Ask Jonah: Clearing Up Misunderstandings About Compression

ProSoundWeb: This time out, we’re conquering a trio of common confusions about compression. Even the term can be troublesome. In the context of live sound, compression refers to a type of dynamics processing that acts to reduce the dynamic range of the signal; basically, reduce the difference between the loud parts and the soft parts.

A Guide to Theater Etiquette the New York Way

www.timeout.com: I am a dyed-in-the-ethically-sourced-sustainable-cashmere coastal lefty elitist. I am strenuously inclusionary and empathetic to a fault. I apologize to inanimate objects when I bump into them. I am a socialist Democrat and pacifist to the core. I love everything and everyone and the divine in me honors the divine in you. Truly.

8 Reverb and Delay Plugins Based on Analog Hardware

Pro Audio Files: Reverb and delay plugins are common tools for every modern mixing engineer — most DAWs even include their own effects plugins for free. But up until around the 40s, the only way to apply reverb to a recording was to move the mic further away from the sound source — and the only way to apply delay was by daisy-chaining two tape machines together.

Broadway unions speak out against Supreme Court ruling

Broadway News: Actors’ Equity Association and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society are speaking out against the Supreme Court ruling on public unions, as organized labor groups face political pressure across the country.

Nominees Announced For 34th Annual NAMM TEC Awards

ProSoundWeb: At Summer NAMM, pro audio professionals and leading industry brands gathered to recognize and celebrate the announcement of the 34th annual NAMM TEC Award nominees at a special pro audio reception held in the Music City Center.

Theatre Unions Rebuke SCOTUS Union Fee Decision

AMERICAN THEATRE: On Wednesday, June 27, the Supreme Court issued a ruling on the case of Janus v. AFSCME. The majority opinion stated that public employees do not have to pay mandatory agency fees to unions, even if they benefit from the actions of those unions. Those fees usually cover the costs of collective bargaining, and are separate from the dues paid by members.

The Music Modernization Act Is One Step Closer to Fixing Music Copyright

Rolling Stone: America’s biggest attempt at music copyright overhaul in decades, also known as the Music Modernization Act, passed unanimously in the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday, meaning it now only needs to pass a full Senate vote before landing on the president’s desk.

Pixar Designer Talks About Sexism at the Company

The Mary Sue: In a harrowing personal essay, former Pixar graphic designer Cassandra Smolcic discusses the habitual sexism and harassment she endured while working for the storied animation giant. Smolcic describes a pervasive atmosphere of harassment and objectification that defined Pixar’s corporate culture, starting with its CCO John Lasseter.

Watch Sex Educators React to Hollywood’s Sex Scenes

www.vulture.com: Sex scenes in Hollywood are notoriously polished and, some might say, fantastical (here’s looking at you, The Shape of Water). But just how polished? Sex educators Dirty Lola and Francisco Ramirez break down the facts in some of Hollywood’s steamiest bedroom tomfoolery, including that infamous peach scene in Call Me by Your Name.

How BARTKRESA Studio Turned a Space Shuttle into King Tut’s Tomb

Projection Mapping Central: King Tut met 21st century design and technology at the California Science Center. Projection Designer Bart Kresa mapped the space shuttle Endeavor with images of King Tut’s spectacular golden sarcophagus for the Science Center’s recent Discovery Ball fundraiser.

How Do I Deal With Harassment at My New TV Writing Job?

www.vulture.com: I’ve been pinching myself because I can’t believe how lucky I am to have landed my dream job: staff writer on a TV show. The only problem is that almost immediately, an older, senior writer pulled me aside to tell me that I didn’t deserve the job, and that he had been rooting for someone else to get it.

New Hit Musical Features White Woman, White Cast Singing 'Slave Songs'

thegrapevine.theroot.com: As further proof of the gentrifying instinct of Caucasity knows no bounds, a new theater presentation featuring “slave songs” sang by an all-white cast, backed by an all-white band and led by a white director has quickly become the biggest hit at the largest jazz festival in the world.

She Believed She Could: A Dresser's Day with SUMMER's LJ Wright

www.broadwayworld.com: Six days a week, a hour or so before the stars of Summer: The Donna Summer Musical sign in on the callboard, dresser LJ Wright arrives at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre to help lay the groundwork for the day's show(s). By the time Tony-nominated star Ariana DeBose arrives, Wright has set up her costumes and is ready to assist with any other prep the actress needs.

Ticketmaster Secretly Provides Scalpers With Bot Software, Brokers Claim

Hollywood Reporter: Who is to blame for very few cheap tickets to Hamilton?

According to Ticketmaster, the responsibility falls on ticket brokerage firms like Prestige Entertainment and Renaissance Ventures, which allegedly employ "bots" to circumvent technological restrictions aimed at ensuring a level playing field for anyone who would want to see the Broadway hit.

Long Workdays Will Take Center Stage As IATSE Contract Talks Resume

Deadline: The film and TV industry’s excessively long workdays and the unsafe conditions they create are expected to take center stage as stalled negotiations resume today for a new IATSE contract covering some 43,000 West Coast behind-the-scenes workers. It’s an issue that’s dogged the union – and the industry – for decades.

The Academy Invites 928 New Members Including Tiffany Haddish

Collider: Just look at the past few years of Academy Award nominees and you can see things are getting better. Yes, there are still some snubs and some films that sneak in for easy nominations, but for the most part, movies like The Shape of Water and Moonlight, films that ten years ago wouldn’t have even broken in, can come away with Best Picture wins. That’s thanks to a younger, more thoughtful and diverse Academy membership that continues to grow.

Firewall Media Installation

Projection Mapping Central: Firewall is an interactive media installation created by by Aaron Sherwood and Mike Allison. A stretched sheet of spandex acts as a membrane interface sensitive to depth that people can push into and create fire-like visuals and expressively play music.

Pose's Billy Porter tells us how he found strength in tonight's gut-wrenching episode

www.avclub.com: In its first season, Pose has offered a loving look at the lives of people all too rarely seen on TV. The drama has created a safe space for trans people of color while calling out the transphobia and racism that exist in the queer community. We’ve witnessed narrow victories and defeats on and off the runway, as well as heartbreak and first love, all set against the backdrop of the AIDS crisis. But creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Steven Canals have spent much of the first half of the season focusing on queer people’s joy.

Why Do Marvel's Men Complain About Their Costumes? Evangeline Lilly Has a Theory…

themuse.jezebel.com: You know what Evangeline Lilly’s had? It! You know which direction she’s had it? Up! You know where she’s had it up to? Here!

During a recent interview with BackstageOL about Ant-Man and the Wasp, Lilly, who plays the film’s titular Wasp, was asked about her suit.

We Need Theatre to Exist, and Maybe Research Can Prove Its Necessity

HowlRound Theatre Commons: Is theatre necessary? This is an age-old question. It is so old that perhaps, at times, we grow tired of asking it. We shouldn’t. In its answer lies the Holy Grail. Proving theatre necessary to the mechanical function of the human body might lead to a renaissance in its funding, attendance, and growth. Imagine a world in which theatre practitioners, when asked why theatre should be funded, could answer definitively, “Because it is necessary to human life.” Perhaps that world is not as far away as it seems.

It's Magical, That's All: Lights Through A Lighting Designer's Eyes

TheatreArtLife: LIGHTS, camera, action! Beside the fact that the camera would have nothing to shoot and that no action could be captured without turning them on, lights cannot always be called first for those reasons alone. “Lights are magical, they can change moods, alter spaces and colors, modify an entire set and even make it completely disappear!” says Flavia Hevia, a Mexican lighting designer who has spent the last 20 years juggling light bulbs, follow spots, strobes, LED and chandeliers to turn the most stripped, empty spaces into magical places and to recreate countless cultures and eras on stage. If most magicians strongly deny using smoke and mirrors, this one is first in line to proudly claim their use!

Hitachi C12RSH2 Miter Saw Review

Pro Tool Reviews: The Hitachi C12RSH2 comes with some street cred, and some big shoes to fill. It’s the second iteration of Hitachi’s cult classic C12RSH that has since been discontinued. When Hitachi originally designed the original C12RSH, they gained a loyal following of woodworkers by offering forward-thinking features. Fine adjustment knobs for both bevel and miter settings, a vertical handle, and one of the first zero-clearance rail systems made this saw a really big deal way back in 2006.

How Disney Used A MIDI Keyboard To Ignite The New Millennium

www.forbes.com: Not many shows that marked the dawn of the new millennium are still playing today. Most featured upbeat new age music and overly aspirational themes that soon felt dated. However, at Disney’s theme park complex in Orlando, Florida, there’s a son et lumière that premiered nearly 20 years ago but is still casting its spell on a full house every night. There is good reason for this.

“The Clearing” at Bricolage Production Company

The Pittsburgh Tatler: The gerund noun of the title of Bricolage’s new immersive encounter – The Clearing – is deliberately ambiguous. It’s both the (noun) space you enter and explore and the (gerund verb) activity you engage in as part of the performance.

Perfecting the 'Burn': Props Master Jay Duckworth on Styling the Iconic 'Hamilton' Song

DC Metro Theater Arts: As a Props Master, you try and read through a script and see where the big “what ifs” are, but there is always a human factor that you just can’t predict. In Hamilton, one big “what if” was the song “Burn.” In the song, Eliza Hamilton carries a coal scuttle onstage in which she burns the letters between herself and Alexander Hamilton. Getting those letters to burn in just the right way, for just the right amount of time, was my job.

Church Sound: Four Reasons Every New Sound Tech Should Start On The Stage

ProSoundWeb: If I gave you a choice between mixing and setting up the stage, I know which you’d pick. However, it’s the work on the stage that gives you everything you need for mixing.

By Design: Tony Nominations for Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer

Live Design: The design team of Jules Fisher, winner of nine Tony Awards, and triple Tony-winner Peggy Eisenhauer were double nominated for Tony Awards this year for two revivals: Best Lighting Design for the play The Iceman Cometh, starring Denzel Washington and closing on July 1, and the musical Once On This Island, which won the Tony for Best Musical Revival.

Law Will Make Filmmakers Disclose Diversity Info for Tax Credits

Colorlines: The people behind film and television projects looking for a tax break from the Golden State will soon have to prove their official commitments to hiring diverse casts and crews and fighting harassment.

Lumen: Reimagining Immersion

arvindsanjeev.com: Lumen is a Mixed Reality storytelling platform that lets people immerse in alternate realities in their natural space through machine learning and projection mapping technologies. It tries to explore the creation of a new kind of media that takes advantage of the physical world while overlaying a layer of digital fiction on top of it.

6 Tips To Get The Most Out Of Your Summer Internship

collegecandy.com: So you just landed your dream summer internship. Congrats! Internships are the best way for career-minded college students to build a professional network, get job experience, and learn from leaders in their industry of choice. However, a lot of students forget that getting hired is only the first step. There’s a lot of work that needs to be put in, both inside and outside your actual job assignment, to take full advantage of this awesome opportunity. Check out these 6 tips for how to rock your internship and get the most out of your summer.

Timelapse of Houston Grand Opera Building Resilience Theatre

www.livedesignonline.com: When Hurricane Harvey flooded The Wortham Theatre Center, home of the Houston Grand Opera and the Houston Ballet, with twelve feet of water, HGO decided to host their 2017/2018 season in Exhibit Hall A3 in George R. Brown Convention Center. Watch the video as the crew turns the 150,000 square foot empty cave into an opera house.

A CNC Plasma Cutter Table, From The Shop Floor Up

Hackaday: Some projects are simple, some focus on precision and craftsmanship, and some are more of the quick-and-dirty variety. This home-built CNC plasma cutter table seems to follow a “go big or go home” philosophy, and we have to say we’re mighty impressed by the finished product.

Jobsite Review: Hitachi C10RJ Table Saw

Remodeling: Until recently, my experience with table saws has tended towards the extremes. For some reason, I’ve used either a small table-top saw like the venerable Makita 8-inch or a big stationary machine that has a cast-iron table and multi-horse motor. The jobsite saws that I had used on occasion were almost as conveniently sized as the table-tops, but lacked the precision and power of the big saws.

Protracted Labor Shortage Severely Hampering Growth

Remodeling | Labor, Business, Workforce: By all indications it’s going to be a banner year for replacement contractors who are enjoying sustained growth in the midst of the ongoing recovery. But that growth could be much higher if not for one persistent problem: the labor shortage.

Production Planning: Hosting A Concert Tour

Church Production Magazine: Nothing can stress out a tech team like an equipment failure or a system incompatibility that's discovered on the day a concert tour arrives at your church. “The show must go on,” so they say. So when the tour truck backs into your loading dock, things need to happen in lock step or the day can quickly spiral out of control.

Dael Orlandersmith’s ‘Until the Flood’ at ACT Theatre is a searing look at community, post-Ferguson

The Seattle Times: Dael Orlandersmith is one of those actors who pulls you in close wherever she performs.

At ACT Theatre, Orlandersmith’s searing solo piece “Until the Flood” is staged in the in-the-round Allen Theatre, which furthers the intimacy between performer and audience. Ringed by Takeshi Kata’s design of clusters of stuffed toys, flowers, candles and other familiar tributes to the young dead, it’s a good place for holding that conversation — the one about race.

6 Artists Share the Career Advice They'd Give Their Younger Selves

mymodernmet.com: They often say that wisdom comes with age, and this can be especially true when it comes to your career. Any creative field is difficult, and venturing down the path to become any type of artist takes courage. But over time, the knowledge and expertise gained can make you look back on decisions you made when just starting out with fresh eyes.

Trump supporter disrupts Robert De Niro's 'A Bronx Tale'

nypost.com: A Trump supporter tried disrupting a performance of the Robert De Niro-directed “A Bronx Tale: The Musical” on Saturday — standing up during the curtain call and displaying a “Keep America Great!” flag toward the audience.

“The times we live in,” tweeted audience member Joe Del Vicario, along with a pic showing the Broadway protest.

A Michael Jackson biopic musical is coming to Broadway

m.axs.com: Step aside Bruce Springsteen, it’s Michael Jackson’s turn to bask under the bright lights of Broadway. According to a New York Times report that arrived on Tuesday morning, the estate of the globally famous pop singer has teamed up with Columbia Live Stage to develop a musical production about the life of Jackson, with hope of the project arriving on Broadway by the year 2020.

Robert De Niro's Tony Moment is Everything that is Wrong with Our State-of-the-Union

OnStage Blog: Days after the 2018 Tony Awards I find myself still thinking about Robert De Niro and the comments he made about our sitting President, and the overwhelming ovation of support he received from the Broadway community. Reflecting on this moment, I can’t help thinking “this is everything that is wrong with our current state-of-the-union.”

Opt In To Learn How The Show Ends

Butts In the Seats: In somewhat the same theme as the post I made last week about Tu Me Manques which uses social media to tell the story of a relationship, I had also come across an article in May about Pirates & Mermaids, a one person show about a long distance romance that “unfolds through texts between the two main characters, shared photographs, and good old-fashioned storytelling by the fire.”

Putting the ‘Fly’ Back in Superfly: Costume Designer Antoinette Messam Dresses Up a Classic

theglowup.theroot.com: Remakes are a tricky business. Attempting to reinvent a classic for a new generation is rife with potential missteps—not to mention the potentially tepid response from an audience who may not be interested in being retold an old tale. And then, there’s timing; opening weekends can be hell when contending against established franchises or, God forbid, long-awaited big-budget sequels.

Music + Lyrics: Todd Almond

Breaking Character: Todd Almond does everything. Composer, lyricist, playwright, actor, performer and producer, Todd has brought his multi-dimensional composition and writing to three musical adaptations of Shakespeare (for The Public Theater), five original musicals, a musical featuring Matthew Sweet’s hit record, “Girlfriend”, and now, a play. In this interview, we chat to Todd about his life, his work, and what’s next for one of theatre’s most diverse creatives.

‘Weinstein Effect’ Leads to Jump in Sexual Harassment Complaints

Variety: Complaints of sexual harassment in California nearly doubled in the first three months of 2018, while New York state has seen a 60% increase since the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke last fall.

43,000 attend InfoComm 2018

InPark Magazine: The Audiovisual and Integrated Experience Association lowered the curtain on its first InfoComm show in North America as AVIXA™. The event kicked off with a record-setting TIDE conference and concluded with a trade show exhibition that attracted nearly 43,000 registered attendees, 10 percent more than the last time InfoComm was held in Las Vegas, in 2016.

Terry Gilliam Loses Man Who Killed Don Quixote Movie Rights

screenrant.com: Director Terry Gilliam has encountered more trouble with his years-long passion project The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, as news broke today that the filmmaker has lost his rights to the film. Despite all of the time that Gilliam has poured into the film’s production, the director lost a court battle that determined who had proper rights to The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.

The Muny Releases Statement in Response to Jerome Robbins' Broadway 'Yellowface' Complaints

www.broadwayworld.com: The Muny has issued a response to both social media complaints and a small protest during a performance of Jerome Robbins' Broadway at the theatre this week. During a segment of the show, reenacting parts of The King and I, a group of 15 protestors were ejected while chanting 'no yellowface' during a scene where a white actress played 'Tuptim', a character from Burma (now Myanmar) in the scene. For more information on the protestors, click here. The Muny has now issued a statement in response:

22 Injured at Trenton, NJ, Arts-Festival Shooting

www.theroot.com: A 13-year-old boy is among the 22 people injured after a shooter opened fire at a 24-hour arts festival in Trenton, N.J., early Sunday around 2:45 a.m.

The suspect, a 33-year-old man, is reportedly dead and another suspect has been taken into custody, according to CNN. The shooting may have started with a “neighborhood beef” that unfolded at the festival, Mercer County, N.J., Prosecutor Angelo Onofri said.

Warner Bros. crackdown puts Dark Mark over Harry Potter festivals

www.usatoday.com: Warner Bros. is cracking down on local Harry Potter fan festivals around the country, saying it's necessary to halt unauthorized commercial activity. Fans, however, liken the move to Dementors sucking the joy out of homegrown fun, while festival directors say they'll transfigure the events into generic celebrations of magic.

HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD Has Best Week Ever For A Play In Broadway History

www.broadwayworld.com: The Tony and Olivier Award-winning Best Play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has set a new Broadway record for weekly ticket sales for a play, reporting a gross of $2,277,446 for the week ending June 17, 2018. This passes the high mark set by the two-part play in previews the week ending April 8, 2018 ($2,138,859) and the previous top grossing play, All The Way, which peaked at $1,623,495 in 2014.

Alicia Keys Announces Music Initiative for Female Advancement

Rolling Stone: Alicia Keys has announced She Is the Music, a women-led music industry initiative for female advancement, Variety reports. The singer announced the organization's formation during her speech at the National Music Publishers Association's annual meeting on Wednesday, where she was being honored as Icon Songwriter.

On Your Feet!

Pittsburgh in the Round: I think there is a crucial plot point missing from each of the shows in the recent rash of biographical jukebox musicals adapting the stories of iconic recording artists for the stage. Nowadays, these shows come in many varieties: long-running hits (Jersey Boys), newly-minted hits (Summer: The Donna Summer Musical), and probable hits in the making (The Cher Show).

Time To Think About Compensation Resources

Arts Hacker: Within the parameters of nonprofit performing arts, compensation can be a sticky subject, especially when it comes to those at the top of the pay scale. Fortunately, transparency goes a long way and you have multiple resources for researching current trends.

‘Vida,’ ‘One Day at a Time’ Showrunners Recount Racial Slur

Variety: There were no holds barred during the comedy panel for Variety’s “A Night in the Writers’ Room” on Thursday.

When asked by Variety’s managing editor of TV, Cynthia Littleton, about the impact of the “Roseanne” cancellation, “The Good Place” creator Michael Schur plainly stated: “Most people on the shows represented on this panel aren’t racist. Most of the actors on our show didn’t dress up as Hitler and bake cookies and then have a photo shoot.”

How to Tell a Loved One They're Coiling Cables Wrong

thehardtimes.net: Coiling cables is an everyday part of live shows. When done incorrectly, however, it can be heartbreaking to watch a loved one, or often time a band mate, make the same mistakes over and over again. Know that you are not alone and help is available.

William Shakespeare's Long Lost First Play (abridged)

Pittsburgh in the Round: The Reduced Shakespeare Company (RSC – not to be confused with the Royal Shakespeare Company) has once again brought their wacky take on Shakespeare to Pittsburgh with their latest work, William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged), playing at the Pittsburgh Public Theater through July 1, 2018.

After Weinstein, the so-called casting couch’s number is up

ThinkProgress: Say you’re Harvey Weinstein’s attorney. Eight months after two seismic investigations into your client’s alleged decades-long history of sexual violence come out, he is arrested, charged with raping and sexually assaulting two women, and released on $1 million cash bail. This is something that seems to have happened both suddenly and finally: Not even a year after his name became synonymous with sexual predation in Hollywood, but over 40 years since the earliest known rape by this man allegedly occurred.

ONCE ON THIS ISLAND Earns 12th Annual ACCA Award for Outstanding Broadway Chorus

www.broadwayworld.com: Actors' Equity Association has announced that Once On This Island will receive the twelfth annual "ACCA" Award for Outstanding Broadway Chorus. Presented by Equity's Advisory Committee on Chorus Affairs (ACCA), the ACCA Award is the only industry accolade of its kind to honor the distinctive talents and contributions made by the original chorus members of a Broadway musical.

What a 'Hamlet' Quote Says About a Sanctuary-City Ruling

The Atlantic: Hamlet makes sense in 2018. Almost too much sense. The contours of his tragedy, as with many of Shakespeare’s doomed characters, are startlingly familiar at a time when Americans are deeply divided over the fate of the country and its people. The story of a man exposed to the political violence of a kingdom under usurpation, some would argue, offers an eerie parallel to the lack of sanctuary or safety in the United States for many of the people who seek to make their lives here.

Theater's Online Community Is Dying. Can We Save It?

www.clydefitchreport.com: Following the release of The New York Times’ list of its 25 best plays of the last 25 years, Rob Weinert-Kendt, Editor-in-Chief of American Theatre, wrote a piece about the list’s quiet reception, wondering why it hadn’t inspired more conversation or spirited debate. “Where’s the argument?” he asked, offering a few possible answers: perhaps critics did their jobs too well; perhaps this was another side effect of fading outlets, in print and online, for critics.

TDF Celebrates 50 Years of Supporting the Arts

www.broadwayworld.com: TDF, the not-for-profit organization dedicated to bringing the power of the performing arts to everyone, has been serving the performing arts community in New York City and beyond for 50 years.

The First Five Years: Early Creative Career Mistakes, and How to Avoid Them

99U: Getting started in your creative career is tough, so we're introducing a new column that will allow you to get the benefit of hindsight before you've actually gone through the experience. Welcome to "The First Five Years" where Mitch Goldstein, a professor of design at Rochester Institute of Technology, answers reader questions related to the unchartered waters of beginning a career.

The Jimmy Awards Will Be Streamed Live on Facebook

www.broadwayworld.com: The Broadway League has announced that the 10th annual Jimmy® Awards ceremony will be streamed Live in its entirety on Facebook. The Jimmy Awards will take place on Monday, June 25th at 7:30PM ET at the Minskoff Theatre, 200 West 45th Street in Manhattan, and will be hosted by Tony Award Winner® Laura Benanti. With support from 2017 Tony Award winning Best Musical Dear Evan Hansen and Wells Fargo, the livestream will also include special content for those watching online.

Holland Taylor on How Playing Ann Richards Changed Her Life

www.vulture.com: “It was just wonderful to have that expansive spirit to try to inhabit,” Holland Taylor says, reflecting on her time spent playing former Texas governor Ann Richards in her one-woman show Ann. “That expansive, generous human spirit. It was the most marvelous experience of my life.”

TSDCA Releases Its Statement on Women+ in Sound Design for Broadway and Theatres across the Country

Lighting&Sound America Online - News: The Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association (TSDCA) release their statement on Women+ in Sound Design for Broadway and theatres across the country

Marjory Stoneman Douglas students give powerful surprise performance at Tonys

Chicago Sun-Times: The crowd was full of emotion after the rousing rendition of “Seasons of Love” from the Broadway musical “Rent” by the students from the Parkland, Fla., high school as a surprise to drama teacher Melody Herzfeld, who protected her students during the school shooting in February.

TCG Announces Third Round of Rising Leaders of Color

AMERICAN THEATRE: Theatre Communications Group (TCG) has announced the participants in the third round of the Rising Leaders of Color (RLC) Program. The program, which is supported by the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis, the Howard Gilman Foundation, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, provides professional development and networking opportunities to early-career leaders, as well as an arts journalist, based in St. Louis City/County and New York City.

“Gigged”: A new book explores the promise and peril of the gig economy

www.fastcompany.com: In the era of the side hustle, more and more people are relying on freelance work as a piece of their overall income. For some, that means consulting, for others it means driving for Uber. But for all gig economy workers, this new labor dynamic conjures big questions about the future of work and how social benefits, like health insurance and paid time off, should evolve.

Rachel Rockwell’s Legacy Lives In The Actors She Influenced

Showbiz Chicago: Upon hearing the news last month of Rachel Rockwell’s untimely passing on May 28th, I was about to report what most other publications posted. A fact formatted biography of what was arguably, Chicago most influential director/choreographer.

Brush Up Your Shakespur

Theatre Development Fund – TDF: Though it's categorized as a comedy and ends with multiple weddings, Measure for Measure has long been considered one of Shakespeare's "problem plays." It's a morally complex tale rife with abuse of power, sexual blackmail and some seriously toxic masculinity as corrupt judge Angelo demands nun Isabella's virginity in exchange for sparing the life of her imprisoned brother Claudio. Productions are often plagued by jarring tonal shifts, and yet playwright and writer Peter Kellogg was sure he could turn the source material into an unabashed crowd-pleaser by reimagining it as a musical comedy set in the Old West.

The Best and Worst of the Tony Awards 2018

The New York Times: Here’s a look at the most memorable moments — for better or for worse — of the 2018 Tony Awards, compiled by our chief theater critics, Ben Brantley and Jesse Green; the editor and reporter Joshua Barone; and the theater editor, Scott Heller. As Mr. Brantley put it on Sunday night, “This is the best advertisement for theater on network television in a long time, if not ever.”

Do we really need theater critics?

www.chicagoreader.com: Last week, Time Out eliminated the job of senior editor and critic Kris Vire.

That left Chicago—with its more than 200 theater companies and a reputation as the best theater city in the country—with one full-time print publication staff critic (that would be the Tribune's Chris Jones).

Women in the Industry - June 2018

www.iaapa.org/news: Hannah Harris found herself in a familiar predicament for parents with big dreams. Bringing to life her vision for a place where families could play together in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, would mean sacrificing time with her children. So, she flipped the script: she incorporated her family into her family entertainment center.

NYC’s 41 Broadway Theaters, Ranked

www.vulture.com: Imagine a Broadway theater.

Imagine sitting in that Broadway theater.

Imagine sitting in that Broadway theater before the lights go down, when there is nothing happening onstage yet, nothing to do but thumb through your Playbill and take in your surroundings.

ICYMI: Dark, Thrilling, Strange and Sweet: A Day-After Recap of All Things Tony Awards!

www.broadwayworld.com: The party's over... The American Theatre Wing's 72nd Annual Tony Awards, hosted by Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban, aired live from Radio City Music Hall last night, honoring theatre professionals for distinguished achievement on Broadway and wrapping up the 2017-18 awards season.

Top 8 Milling Tools for New CNC Machinists

Fusion 360 Blog: Cutting tools are nothing new. From the first stone axes to the most cutting edge end mills, humans have been creating and refining tools since the beginning of time. In this article we’ll be covering the top 8 milling tools that form the backbone of every professional machining job. Before you even start thinking about feeds and speeds you need to get a handle on these fundamentals.

The EU's Copyright Proposal is Extremely Bad News for Everyone, Even (Especially!) Wikipedia

Electronic Frontier Foundation: The pending update to the EU Copyright Directive is coming up for a committee vote on June 20 or 21 and a parliamentary vote either in early July or late September. While the directive fixes some longstanding problems with EU rules, it creates much, much larger ones: problems so big that they threaten to wreck the Internet itself.

Everything You Need to Know About Starting an Event Planning Business

eventplanningblueprint.com: verything you need to know about starting an event planning business, and the theme of this lesson is to really get down to business.

Let’s talk about four segments to focus on:

First, your roadmap for starting a successful event planning business. Whenever you are doing anything, whenever you are trying to get somewhere, it’s useful to have a roadmap.

We are going to take a look at where you are and where you want to be.

By Design: Paule Constable Lights Angels In America

www.livedesignonline.com: How does one light the first Broadway revival of a Pulitzer Prize-winning play from the 1990's that resonates as strongly today as it did then? Live Design chats with Paule Constable, the double Tony Award-winning LD (The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Nighttime and War Horse), who was nominated for a Tony again this year for her remarkable work lighting the two-part Angels in America (Millennium and Perestroika), which opened in March 2018 at the Neil Simon Theatre.

3D Printing Behind the Scenes

www.machinedesign.com: Movies often portray technology in a cool or sexy finished product that defies the laws of physics, but it seems like it’s just not as entertaining to show how the sausage is made. In the James Bond films, for example, gadgets seems to come about by magic courtesy of Q.
Some might think 3D printing is different, and it is cool. However, this article covers a few things happening behind the scenes that are allowing for a 3D-printed future. After all, tackling
challenges such as cost, build space, and speed is necessary before James Bond can drive off in his cool 3D-printed sports car.

Report Card: What Are the Top U.S. Metros for Millennials?

Rentonomics: What U.S. metros are the best for millennials?

To answer that question, Apartment List graded 75 top U.S. metros in three categories -- jobs, affordability and livability -- and ranked them, based on their scores.

Many metros score high in one or two categories, but few metros offer the ideal mix of a strong job market, affordable rent and home prices and high livability scores.

The best three metros for millennials are Pittsburgh, Provo, Utah, and Madison, Wis., which all earn A+ marks overall.

Adrienne Danrich on the Black Opera Divas Who Broke Barriers

www.clydefitchreport.com: What must it be like to be so bigoted that someone would refuse the exquisite pleasure of hearing Marian Anderson sing? In her spellbinding show, This Little Light of Mine: The Stories of Marian Anderson and Leontyne Price, operatic soprano Adrienne Danrich recounts a powerful episode from Anderson’s career that might serve as an example to some current political figures: In 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), which owned the performance venue Constitution Hall in Washington, DC, barred the legendary African-American singer from performing on their stage because of her race.

A Look at the Tony Award Nominated Designs for a Musical

Stage Directions: Over the next 5 weeks, counting down to the TONY Awards, we will be highlighting the productions that recieved nominations for the 2018 American Theatre Wing’s Tony Awards®, presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing for Set Design, Lighting Design, Costume Design and Sound Design of a musical. We congratulate all of the nominees. The 2018 Tony Awards will take place on June 10th.

How to Make a Black Man Disappear From Broadway

www.clydefitchreport.com: On the opening night of the current revival of Angels in America on Broadway, I refreshed my phone again and again, waiting for Ben Brantley’s verdict on the play in The New York Times. Angels had already conquered England — and impressed Brantley. To be honest, I didn’t really care whether he was going to give it a rave or a pan. I wanted to see if he would make someone disappear.

All's not fair in ‘Burnham’s Dream: The White City’ stage musical

Chicago Sun-Times: The story of Chicago’s White City and the 1893 World’s Fair might very well contain the building blocks of a fine musical. The gleaming exhibition halls of the 690-acre “city-within-a-city” brought millions of people from across the planet to Chicago. The epic event introduced the world to Cracker Jacks, the Ferris wheel, zippers, chewing gum and — in the person of H. H. Holmes — the nation’s first known serial killer.

“Pigeon [III1/2]” at Birch Swinger Ensemble

The Pittsburgh Tatler: There’s an exercise I’ll occasionally use in class, to help students think more expansively or differently about the world of a play we have read: “Create a scene that is missing from this play.” It’s an exercise that’s playful, fun, and a little naughty (because it wrests control of the play from its original author); it’s also an exercise that frequently yields new insights into the original play.

Science Is Divided About Music In The Workplace, But It Doesn't Matter

www.forbes.com: Whether or not we realize it on a conscious level, music is a universal language. It’s as old as time, it communicates what words alone cannot, and it speaks to each and every one of us in a deeply personal way.

The tragedy of music, then, is how often it’s used casually – as background noise, as something to fill a few empty hours, or simply because we can’t abide silence. However, research on the subject of music may have revealed it to be something pretty surprising: a productivity tool.

“King Hedley II” at Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre

The Pittsburgh Tatler: Ah, Pittsburgh! Hometown of August Wilson, and place of many rains….

Those two went hand-in-hand this past Saturday at the performance of King Hedley II I attended, which has been staged by Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre in the backyard of August Wilson’s childhood home, on Bedford Street in the Hill District. We were all deeply absorbed in the story, when – drip drop – the storm began to blow in, umbrellas emerged from under seats, and Wali Jamal, playing Elmore, interrupted the scene, apologized for ending the show early, and sent us all scurrying for cover.

How to Solve Problems Like a Designer

ThoughtForm, Inc.: Problem solving is one of the most universal human pursuits. We’re always trying to do things better, easier, bigger, faster. And that won’t change anytime soon. In fact, according to the World Economic Forum’s The Future of Jobs report, by 2020, 36% of jobs across all industries will require complex problem-solving abilities as a core skill.

“Orphans” (playing at Aftershock Theater)

The Pittsburgh Tatler: I’m not in the habit of compiling “10 best” lists each year – it’s not in my DNA to have “favorites” of anything (makes choosing online security questions a challenge!). But if I were to be compiling such a list for 2018, right now the marvelous production of Lyle Kessler’s Orphans (an Actors’ Equity Association Members Project, playing at a new venue, Aftershock Theater) would be at the very top of my list.