that "we tried building a city out of nothing" — but those who put on Bonnaroo, Coachella and other music festivals do such a thing every year.

17 Larger-Than-Life Projects to Behold at the Biggest Maker Faire on Earth

makezine.com: It is no secret that you could easily have your mind blown by just walking around Maker Faire Bay Area, the mothership of all Maker Faires. With roots that date back to the first Maker Faire the world ever saw back in 2006, the twelfth installment of this larger-than-life event will take place in less than a month, from May 19–21 at the San Mateo Fairgrounds.

Cannes Security: City Plans Ahead to Avert Terror Attacks

Variety: Set to unspool just 10 days after France’s fateful presidential election, the Cannes Film Festival is ramping up security measures more than ever before.

The city is spending millions to bolster security as plans are being finalized for the world’s biggest festival, starting May 17, which is expecting stars like Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Isabelle Huppert, Kristen Stewart, Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal, and director Sofia Coppola.

But the question, for many festgoers, is how safe is Cannes going to be this year?

Can Art Legally Threaten the President?

www.artsy.net: The right-wing blogosphere wasn’t exactly tickled when an Alaskan assistant professor decided to decapitate President Trump last month. To be fair, the violence was only virtual—the teacher, artist Thomas Chung, had painted an image of the Captain America actor Chris Evans, naked, holding Trump’s severed, bloody bust by a lock of his infamous hair.

Leslie Moonves: Studios ‘Very Sympathetic’ to Writers in Negotiations

Variety: CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves opened up at the Milken Conference on Wednesday about what it was like for him to deal with the negotiations with the WGA that averted a strike earlier this week.

“I think the companies were all together,” he said of the studios represented by the AMPTP. “We had a united front and guess what–we were very sympathetic to what the writers were asking for. This wasn’t ‘oh my god, they were crazy.’ The span issues of doing eight episodes over 12 months was absolutely valid. Health and pension were valid issues.”

“Death of a Salesman” at the Pittsburgh Public Theatre

The Pittsburgh Tatler: Maybe it’s because this production was directed by a woman (Mary B. Robinson) – or maybe because it’s just so inescapably “in the air” – but what clings most to the Public’s Death of a Salesman is the overwhelming stench of toxic masculinity. To be sure, Arthur Miller’s play is pretty much the same one you read in high school, the one that would ask you to see Willy and Biff Loman as victims of the social and economic stresses of mid-20th-century American capitalism.

#101Wednesdays: Crowd managers - where's yours?

NFPA Xchange: When most people think of crowd managers, they probably think of large assembly venues, such as stadiums (or stadia, if you prefer), arenas, exhibition halls, theaters, and so forth. However, since the 2006 edition (following the Station Nightclub fire), NFPA 101 has required at least one trained crowd manager in ALL assembly occupancies. (The occupant load threshold was previously 1000.) I believe this requirement is largely overlooked, because when I mention it in NFPA’s Life Safety Code Essentials seminar, I usually get the deer-in-the-headlights look from the class.

AU 2016 Video: AutoCAD Secrets Exposed (Plus 3D!)

AutoCAD Blog | Autodesk: You can never learn enough AutoCAD tips and tricks, right? There’s always going to be something out there you can use to tweak your workflow to make life easier, which is why internationally known CAD evangelist Jeanne Aarhus took time at AU Las Vegas 2016 to present not one, but TWO sessions on the hidden powers of AutoCAD, called AutoCAD Secrets EXPOSED.

Alien Covenant's Armor, Weapons, and Blood Effects!

Tested: On the set of the upcoming Alien: Covenant, Adam Savage learns about the array of prop guns and knives used in filming by production armorist John Bowring! Adam then stops by the breakaway effects department to see how the various alien, human, and synthetic bloods and fluids are made and used to great effect on screen!