Why ‘Tootsie,’ ‘Beetlejuice’ and the Temptations Hit the Road

The New York Times: I spent many late nights in the 1980s holed up in hotel rooms on the road, often in the company of a much older woman wearing a negligee and a Tony medallion.

Her name was Mathilde Pincus and she’d been given that award in 1976 for her services to theater as a copyist and music supervisor; I was one of her lowermost drudges. Sometimes her sister, Harriet, and their ancient mother, Ida, came along to help out.

To get the most out of drones, start with 'low-hanging fruit'

Construction Dive: Starting a drone program is daunting for general contractors both large and small, but there’s never been a better time than now to take the plunge, says William Pryor, enterprise solutions manager at Skycatch, a drone data and analytics firm.

Production Design Stefan Beese | Game Changer Gala Part Two

www.livedesignonline.com/concerts: I was recently honored to be the production designer for a rewarding fundraiser gala, “The Game Changer Gala,” held in Seattle on November 9, 2018. The Game Changer Gala team, organized by Team Gleason and the Answer ALS Foundations, drew from our fundraising experience to produce a star-studded event that raised $3.3 million to help empower people who are living with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) while also seeking a treatment or cure.

Lighting Designer Al Gurdon Lights Rent: Live

www.livedesignonline.com/theatre: Rent: Live is the most recent of the Broadway musicals staged for a live television broadcast. Lighting designer Al Gurdon, who won a 2018 KOI-USA Award for his lighting design of last year’s live-for-broadcast production of Jesus Christ Superstar, spent a month at Fox Studio 16 in Los Angeles, rehearsing for the January 27, 2019 airing. Rent is set circa 1991, during the AIDS epidemic in New York City, and the set reflects the gritty, industrial aspect of the Lower East side at that time. Check out Gurdon's plots, credits, and gear list for the production.

Fail Better with Scenic Designer Robert Mark Morgan

Stage Directions: Scenic Designer Robert Mark Morgan worried a bad review would tank his career. But he pushed forward, producing imaginative sets for theaters across America and earning rave reviews in the process.Here's a video from Washington University in St. Louis, where Morgan, teaching professor of drama in Arts & Sciences at Washington University, shares how he overcame self-doubt after a devastating review

Louisville Ballet Stands Up to Hateful Rhetoric Against LGBTQ-Themed Ballet

Pointe: If you follow Louisville Ballet on social media, you may have noticed a statement posted to its channels last week. Titled "An Open Letter Against Hate and Prejudice," it says "we cannot and will not be bystanders to hate and prejudice. As artists we have a duty to challenge preconceptions respectfu

The “Business” Of Charging A Show

Craftswoman Central: When you’re a Scenic Charge Artist, you’re expected to wear a lot of hats. The job description seems obvious, but it’s quite a handful when you break it down. I know that this job varies between companies, but here is a basic overview of what you might have to do as a Scenic Charge Artist.

Harm Reduction in the Storefront Theatre Community

HowlRound Theatre Commons: A collaborator of mine, the poet, playwright, and activist Kristiana Rae Colón, once asked me: “What would a people-centered theatrical process look like?” As a director, it was definitely one of those record-scratching moments. I had thought my process was great, that the rehearsal room was a joyous one. And while it did have its moments, I realized it didn’t truly center people; I was focused on telling the story. By operating from the assumption that everyone in the room was there to tell the story at all costs, the rooms I created required a sacrifice for the good of the play both, from myself and those working with me. After all, the show must go on, right? I have harmed people, or, more specifically, I have allowed those under my leadership to be harmed by the steadfast practicing of this adage that every theatremaker is taught as Truth.

The Goodman’s production of Twilight Bowl is all female—onstage and behind the scenes

Performing Arts Feature | Chicago Reader: "A guy walks into a bar . . . , " or so goes the familiar joke setup that works because guys are always walking into bars. Except in Rebecca Gilman's Twilight Bowl, now playing through March 10 at the Goodman Theatre, the token guy never enters the scene. Over the course of the show's 90-minute running time, not one man makes an appearance onstage—or even so much as issues a cue backstage.

"The Justice Syndicate": How Do You Make Decisions? Immersive Theatre and Jury Duty

The Theatre Times: An empty room. A large table. 12 iPads, 12 note pads, and 12 name desk holders that designate “Juror” along with a number. That is the simple setting for The Justice Syndicate, a new piece by fanSHEN. This interactive play revolves around a jury deliberation on a high-profile sexual assault case. And while it is not the first attempt to have an audience decide the fate of a court case—there is Ferdinand von Schirach’s Terror, which features a similar premise, and played at the Lyric in 2017—fanSHEN’s production arises as an exceptional instance of interactive theatre that is pushing the dramaturgy of the genre to higher standards.

‘Spring Awakening’ Creative Duo Has Six More Musicals in Development

Variety: At the Off-Broadway premiere of “Alice by Heart,” a new musical from “Spring Awakening” creators Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik and inspired by “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” conversations with the cast and creatives revealed the impact of their work on a generation of theater-makers, including their young stars — and what the pair learned from them in return.

Legal Threats From Broadway’s ‘Mockingbird’ Sink Productions Around the Country

The New York Times: Some community theaters have canceled productions of the play after receiving legal warnings that theirs cannot go on at the same time as the one in New York.

Bright Ideas in a Basement Shop

www.woodcraft.com: To say sunglasses are a requirement for spending time in Mark Koritz’s workshop would be a stretch, but a bright space was a priority when Mark designed his 15×55' shop.

“Lighting is a key factor in a shop. I had all the walls and the ceiling painted white to reflect light and make the ceiling seem higher,” Mark explains. The result is a long, narrow, glistening shop. Several white-faced cabinets and benches with white drawers provide plenty of storage and reinforce the clean, tidy look Mark wanted. For a touch of color and comfort, red, yellow, blue, and green rubber mats are placed at key workstations.

Makita AWS-Ready HEPA Backpack Vacuum XCV10ZX

Pro Tool Reviews: The Makita AWS-Ready HEPA Backpack Vacuum is the brand’s newest portable vac offering for the cordless jobsite. Makita intends for this vac to bridge the gap between smaller onboard dust extraction and larger, less-mobile, wheeled, canister-style job site vacuums.

ESPN, NFL Sued Over 2017 NFL Draft

www.forbes.com: ESPN and the National Football League are facing a lawsuit that alleges safety violations during the construction of a temporary stage built for the first NFL draft ever held entirely outdoors.

A New Jersey man who allegedly suffered head trauma, broken ribs and a ruptured spleen after a 30-foot fall while working on the temporary amphitheater for the 2017 NFL Draft in Philadelphia has filed a lawsuit against the NFL, ESPN and the event production company they hired.

David Korins' Scenic Renderings For The 2019 Oscars

www.livedesignonline.com: Stepping into the world of televised awards shows, designer David Korins captures the glamour of Hollywood with his first scenic treatments for the Oscars. More than 41,000 Swarovski crystals will be integrated into the four main design elements: the Crystal Cloud, a 1,600-pound cloud-shaped installation; the Crystal Swag, a three-story high, 54'-wide ribbon-like formation; and two Crystal Presenter Backings. The Crystal Cloud and Crystal Swag are both inspired by natural geography. The Crystal Cloud is a sparkling interpretation of atmospheric clouds, with over 1,250 crystal strands floating ethereally over the stage. The striking Crystal Swag, created from nearly 400 crystal strands alongside a crystalized steel structure, is designed to look like a waterfall flowing from the ground up. The Crystal Presenter Backings, which will appear on stage behind award presenters, are free-flowing creations adorned with 1,800 crystals.

Meow Wolf to open ‘otherworldly’ art experience in Las Vegas

Las Vegas Review-Journal: The last time Meow Wolf was in Las Vegas, it unleashed pillow monsters, slime and a land of ramen on unsuspecting festivalgoers.

Just a year and a half after that temporary Life is Beautiful installation, the Santa Fe-based art collective is creating a permanent experiential space for Area15, the art and tech hub rising just west of the Strip.

“It’s going to be like an open-world video game,” says Corvas Brinkerhoff III, co-founder of Meow Wolf. “Except you’ll explore the world with your body instead of on a screen.”

ON THE JOB with IATSE Local 28

nwLaborPress: It’s Jan. 31, and Gburek’s rigging crew is setting up for KISS: End of the Road World Tour. That means unloading 27 semi trucks and hanging 170,000 pounds from the top of the arena. At sign-in, crew members greet each other with hugs and handshakes. Gburek explains the day’s set-up. “Up-riggers” then take an elevator to the arena’s eighth floor, a floor thats’s off-limits to the public, and use a catwalk to access steel beams 105’ above the floor below.

The Photos I Took At Burning Man Festivals On Three Different Continents Show How Different They Are

Bored Panda: Everyone knows the worldwide famous festival of art – Burning Man. But did you know that regional Burn festivals elsewhere in the world can offer you more than the biggest one in Nevada? They all observe the ten principles and the largest ones are supervised by the Burning Man Organisation itself.

Industry Editor Exclusive: The Real Results of Equity's Lab Agreement Strike

www.broadwayworld.com: A couple of weeks ago, Actors' Equity Association ended its strike against the Broadway League related to development of new work. Most of the press regarding the strike and its termination is related to the Lab agreement--after the strike, and a #NotALabRat social media movement, Equity members will receive some profit participation for what we used to know as Labs. But there is a lot of the story that this spin misses.

Resurrecting a Forgotten Female Playwright

Theatre Development Fund – TDF: You've probably never heard of Elizabeth Baker, and the Mint Theater Company, which specializes in reviving lost plays, aims to fix that. A British dramatist who enjoyed a fair amount of success in her homeland in the early 20th century, she's barely known stateside, and was more or less forgotten in her native country until recently. But with an oeuvre that examines issues of class and gender with intelligence and insight, it's easy to see why Mint producing artistic director Jonathan Bank thought the time was right to introduce New York audiences to Baker.

Why Don't Concert Dance Productions Have Preview Periods?

Dance Magazine: Compare the gestation of new works across the performing arts and you'll find an ingredient mostly missing in concert dance that's occasionally used in opera and relatively common with plays and musical theater: the preview period. Ranging from a few days to, in the case of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, a record-breaking 182 performances, previews provide extra time for fine-tuning shows after tech and dress rehearsals but before critics can review.

Review Roundup: Critics Go Down the Rabbit Hole At ALICE BY HEART

www.broadwayworld.com: When the madness of the world is too much to bear, we take refuge in the stories we love. Tony and Grammy award-winning creators of Spring Awakening, Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik, reunite for their new musical Alice By Heart, inspired by Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and directed and co-written by Jessie Nelson (Waitress). In the rubble of the London Blitz of World War II, Alice Spencer's budding teen life is turned upside down, and she and her dear friend Alfred are forced to take shelter in an underground tube station. When the ailing Alfred is quarantined, Alice encourages him to escape with her into their cherished book and journey down the rabbit hole to Wonderland.

Billy Porter speaks on social media hate his Oscars gown received

www.usatoday.com: Billy Porter, speaking to Vogue before he walked the Oscars red carpet, knew what he was in for among some social media users:

"People are going to be really uncomfortable with my black (expletive) ass in a ball gown, but it's not anybody's business but mine."

The remark from the Tony-winning stage performer, actor and singer was both prescient and disproven. There was mega-praise for his velvet custom tuxedo look by Christian Siriano and outrage over the notion that an African American man in a dress was a threat to black masculinity.

Style 412 teams with Carnegie Mellon's Lunar Gala for a lesson in fashion

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: A dozen or so (mostly rookie) designers sit at tables in a nondescript room. Seated across from them are Pittsburgh-based fashion professionals who are there to help tell them what it takes to turn garment illustrations and fabric swatches into something wearable and wonderful.

Why We're Bad at Estimating Time (and What to Do About It)

zapier.com/blog: Over the last three years, I've painted five rooms in my house. The first room I painted was my bedroom, and I was convinced that I'd have the task finished in a weekend.

A month later, I applied the finishing touches.

So naturally, when it was time to paint the second room, I estimated that the task would take a month, right?

Wrong.

Monday Musings | Canadian Creative Design Companies

www.livedesignonline.com: Oh Canada, Oh Canada! Or in this case, more specifically Montreal and Quebec...I’ve often wondered what they put in the water up there, or if creativity just runs freely through their veins. After all, Canada is the birthplace of Cirque du Soleil, as well as Robert Lepage and his company, Ex Machina, which are, in my book, two of the most creative driving forces of the past few decades.

Oscars 2019: ‘Black Panther’s’ Ruth E. Carter makes the record book with costume design win

Los Angeles Times: “Black Panther” costume designer Ruth E. Carter made history on Sunday as the first African American to win the costume design Oscar for her work on the Marvel blockbuster.

Carter was chosen for the Academy Award ahead of “Mary Poppins Returns” and “The Favourite” designer Sandy Powell, who was nominated twice this year and already has three Oscars. Also competing were “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” designer Mary Zophres and “Mary Queen of Scots” designer Alexandra Byrne.

Grosh Backdrops & Projection Launches Grosh Cares Grants Program

Stage Directions: Grosh Backdrops & Projections steps up its commitment to help the performing arts in schools, theater, and dance to overcome budgetary challenges through the launch of its new “Grosh Cares” grants program. Hollywood-based Grosh, well known for its large stage and theater backdrops, drapery, and projections, will award three grants this year, said Amanda Uhlein, Grosh Backdrops & Drapery president. “All schools, theaters, and dance companies are invited to apply.”

MOULIN ROUGE, JAGGED LITTLE PILL & More Earn Nominations for 23rd Annual IRNE Awards

www.broadwayworld.com: The Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) today announced the nominees for the 23rd Annual IRNE Awards, which honor the best of the previous year's actors, directors, choreographers, designers and companies across the full spectrum of large, mid-size and fringe theater companies.

‘Basket Down’ on a Structural Beam

Prolyte: People keep discussing about the ‘Basket’ methods of slinging. Since there is not a specific definition, the assumption is that it does not matter where and in which direction the basket slinging is carried out. However, there is a big difference in a physical way. When comparing slinging a structural steel beam at 25 meter elevated over the arena floor or slinging a truss when the structure is lying on the arena floor.

Are community choruses exploitative?

Exeunt Magazine: The concept of community theatre is evolving. A new wave of productions are casting local people in commercial shows, alongside a principal cast of professional actors. In the past few years, top London theatres including Almeida Theatre, Bush Theatre, Lyric Hammersmith, Young Vic Theatre, Theatre Royal Stratford East and National Theatre have all made use of this casting method. But it isn’t exclusively a London thing; the Actors’ Touring Company production of The Suppliant Women cast a new group of women in each city of its UK tour. More recently, Royal and Derngate’s Our Lady of Kibeho and Eclipse’s Princess & The Hustler join the list of productions that feature a community cast.

Setting The Stage For Climate Change: Place

The Theatre Times: The Mayor of London’s 2008 practical guide to “Green Theatre” reported that the total carbon footprint of London’s theatre industry is approximately 50,000 tonnes a year. You would need to cultivate 3 million seedlings every year to offset this, equivalent to a plantation three times the size of Regent’s Park.

Elton John “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” Tour

PLSN: The legendary Elton John is on his “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour. With a career spanning 50 years, his tour, which launched Sept. 8, will travel to five continents and perform more than 300 shows. Selling more than 300 million records and numerous accolades to his credit — Grammy Awards, BRIT Awards, an Academy and Tony Award, and even a British knighthood since 1998 — few can match the talent, longevity and popularity attained by this 71-year-old artist.

Know Your Fits And Tolerances

Hackaday: When designing parts on a screen, it’s very easy to type in a bunch of nice round numbers and watch everything slot together in perfect harmony. Unfortunately, the real world is not so kind. A 10mm shaft will not readily fit in a 10mm hole, and producing parts to perfect dimensions simply isn’t possible. This is where fits and tolerances come in, and [tarkka] have created a practical demonstration of this on Youtube.

5 Best Compressor Plugins for Mixing

Pro Audio Files: Option overload is a very real thing, particularly in the world of compressors. Compressors tend to be a little daunting to learn to begin with, as there’s a lot they can do (I have a comprehensive course on it if you want to understand compression thoroughly). Couple that with the fact that almost every software brand has its own compressor series and you’ve got an overwhelming number of options.

“Saviour Samuel” at Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company

The Pittsburgh Tatler: Set on the Kansas prairie in the late 19thcentury, Mark Clayton Southers’ Saviour Samuel might best be described as an African-American version of Little House on the Prairie – with a supernatural twist.

Like Little House, the play focuses on a family that has moved west to settle in the aftermath of the Civil War. Benjamin Clayson (Wali Jamal), his wife Virginia (Cheryl El-Walker), and their deaf teen-aged daughter Essie (Aaliyah Sanders) are struggling homesteaders on a remote piece of land, where Ben hunts and traps to put food on the table and makes a living distilling and selling moonshine to the local “Injuns.”

The Vatican’s Swiss Guards are now using 3D printed helmets

The Verge: For hundreds of years, the Swiss Guard have worn a distinctive, brightly-colored dress uniform while protecting the Pope and Vatican City, with only a couple of minor changes over the years. This year, they’re making a big change: the traditional, metal helmet — called a morion — is being replaced with ones that are 3D printed.

Of Sound Mind: Fitz Patton Sees Theater As Tonal Adventure

www.clydefitchreport.com: Fitz Patton is a Drama Desk and Lortel-winning composer and sound designer who has built an extensive and varied body of work on Broadway, Off-Broadway and across the country. While building his portfolio, Patton also channeled his frustration with the static conventions of theatrical production photography into Chance Magazine, a publishing experiment that he calls a “serial art book.”

"Savior Samuel"

Pittsburgh in the Round: Faith is in the eye of the beholder. It is an abstract concept. It is reliant on context. It is difficult to hold on to when the harsh realities become overwhelming.

The consequences of not having faith can be dire. Believing in only what you can perceive with your brain can leave you aimless. Faith can be your north star on the path of life, even if that means guiding you in the right direction towards an unknown destination.

Student Loans: Some Employers Help Workers Pay Them Down

NPR: Kelly O'Brien graduated from college six years ago with a political science degree and $28,000 in student loan debt.

"It was stressful, because coming out and having to have a payment of about $217 a month, it just seemed like a lot of money to pay back when you don't really know where you were going to be working, how much you're going to be making," she says.

#87 Clifton Taylor

in 1: the podcast: This week we are sitting down with Lighting Designer Clifton Taylor to discuss he new book, Color & Light: Navigating Color Mixing in the Midst of an LED Revolution. He tells us where the idea for the book came from, the process of writing about a technology that is rapidly evolving and what he hopes readers will get out of it.

12 Podcasts to Bring the Arts to Your Playlist

AMT Lab @ CMU: Podcasts aren’t just for news and politics anymore. With more than 550,000 active podcasts in over 100 languages on iTunes alone, spanning every topic from society and culture to business and economics, podcasts are one of the fastest growing forms of media. Although Apple was for a long time the only mainstream distributor since it first added podcast support to iTunes in 2005, podcasts are now widely available across several platforms such as Stitcher, Google and Spotify. In fact, Spotify recently made podcasting history with its acquisitions of Gimlet Media, the podcasting studio behind hit shows such as Homecoming and Reply All, and Anchor, a podcast creation and monetization platform, signaling a potential new road ahead for content creators.

Oscars: audio description brings film to life for blind people, it deserves an award too

theconversation.com: Awards season is in full swing but as Oscars weekend approaches there is one group of cinema professionals who will not be preparing to take their place on the read carpet: audio describers.

For blind cinema goers, audio description is a crucial part of any film. It is just as important as acting, cinematography and score. Yet many sighted movie fans have no idea that audio description even exists – and it is not a skill that is awarded at the BAFTAs, Oscars or any other of the countless film institute ceremonies around the world.

Seven ESTA TSP Documents in Public Review

ETNow.com: Seven documents – six draft standards and one informational book – are posted on the ESTA Technical Standards Program website for public review through 8 April 2019. All are available at no cost at http://estalink.us/pr.

Theater Workers ‘#LiftTheCurtain’ on Racism After Lawsuit

KQED Arts: It was a standing room-only crowd as supporters of Stephen Buescher, the plaintiff in a discrimination lawsuit against his former employer American Conservatory Theater (ACT), gathered Wednesday evening to discuss racism in the theater world.

In a complaint filed a day prior, Buescher alleges that ACT, where he held faculty and creative roles for ten years until 2018, created a racially hostile environment and systematically discriminated against black artists, staff and students.

Wearing Their Subtext on Their Sleeves

Theatre Development Fund – TDF: How do you give outfits subtext? That's one of the many challenges Dede M. Ayite faced designing the costumes for Signature Theatre Company's revival of Lynn Nottage's By the Way, Meet Vera Stark. The story of the titular character, a Depression-era black maid turned Hollywood actress who dreams of saying more than "yes'm," the satire skips from the '30s to the '70s to the 2000s, and Ayite's pitch-perfect period pieces help ground each era. Thematically, the show is about image versus authenticity, as the characters perform who they think they're supposed to be, both onscreen and off. Ayite's tailored designs unearth the truth behind who they really are.

Billy Porter On Why He Wore a Gown, Not a Tux, to the Oscars

Vogue: I’ve always been inspired by fashion. My grandmother, my mom—they were always stylish. I grew up loving fashion, but there was a limit to the ways in which I could express myself. When you’re black and you’re gay, one’s masculinity is in question. I dealt with a lot of homophobia in relation to my clothing choices. [Even] when I had my first working contract at A&M Records, I was silent for a long time. I was trying to fit in to what other people felt I should look like. When I landed a role in Kinky Boots, the experience really grounded me in a way that was so unexpected. Putting on those heels made me feel the most masculine I’ve ever felt in my life. It was empowering to let that part of myself free.

NFTRW Weekly Top Five

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

The Color Orange: History & Meaning of This Culturally Important Hue

mymodernmet.com: Orange is a color that provokes an immediate reaction. What is it about the color orange that makes it so effective? In some cultures, it’s considered a sacred hue, while in others it’s a symbol of royalty. Bold and dynamic, orange is used to signal danger while at the same time create a sensation of excitement.

Posted by David at 2/22/2019 10:46:00 AM

Where Movies Get Their Vintage Electronics

gizmodo.com: Have you ever watched a show like Mad Men and wondered where they found those early Xerox machines? Or where The Americans got their hands on all the Reagan-era IBMs that you thought would be piled in a landfill? Well, there’s a good chance these historically-accurate gadgets came from a massive warehouse in Brooklyn with a specific mission: to preserve some of the world’s oldest, most cherished electronics.

Posted by David at 2/20/2019 11:12:00 AM

Is It Time for Academy to Honor Stunt Work With Oscars?

Variety: Every movie nominated this year for a best picture Oscar employed a stunt coordinator. Yet not one of these individuals will have the opportunity to receive Academy Award recognition.

The Oscars acknowledge categories ranging across multiple disciplines that support a film’s story and visual dynamics. But the stunt department’s contributions remain unsung. This might be due to misperceptions about what stunt performers actually do these days.

Posted by David at 2/21/2019 11:45:00 AM

Production Notes: Haze Machines

Nevada Film Office: What Are Haze Machines and How Are They Different From Fog Machines?

Haze machines, also known as hazers, are used for creating atmospheric haze, which help make light beams more visible, soften colors, and decrease contrast.

Posted by David at 2/20/2019 11:10:00 AM

8 Artists Pushing the Limits of Digital Effects and VR

Artsy: Artists have long been the pioneers of the digital realm
, pushing its technological, aesthetic, and critical potential. While the net art
of the 1990s was the first to fully embrace and popularize “new media” in an art context, digital image-making hails back to earlier artists like Lynn Hershman Leeson
, who, in the late 1980s, transferred the critical concerns of video art
into a digital reality.

Posted by David at 2/21/2019 11:34:00 AM