Have You Ever Seen a Show in a Bathtub?

Theatre Development Fund – TDF: Philip Santos Schaffer pulls back the curtain and introduces himself as "your server and savior" to me and the only other spectator. After chatting idly for a while, he asks if we're thirsty. "Tonight, we're serving only the finest NYC tap," he declares as he turns on the faucet and water comes pouring out. Forget the fourth wall -- there's not even a stage for this solo show because The End of the World Bar and Bathtub is performed in a real New York City bathroom. Interested audiences of two make an appointment and supply the tub; Schaffer shows up and delivers the hour-long experience.

The Elephant Man Casting Facing Backlash from Activists

The Mary Sue: The BBC is currently facing criticism for their casting choice in the current remake of The Elephant Man, where Stranger Things‘ Charlie Heaton (Jonathan) will play Joseph Merrick.

Merrick’s story has been frequently adapted, most well known in David Lynch’s 1980s movie The Elephant Man, starring Anthony Hopkins, with Jon Hurt as Merrick. In film, television, and plays, Merrick has been played by actors who are able-bodied.

Chefs Part of the Show at Unique Dinner & Theater in Pittsburgh

Eat Street - August 2018: Don’t worry about making pre- or post-show dinner reservations if you’re planning on attending Quantum Theatre’s new play, “Chatterton.” A three-course meal is an integral part of the production.

“Eating and drinking together is such an important component of an arts experience,” says Quantum Theatre artistic director Karla Boos.

Women, Minorities First Time TV Director Statistics

Variety: Women and minorities have seen significant gains among first-time directors in episodic television, a new study from the Directors Guild of America shows.

The study of the just-concluded 2017-18 season, released Thursday, shows 31% (63) of first-time hires in the 2017-18 season were directors of color — an increase from 27% in the 2016-17 season; 41% (82) of first-time hires were women, up 33% from the prior season, with 13% (27) of first-time hires being women of color for a 9% gain.

Historical Calling Technology: Cue Lights

Stage Directions: According to the Boston Daily Globe, in 1882 the Bijou theatre was the first theatre in the country to install and use electricity throughout the building. Some companies had already installed electric house lights, specials, etc. But the Bijou was the first to use electric light in every corner of the theatre. As a result, the development and implementation of cue lights followed shortly, which inevitably silenced the Prompter’s aural cueing methods and changed the way in which the audience experienced the performance.

Kathy Griffin Slams Comedy's 'Boys Club,' Louis C.K.'s Comeback

jezebel.com: Kathy Griffin is speaking out about Louis C.K.’s comeback and how female comedians get pushed out of the industry.

On Wednesday, the comedian wrote a 26-point thread on Twitter that began with an anecdote about an unnamed “famous woman comedian” who’s been working for “over 15 years.” The anonymous comedian told Griffin that she’s sick of “the boys club” and having to constantly prove herself despite all that she’s accomplished. This unnamed woman said that she’s thinking of leaving the industry, which Griffin, understandably, found very disheartening.

BIG architects' mirrored orb among installation highlights at Burning Man

www.dezeen.com: Instagram images confirm that BIG's Bjarke Ingels and Jakob Lange have inflated the huge reflective sphere they crowdfunded for this year's Burning Man festival, which is well underway in the Nevada desert.

LGBTQ Plays Emerge From Edmonton Fringe

The BroadwayBlog: Many Americans have joked over the past year about border hopping to Canada, where “sorry” and “eh?” provide a welcome substitute to the vitriol spewing forth from our commander-in-chief as well as the non-partisan media storm that continues to spin at hurricane levels. But all is not quiet on the northern front.

Theatrical rumblings at this year’s Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival prove that the queer narrative (with varying degrees of success) is shaking Alberta’s sacred ground, declaring that Canadian theater artists are not afraid to take a deep dive into the conflicts facing the LGBTQ community. Among the dozens of shows at this year’s festival, two in particular tackled stories that might make some squirm, but more importantly, unpacked themes that demand attention far beyond the theater community.

Extensive education offerings will be available during EAS 2018

InPark Magazine: Global attractions industry professionals will gather in Amsterdam, Netherlands, September 25-27, 2018 to learn from leisure and entertainment industry experts during Euro Attractions Show (EAS) 2018. The conference, which takes place at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Centre, is owned and produced by the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA).

Street Artist Escif on the Potential of Augmented Reality Graffiti

Artsy: Street art has long been a way to interrupt our surroundings with the unexpected. Escif, a native of Valencia, Spain, has worked for over two decades to execute graffiti interventions on the world’s walls. Sometimes, they are simple illustrations that beckon you to look up and consider them: a judiciously placed watermelon, a falling rock, a sculptural bust. In others, through muted color palettes and illustrative figures, Escif warns of the trials of modern life, from police violence to gentrification and consumerism.

Speeds and Feeds for New CNC Machinists

Fusion 360 Blog: Feeds and speeds: they can make or break a job, and usually a tool or two. When dialed in properly, the right settings can lead to increased material removal rates, a surface finish that meets requirements without hand work, and increased tool longevity. So what’s the magic sauce to figure out your perfect feeds and speeds? Let us know if you find out.

The Challenges of Shipping From China – Life of a Flailing Tube Man

Hackaday: Last summer was an exercise in developing a completely different kind of product from my normal wheelhouse; a costume. My Halloween costume had been so popular that I decided to have a go at commercializing it, and that took me on a path into manufacturing that I hadn’t yet taken; shipping by boat from China. The short version is it’s a ridiculously difficult mess.

It's a Brave New World for Pittsburgh Public Theater

Pittsburgh Magazine - September 2018 - Pittsburgh, PA: Marya Sea Kaminski is letting Ted Pappas return to direct one show in Pittsburgh Public Theater’s 2018-2019 season.

“Letting?” she says with a laugh when she hears the description, adding that she brought up having Pappas direct in her interview.

“Ted built this house [as we know it today],” she says. “All the beautiful things here, Ted built. [As he puts it], as we move forward, he’s going to be this dashing uncle.”

Krause Steals the Spotlight Behind the Curtain

www.cmu.edu: While many pursue theater for the starring roles, Carnegie Mellon University alumnus Joel Krause thrives behind the scenes.

Krause graduated in 2008 from CMU's School of Drama with a master of fine arts in production technology and management. As director of production for Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater in Washington, D.C., he facilitates a team of managers, technicians and artisans to figure out how to turn a director's ideas into reality.

IATSE 125th Anniversary History Video

Stage Directions: As the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) celebrate their 125th Anniversary, they have created a short video reflecting on the history of the organization. Since their founding in 1893, the strength and solidarity of their members has bettered the lives of many workers throughout the entertainment industry.

Platform or Stage?

theatreconsultants.org: Is it a “stage” or a “platform”? While this seems an easy question to answer, it often is a source of confusion when designing a space for performance. The distinction is quite important, with far-ranging and often expensive consequences.

OISTAT Celebrates its 50th Anniversary

Stage Directions: OISTAT, which stands for “Organisation Internationale des Scénographes, Techniciens et Architectes de Théâtre” in French, and “International Organisation of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians” in English. It is a worldwide organization for scenographers, theatre architects, theatre educators and theatre technicians.

Goodman Theatre

Prop Agenda: On the final stop of our tour of Chicago theaters is the largest of all, the Goodman Theatre. The Goodman is the city’s oldest nonprofit theater, and Alice Maguire has been properties supervisor there for nearly thirty years.

Burning Man 2018 art installation closed after someone fell off

www.usatoday.com: Safety rangers have closed one of the most popular art installations at Burning Man after someone fell off it late Tuesday or early Wednesday morning.

Artist Dustin Weatherford on Wednesday confirmed someone fell off “Night at the Climb In.” He said he didn’t know their condition, adding, “I hope they’re OK.”

Crews With Disabilities Want More Inclusion

Variety: Hollywood, aiming for more diversity, hopes inclusion riders will help broaden the composition of behind-the-camera crews. But so far, people with disabilities — who comprise nearly 20% of the population — have been left out of the conversation.

Equity + Norwegian Cruise Line Partnership: Changing Times?

Backstage: Earlier this year, a dazzling new cruise ship made its rounds of the United States’ coastal cities, wowing eager onlookers and curious travelers. The ship’s maiden voyage also represented a notable victory in recruiting for the nation’s union of stage actors. While Norwegian Cruise Line debuted its much-anticipated Norwegian Bliss cruise ship in New York City, Actors’ Equity trumpeted its contract agreement for workers on the docked vessel. The three-day contract is the first full Equity cast agreement of its kind between the union and a cruise line.

Found Stages breaks down the wall between local playwrights and their audience

ArtsATL: When most people come to hear a play, they expect to sit inside of an air-conditioned theater with a heavy velvet curtain hanging between them and the performers. Found Stages, however, has made it mission critical to remove the walls from theater. Since 2014, this small innovative company has created outdoor, site-specific new work. The first Sunday of every month, through November, they are hosting a Wine & Reading Series at Dunwoody Nature Center, featuring free wine, food and new plays by Georgia playwrights.

Jeff Awards Scrap Gender-Binary Acting Categories, Proceed to Nominate Two-Thirds Men

Chicago magazine | Arts & Culture August 2018: The Joseph Jefferson Awards, honoring the best theater in Chicago as deemed by a volunteer committee, made the inclusive move this year to eliminate the gender binary in its performance categories. No longer will the nominations be divided into actors and actresses; instead, each category for principal and supporting role will consist of one pool — representing all genders, with at least 10 nominees and two winners.

A CNC Woodworking Tool That Does The Hard Parts

Hackaday: Drawn along in the wake of the 3d printing/home shop revolution has been the accessibility of traditional subtractive CNC equipment, especially routers and mills. Speaking of, want a desktop mill? Try a Bantam Tools (née Othermachine) Desktop Milling Machine or a Carvey or a Carbide 3D Nomad. Tiny but many-axis general purpose mill? Maybe a Pocket NC. Router for the shop? Perhaps a Shapeoko, or an X-Carve, or a ShopBot, or a… you get the picture. The MatchSticks device is a CNC tool for the shop and it might be classified as a milling machine, but it doesn’t quite work the way a more traditional machine tool does. It computer controls the woodworker too.

Communication for collaboration

ThoughtForm, Inc.: In this Formulations interview, Norm Goldberg, ThoughtForm principal and design strategist, speaks about the importance of collaboration in the new business environment. He details systems and processes that you can use to foster better collaboration, and tips for better interpersonal communication.

ReFrame, IMDBPro Announce 22 Freshly-Certified Gender-Balanced Films

Variety: ReFrame — a coalition of industry leaders founded by Women in Film and the Sundance Institute — and IMDBPro announced on Tuesday nearly two dozen films to be certified for their gender-balanced productions.

Ava DuVernay, Sterling Brown and more demand a #MeToo reckoning for women behind the camera

Salon.com: In many ways, the #MeToo movement has forced Hollywood to confront some of its most persistent and harmful inequities, like manipulation of power as seen through systemic sexual harassment and abuse, gender pay gaps and representation. But much of the conversation has been centered around women in front of the camera.

Jacksonville Shooting: EA Launches Safety Review After Tragedy

Variety: Electronic Arts is running a “comprehensive review of safety protocols for competitors and spectators” following the shooting in Jacksonville on Sunday that left three dead and 11 injured at a pro “Madden” tournament.

20 Free Creative Resume Templates (Word & PSD Downloads)

business.tutsplus.com: When you see a posting for your dream job, it's easy to get excited about the thought of applying and landing it. But, what if you don't have your resume created or up-to-date?

Nearly every job posting requires submitting a resume. So when you see your next career opportunity posted but don't have your resume ready, you'll need to prepare it quickly.

Catching up on the News about the Old Globe's world-premiere Huey Lewis musical

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Huey Lewis, the hit singer-songwriter and harmonica ace whose scads of pop hits include “I Want a New Drug,” “Hip to be Square” and “The Power of Love,” is about to test the power of his music to drive a big stage musical.

A Decade of Fringes

Exeunt Magazine: Less than 24 hours after returning from Edinburgh, having slowly started to reacquaint myself with books, baths and broccoli, and already the intensity of the last three weeks is starting to fade. This always happens. It’s as if you step off the train at King’s Cross and a switch is flipped. The colours dim. The song ends.

50th Equity Jeff Award Nominations Announced, New Director and Ensemble Categories Added

PerformInk: The Jeff Awards Committee has announced 178 nominations for plays and musicals to be honored at the 2018 Equity Jeff Awards ceremony, their 50th time doing so. And as the organization has been grappling with retaining their community standing, they are making some changes. Earlier this year — with the non-Equity nominations — it was revealed that gender designations would be eliminated from the awards. The new format doubles the number of nominees in half as many categories, and two winners are selected from each. And now, for the Equity awards, three new trophies will be handed out.

Announcing the 2019 ASTC – USITT Student/Consultant Renovation Challenge

theatreconsultants.org: ASTC and USITT are pleased to announce the fifth collaborative project between university students and ASTC member theatre consultants. Projects will be presented at the USITT 2019 Annual Conference in Louisville, Kentucky – March 20-23, 2019.

September Theater Guide: Is It ‘Fake History’ or Is It Art?

Entertainment Central Pittsburgh: September is a big month in Pittsburgh theater, as major companies swing into action, presenting shows across a wide range of styles and genres. Interestingly, many evoke a theme that’s been turning up in the news lately.

The theme was expressed long ago by John Keats, who closed his “Ode on a Grecian Urn” with the famous lines “Beauty is truth, truth beauty / Except when it isn’t true, but that’s cool too, as long as it works.”

Just kidding. Or maybe not.

Is This the Most Diverse Show Off-Broadway Right Now?

Theatre Development Fund – TDF: When's the last time you saw five diverse women headlining a major play? I mean a group of actresses truly heterogeneous in terms of ethnicity, age, identity and even shape? Adina Verson (of Broadway's Indecent) never had until she was cast in Jen Silverman's Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties, currently running at MCC Theater. "I've never been in a room where we're all so different, body-wise and background wise, and our processes are so different," she says. "That's been real exciting."

The Disney College Program Changed My Life

collegecandy.com: The Disney College Program (DCP or CP) is an internship like no other. To participate, you must be in at least your second semester of college (you can participate as a freshman, just not a first semester freshman) or within a 6-month period post-graduation.

It is not just limited to undergraduate college students, either! You can be in any stage of college, pursuing any degree! There are two main kinds of programs – advantage and regular.

Production Notes: Content and Trigger Warnings

Nevada Film Office: At times, producers and/or distributors may believe that certain scenes in a film, music video, television episode, or video game contains content that will offend, traumatize, or otherwise cause harm or discomfort to some viewers. In such cases, content warnings are often given in conjunction with a content rating system that specifies the type of audience the film or production is suitable for, such as M for mature audiences.

Emerging U.S. Student and Professional Designers Accepted to the 2019 Prague Quadrennial

Stage Directions: Thirty-four emerging student designers and 51 professional designers from the U.S. have been selected to exhibit and feature their work in the 2019 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space (PQ), the largest performance design event in the world. The 14th PQ will take place June 6-16, 2019, in Prague. The U.S. exhibition at the PQ is supported, in part, by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

How to test your ability to do a job you've never done

www.fastcompany.com: If you want to remain employable as the world of work changes rapidly, it’s important to remember three things. Most of the things you learned in college are of very limited use, the majority of future jobs do not exist today, and a large percentage of jobs within organizations remain unfilled because there aren’t enough people willing and able to do those jobs.

Self-Care Sunday: How To Maintain A Work Life Balance

collegecandy.com: Life can get tough to juggle especially when you have a career to also balance. Whether your commitments are school, college, a full-time job etc. etc. it can be hard to find a work/life balance.

The easiest thing to do after a long day with commitments that usually take up most of your time is to head right home and just relax with yourself. Or maybe you just go home to still be surrounded in your work or thinking about work.

Grow Your Makerspace: Technology Tailgating

makezine.com: Whether you like football or not, tailgate season is coming. Want your makerspace to join in the fun? Here’s how to add some technology to the event for some unique maker dinner fun and raise some money for your space!

Breaking bread is a great way to convert strangers into friends and if you add a technology component, will create a lasting memory and will help raise money and awareness for your space.

WI for Roger Waters' Us + Them Outdoor Shows

LightSoundJournal.com: Belgian-based creative engineering specialists WIcreations are involved in the design and fabrication of three bespoke set elements – all optimised for air freight – to be used on a series of epic outdoor shows on Roger Waters’ current “Us + Them” world tour, which launched with two seminal shows in Rome and Lucca, Italy.

Superhero Movies: Stop Using Disabilities as Plot Devices

The Mary Sue: Villains are a critical part of superhero movies. After all, there wouldn’t be any heroes or vigilantes without villains to vanqiush, but superhero movies have a lengthy history of exploiting disabled people and vilifying disabilities themselves in an effort to provide their villains with motivation. Usually, these instances aren’t as obvious as making chronic arthritis the source of a villain’s angst, but the way superhero movies handle a character’s disability can have a heinous impact on how people perceive real-life disabilities.

The Haze: A New Immersive Experience by teamLab Places Visitors at the Center of a Swirling Vortex

Colossal: The Haze is a new immersive digital art installation from Japanese collective teamLab (previously) which situates guests at the center of a light-based vortex. The work uses light, fog, and sound to wrap guests in a mesmerizing cacophony of swirling spotlights which are reflected by a mirrored floor. A similar experience is created in the work Light Vortex II, which uses the same elements to choreograph an entirely different light show.

Broadway Will Dim Lights This Week in Honor of Neil Simon

www.broadwayworld.com: The Broadway community mourns the loss of Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, librettist, lyricist, producer and theatre owner/operator Neil Simon, who passed away on Sunday, August 26 at age 91. The Committee of Theatre Owners has decided to dim the lights of Broadway theatres in New York in his memory on Thursday, August 30 at exactly 6:45pm for one minute.

burning man 2018: live stream

www.designboom.com: we’ve been closely following this year’s burning man, and now you can too. with the event now underway, organizers have set up a live stream for those who can’t take part in this year’s festivities. the footage captures the scale of the spectacle, with installations, sculptures, observatories and participatory experiences being erected on nevada’s sprawling black rock desert.

How an auction for a wireless frequency is affecting high school and amateur theaters

www.marketplace.org: About four years ago, the Federal Communications Commission decided that a specific slice of the radio spectrum would be reallocated for use in internet broadband services. The aim was to make mobile broadband services faster. The FCC then auctioned off this spectrum to a number of broadband companies that include T-Mobile, Comcast and Dish TV.

3 Cordless Ryobi Tools Worth Getting

Cool Tools: I’m going to show you 3 cordless Ryobi tools I think are worth getting, even if you’re already invested in another cordless system.

Generally, I’m not a big fan of Ryobi, and this is not a sponsored video, but I keep coming back to these tools because they’re unique, or at least unique for the price.

Tribute: Neil Simon Was Theater’s Odd Man Out

www.vulture.com: Bashing Neil Simon has been almost de rigueur for highbrow critics since the playwright had his first hits in the early sixties. But now that he’s 82 [Editor’s note: this story was originally published in 2009] and in iffy health, and a major revival of two of his most celebrated works—the first and third parts of the Brighton Beach trilogy, Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound — is about to open, it’s hard not to feel nostalgic for the popular theater he once dominated. For better and worse, Simon’s plays — in their complacency, insularity, and, yes, hilarity —connected with their audience on a level that theater almost never does anymore.

Building the unseen

InPark Magazine: The Producers Group (TPG) defines itself as a company specializing in one-off visitor attractions, and has distinguished itself on several large, recent projects in Asia. TPG endeavors to supply “everything but the creative,” and to manage the lot. In the themed entertainment industry, creative management teams are often headed by designers, so theirs is a non-traditional approach.

On Harassment Policies for Critics in the Age of #MeToo

HowlRound Theatre Commons: Following the outing of serial abusers Al Chase and Israel Horowitz, the New England theatre community has started taking a closer look at its inclusion and harassment policies. These recent events have led to a greater concern for implementation of best practices on an individual, company, and community-wide level, such as our local theatre service organization StageSource’s Line Drawn Summit in June. New England is buzzing with the potential for positive change.

Shedding some light

InPark Magazine: IPM asked several theatrical lighting designers active in themed entertainment to share professional experiences that demonstrate the creative versatility and technical understanding of the LD, and why a background in theatrical lighting design is an excellent foundation for playing a role in storytelling design.

How to stop rambling in job interviews

www.fastcompany.com: When I first heard I had scored an interview with Glassdoor, I was thrilled. I wasted no time practicing for the interview, and it’s a good thing too, considering that my first few practice rounds were a wreck. There were so many different points I wanted to touch on–my previous roles, my skills, my accomplishments, my alma mater, my work style–that I blathered on and on to cover them all in the mock interviews I did with my boyfriend. Thankfully, he pointed it out before I made the same mistake in my real interview.

Projection killed the video star

InPark Magazine: “Even the baby elephant ice skates,” said Robbi Lepre, Entertainment Director at Busch Gardens Tampa. And the elephant’s not alone. At the new Iceploration Show in the park’s Moroccan Palace theater, ice skating, multimedia, puppetry and aerial acrobatics come together to tell the story of a teenager and his grandfather as they set out on a journey around the globe. The duo visits the African Serengeti, the Great Barrier Reef, the Arctic and the Amazon Rainforest.

Body As Medium. Between Theory And Technology Of Theatre

The Theatre Times: Peggy Phelan in her famous text Ontology of Performance asserts that: “Performance cannot be saved, recorded, documented, or otherwise participate in the circulation of representations of representations: once it does so it becomes something other than performance. […] Performance […] becomes itself through disappearance.” 1 What she is saying here also is that body itself cannot be saved, recorded, or documented; it becomes itself only through unmediated presence that can be experienced by other bodies.

Mentors play critical role in quality of college experience, new poll suggests

Salon.com: In order to have a rewarding college experience, students should build a constellation of mentors.

This constellation should be a diverse set of faculty, staff and peers who will get students out of their comfort zones and challenge them to learn more — and more deeply — than they thought they could. Students should begin to build this network during their first year of college.

‘Black Panther’ costume designer celebrated in retrospective

New Pittsburgh Courier: For more than 30 years, costume designer Ruth E. Carter’s creations have brought the African-American experience to life on the big screen, from 19th century slave ships in “Amistad” to 1980s Brooklyn in “Do the Right Thing,” to the Afrofuturistic land of Wakanda in “Black Panther.” Now, she’s bringing the spectrum of her work to Pittsburgh for a new exhibit called “Heroes & Sheroes: The Art & Influence of Ruth E. Carter in Black Cinema.”

How to Write (Perfectly Tailor) a Resume to a Job Posting

business.tutsplus.com: What does a recruiter look for when they’re sourcing candidates for a job?

They look for a lot of things—skills, education, previous job titles, etc. But it all boils down to the fit between job and candidate. An IT recruiter wants someone who can write code, whereas an academic recruiter wants a good teacher or researcher.

This nail dispensing hammer is a work of genius

Boing Boing: Michael Young's an industrial designer. After over six years of tinkering, he came up with this frigging masterpiece of a prototype: a framing hammer that dispenses nails. If it ever makes it to market, having mashed my digits setting up a nail to be driven into boards an untold number of times, I will be the fist in line to buy this thing.

TV revivals and inclusive casting: An opportunity that can’t just be skin-deep

Salon.com: Given the vast array of revivals and reboots of classic series that are in the works, restoring “Charmed,” which ran between 1998 and 2006, would seem to be a no-brainer. At one point it might have been considered a staple of the millennial viewer's TV diet, what with its 178 episodes cycling almost constantly in syndication during the early ‘00s. When it debuted on Netflix in 2012, it became the streamer's second most binged-watched title.

Dead celebrities coming back to life with CGI? Let them rest in peace

www.usatoday.com: On the most recent season of HBO’s Westworld, one of the Native American characters offers a rumination on immortality. “You live only as long as the last person who remembers you,” counsels Akecheta, a Ghost Nation elder.

There has always been a romance to living forever, even after one’s physical body dies. Artists, authors, actors, and athletes all strive for immortality, hoping their words and deeds live on to influence people in the future.

Meow Wolf Creating "Kaleidoscape" Psychedelic Dark Ride At Elitch Gardens in 2019

Theme Park University: It’s finally happening. Immersive art installations and theme parks are finally colliding worlds. Are you familiar with Meow Wolf? If not, you should be. It’s a massive immersive art installation in New Mexico that’s absolutely mind-blowing.

'Vietgone' a hugely personal journey for Qui Nguyen

chicago.suntimes.com: In 1975, two Vietnamese strangers Meet Cute in Arkansas. Their courtship plays out in non-linear fashion, interspersed with video-game visuals, rom-com tableaux and defiant hip-hop boasts ripped from later decades.

If you’re feeling a little discombobulated already, playwright Qui Nguyen has you right where he wants you — wherever that is.

The Big Ugly Battle Over The World's Largest Rubber Duck

theconcourse.deadspin.com: There is more than one enormous rubber duck. I did not know this when I decided to travel to Sandusky to see one, but I can’t unlearn it now. Though there was once a bigger duck in Saint-Nazaire, France, the monstrosity anchored in Sandusky comes with a registered trademark: it is the “World’s Largest Rubber Duck®.” Co-owner and local resident Ryan Whaley said that he believes it is the biggest duck in the world at the moment, but the realm of colossal avian inflatables is surprisingly convoluted.

Author Jenny Han on the ‘abundance’ of an all-Asian movie cast

PBS NewsHour: It's one of the hits of the summer, a romantic comedy set in Singapore--but it's generating special attention for its casting. “Crazy Rich Asians” is the first major studio film with an all-Asian cast since “The Joy Luck Club,” released 25 years ago. Jeffrey Brown speaks with "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" author Jenny Han about how it feels to see greater ethnic representation on screen.

Pulling the Right Strings

Stage Directions: Tallinn’s Nuku (Puppet) Theatre is world renowned for its inventive and creative programming and staging of around 250 performances a year across three venues, which will typically including eight new productions during each season. Located right in the heart of the charismatic Estonian capital’s Old Town area, the Theatre underwent extensive renovations in 2015/16, which resulted in the new 400 capacity main Ferdinand Theatre being created. This is run together with the Small Stage with which can accommodate 200 and the Oval Hall with 80.

Why Does Nonprofit Performing Arts Programming Lather, Rinse, Repeat?

www.clydefitchreport.com: In business (arts or otherwise), people use “Because we’ve always done it that way” out of laziness, lack of curiosity, or plain ineptitude, and to end uncomfortable conversations. It is the most infamous of toxic business phrases. It signals that inevitable paradigm shift: “time to close the doors.” If nothing else, people who use it should be challenged. “Why have we always done it that way?” “Is there evidence that the way we’ve always done it is the best way to do it?”

Simulate PIC and Arduino/AVR Designs with no Cloud

Hackaday: I’ve always appreciated simulation tools. Sure, there’s no substitute for actually building a circuit but it sure is handy if you can fix a lot of easy problems before you start soldering and making PCBs. I’ve done quite a few posts on LTSpice and I’m also a big fan of the Falstad simulator in the browser. However, both of those don’t do a lot for you if a microcontroller is a major part of your design.

Every Role A Starring Role – Principal Audio Designer at the Disneyland Resort

Disney Parks Blog: Disneyland Resort is a unique place to be an audio designer because of the variety of shows and experiences. Each requires a special audio design for how a guest is hearing it. In this “Every Role a Starring Role,” learn how Jeremy Rynders, principal audio designer at the Disneyland Resort, works with a team of audio designers who install audio for shows and experiences in a completely immersive way, including Pixar entertainment during Pixar Fest!

Asia Argento Accuser Jimmy Bennett Breaks His Silence

Variety: Jimmy Bennett has issued his first public statement since news surfaced on Sunday that actress Asia Argento had agreed to pay him $380,000 to settle a sexual abuse claim.

Bennett said he had sought to resolve the matter privately, and had not spoken out sooner, “because I was ashamed and afraid to be part of the public narrative.”

'The Happytime Murders': How Melissa McCarthy 'snorted' puppet drugs

www.usatoday.com: Melissa McCarthy got down with R-rated puppets in "The Happytime Murders," even snorting puppet drugs in a wild party scene (as seen in the red-band trailer).

In the scene, McCarthy's Detective Connie Edwards hangs out with some criminal low-lives who compel her try their drugs — pure sugar, which has cocaine-like effects on the puppets.

SAG-AFTRA Accuses Companies of Commercial Contract Violations

Variety: SAG-AFTRA has warned its members that four companies are under investigation for falsely representing that they are the employer of performers on commercials.

Making an LED you blow out like a candle, without any additional sensors

Boing Boing: LEDs are diodes (that's what the D stands for) and diodes are sensitive to voltage drops: when you blow on an LED, you make it ever so slightly cooler, and that causes an infinitesimal, but detectable voltage drop.

The Asia Argento Allegations & the Question of Power

The Atlantic: On Sunday night, The New York Times published a report detailing the Italian actress Asia Argento’s 2017 payments to the actor and musician Jimmy Bennett after he alleged that she sexually assaulted him in 2013. According to the Times report, Argento settled Bennett’s claims with payments totaling $380,000 after he accused her of assaulting him in her hotel room during a May 2013 reunion in Marina del Rey, California. At the time of the alleged assault, Argento was 37 and Bennett was 17. The state’s age of consent is 18.

What Indigenous Writers Can Bring to Theatre | HowlRound Theatre Commons

howlround.com: As an Alaska Native artist, I’m not sure I have yet been able to express what I hoped to express in theatre. That feeling of not quite making it, of absence or hunger, often bubbles up in me when I read a play by Federico García Lorca or Jean Racine, for example, reminding me of the thrilling, startling, meta-corporeal experience I know I could foster and help bring to the stage.

Hollywood Teamsters, Basic Crafts Launch Contract Negotiations

Variety: Hollywood Teamsters and four other Basic Crafts Unions are launching negotiations on Wednesday with producers on a successor deal to the master contract.

Behind the Creation of the ‘Halo’ Arcade Game

Variety: The “Halo: Fireteam Raven” co-op arcade game was first unveiled earlier this year, but now the massive arcade machine created by Raw Thrills and Play Mechanix is expanding its release to locations in Australia, the U.K., and China.

Currently, the game is only available at Dave & Busters locations.

Fired or laid off? Here’s how to talk about it in your next interview

www.fastcompany.com: Most of us want to build longevity when accepting a new position, with the hopes of sustaining long-term employment within the same organization. However, these aspirations can often conflict with the realities of the current job market. When it’s our choice to leave an organization, discussing the terms of our departure can be tricky, but not necessarily an emotional burden.

Warner Huntington Park Theatre

After the Final Curtain: The Warner Theatre in Huntington Park, California opened on November 19, 1930. Warner Bros hired Seattle based architect B. Marcus Priteca and interior designer Anthony Hiensbergen to collaborate on three theaters in the Los Angeles area. The result of the collaboration were three theaters designed in the Art Deco style; the Warner Beverly Hills, the Warner Grand in San Pedro, and the Warner Huntington Park.

Kelly Marie Tran Breaks Silence on Star Wars Harassment

Collider: When Kelly Marie Tran was cast in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, it was a huge deal. Not only was she a largely unknown actress landing a major role in a Star Wars sequel, she was the first woman of color ever to have a leading role in a Star Wars movie. But since everything is terrible,

When Color-Blind Casting Get Complicated

Theatre Development Fund – TDF: I've loved musical theatre as long as I can remember. When I was young, I would listen to my original cast recordings of Oklahoma and Candide and My Fair Lady over and over and over, and imagine myself as Curly McLain and Candide and Henry Higgins. But my fantasies were constrained by the understanding that I would never play those roles. I was black and most Broadway musicals were about white characters performed by white actors.

Heroes & Sheroes celebrates the monumental influence of film/TV costume designer Ruth E. Carter

Art Reviews + Features | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh City Paper: In Black Panther’s Warrior Falls fight scene, a weary Prince T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) hears an encouraging battle cry from Queen Mother Ramonda (Angela Basset): “Show him who you are!”

These words fly off the screen and into the heart of the viewer. They also reflect the artistry of one of the world’s leading costume designers, Ruth E. Carter.

Safety: The Show Must Go On - Or Does It?

TheatreArtLife: Rough day at the office? Equipment issues? Running low on operators, maintenance technicians, show callers or artists due to illness? Well, for all those cast and crew members working in the circus, resident theatres, cruise ships, rock tours or anywhere else in the live entertainment industry, we have all heard the old saying, “The show must go on.”

How to Save for Retirement in Your 20s Without a 401(k)

twocents.lifehacker.com: It’s great that you’re already maxing out your Roth at 26. It might not seem like a ton of money when you’re constantly hearing you need to save more for retirement lest you end up living in your van when you’re in your 70s, but it’s a pretty sizable investment for someone your age.

Production Notes: Alcohol

Nevada Film Office: According to findings presented at the 2017 Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting in San Francisco, CA, alcohol marketing in popular films has doubled in the past two decades. Considering there are no film restrictions placed on the alcohol industry (there are for tobacco companies seeking product placement in film), the findings may not be too surprising as alcohol is often used as a prop that incites dramatic or comedic situations in film.

Dear White Critics: Stop Being Transphobic!

rescripted.org: You may remember my last article in what must now become a series, Dear White Critics: Stop Using the N-Word, when Justin Hayford decided racial slurs were appropriate for a theatre column. Yesterday, Ben Brantley of the New York Times decided it was appropriate to make a joke out of the unveiling of a trans character’s pronouns in the new Broadway musical Head Over Heels’. The character? Oracle and non-binary plural narrator Pythio, portrayed by drag performer Peppermint, who is a trans woman.

100 Day Project has Folks Around the World Jumpstarting Their Creativity

mymodernmet.com: Are you looking for a way to jumpstart your creativity? You could always start an art journal or try some of today’s hottest crafts, but if you’re craving structure and wanting to produce a body small of work, then try the 100 Day Project.

TEA Advantage: Chuck Fawcett, Animax Designs

TEA - Themed Entertainment Association: I would encourage any company in our industry to join and sponsor a TEA [Themed Entertainment Association] event. The benefits far outweigh any perceived cost. -- Chuck Fawcett, President/CEO, Animax Designs

Column: Hollywood Needs to Open Up More to People With Disabilities

Variety: In five years, nothing has changed.

Despite open calls for greater diversity and inclusion, recent research shows that there was little change in the number of characters with disabilities in popular films in 2017.

Photo Gallery: Magic Wheelchair's Epic Star Wars Fan Experience at Comic-Con 2018!

Tested: One of our favorite activities at Comic-Con is Magic Wheelchair's reveal of costumes to their "kiddos." Last year, the theme was Justice League; this year, it was Star Wars. Well, naturally Adam was all over THAT.

Casey Affleck publicly apologizes for sexual harassment allegations

chicago.suntimes.com: Casey Affleck has been mostly absent from the public eye for the past year, but in the wake of the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements and with a new film coming out this fall, he is for the first time addressing lingering questions about earlier harassment allegations.

Review Roundup: The Critics Weigh In on BE MORE CHILL Off-Broadway

www.broadwayworld.com: Based on the cult sensation novel by Ned Vizzini, Be More Chill is the story of Jeremy Heere, your average, nothing-special teenager at Middleborough High in nothing-special New Jersey. That is, until the day he finds out about "The Squip." Thus begins a journey that pits Jeremy's desire to be popular against his struggle to remain true to his authentic self. Be More Chill is an honest, edgy, super-hilarious look at coming of age in the digital age, set to some of the most exciting songs in contemporary musical theater.

Flyhouse Motorized Curtain (Shedd Aquarium)

www.flyhouse.com: A few years back, Flyhouse installed one of the largest motorized curtains in the United States at the John G. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. Today, we received a video from a friend of Flyhouse showing the curtain in action during one of its recent daily performances. We continue to be excited by this project and love that people share the excitement with us!

Review: Debut musical Dave, a good guy becomes an accidental president

DC Theatre Scene: Dave is a musical for our times. A snapshot of our current political climate swathed in red, white and blue, the world premiere musical with music by Tom Kitt (Next to Normal), a book by the late great Thomas Meehan (Hairspray, The Producers) and Nell Benjamin (Legally Blonde) and lyrics by Benjamin is a call to action, a plea to reduce cynicism and a rally for decency, goodness and patriotism.

How to Choose the Right Lighting Fixture for Any Job

LightSoundJournal.com: It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been designing lighting for shows and events. What matters is how your end product looks. And moreover, how long did it take to achieve your end product and how much did it cost?

‘Stupid Fucking Bird’ at 12 Peers Is Obscenely Good

Entertainment Central Pittsburgh: There are many ways in which it is possible for theater to be good. Stupid Fucking Bird is good in an obscenely large number of them. The play, at Pittsburgh’s 12 Peers Theater (through August 12), is a modern adaptation of The Seagull by Anton Chekhov. From the title you would think it’s an irreverent spoof of Chekhov’s classic, but the spoofing is aimed at other targets.