Cirque du Soleil Controlled from a Tax Haven

www.cirquefascination.com: Cirque du Soleil is owned by the limited partnership “Société à Gestion Cirque du Soleil SEC” which has its head office in Montreal, since the founder, Guy Laliberté, ceded control of his empire in 2015. The problem? Who holds the controlling position of said limited partnership? It is the US mega private fund TPG, from Texas, with 55% of the shares. How does it exercise control? Through “CDS Luxembourg Holdings S.à rl, Société à responsibility”, which company is located in Luxembourg, recognized worldwide as a haven for light taxation.

Indigenous Theatre and the Climate Crisis

HowlRound Theatre Commons: This pepeha is how I introduce myself on formal occasions. When asked by Chantal Bilodeau (co-founder of Climate Change Theatre Action (CCTA)) to write about the intersection of Indigenous issues and the climate crisis in relation to theatre, my pepeha was my first thought. It’s a monologue Māori perform to embody our place in the world wherever we might go. We introduce our mountain and river first because they are the natural world we all come from.

Goodman's “Stateville Voices" postponed

Chicago Tribune: “A young black man and woman (late twenties, early thirties) lean into each other across the table, within the allowed parameters of closeness," the playwright André Patterson writes, setting his scene. “They struggle to hear each other above the roller coaster volume of voices that surrounds them.”

Those are the first lines of “The Parameters of Closeness,” a short, remarkably prescient, profoundly impressive and clearly autobiographical drama set in the visitor’s room of the Stateville Correctional Center, a maximum security state prison for men, located in Crest Hill.

Dealing With the 'Soft' Challenges of Remote Work

www.cmswire.com: I have worked from home for 30 years, but never in forced isolation. Many of you reading this are probably now in the same boat.

Although the technology for remote collaborative working has been around for 30 years, the adoption rate had (until recently) been slow but steady. The adoption rate has shot up to almost 100% in recent weeks as all non-essential industries are working remotely to help flatten the COVID-19 infection curve.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival will stream performances online with new platform ‘O!’

oregonlive.com: The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is taking a new step into the digital world, hoping to connect with the millions of Oregonians stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemic.

The southern Oregon theater company launched its new digital platform, O!, on Wednesday, where it expects to begin streaming previously staged performances as well as documentaries, behind-the-scenes footage, interviews and educational videos.

Costume Director Receives Distinguished Achievement Award

Utah Shakespeare Festival: Jeffery Lieder, Utah Shakespeare Festival costume director, has received the Distinguished Achievement Award for Costume Design and Technology from the United States Institute for Theater Technology (USITT). According to the USITT website, the award, “honors individuals who have established meritorious career records in specific fields of expertise in any area of design or technology in the performing arts or entertainment industry.”

Show won't go on, but he still looks like a fuzzy Uncle Fester

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: An actor committed to his craft, 10th-grader Quintin Michalski had his head shaved to play Uncle Fester in the musical “The Addams Family.” A day later, Baldwin High School shut its doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Then the musical was canceled three days before it was to open.

Should the Virus Mean Straight A’s for Everyone?

The New York Times: As high schools approach the end of an academic year without proms or field trips or graduation ceremonies, another fundamental part of American education is being transformed: the report card.

Shall We Gather? Arts Groups Ponder Reopening, And A More Virtual Future

90.5 WESA: Normally this time of year, the New Hazlett Theater would be buzzing with activity, and theater, dance or music nearly every night of the week – and even during the day.

You are not a unicorn: The transferable skills you already have

SoundGirls.org: I have written before about the need to have a back-up plan for when times are tough What’s Your Plan B. We literally work in a gig economy and there are plenty of reasons why you might not be able to make ends meet solely through audio. Whether it’s an injury, family illness, recession or global pandemic keeping you from working, or you simply want a bit of a change for a while, knowing you have an alternative job you can fall back on (preferably one you can do in any health, from anywhere) can be invaluable.

Regional Spotlight: How Theater For the New City is Working Through the Global Health Crisis

www.broadwayworld.com: Now more than ever it is important to support theater and do our part to keep the art form that we love so much alive and as thriving as it can be during these unprecedented times. While the global health crisis has temporarily put the theater world on hold, pausing all live performances and large gatherings to help stop the spread of COVID-19, theaters around the country have taken a hit.

Ten Changes for Stage Managers & Life Backstage in a COVID World.

www.broadwaysymposium.com: As we start looking at “re-opening” our economy, there is a lot to unpack and figure out. When you look specifically at show business, it gets even more complicated. We work in an environment that requires close contact, touching, even kissing. We share tight quarters, eat, drink, and sometimes live together (anyone do a bus and truck tour lately?).

There are many front of house issues that need to be addressed, but as a stage manager, I’ve been ruminating on what adjustments we may need to make behind the curtain in order to re-open in a responsible and functional way which is no easy task!

300 People Are Trapped at a Music Festival in Panama Because of Coronavirus

VICE: Imagine: you’ve spent a fortnight gurning to rib-shaking basslines. You’ve spent hazy afternoons listening to the wisdom of indigenous elders. And you’ve lazed on the sand with a bunch of globe-trotting hippies on Playa Chiquita, one of Central America’s most beautiful beaches.

But as you reach the end of your music festival, you realise something’s not quite right. You’re actually stuck here – or more accurately, you’re trapped by local police and their fear of coronavirus.

The Good, the Bad, and the Glitchy: Streaming Theater During Shelter-in-Place

KQED: Normally, you wouldn't be allowed to eat a bowl of caramel corn while watching a play. Even the most accommodating and hip theater companies don't offer snacks that are so notably audible—at least not to be eaten during the show. But that's one of the secret silver linings of watching theater during the coronavirus crisis: kicking one's snack game up a notch.

Open Culture

When IBM Created a Typewriter to Record Dance Movements (1973): Increasingly many of us in the 21st century have never used a typewriter — indeed, have never seen one in real life. But despite being deep into its obsolescence, the machine has a long cultural half-life. Seeing typewriters in classic and period films, for example, keeps an idea of their look and feel in our minds.

What’s New in AutoCAD 2021? Blocks Palette Enhancements

AutoCAD Blog | Autodesk: It’s time for another installment of our series on the key features and enhancements available in AutoCAD 2021 and AutoCAD LT 2021! Let’s take a look at what’s new with the Blocks palette.

When can L.A. theater reopen post-coronavirus?

Los Angeles Times: “L.A. Theatre in the Time of a Pandemic and Beyond,” the first installment of a new Center Theatre Group series of online public discussions, was surprisingly upbeat. Encouraging without being falsely optimistic.

STEAM Education and the Lego Model

AMT Lab @ CMU: Our world is an ever-changing environment, and the technology and tools that surround us seem to change even faster. In the early 2000s, the United States became particularly concerned with the state of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education in our country. Since then, there has been a heavier focus on those disciples. Such a response is largely due to the changing landscape of jobs, becoming more technical and requiring a larger workforce for the emerging digital careers.

If You Build It, Will They Come?

AMERICAN THEATRE: Clutching our phones containing our e-tickets and travel affidavits, we join the outdoor queue of face-masked theatregoers. We no longer bunch up in a jumbled line/mob and push toward the door. We wait distantly and impatiently six feet behind the preceding patron until we approach the motion-sensor door. We place our clear plastic purses on the security table, pass through the metal detector, smile at the thermal camera, and step up to the hand sanitizer.

AMC Theaters will no longer play Universal movies after Trolls World Tour fight

The Verge: AMC Theatres will no longer play Universal films effective immediately after “unacceptable” comments were made from NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell on its decision to bypass a traditional theatrical release for Trolls World Tour and make it a digital exclusive, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Hollywood Talent Agencies Claim The Writers Guild Of America Case Challenging Packaging Fees Was Leveled By Courts, But Was It?

www.forbes.com: Just over a year ago, the Writer’s Guild of America filed a lawsuit against Hollywood’s major talent agencies seeking to establish that the “packaging fees” favored by the agencies, many of which now have their own production arms, are a violation of state and federal law, and that the agencies had violated not only fiduciary duty and unfair competition laws, but federal law that prohibits “delivery and receipt, respectively, of things of value paid by employers and persons acting in the interest of employers to representatives of employees.” (see 29 U.S.C. § 186).

QSC Announces The Premiere Of QSC@Home Virtual & On-Demand Training Site

ProSoundWeb: QSC has announced the premiere of QSC@Home, an online launch point to a collection of online training, tutorials, certification, webinars, entertainment and live online support from company personnel, constantly curated and updated.

QSC@Home is a tool for systems contractors, integrators, A/V IT technicians, A/V consultants, musicians, artists, DJs, live sound engineers, recording pros, HOW musical directors, cinema technicians, cinema dealers and end users at all levels of expertise. Programs are offered free-of-charge and are available in a variety of time zones and languages.

WGA Leaders Vow to Maintain ‘Powerful Pressure’ With Legal Battle Over Packaging Fees

Variety: Leaders of the Writers Guild of America have told members that the guild will press on in its legal battle with WME, CAA and UTA over packaging fees in the wake of a federal judge’s decision to dismiss most of the guild’s lawsuit against the talent agencies.

Show Business Is Adapting To The Pandemic, But It Won’t Survive Unless Congress Steps Up

www.forbes.com: As the coronavirus pandemic ravages the globe, America’s small businesses are collapsing, and they are finding scant support from their own government. The loan program intended to float them is underfunded, and the system set up to manage it is blowing gaskets – it crashed again on Monday as the next round of funding became available.

Female Choreographers Are Reimagining What Story Ballets Can Be

Dance Magazine: An iconic yet tortured female painter. A mistress wrapped up in a witch hunt in an early American colony. A talented cellist whose life ended prematurely after her battle with multiple sclerosis. These women are a far cry from classical ballet's standard fare of supernatural fairies, sylphs and swans. But some female choreographers are starting to bring stories like theirs to major ballet stages.

Sennheiser breaking the mould

ETNow.com: Since their official debut at NAMM last year, Sennheiser’s IE 400 PRO and IE 500 PRO in-ear monitors have turned into essential companions and can be found in the pockets of audio lovers and musicians all over the world. They are choosing the single dynamic principle of these in-ears because of their distortion-free, detailed and accurate sound reproduction, as well as their comfortable fit that comes as close as possible to custom ear-moulds. Sennheiser asked four industry professionals to share their thoughts and experience of using in-ear monitors.

Judge Dismisses Most of WGA Packaging Fee Lawsuit Against WME, CAA and UTA

Variety: A federal judge on Monday dismissed most of the Writers Guild of America’s lawsuit against the major talent agencies, including claims that packaging fees amount to illegal kickbacks and were a form of racketeering.

Doctor Who Reveals Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Doctor Teamup Story

io9.gizmodo.com: The BBC has officially unveiled a new transmedia initiative stretching across multiple mediums—including “audio, novels, comics, vinyl, digital, immersive theatre, escape rooms, and games”—called Time Lord Victorious, which will see Paul McGann, David Tennant, and Christopher Eccleston’s incarnations of the Doctor united alongside Billie Piper’s Rose Tyler to face an unknown threat from the dawn of time itself.

Theatre for a Climate Crisis in a Globalized World

HowlRound Theatre Commons: As of mid-April 2020, somewhere between two and three billion people will be staying in their homes for weeks to come. Non-essential travel has all but ceased as efforts are made to limit the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, the communal sharing of stories in live local gatherings has been shut down around the world; theatre is temporarily impossible.

Holovis offering free social distancing app for themed entertainment destinations re-opening after COVID-19 closures

InPark Magazine: Holovis has developed a social distancing app designed to help themed entertainment destinations re-open safely in the wake of COVID-19. The app features an attraction reservation and queue-management system with real-time proximity alerts, providing operators with instant insight into guest movements to avoid crowd hotspots.

Bamboo scaffolding: Why does Hong Kong still use it in construction?

Goldthread: Hong Kong is a jungle of concrete and steel. But look closely, and you’ll see an organic material that weaves itself through the cracks, up the walls, completely engulfing entire structures.

That material is bamboo, and Hong Kong is one of the last places in the world where it is still widely used as a building material, primarily for scaffolding and seasonal Cantonese opera theaters.

Review: Travis Scott’s ‘Astronomical’ Fortnite Event

Pollstar: When my editor first asked me to cover Travis Scott’s concert event inside the free online game Fortnite, I had my reservations. I had never played Fortnite and am neither a Travis Scott hater nor fan, so I probably wouldn’t have very strong opinions on the music or the game experience.

But we both knew that the previous Fortnite concert event from Marshmello in February 2019 showed video games were providing a unique new way for artists to connect with younger audiences, and Travis Scott is a massive artist in his own right, having secured the top slot on the 2019 Q1 Top 100 Tours chart after his massive “Astroworld: Wish You Were Here Tour."

Grace Under Pressure: Shelley Green Celebrates Crimped Connections

Hackaday: We think it’s pretty safe to assume that most of the electrical connections our readers are making out there involve solder or solder paste. But we’ve all made a crimp connection or two in our lifetimes. Maybe you’ve squeezed a butt connector here and there, or made an Ethernet cable. Beyond getting the wiring order right in the Ethernet cable, how much did you wonder about what was happening inside the connector?

Coronavirus quarantine is sending college grads home: What to know

www.usatoday.com: When I first moved back home to my parents' house last spring after graduating from college, I was worried about two things: Having other people judge me and losing my independence.

For this year's class of college grads, coronavirus has added another layer of stress.

Theatre During Self-Isolation: Danger as Opportunity

The Theatre Times: Theatre has survived thanks to its mobility and potential to exchange creative ideas. Since its inception, it has been open to the circulation of different practices, approaches, and conscious action. It is a platform for communication – an exchange of ideas, or partnership if you will. However, the clear identities and cultural roots of individuals do not lose their significance, because theatre cultures meet, collide, and ultimately interact.

The 3D printing revolution is finally here

www.fastcompany.com: As COVID-19 wreaks havoc on global supply chains, a trend of moving manufacturing closer to customers could go so far as to put miniature manufacturing plants in people’s living rooms.

Most products in Americans’ homes are labeled “Made in China,” but even those bearing the words “Made in USA” frequently have parts from China that are now often delayed.

9 Time-Sucking Pitfalls To Avoid (Don't Go Down The Rabbit Hole!)

Pro Audio Files: Just about everyone who produces music has had the experience of wasting time in the studio — whether it was 30 minutes spent tweaking plugins or an afternoon spent trying to perfect a part that ended up getting cut. Making music is usually not the most linear process, but wasted time can be costly when you’re paying for studio time or using free time to record.

The Magic is in the Miniature: Toy Theatre Thrives Online During Quarantine

The Theatre Times: In its simplest form, the proscenium is constructed of little more than cardboard. Small paper figures and objects come to life via slots, rods, or other humble mechanics. But these modest means should not be mistaken for lack of ingenuity. To the contrary, contemporary toy theatre artists show no shortage of poetic invention, repurposing an array of everyday materials to create hybrid environments, storytelling, and movement. True to the etymology of the word microcosm—little world—these productions create an alchemy of scale, transforming the way we experience performance through the toy theatre’s intimate proportions.

The Basics of Panning in a Mix

Pro Audio Files: Panning is a topic that seems to be never discussed. I guess it’s not as flashy as incredible delays, or advanced compression techniques. However, there’s a hierarchy in terms of what influences a mix. The top of this hierarchy is the basic balance. Second to that is your panning scheme, wherein the stereo field everything is living. After that comes all of the signal processing.

So let’s talk Panning. Let’s get a mindset and understanding of what we’re doing and what we are trying to achieve when we move stuff around the stereo field.

Cable Driven Robotic Joint

Hackaday: Even the oldest of mechanisms remain useful in modern technology. [Skyentific] has been messing with robotic joints for quite a while, and demonstrated an interesting way to use a pulley system in a robotic joint with quite a bit of mechanical advantage and zero backlash.

Regional Spotlight: How Hartford Stage is Working Through The Global Health Crisis

www.broadwayworld.com: Now more than ever it is important to support theater and do our part to keep the art form that we love so much alive and as thriving as it can be during these unprecedented times. While the global health crisis has temporarily put the theater world on hold, pausing all live performances and large gatherings to help stop the spread of COVID-19, theaters around the country have taken a hit.

The need for unique women’s PPE

May 2020 | Safety+Health Magazine: The number of women working in construction, welding, manufacturing and other industrial trades continues to grow. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women make up 9.1% of the U.S. construction workforce. Per a 2016 Deloitte study, women represent 29% of the manufacturing workforce. As the percentages increase, the demand for unique personal protective equipment for women continues to grow as well.

Studios, SAG-AFTRA Launching Contract Talks on April 27

Variety: SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will commence negotiations for successor agreements to the SAG-AFTRA TV/theatrical contracts on April 27.

VR, Theatre and the Importance of Immersion

ZipScene Magazine: Wojtek Markowski is the producer of the Polish experimental lab Dream Adoption Society. Together with the director of the company, Krzysztof Garbaczewski and other team members they create performances that are taking place both in physical and virtual reality. Markowski graduated from Lodz Film School, and after that he was producing video art, documentaries and commercial projects as well.

What Is Rock Lititz? Inside the Factory in Pennsylvania Amish Country That Makes Tours for BTS, Beyonce and More

www.esquire.com: In 2019, BTS became the first band since the Beatles to release three number-­one records on the Billboard charts in the same year. One song amassed 74.6 million plays on YouTube in just twenty-four hours. They sold out Wembley Stadium in ninety minutes, were named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People, and set the Guinness World Record for the most Twitter engagements.

Adam Savage's One Day Builds: Making a Die Filer Machine!

Tested: Adam uses the time he has during quarantine to finish up a kit he's been working on for over a year: a die filing machine. It's a tool Adam learned about watching Clickspring, and the kit requires machining and finishing beautiful cast pieces as well as mounting it to a motor and stand.

Getting Used to the ‘New Normal’

Computer Graphics World: I hesitate to begin writing this editorial because I know the information that's current today will be totally different tomorrow. Yes, change is occurring at a pace that's difficult to keep up with, thanks to the virus sweeping the globe. And in all likelihood, I will have updated and revised what I have written here many times before it is published. (I will post it online, which will allow for constant alterations, but keep in mind that once I send this to be published in our print magazine, there is a time lag - much wider than is typical, in all probability, as those involved in the production chain (prepress, the printers, the post office…) also adjust to their new, altered situations.

Victorian Government unveils $16.8 million arts survival package

www.limelightmagazine.com.au: The Victorian Government has unveiled a $16.8 million survival package for the arts, to provide support for organisations and individuals affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The arts have been devastated by restrictions on gatherings due to the coronavirus, and support initiatives are being launched around the country. Create NSW and the ABC have also announced new initiatives to support the creative sector, while Artist Relief Fund WA is offering targeted support for arts workers in Western Australia. Meanwhile, the City of Melbourne has announced the first of its successful grant recipients and Queensland’s HOTA has announced the artists supported by its Rage Against the V(irus) program.

NFTRW Weekly Top Five

Here are the top five comment generating posts from the last week:

Must the show go on during the COVID-19 outbreak?

The Japan Times: Responses to the spread of the COVID-19 virus have varied widely from country to country and are changing from day to day. So, while Broadway shows in New York have shut down for at least a month, West End productions in London have been canceled until further notice.

Posted by David at 4/24/2020 09:38:00 AM

Learning in lockdown - a training roundup

www.avinteractive.com: At a time when many people in the industry have more time on their hands than before, as events and project are cancelled, industry companies have turned to online learning to offer opportunities to develop and refine skills during the downtime. A selection of these online training opportunities are listed alphabetically.

Posted by David at 4/23/2020 09:43:00 AM

Will Covid-19 Affect the Design of Universal's New Theme Park?

www.themeparkinsider.com: Yesterday, I wrote about the operational challenges facing theme parks as they look for ways to conform to potential new rules and conventions for protecting the health of their guests and employees once they reopen. Demands for social distancing and new hygiene standards might force Disneyland, Universal Studios and other theme parks to make a wide range of changes, including the expansion of virtual queues, new loading procedures for attractions and even new floor plans for restaurants and shops.

Posted by David at 4/24/2020 09:32:00 AM

Work-Life Balance: Leveling the See-Saw

Remodeling: Remember going to the playground when you were young and riding the see-saw? Some people call it the teeter-totter. Little more than a board centered on a fulcrum, you and a friend would get on each end, alternately pushing one another up and down.

Posted by David at 4/22/2020 01:05:00 PM

Suicide Squad Director on Harley Quinn Costume Criticism

The Mary Sue: David Ayer, the director of 2016’s Suicide Squad, responded to a Twitter user who claimed that the character of Harley Quinn was sexualized in his movie and was better humanized in Birds of Prey. Ayer’s response to the comment and the small interaction that came after was pretty telling.

Posted by David at 4/21/2020 10:30:00 AM

Tested From Home: Kayte Sabicer's Projects!

Tested: Our resident modelmaker and fabricator Kayte Sabicer checks in from home to update us on the projects that's been keeping her busy the past month, including painting a watercolor postcard every day, making small laser-cut goodies, repurposing cardboard, and working on repairs. There's no project too small to keep your hands busy and creativity at work!

Bounty-ful VFX

Computer Graphics World: The challenge for the filmmakers working on Lucasfilm's television series The Mandalorian was in creating the look and feel of the Star Wars universe. The same look and feel as the blockbuster feature film audiences have viewed for 40 years. But on a television series budget and with an eight-chapter schedule. Eight chapters with approximately 3,800 visual effects shots.

Shakespeare on Zoom: how a theatre group in isolation conjured up a Tempest

theconversation.com: While theatres remain closed, the way we watch Shakespeare is changing. When I picture the audiences Shakespeare would have written for, I think of the groundlings in Shakespeare in Love(1998). They stand, arms on the edges of the stage, staring upwards, eyes filled with tears – laughing, clapping, gasping. They are part of the show – and they show that they’re there. In the bright afternoon sun, the actors can see and hear every reaction.

Travis Scott’s first Fortnite concert was surreal and spectacular

The Verge: If there’s one thing you can say about Fortnite’s live events, it’s that they keep getting more ambitious. From the original rocket launch to the mech vs. kaiju battle to the black hole that wiped out an entire island, each new event is more elaborate than the last. Now we can say the same is true of the concerts. Last year’s Marshmello show was an exciting, dynamic example of what a virtual concert could look like. This week’s Travis Scott performance blew it out of the water.

Must the show go on during the COVID-19 outbreak?

The Japan Times: Responses to the spread of the COVID-19 virus have varied widely from country to country and are changing from day to day. So, while Broadway shows in New York have shut down for at least a month, West End productions in London have been canceled until further notice.

The Power of Transcripts

HowlRound Theatre Commons: In July 2019, I sat down with a few people at the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School to discuss the possibility of bringing a performance of The Courtroom: a re-enactment of one woman’s deportation proceedings—a production by the New York City–based theatre company Waterwell, where I’m artistic director—to their campus. Fast forward thirty minutes and Elora Mukherjee—the director of the clinic, an immigration lawyer and professor—had our attention focused in a different direction.

Pearls with pajamas: Arts companies re-envision galas in the coronavirus era

Datebook: Before Berkeley Repertory Theatre‘s annual Ovation gala officially began on Saturday, April 18, swanky jazz by Marcus Shelby played as a slideshow cycled through images of donors. Guests chatted about their drinks: “Piña colada over here!”

Bandit Lites Overhauls Nashville Shop with Expansion

ETNow.com: Bandit Lites Nashville shop has always been one of the industry’s busiest hubs for concert lighting prep and technical support, and now the space is in the process of a complete transformation with an expansion that encompasses the entire building and multiple departments.

With a new suite of offices for the sales team, a new technical service division shop and a prep floor area growing from 18,000 square feet to 44,000, the expanded shop will be better equipped to handle Bandit’s business including world tours, corporate events, festivals and system installations.

Why pandemic represents ‘existential crisis’ for performing artists

PBS NewsHour: We look to the arts for entertainment, comfort and pleasure -- but they are also an economic engine. According to government analysis, art accounts for almost $900 billion of GDP and over five million jobs. Now, many of these people and organizations face crisis. For our Canvas and American Creators series about rural arts, Jeffrey Brown reports on what happens when the audience isn’t there.

Will Covid-19 Affect the Design of Universal's New Theme Park?

www.themeparkinsider.com: Yesterday, I wrote about the operational challenges facing theme parks as they look for ways to conform to potential new rules and conventions for protecting the health of their guests and employees once they reopen. Demands for social distancing and new hygiene standards might force Disneyland, Universal Studios and other theme parks to make a wide range of changes, including the expansion of virtual queues, new loading procedures for attractions and even new floor plans for restaurants and shops.

A Lot Has Changed in 50 Years, Off Paris Stages and On

The New York Times: Theater rarely pauses to mull over its past. What happens when the curtain rises next is the main preoccupation of stage artists and critics. Keeping up with the huge number of productions on offer is usually a Sisyphean task, leaving little room for historical perspective.

AV after COVID 19 | designing safer experiences

blooloop: I’ve been a bit quiet during this period of social distancing. I’ve been thinking of how AV will endure after the threat of COVID-19 has passed. It’s made me reflect on a few things in terms of how we approach AV, and how some of us in the industry have been truly preparing for this for some time now.

Make + Matter launches online shop to support local artists and designers through pandemic

Features | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh City Paper: When Make + Matter responded to the COVID-19 outbreak by shutting down its Lawrenceville brick-and-mortar location in early March, part-owner and designer Rebekah Joy wasn't sure how long the doors would remain closed.

How COVID-19 brought down Cirque du Soleil

www.fastcompany.com: The slow-motion shutdown of Cirque du Soleil should have been an early warning of the disaster to come. The novel coronavirus was still considered a local problem in late January, when the world’s largest circus producer canceled performances of The Land of Fantasy, its first and only permanent offering in China. Within two months, the virus had spread to every corner of the world.

Chris Meyer, CEO Of George P. Johnson, Talks Forming Live For Life Coalition And COVID-19’s Effect On Event Industry

Pollstar: A leader in the corporate and private events space, George P. Johnson is one of the founding partners of the recently formed Live For Life coalition, along with Exploring and Czarnowski.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, GPJ offered everything under the experiential marketing sun, working for corporate behemoths like Dodge, Salesforce.com, Capcom, Nissan, IBM, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google Cloud.

Learning in lockdown - a training roundup

www.avinteractive.com: At a time when many people in the industry have more time on their hands than before, as events and project are cancelled, industry companies have turned to online learning to offer opportunities to develop and refine skills during the downtime. A selection of these online training opportunities are listed alphabetically.

Compare & Contrast: Differences In the Approaches To Live And Studio Engineering

ProSoundWeb: The realm of the audio engineer is a broad area encompassing recording, radio, theatre, film, sports, television, live music and public speaking, and while all of these disciplines require a similar core skill set, they all differ in the way that these skills are applied.

Most important résumé hack for job search success

www.fastcompany.com: If you’re currently on the hunt for a new role, you’ve probably read the same old résumé tips over and over again. “Focus on a clear structure.” “Keep it short and snappy.” “Focus on results, not responsibilities.”

But I’ve worked in recruitment for years. Often, candidates follow all of the advice above, but fail to pick up on the single most important résumé tip of all time: tailor your résumé to your target role.

Adam Savage's One Day Builds: Lathe Infrastructure Upgrades!

Tested: Just because Adam is under lockdown, doesn't mean he's stopped building! In fact, quite the contrary: Adam is busier than ever working on new builds and shop improvement projects. This is the first in a series of One Day Builds that Adam has filmed himself from the cave, upgrading the infrastructure around his lathe by organizing his many chucks and live centers.

Earth Day at 50: Looking Back at Hollywood’s Early Green Scene

Variety: Variety didn’t pay much attention to the first Earth Day in 1970 but by its 20th anniversary, mentions were far more prevalent, reflecting Hollywood’s growing commitment to environmental issues.

Sustainability and other green topics have become an even greater issue for the entertainment industry in subsequent decades, and planning for a number of star-studded 50th anniversary Earth Day celebrations was well underway when the coronavirus pandemic shut down large gatherings in the U.S. and beyond. Festivities have been cancelled or moved online.

Sustainable Practices for Arts Organizations in the Era of 5G and IoT

AMT Lab @ CMU: When it comes to sustainable, environment-friendly business practices, arts organizations have more often been criticized for being on the opposite end. Arts Council England’s annual environmental report released earlier this year shows that museums generate 41% of the total carbon footprint despite making up only 8% of the total National Portfolio Organizations (NPO).

Building the Ideal Tech Team

Dramatics Magazine: MAYBE YOU’RE JOINING the technical crew for the first time. Maybe you’re a seasoned student technician ready to move up the ranks. Either way, to succeed in technical theatre — whether you want a leadership role (stage manager, house manager, student shop foreman) or just to deepen your current skills — you need to understand how to help your theatre director in three important ways: recruiting, maintaining, and building a strong team.

Digital Theater Reconstructions

After the Final Curtain: Mark Jabara, an artist from Australia, has been taking some of my theater images and restoring them in Photoshop. The Boyd Theatre, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s only art deco movie palace, opened on Christmas day in 1928. It closed in 2002, and the auditorium was demolished in the spring of 2015.

Post-Pandemic Hollywood: How Will Companies Restart Production?

Variety: Tom Cruise expected to spend his summer in Italy, hanging onto the sides of planes, dodging bullets and engaging in elaborate car chases. The arrival of COVID-19 spoiled those plans, indefinitely postponing the shooting of “Mission: Impossible 7,” the latest installment of the globe-trotting espionage franchise.

Work-Life Balance: Leveling the See-Saw

Remodeling: Remember going to the playground when you were young and riding the see-saw? Some people call it the teeter-totter. Little more than a board centered on a fulcrum, you and a friend would get on each end, alternately pushing one another up and down.

Hollywood Unions Share Update on Pandemic Relief Efforts in Joint Letter

www.yahoo.com/entertainment: Leaders from six major Hollywood unions released a joint letter on Monday outlining the efforts they have made on behalf of over 500,000 members in response to the coronavirus pandemic that has shut down the global economy.

Cinematographers Guild Says “Entire Industry” Is “Completely Aligned” In Efforts To Safely Restart Production And As Soon As Possible

Deadline: In their latest video update on getting their members – and the town – back to work, International Cinematographers Guild, IATSE Local 600, president John Lindley and national executive director Rebecca Rhine say that labor and management are working together to get it done safely and as soon as humanly possible.

Back to the Basics: Push-Lock Fittings

Hydraulics & Pneumatics: Push-lock hose fittings (aka push-lok, push-on, insta-grip and field attachable fittings) lets technicians attach connectors and fittings to hoses in the field for low-pressure hydraulic and pneumatic systems such as shop air, general industrial, maintenance and automotive assembly, to name a few. The assemblies handle pressures up to 350 psi, a limit set by the hose’s capabilities. This limitation also means most hydraulic systems cannot use them.

Burning Man Is Going Virtual, and So Are the Orgies

VICE: Every year at Burning Man, more than 60,000 people descend on a dusty patch of the Black Rock Desert to erect a small town from scratch, collaboratively shaping it into their version of utopia. COVID-19 has rendered a mass gathering like that unthinkable, and the festival’s organizers called it off—but they didn't actually cancel it. Instead, they announced they’d be moving the event out of Northwest Nevada, and into "the Multiverse." Somehow, they’re going to try to recreate the Burning Man experience—of raging your face off for a week, setting a bunch of shit on fire, and then cleaning everything up and disappearing without a trace—online.

Preventing Common Mistakes in Selecting Valves

Hydraulics & Pneumatics: Experience is the best teacher, but it is also the most expensive. And when you work in technical support, you see a lot of widespread, expensive learning going on as the same mistakes crop up again and again. Here are some common and easily preventable ones involving valves.

That Show You Love? There’s No One on Set for It

The New York Times: Some five weeks ago those film companies that take your parking spaces, block your sidewalks and keep you awake at night shut down everywhere in the country and in most places in the world. “I’m in between jobs” is a timeworn Hollywood deflection to avoid admitting that you’re out of work. But now I’m part of an entire industry that is in between jobs.

Belarus Free Theatre: Britain is in danger of authoritarianism

Stage | The Guardian: The coronavirus outbreak has forced theatre-makers to change the ways in which they collaborate, with many starting to make work remotely. But Belarus Free Theatre’s founders, Natalia Kaliada and Nikolai Khalezin, have had to work this way for years. Exiled from their home country for a decade, and living in London, their circumstances have obliged them to find creative new ways of continuing to make work.

Niloofar Behnia | Your Interviews

Women in Lighting: My Name is Niloofar Behnia and I’m from Iran, Isfahan. In my last year at Isfahan University of Art as a Bachelor's student in urban planning, I discovered topics around urban lighting design to be intriguing. Therefore, I decided to pursue this field as my thesis project, which was then titled "Isfahan's Chahar Bagh-e Abbasi Street Design Guide with focus on Lighting Design Principles".

Pure London festival of fashion is bigger and bolder with Congo Blue

ETNow.com: The UK’s biggest gathering of fashion industry buyers, Pure London, once again returned to the capital’s Olympia London in February, presenting the hottest emerging brands, designers and trends, making it one of the most anticipated events in the London trade calendar. Held twice a year, Pure London, together with Pure Origin, is the only UK fashion show to offer ready-to-wear collections and fashion sourcing all under one roof.

R.A.W: Motoko Ishii

Women in Lighting: It is quite surprising to see that even today many interviews happening around and not just in the design industry, feels the need to ask the fundamentally same question with a different undertone to a woman. Maybe, it has been this way since ages. Talking specifically about Lighting Design, google Lighting Designers and you will be surprised to see the Wikipedia ‘List of Lighting Designers’ showing 58 lighting designers in total, out of which women lighting designers mentioned are only 9! Wikipedia sure needs some editing to be done.

S-Group Assists Health Services in France

Techie Talk: The Coronavirus pandemic has already seen many examples of those in the entertainment technology and production industry putting their skills and resources to good use – from morale raising actions to physical contributions and manufacturing items to aid the massive efforts worldwide to contain the spread of infection.

Reports from Quarantine: How 4 stage managers, used to setting a fast pace, are spending their time at home

dctheatrescene.com: Our unsung heroes, the people who keep everything running. The folks who are more on top of their game than any theatre artist you’ll ever meet: Stage Managers.

Stage Managers are the spines of the theatre world; without them entire productions would fall apart. This is due in part to their wide array of skills; they’re called upon to do any and almost everything, from repairing costumes in runs, reading in for absent actors in rehearsal, scheduling, administrative and communications work, prop construction…you name it.

Behind the Scenes Launches Entertainment Industry Therapist Finder

Lighting&Sound America Online - News: The Behind the Scenes Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Initiative, in partnership with HelpPRO, announces the launch of the Entertainment Industry Therapist Finder btshelp.org/findatherapist. The Finder only includes listings for mental health professionals who have previously worked with clients in the entertainment industry or who have personal professional experience in the industry themselves.

Movie Theaters in Georgia Likely Can’t Reopen By Next Week

Variety: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp will allow movie theaters in his state to reopen starting April 27, but exhibition insiders stress that it would be nearly impossible for most major chains to start business back up by next week.

Movie theater circuits believe that it reopening won’t just be like flicking a switch. AMC Theaters, Regal Cinemas, Cinemark and other chains have furloughed or laid off almost all employees, and locations across the U.S. have been entirely shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Measuring Sharpie Thickness… The Ink Itself, Not The Pen!

Hackaday: How we missed this one from a few years ago is unknown, but we’re glad to catch up with it now. Have you ever needed to measure how thick the ink in a Sharpie line is? Of course you haven’t. But if you needed to, how would you do it? Using a wicked-sensitive indicator gauge and levering an interesting test setup.

Whose Job Is The Health And Safety Of Builders On Job Sites In Post-Coronavirus America?

Builder Magazine: I know these eyes. I want to believe I could pick them out of a line-up of 100 people masked-up just like this for a day's work.

Thanks to social distancing, personal protective gear, hand-washing, and stay-at-home measures New Jersey-ites have been practicing, new admissions to the three hospitals she covers in the central band of the state show signs of flattening.

Earth Day 2020 and sustainability in woodworking

Woodworking Network: Half a century ago, on April 22, 1970, over 20 million Americans took to the streets in hundreds of cities around the country to protest the complete lack of interest (in) environmental conservation. Factories were free to pollute our air and water without any legal consequence. Oil spills were frequent and devastating environmental disasters.

David F. Sandberg video explains art of horror darkness

www.fastcompany.com: Horror films are practically synonymous with darkness. That uneasy feeling of something lurking in the shadows is what directors lean on to set the tone.

But have you ever considered what kind of darkness is being used? Better yet, are you properly watching all that darkness?

Suicide Squad Director on Harley Quinn Costume Criticism

The Mary Sue: David Ayer, the director of 2016’s Suicide Squad, responded to a Twitter user who claimed that the character of Harley Quinn was sexualized in his movie and was better humanized in Birds of Prey. Ayer’s response to the comment and the small interaction that came after was pretty telling.

Hippotizer has a BLAST at Pro Series Global Final

ETNow.com: The long-awaited BLAST Pro Series Global Final, one of the highlights of the booming international e-sports market, was hosted in the Kingdom of Bahrain in December 2019, with Green Hippo’s Hippotizer media servers looking after the complex playback requirements.