Verge Aero drones take Armed Forces Day 2022 celebrations to the next level

LightSoundJournal.com: Verge Aero’s military-grade drones were out in force over the weekend as the annual Thunder Over Evans event complemented a massive firework show with drone displays to salute America’s service members.

Upcoming! The Bach Choir, Pittsburgh Public, Fake Friends, Quantum, and more…

The Pittsburgh Tatler: It’s Memorial Day weekend; summer is here, and your Tatler has some recommendations for you! To begin with: this coming weekend, June 3 & 4, the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh is presenting its “Obsessions” concert, which was postponed back in February due to you-know-what. This is a collection of choruses from operas, ranging from the familiar to the rarely performed, including pieces from Porgy and Bess, La Traviata, Carmen, Dido and Aneas, Faust, Mefistofole, Cavalaria Rusticana, Susannah, Madama Butterfly, The Tender Land …and more!

Nancy Medina named as new artistic director of Bristol Old Vic

Bristol Old Vic | The Guardian: Bristol Old Vic has appointed Nancy Medina as its new artistic director and successor to Tom Morris, who is stepping down after 12 years in the role. Medina said she felt a sense of awe and excitement at leading England’s oldest working theatre, where she will take up the post full-time in spring 2023. “It will be a great honour to listen, reflect and engage with the people of Bristol and together imagine what the future of theatre and the arts can be in this shining city of the south-west,” she said.

6 in the Six: The Problem with "The Show Must Go On" -

www.intermissionmagazine.ca: It’s cold in Winnipeg in February. The sun is streaming in through the window, it’s just past noon, and I’m on the phone with a counsellor from the Crisis Response Centre. I’m sobbing so hard that it’s a struggle to form sentences. Doing my best to steady my voice, I try to communicate what I’m feeling to the stranger on the other side of the line: that my anxiety is so overwhelming I don’t want to exist, that every waking moment is consumed by guilt and panic, that I don’t want to be me anymore. I don’t know what she can say or do that other people haven’t already tried, but this phone call feels like one of my last options.

Stage Manager Stories: Cherie B. Tay, A STRANGE LOOP

www.broadwayworld.com: This month, we're chatting with veteran Broadway stage manager, voice actor, and multimedia creative artist, Cherie B. Tay (she/they), who is currently part of the stage management team of this year's most Tony-nominated musical, A Strange Loop.

In ‘American Jade,’ Jodi Long Traces Her Imprints

AMERICAN THEATRE: Discovering, owning, and expressing one’s own identity constitutes perhaps the scariest yet most validating process humans undergo. And now more than ever, that identity can be complicated, contested, fluid. Where does identity come from, and how does it take shape? According to Asian American actor Jodi Long, it’s rooted in a web of influences, what she calls “imprints”—some stemming from our DNA, some from emotional relationships with parents, others foisted upon us by society.

How Intimacy Consultant Anisa Tejpar Coaches Sensitive Dance Scenes

Dance Magazine: From Manon’s bedroom pas de deux to Sonya Tayeh’s entwined ensembles in Moulin Rouge! The Musical, intimacy is everywhere in dance. It’s also sensitive territory, and some companies are turning to intimacy professionals for guidance. During its recent production of John Neumeier’s A Streetcar Named Desire, which addresses interpersonal violence, mental health issues, sexual orientation and consent through intensely physical choreography, the National Ballet of Canada engaged intimacy consultant Anisa Tejpar.

Audio-Technica unveils 3000 Series Wireless In-Ear System

LightSoundJournal.com: Audio-Technica has unveiled its new ATW-3255 3000 Series Wireless In-Ear Monitor system, designed to be an affordable, durable IEM solution that delivers professional sound quality and features to all levels of performers and venues.

Learning a New Console

SoundGirls.org: As I’ve started working more on the production side of things recently, and my home venue is replacing its beloved but falling-apart SC48s, I’ve found myself learning new consoles left and right. This month I thought I would lay out the process I use to get the hang of things when walking into a board I’ve never used before, although, of course, everyone will have their own method.

Resonance Works Capping 9th Season with ‘Rigoletto’

onStage Pittsburgh: Resonance Works is closing its present season next weekend with an opera, and for anyone who has seen this company put on an opera, that’s good news, because they really know how to do a first class production when they set their minds to it. Their staging of Verdi’s Falstaff, a few years back, was a well-sung and amusing delight.

Broadway Producer Emanuel Azenberg: “We’ve chased away an audience.”

New York Theater: “When I was a kid in the Bronx, I went to the theater for $1.10,” says Emanuel Azenberg. Granted that was a while ago; he’s 88. But he is also a Broadway producer and general manager with nine Tony Awards, including one for Lifetime Achievement, and six decades of experience with some hundred plays and musicals right up to the present. And his analysis, which he explained in a TEDx Broadway talk this week, is that Broadway has lost its way, and not just because of ticket prices – but definitely because of them.

JK Opole Theatre upgrades with OPTOCORE fiber network

LightSoundJournal.com: Poland’s largest dramatic theatre has reopened after lockdown, to reveal a major renovation to its various spaces, which took up much of 2021. In order to preserve its impressive heritage, it was recognised that Jan Kochanowski Theatre in Opole (JK Opole Theatre) would need to undergo full modernisation, and a thorough overhaul of its technical infrastructure, fulfilling a dream it had nurtured for several years.

Ain't Too Proud National Tour, Currently in Buffalo, Offers Message of Love Following Shooting

Playbill: While the first national tour of Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of The Temptations was performing at Buffalo's Shea's Performing Arts Center, a racially-motivated mass shooting was taking place at a nearby supermarket. At the conclusion of Saturday evening's performance of Ain't Too Proud May 14, cast member James T. Lane delivered the following message from the stage on behalf of the touring company:

Pick of the Best Budget Synthetic Instruments & Amp Plugins

SoundGirls.org: The current economic situation has meant that many creatives are experiencing uncertain and leaner times. Thankfully, one area that has been consistent throughout this difficult climate is the offering of reasonably priced, high-quality virtual instruments and plugins. Whether you’re unsure about making a big purchase or commitment to one library, there are an array of affordable sounds and tools out there, with many packages even available completely free.

SIXTY82 launches Arena Frame, a new concept in stage systems

LightSoundJournal.com: SIXTY82 is excited to launch Arena Frame, a new stage concept designed for venues which value the benefits of a quick and easy-to-build stage system.

Under a cloud: Artists describe toxic work conditions at Spooky Action Theater

DC Theater Arts: When Spooky Action Theater posted a letter of apology on its Facebook page on April 18, 2022, people were left scratching their heads. The Spooky Action leadership was acknowledging they had done something wrong, but the letter, written by the theater company’s Board of Directors, was so vague on details that it was impossible to guess what had occurred to prompt their public apology.

Imaginists' 'Someone Dies Again' newly relevant as gun violence and racism shocks U.S.

Datebook: Hungarian theater director Árpád Schilling’s website doesn’t read the way most American theater artists’ do. “The Krétakör Foundation, with Árpád Schilling’s leadership, has been searching for almost 10 years now for possible answers to the cultural crisis,” goes one line, referring to the company Schilling created and the society-wide urgency of artistic freedom under an oppressive regime.

The Importance of Being a Good Networker

SoundGirls.org: I’m sure you’ve heard it before. You’ve got to network. You’ve got to get involved. You’ve got to meet the right people. Well, here it is again. It’s really important to network. And get involved. And meet the right people. Because your skill will only take you so far, knowing the right people will take you farther.

Gregg Mozgala, Broadway Actor Organizes Festival Celebrating Deaf/Disabled Artists

The Theatre Times: Actor Gregg Mozgala describes himself as a “Triple Threat: “Actor, Writer, Cripple.” The 42-year-old award-winning actor and theatre professional, who has cerebral palsy, has been challenging the industry to be more inclusive of people living with disabilities.

Meyer Sound Makes Science Education an Adventure at Denmark’s LIFE Campus

LightSoundJournal.com: LIFE Campus was created to give young Danish students intensive engagement with a range of learning experiences in STEM — science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Certainly, local field work and laboratory experiments are fundamental to scientific exploration, but LIFE Campus also has world-leading resources for giving students memorable learning adventures in 360-degree immersive environments created by cutting-edge digital technologies.

5 Questions TEDxBroadway Raises About the Future of the Theatre Industry

Playbill: New World Stages hosted TEDxBroadway May 17, an event which featured 16 speakers across three sessions, with music performances by Britton Smith & The Sting. The topics ranged from actions that will evolve American theatre into a more equitable and dynamic space to how we invest in ourselves and the stories we want to tell.

Tony-Nominated Director and Choreographer Camille A. Brown Has Arrived

 Playbill: “I write for young girls of color, for girls who don’t even exist yet, so that there is something there for them when they arrive,” playwright Ntozake Shange once said in an interview for Mother Jones.

iZotope RX 101

SoundGirls.org: There are many audio repair tools on the market, and arguably the most common one is iZotope RX. And no wonder – it gives the user very fine control over audio clean-up. I have come across questions from new users in several internet groups, so I thought it was about time that I shared everything I have learned about RX.

Review: Stage 62’s ‘The Marvelous Wonderettes’ Debut in Carnegie

onStage Pittsburgh: For the next two weeks, the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall Studio is transformed back in time, 60 + years to the 1958 Springfield High senior prom. Pinks and blues embellish the stage creating an aesthetic of innocence I imagine from that era when pop songs were sugary sweet, and girls were adorned in lipstick and crinoline.

10 Reasons to Attend LightFair 2022

LightFair Blog: If your work touches lighting design and technology, architecture, urban planning or any field involved with light, you don’t want to miss LightFair. It’s the perfect opportunity to catch up with lighting trends and industry friends, to experience the energy and community you may have missed these past couple of years.

With Vogel, Nottage and Anderson, three generations of Tony-nominated playwrights signal the health of Broadway

Broadway News: “Circles in theater rise faster than any individual can,” says Paula Vogel. That sentence lands with such clarity and profundity, it sounds like a line from one of her plays. But no. The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, now nominated for her second Tony Award in as many Broadway outings, is simply punctuating a lesson she instills in her playwriting students.

The celebrated assassin: the play about Gandhi’s killer, still dividing India

Theatre | The Guardian: ‘Sometimes the truth is messy and illogical,” says Anupama Chandrasekhar. “But theatre can display the truth in ways journalism or other nonfiction cannot. It’s not just the facts that people can struggle to understand – it is the enormity of things.”

Music Reading for Drama Technicians

SoundGirls.org: This month’s blog will go over some basic music theory concepts that I have found useful in my work as a musical theatre mixer. Full credit for the title goes to Professor Thomas W. Douglas of Carnegie Mellon University, who taught a class by that name when I was an undergrad. I know that not everyone working in theatrical sound has a formal music education (and I am not suggesting that it’s a requirement) but I think that being able to understand what is going on in a score, follow along in the music, and in some cases, line-by-line mix from the score, are good skills for anyone in this field to have.

Review: PICT’s ‘Endgame’

onStage PittsburghReview: PICT’s ‘Endgame’: In these times of war, plague, drought, wildfires, and domestic conflict, can we handle the despair of Samuel Beckett? Then again, “Nothing is funnier than unhappiness.” Considering all that’s happening, Alan Stanford‘s choice of Beckett’s Endgame, which opened May 13, is an inspired choice. Four characters trapped in a room and in lives of endless repetition seem like a Covid-19 quarantine scenario.

The Lillys Announce Their 2022 Award Winners

TheaterMania: The 2022 Lilly Award recipients have been announced. The Lillys celebrate, fund, and fight for women by promoting gender and racial parity in the American theater, and the awards are funded by Lilly Board member and producer Stacey Mindich.

Don’t Underestimate the Importance of Front Porch Theatricals’ ‘A Man of No Importance’

onStage Pittsburgh: It is important, Front Porch Theatricals’ production of A Man of No Importance. Let me explain all the reasons why. It’s going to take a little time, so get comfortable.

The Sooner the Better or When to Hire a Theatre Consultant

ASTC: Occasionally a theatre consultant will receive a call to help with a project that is already midway through design. The architect is looking for someone to specify performance equipment and develop the bid documents. The sad truth is by then it’s often too late for the architect, design team, and ultimately the client, to fully benefit from the expertise of a theatre consultant. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Neil Diamond Musical ‘A Beautiful Noise’ Sets Fall Broadway Opening

Deadline: As expected, A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical is heading to Broadway, with producers announcing today that previews will begin Wednesday, November 2, at the Broadhurst Theatre, with an official opening night on Sunday, Dec. 4.

Court Theatre to receive 2022 regional Tony Award

Chicago Sun-Times: Court Theatre, the professional theater of the University of Chicago, and one of the most critically acclaimed theater companies in the country, can add a most coveted accolade to its trove of awards: the 2022 Regional Theatre Tony Award. The news was announced early Wednesday.

Review Roundup: GOLDEN SHIELD Opens at Manhattan Theatre Club

www.broadwayworld.com: From international playwright Anchuli Felicia King comes a new play about loyalties, intrigue and the delicate art of translation. When enterprising American lawyer Julie Chen files a class-action lawsuit involving a multinational technology corporation and the Chinese government, she hires her strong-minded sister Eva as her translator. But what compromises will they make in order to win? And can they put aside their past differences to speak the same language? Directing this fast-paced production is May Adrales (Vietgone).

Chicago's Court Theatre Named 2022 Regional Theatre Tony Recipient

Playbill: Chicago's Court Theatre has been named the recipient of the 2022 Regional Theatre Tony Award. Decided following a recommendation by the American Theatre Critics Association, the honor includes a $25,000 grant made possible by support from City National Bank.

Brined and ready: Picklesburgh returns in July

Food | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh City Paper: Do you hear that? Sounds like an endless stream of corny, dad joke-level pickle puns. You know what that means — Picklesburgh is on the horizon to bring Pittsburgh residents and curious out of towners plenty to eat, see, and do.

Humanizing Homelessness: An Interview with Lisa Hoelscher of Gathering Ground Theatre

HowlRound Theatre Commons: Emerging from grassroots efforts to decriminalize homelessness in Austin, Texas, Gathering Ground Theatre is a company of people with lived experiences of homelessness and allies. Through Theatre of the Oppressed techniques and sustained collaboration with local organizers, Gathering Ground Theatre aims to influence public opinion, local legislation, and electoral outcomes.

J. Kevin McMahon, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust President, and CEO, Retirement is Announced

onStage Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh Cultural Trust Board Chair Richard Harshman announced today that J. Kevin McMahon, President, and CEO, plans to retire at the end of this year. Under McMahon’s two decades of dedicated leadership, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust advanced downtown Pittsburgh’s cultural and economic transformation. It continued to earn international, national, regional, and local recognition for how a non-profit organization can utilize the arts as a catalyst for urban revitalization.

People in performing arts twice as likely to have depression, Equity finds

Mental health | The Guardian: People working in entertainment and performing arts are twice as likely to experience depression as the general population, according to a review of more than 100 academic studies.

“Theater Now Is Important, It Gives People the Feeling that They Are Not Alone”: An Interview with the Ukrainian Playwright Andriy Bondarenko

The Theatre Times: Andriy Bondarenko is the dramaturg of the Puppet Theater in Lviv, Ukraine, where he lives, but he is also a co-founder of the Kyiv Theater of Playwrights, and the author of the dramatic poem Survivor’s Syndrome, the Romanian translation of which premiered on Saturday, May 14, 2022, at the National Museum of Art of Romania in Bucharest.

Rooting Out Racial Bias in Dance Organizations by Revamping Communication Practices

Dance Magazine: As dance companies continue the necessary and arduous process of determining what (and where) racial biases exist within their organizations, the idea of an open-door communication policy has become a popular one to implement and tout as a point of pride. Open communication, after all, conveys a sense of trust, mutual respect and an organization’s willingness to evolve beyond problematic practices. But it’s a tricky approach to get right, particularly if an institution doesn’t have the correct tools in place.

Cultural Trust CEO Kevin McMahon Will Retire at the End of the Year

Pittsburgh Magazine: J. Kevin McMahon, who has served as the organization’s president and CEO for the last two decades, made his retirement official Wednesday morning, with Cultural Trust officials saying that he’s slated to depart officially at the end of the year. He’d agreed to a five-year contract in 2016 and was to retire in 2021, but the pandemic and its unprecedented impact on the arts world changed his plans. But now, as live shows return to the once-bustling Cultural District and performing arts rebound, McMahon will officially step down.

Five years after taking its last bow, Ringling Bros. is back – this time, without animals

CANVAS Arts: “The Greatest Show on Earth” is making a comeback featuring extraordinary humans and no animal acts five years after shutting down its three-ring circus, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey announced Wednesday.

"Stay Woke" Reminded Me of The Importance of Telling Stories of Injustice by Those Most Affected by It

The Theatre Times: The lingering smell of incense and the hurried crunching of murukku and thattu vadai greets the audience as we settle into their seats to watch Stay Woke, a new dark comedy about love, loss and pain. Two estranged Tamil brothers, Niv (Dushan Philips) and Sai (Kaivu Suvarna) are spending the weekend away in Mount Buller with their partners.

DC-area theaters unite to extend COVID mask and vax policies

DC Theater Arts: Theatre Washington, in coordination with its partner theaters, announces an extension to the previously implemented and updated policies requiring vaccination and mask-wearing at theater venues across the Washington, DC, region. Policies will now remain in place until at least July 31, 2022.

Apocalypse Now, and Then What? — Beckett’s ‘Endgame’ at PICT

Entertainment Central Pittsburgh: Life comes at us in cycles. Spring has returned to Pittsburgh; the birds are singing once again, and after a relative lull of many years, it might be time again to worry about nuclear annihilation. That would make it a fitting time to see Samuel Beckett’s Endgame at PICT Classic Theatre

Wavefront Precision Specified Throughout Blackpool Conference & Exhibition Centre

LightSoundJournal.com: A highly complex, and reconfigurable Martin Audio Wavefront Precision design throughout the new Blackpool Conference and Exhibition Centre is the brainchild of system designer Samuel Williams of Derby-based Media Powerhouse.

Irene Gandy, Junior Mintt, Emanuel Azenberg, More Are Part of TEDxBroadway Ten Lineup May 17

Playbill: TEDxBroadway's 10th anniversary program, TEDxBroadway TEN, is held in person at Off-Broadway's New World Stages May 17 at 1 PM ET; the afternoon will also be live-streamed simultaneously on Stellar.

Go Inside the Technical Aspects of The Met's New Staging of Lucia di Lammermoor

Playbill: In the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Lucia di Lammermoor, the singers tackling Donizetti’s bel canto pyrotechnics aren’t the only ones being pushed to the limit. Simon Stone’s audacious present-day staging, which moves the action to a declining town in America’s Rust Belt, incorporates several innovative technical elements to tell Lucia’s story and conjure its setting as vividly as possible, and the Met’s backstage wizards are pulling out all the stops to make it happen.

Live Nation Festivalgoers Injured in Panic After Rumored Gunshots

www.ticketnews.com: Several injuries were reported after a brief panic took hold at Live Nation’s Lovers & Friends event in Las Vegas on Saturday, due to mistaken reports of gunfire in the crowd. Three individuals were treated and transported to local hospitals, suffering trample injuries when some were attempting to flee the grounds.

Diabolical ‘Misery’ awaits your company in Braddock

onStage Pittsburgh: Some of the best edge-of-your-seat moments within the Misery unfolding in Braddock are wordless. Without the inner monologue of page or screen, through often excruciating actions and silent suffering, the dread that fills barebones production’s intimate blackbox theater is palpable.

Astroworld Aftermath May Impact Permitting Process for Future Events

www.ticketnews.com: Six months have passed since the Astroworld tragedy which resulted in the death of 10 concertgoers and injury of more than 300 – with recent court filings indicating that number may be far higher. But the task of determining what the key conditions at the event were that led to the catastrophe are still uncertain. Each new development regarding the concerns and questions about the safety is followed by silence of the parties involved with the event, but once findings are made, they will likely have a dramatic impact on the future of live events both in Texas and beyond.

Audinate Dante Ready launches in market with K-array Amplifiers

TPi: Audinate has revealed the launch of Dante Ready, a licensing programme that empowers end-users to add channels of Dante audio to supported products in the field. The first deployment is with K-array on its new Kommander, Thunder and Mugello amplifiers that will be showcased at InfoComm 2022 (booth #W3138) in Las Vegas.

Marcel Spears, Star of Pulitzer-Winning Fat Ham, Talks Shakespeare and Southern Cookouts

Playbill: Currently in previews at The Public Theater, Marcel Spears stars as Juicy in James Ijames’ 2022 Pulitzer-winning play Fat Ham. Ijames explodes Shakespeare’s psychological classic Hamlet into a drama at times comic, at others tragic. Rather than a wedding feast in Denmark, the play takes place at a cookout in the modern-day South. Juicy, a queer college kid, grapples with similar struggles as Shakespeare’s title character: identity questions, the ghost of his father, and a supernatural demand for vengeance.

Myles Frost, Sharon D. Clarke, Jaquel Spivey & More Amongst 2022 Theatre World Awards Recipients

www.broadwayworld.com: The Theatre World Awards has announced the 2022 Honorees for the Theatre World Award for an Outstanding Debut Performance in a Broadway or Off-Broadway Production. The historic 76th Annual Theatre World Awards Ceremony returns to a live in-person presentation on the set of the Jeffrey Richards production of the critically acclaimed Broadway Revival of American Buffalo on Monday evening, June 6, 2022 beginning at 7:00 p.m. at Circle in the Square Theatre

AMERICAN MASTERS Documentary on PBS to Focus on the Career, Social Vision & Impact of The Public Theater's Joe Papp

www.broadwayworld.com: Ahead of the 60th Anniversary Season of Free Shakespeare in The Park at New York City's Delacorte Theater in Central Park, American Masters: Joe Papp in Five Acts tells the story of this indomitable, street-wise champion of the arts. As founder of The Public Theater, Free Shakespeare in the Park and producer of groundbreaking plays like Hair, A Chorus Line and for colored girls..., Papp believed great art was for everyone, not just a privileged few.

Tony Awards announces 2022 Tony Honors recipients

Broadway News: This year’s recipients of Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theater are Feinstein’s/54 Below; United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829, IATSE; Asian American Performers Action Coalition (AAPAC); Broadway For All and music copyist Emily Grishman.

The Key Role of VR in Preserving Cultural Heritage

AMT Lab @ CMU: Virtual reality (VR) has quickly become a mainstay for exhibiting arts and cultural organizations. When looking at it as a concept, “VR has the potential to simulate imaginative and existing physical environments along with their processes. The simulations can be tuned to a highest level of multisensorial realism in order to affect users' visual, auditory, tactile, vestibular, and even olfactory and gustatory senses.” But what does it mean to museums and cultural organizations, and how can it help the arts?

Meet the Recipients of the The Drama League's 2022 Directors Project

Playbill: The Drama League has announced the stage directors who will receive fellowships, assistantships, and residencies as part of the 2022 Drama League Directors Project.

After Nude Jesse Williams Video, Theater Takes Additional Security Measures

The New York Times: The nonprofit theater presenting a starry Broadway revival of “Take Me Out” installed a new infrared camera on Wednesday to help its security team spot surreptitious camera usage by audience members after a video of a nude scene featuring the actor Jesse Williams circulated online.

AMERICAN THEATRE | Sara Morgulis Named Executive Director of TYA/USA

www.americantheatre.org: Theatre for Young Audiences USA (TYA/USA) has named Sara Morgulis to be its next executive director, starting June 6. Following an extensive national executive search, the TYA/USA board unanimously selected Morgulis to lead the national organization representing the creative community committed to the professional field of theatre for children, young adults, and families.

The Actors Fund Changes Identity to the Entertainment Community Fund

www.broadwayworld.com: The Actors Fund, the 140-year-old national human services organization for everyone in performing arts and entertainment, announced at its Annual Gala yesterday that, effective immediately, they have changed their name to Entertainment Community Fund, in order to better reflect the broad scope of industry professionals they help.

Cancel culture? My play was shut down by rightwing activists before it even opened

Josie Dale-Jones | The Guardian: I am the producer and co-creator of a piece of theatre that was cancelled before it had even been seen. It started like this: a group of people online began to call for the show to be shut down. It gained some traction and led to a petition on the platform Citizen Go, which is believed to have links with extremist hard-right Christian groups in the US. My company, as well as the staff at the theatre venues we were due to be performing at, faced threats of violence and abuse against staff.

The 2022 Tony nominations mark a historic shift on Broadway

Broadway News: The announcement of the 2022 Tony nominations was one for the history books. Not just because the Tony Awards themselves are hitting their milestone 75th year. And not just because the nominations were announced in May for the first time in three years. Multiple nominees made history when hosts Joshua Henry and Adrienne Warren read their names on May 9.

Eos and the world of dance: an interview with Sharon Remartini and Fabio Passerini

et cetera...: Sharon Remartini and Fabio Passerini are two young lighting designers from Italy, specializing in the discipline of dance. Like many of their colleagues, Eos is their preferred console. Their recent work includes a project with the Kataklò athletic dance theatre company, directed by the famous former gymnast Giulia Staccioli. In this interview, translated from Italian, they share with us the history of their involvement with ETC, their take on Eos software, and an insight into the Kataklò collaboration.

Actors' Equity Association Condemns Unauthorized Creation and Sharing Of Naked Photos and Videos Of Actors

www.broadwayworld.com: "At every performance, there is a mutual understanding between the audience and the performers that we are sharing an experience limited to this time and place; that trust makes it possible for us to be exposed both emotionally and physically. Trampling on this agreement by capturing and distributing these photographs and videos is both sexual harassment and an appalling breach of consent. It is a violation that impedes our collective ability to tell stories with boldness and bravery."

Creating Realistic Background Imagery For Fictional Stories

Rosco Spectrum: Fernando Argüelles, ASC AEC is an acclaimed Spanish cinematographer based in the United States who has worked on feature films and countless televisions series, including Prison Break, Hemlock Grove, Grimm and Scorpion. He was also one of the first cinematographers to have used Rosco SoftDrop shortly after we launched the product in 2015. After his first experience using a SoftDrop on the science fiction crime drama television series Second Chance in 2016, he was enthusiastic to use it again in 2021 on the post-apocalyptic horror television series Fear the Walking Dead. Below, Fernando shares how Rosco SoftDrop helped him create realistic background imagery in these two very different fictional stories.

Claypaky launching CP Green

LightSoundJournal.com: The carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions related to all the input and output of resources and energy used in the entire lifecycle of our products. As the climate is changing, it is fundamental to reduce the GHG emissions. To be aligned with the global objective of keeping the temperature rise below 1.5 °C, Claypaky has decided to accept this challenge!

This Ukrainian circus was on tour in Italy when the war started

NPR: Pistoia, Italy, is a lovely medieval Tuscan town. And if you'd been there last weekend, you could have caught a circus performing "Alice In Wonderland." There were a lot of emotions on stage and behind the curtains because as Adam Raney found out, the troupe's circumstances changed drastically on February 24 when Russia invaded Ukraine.

Barebones Bounces Back to Braddock with “Misery”

onStage Pittsburgh: Patrick Jordan is giddy with anticipation these days, having spent much of the past two-plus years keeping up our spirits while working tirelessly toward this moment when barebones productions is back in action. So why on earth return with a show called Misery?

‘A Strange Loop’ Star L Morgan Lee on Her Trailblazing Tony Nomination

The New York Times: L Morgan Lee made theater history on Monday, becoming what production officials described as the first openly transgender performer to be nominated for a Tony Award for her performance as a featured actress in “A Strange Loop.”

DAS Audio introduces LARA® the only powered cardioid line array on the market

LightSoundJournal.com: The brand held a preview of the system in Miami last March gathering FOH engineers, sound technicians, distributors and American customers to present the system for the first time. The first impressions were very positive. The official launch of the system was on April 26 at Prolight + Sound (Frankfurt) and the system will also be presented at ISE (Barcelona) and the NAMM Show (Los Angeles).

James Ijames Wins 2022 Drama Pulitzer for ‘Fat Ham’

AMERICAN THEATRE: Today the Pulitzer committee announced that James Ijames has won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Fat Ham, an irreverent riff on Shakespeare’s Hamlet that had its premiere in the spring of 2021 as a filmed play by Philadelphia’s Wilma Theater, where Ijames is a co-artistic director.

'A Strange Loop' Garners 11 Tony Nominations, Including Best Musical

KQED: Monday morning, nominations for the 75th Annual Tony Awards were announced online. For the first time since the pandemic, Broadway presented a complete season—albeit one with many postponements and hiatuses, due to the Delta and Omicron variants of COVID-19—and 34 shows were in contention for Broadway's highest honors.

Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster Honor the 'Extraordinary' Understudies Who Kept The Music Man Open Through COVID Outbreaks

Playbill: Next stop, River City! The Music Man stars Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers May 5 to talk all about what the production means to them, what scared them about stepping into Harold Hill and Marian Paroo's shoes, and the ways in which The Music Man has been saved by the production's understudies and swings.

Everything We Know So Far About the 75th Annual Tony Awards

www.broadwayworld.com: Broadway's biggest night is back in a big way in 2022! The Tony Awards, Broadway's most beloved tradition, returns this June, honoring theater professionals for distinguished achievement in the 2021/2022 Broadway season. What can you expect this time around? We've got the scoop!

'Marooned! A Space Comedy' at Theatre Project is far more than puppets

DC Metro Theater Arts: What’s in a name? That which we call Alex and Olmsted would by any name or names be full of innovation, emotion, and wry commentary on contemporary conventions. They are, however, the names that I recognize from their work with Happenstance Theater. Their newest show, Marooned! A Space Comedy, is also aptly named. After a brief abstract introduction to physical expressiveness and a prologue that wordlessly recounts the evolution of life on earth, the action takes place in the deep reaches of space.

Carry On and Let Go- “The Garbologists” at City Theatre

onStage Pittsburgh: Lindsay Joelle‘s script is delightfully intimate, surprising, and profound, filled with sometimes unexpected laughter and even tears. Titled for the archeological study of trash, the play mines the territories of external perception and the human heart.

Online art exhibition ‘You’ll Be Swell! You’ll Be Great!’ from NYC’s Helicline gallery features themes from the theater and performing arts

DC Metro Theater Arts: In addition to running, for more than 20 years, Keith Sherman & Associates – a public relations and marketing communications firm with its roots on Broadway – the founder and namesake of the company is also a passionate art collector. In 2008, Sherman and his partner Roy Goldberg, a physician and equally avid aficionado and collector for three decades, established Helicline Fine Art, specializing in 20th-century American and European modernist paintings, sculptures, and works on paper, in the styles of social realism, mural studies, industrial landscapes, regionalism, abstraction, and more.

Broadway’s First Post-Shutdown “Red Bucket” Drive Raises $4.2M

Deadline: The red bucket brigades so long-familiar to Broadway spring audiences were back this year after a two-year pandemic absence, and the results were heartening: donations across Broadway, Off Broadway and touring productions to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS totaled $4,288,994.

Revelatory essay collection asks, Are the Arts Essential?

Literary Arts | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh City Paper: In an essay for Are the Arts Essential? (NYU Press), Ford Foundation President Darren Walker writes about how the impact of art cannot be quantified because “one cannot measure the impact of empathy or love.”

Interview: Samuel D. Hunter on Fatherhood, the American Struggle, and His New Play

TheaterMania: Two men sit in a dimly lit cubicle. One is a gay, Black mortgage broker trying to adopt the baby he's been fostering. The other is a straight, white single father trying to get a loan to buy a plot of land that he thinks will give him a place in the world.

Black Theatre Coalition Announces Inaugural Directing Fellow, TaNisha Fordham

www.broadwayworld.com: This Black Theatre Coalition Directing Fellowship provides a $50,000 annual salary and the opportunity to participate in the efforts of mounting a Broadway production. Each fellow in the cohort will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in their area of the industry, working alongside current industry leaders at the highest levels, learning the process of theater making from the executive, creative, and administrative areas.

Customer Segment

Theatre Inspiration: We’re going to work through the different aspects of the business model that was laid out in my last post introducing the Business Model Canvas. The first thing I want to discuss is the Customer Segment. According to Business Model Generation, “The Customer Segments Building Block defines the different groups of people…and enterprise aims to reach and serve.” In other words, “For whom are we creating value? Who are our most important customers?”

Timothée Chalamet’s West End debut cancelled after two years of postponements

Old Vic Theatre | The Guardian: It was one of London’s hottest theatre tickets for 2020: a Pulitzer-nominated play with the enticing pairing of actors Timothée Chalamet and Eileen Atkins. But just over two years after Amy Herzog’s drama 4000 Miles had been scheduled to have its first performance at the Old Vic, the long-postponed production has finally been cancelled.

KIMBERLY AKIMBO, HARMONY & More Nominated for Off Broadway Alliance Awards

www.broadwayworld.com: The Off Broadway Alliance, an organization of Off-Broadway producers, theaters, general managers, press agents, and marketing professionals, has announced the nominees for the 11th Annual Off-Broadway Alliance Awards, honoring commercial and not-for-profit productions that opened Off Broadway during the 2021-2022 season.

Daniel Fish on his dark new Oklahoma!: ‘We’re trying to deal with violence, injustice, and community’

The Independent: There’s a bright golden haze on the meadow…” Even if you don’t know Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals very well, when you think of Oklahoma! the first image that probably pops into your mind is of a smiling cowboy swaggering onto a stage and singing about what a beautiful morning it is. Or cheeky cowgirls in gingham frocks, dancing around cheerfully.

Review Roundup: Zachary Quinto, Calista Flockhart, Graham Phillips & Aimee Carrero in Geffen Playhouse's WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?

www.broadwayworld.com: George and Martha, the American theater's most notoriously dysfunctional couple, have invited the young and naive Nick and Honey over for drinks. What begins as harmless patter escalates to outright marital warfare, with the provincial newcomers caught in the crossfire. Celebrate the 60th anniversary of the hilarious and harrowing Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, arguably Edward Albee's most famous and most vicious masterpiece.

Art Reflects Life. So Should Your Mission Statement

Butts In the Seats: Scott Walters made a Twitter post yesterday that suggested organizations start their existence with a Quality of Life Statement rather than Mission Statement or Values Statement. Intrigued about where he was going with this, I popped over to his blog post on the subject. He starts with a brief criticism that non-profit mission statements are usually so broad they are meaningless and pretty much interchangeable with those of other organizations.

Little Shop of Horrors Postpones 40th Anniversary Block Party

Playbill: The Off-Broadway revival of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s Little Shop of Horrors has postponed its May 6 block party in front of the Westside Theatre on West 43rd Street due to inclement weather. A new date will be announced at a later time.

‘A Quick 5’ with Caroline Daye Attayek, Swing and Dance Captain in the National Tour of ‘Hairspray’

Maryland Theatre Guide: Based on John Waters’s 1988 film of the same name, “Hairspray,” Broadway’s Tony Award-winning, musical comedy blockbuster is back on tour and “coming home.” The tour is making its way to The National Theatre in DC in May (and later to its birthplace up the road). The musical won eight Tony Awards in 2003, including Best Musical. It was then made into a 2007 film with an all-star cast including John Travolta, Zac Efron, and Queen Latifa, to name a few. In 2016, NBC produced a live, TV production of the show, also packed with stars.

Work by David Rockwell, Bunny Christie & More to be Featured in The Museum of Broadway

www.broadwayworld.com: Today, The Museum of Broadway announced a group of featured artists who have designed various rooms and exhibits within the Museum, as well as their team of expert curators. This interactive, multi-floor Museum is slated to open this fall. Tickets will go on sale on June 14th.

Back at Prolight with Impressive Live Show and Lots More…

LightSoundJournal.com: Czech Republic-based moving and LED lighting manufacturer Robe lighting s.r.o. rocked back to major live exhibition shows with a dazzling new live production, CUETE & The Beast, created exclusively for the Prolight+Sound 2022 expo and presented last week in Frankfurt, Germany.

Equity Makes Demands of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group After Cancellation of CINDERELLA

www.broadwayworld.com: Equity, the trade union for performers and creative workers, has published a further statement and its demands of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group, following the cancellation of the London production Cinderella.

Cock theatre producer Chris Harper explains why title of play is absent from TfL adverts

The Independent: The play, which features Bridgerton star Jonathan Bailey, was written by Mike Bartlett about a gay man who starts to have feelings for a woman despite having just ended a seven-year relationship with a man. In a recent statement, producer Harper shared that they were not permitted to use the title in the marketing throughout the transport network, and expressed disbelief over TfL’s censorship.

5 Theatre Projects Receive NEFA Grants

AMERICAN THEATRE: The New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) has awarded 18 New Work New England grants totaling $250,750 to various artists across the region. The five theatre projects to receive NEFA grants include Aaron Jafferis’s Smooth Criminal, Articine’s The Anxiety Piece, Bess Welden’s The Death Wings Project, Gail Burton and Josie Bray’s Truth: A bio-fictional choreopoem, and Sam Plattus’s Driving in Circles.

RCF Delivers High-Power System to Legacy Arena in Alabama

LightSoundJournal.com: In the heart of a thriving section of Birmingham, stands the Birmingham/Jefferson Convention Complex (BJCC) located in the Uptown Entertainment District. The multi-use complex boasts 220,000 square feet of flexible space which serves as a conference and entertainment destination for the city. Some areas of the complex include: one 3,000-seat concert hall, two theatres: one 1,000-seat, and one 274-seat. The largest venue, Legacy Arena with 19,000 seats, has recently undergone a complete audio system overhaul.

From Netflix Stock Drop to Mass Layoffs, Anxiety Grips Hollywood

Variety: Fear and loathing are on the rise in Hollywood as top execs and rank-and-file employees grapple with growing uncertainty about their place in a rapidly changing entertainment industry. One pervasive concern: that the streaming-fueled content bubble has finally burst, with more consolidation on the way.

I was due to star in Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella. I found out I was sacked via social media

Summer Strallen | The Guardian: Last Thursday, I was having a wig fitting for the role of the Queen in Cinderella, ready to begin rehearsing next month. The part, which I signed up for six weeks ago, promised a year-long contract – and with it, a rare level of stability.

With Roe in Danger, Studios Quiet on Plans for Georgia Abortion Ban

Variety: The major entertainment studios spoke out against Georgia’s “heartbeat” abortion bill in 2019, saying they would “rethink” their production plans in the state if the law ever went into effect. That moment appears to be approaching fast.

Pittsburgh Opera News: National Opera House Partnership, “In a Grove” Available to Stream

onStage Pittsburgh: The National Opera House (NOH) is the steward of the legacy of the National Negro Opera Company (NNOC), the first African-American opera company in the United States. The NNOC was founded in Pittsburgh by Mary Cardwell Dawson in 1941 and operated until her death in 1962. The NNOC headquarters building, also referred to as the National Negro Opera Company House, is owned by NOH President Jonnet Solomon.

Original Star Wars Costume Sketches By John Mollo Are Being Auctioned for $300,000

www.esquire.com: A rare and relatively unknown piece of Star Wars memorabilia is going up for sale later this year in London: the sketchbooks from renowned costume designer John Mollo, who is responsible for the iconic looks from the first two Star Wars films, A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, including Princess Leia's draped white dress, Han Solo's cowboy aesthetic, and Darth Vader's black helmet.

Emma, Hershel, and Me

AMERICAN THEATRE: On Nov. 4, 2021, London’s illustrious Royal Court Theatre released promotional material for the world premiere of Rare Earth Mettle by Al Smith. The play featured Doctor Who star Arthur Darvill as a rapacious entrepreneur intent on pillaging a salt flat in Bolivia for its natural resources. The character was called Hershel Fink.

‘Why didn’t I notice the parallels?’ – Mark Ravenhill on finally seeing his own life in La Bohème

Opera | The Guardian: I’m listening to two tenors – Philip Lee and Daniel Koek – sing a love duet. It’s O Soave Fanciulla from Puccini’s La Bohème, one of the most performed scenes in the opera repertoire, written for a male and a female voice. In our new English-language version, Rodolfo, a tenor role, meets Lucas, an online hook-up whose friends have given the nickname Mimi, and who is also sung by a tenor.

"The Molecules Changed in the Room": Creating a Play from Real Asian Women’s Desires, Dreams, and Heartaches

HowlRound Theatre Commons: A mutual friend brought Danielle Iwata to the Ascend! show at The Tank, an interview-based show written and co-directed by Amy Zhang with an all Asian woman cast and crew, that was created in response to the pandemic and the anti-Asian attacks. The friend connected the two of them after Danielle remarked that it was the most “nuanced depiction of Asian women on stage” she’d ever seen.

ControllerPose: Body Tracking From VR Controller Cameras

uploadvr.com: Consumer VR systems today only track the position of your head and hands. No system on the market comes with tracking for your torso or limbs, but some PC VR enthusiasts attach HTC’s Vive Trackers to their hip and feet, a use case supported by software like VRChat and LIV.

Senior Finds Solutions with Design in Mind

www.cmu.edu/news: Senior Andrea Benatar works to make interactions meaningful. Carnegie Mellon University has honed her skills to make that happen. "I fell in love with the School of Design the first time I visited," said Benatar, whose major is design with an additional minor in photography. "The school offers a lot of flexibility while never sacrificing the core foundational skills. It's a tough balance to strike between knowing the rules and breaking the rules."

Theatre criticism is a quick and dirty act – our views change and so do plays

Theatre | The Guardian: I went to see a play for the second time recently and changed my mind about it. If that sounds like an innocent statement in itself, it is surely a mea culpa for a critic who delivered a damning star-rated judgment the first time around.

Gunfire during drug deal in Loop wounds two ‘unintended targets’ in Theater District, including ‘Moulin Rouge!’ stagehand

Chicago Sun-Times: Ryan Bush and a fellow stagehand had just left the Nederlander Theater in the Loop to grab dinner between shows late Sunday afternoon when they heard gunfire. “There were two guys running down the alley, running westbound toward State Street, and somebody was shooting at them,” he told the Sun-Times. “My buddy ended up getting in the crossfire.”

Inside Cara Delevingne’s Golden Met Gala Look, from Body Paint to Screen-Star Hair

Vanity Fair: Cara Delevingne is not known to be shy on a red carpet. For the 2021 Met Gala, the model and actor wore a Dior fencing vest that read “Peg the Patriarchy” (a message more acute after last night’s Supreme Court leak). Meanwhile, for the 2022 Met Gala, her move was a different kind of bold, more painterly than sloganeering: Beneath her red tailcoat was little more than her gilded torso, gleaming from cane-clutching fingertip to ear.

Kim Kardashian Should Not Have Worn Marilyn Monroe Dress at Met Gala, Fashion Experts Say

www.thedailybeast.com: At Monday night’s Gilded Glamour-themed Met Gala, Kim Kardashian (and paramour Pete Davidson) swooped onto the red carpet to deliver the most talked-about look of the night. Kardashian arrived in Marilyn Monroe’s original, infamous “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” dress, the skintight and nearly transparent gown she wore to serenade John F. Kennedy, her rumored lover, in 1962.

Teamsters Motion Picture & Theatrical Trades Division Announces Staffing, New Structure

International Brotherhood of Teamsters: Director Lindsay Dougherty announced her vision for the Motion Picture & Theatrical Trades Division today, highlighting the key next steps and introducing her team to support locals across North America that represent members in the high-profile entertainment industry.

Cinderella: Row intensifies over cancellation of Lloyd Webber musical as protesters gather outside theatre

The Independent: Members of the actor’s union Equity have called for a change to theatre industry practices, as they protest against the closure of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella. On Sunday (1 May), it was announced that Lloyd Webber and Emerald Fennell’s original musical would be coming to an end on 12 June, less than a year after it first opened.

Review Roundup: Broadway-Bound BOB FOSSE'S DANCIN' Opens At San Diego's Old Globe

www.broadwayworld.com: The Broadway-bound musical Bob Fosse's Dancin' has released the first production images of the cast made up of 16 principals, featuring direction by Wayne Cilento. Bob Fosse's Dancin' is currently playing on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage at The Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center in San Diego's Balboa Park (1363 Old Globe Way) through May 29, 2022.

"Heroes of the Fourth Turning": How Theatre Can Serve as a Mode of Inquiry into Right Wing Ideas

The Theatre Times: Why did 46.8% of Americans vote for Donald Trump in the 2020 election? Why did approximately 2,000 of them attack the Capitol building? Why do 54% believe Joe Biden to be one of the worst Presidents in US history? They can’t all be “deplorables”, all ill-educated bigots or self-interested cynics. What do they actually think?

National Electrical Safety Month Reminds Us All to be Safer when Working with Electricity

NFPA | NFPA: Hindsight is always 20/20. Looking back over my 30 years as an electrician, there are certainly some things I should have done differently when it came to making choices around electrical safety. I like to use the phrase, “I could have been a statistic; I should have been a statistic,” when relaying some of those stories to others.

"In America: An Anthology of Fashion" at The Met: 5 things not to miss

www.timeout.com/newyork: The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute is back with part two of this year’s flagship exhibition “In America” with “An Anthology of Fashion,” and the new iteration of the show is an even more expansive look at what has defined American fashion over the years. It is a visually splendid tour through hundreds of years of this country’s history told through clothes designed and worn by its citizens.

Woolly Mammoth Launches Weissberg Commissions

AMERICAN THEATRE: The Weissberg Foundation has provided a grant to Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company for the creation of the theatre’s first dedicated commissioning program. Named in honor of the late theatre lover and philanthropist Marvin Weissberg, the commissions will function as a three-year program to support writers, directors, designers, choreographers, or other generative artists, both local and non-local, in the creation of innovative theatrical works with themes of social justice and a connection to the D.C. area.

IATSE Local 798, Reel Works Team to Diversify Hairstylist Field

The Hollywood Reporter: As awareness over the need to diversify Hollywood’s hair and makeup trailers continues to grow, the union that represents those artists has teamed up with entertainment workforce development program Reel Works to help bring more BIPOC stylists into the industry.

Met Gala Gilded Age Theme: What Was the Era's Fashion Like?

The Mary Sue: The Gilded Age, as it was named by Mark Twain, was roughly between 1870 and 1900. It was a time of rapid economic growth, but also major corruption and the beginning of the major economic imbalance between the wealthiest Americans and the poorest. Women in the Gilded Age took a large role in social movements, and therefore, their clothes changed to reflect that.

A leaner Cirque is Slowly Making its Way Back

www.cirquefascination.com: In one act of Cirque du Soleil’s touring show Kurios, which recently opened in Toronto, an inverted dinner table clings to the tent ceiling while performers move about upside down, mirroring action on the stage nine metres below.

What Happened at The Lark?

AMERICAN THEATRE: It was September of 2017 in New York City, and I had just graduated from an MFA program. A daunting prospect in and of itself—leaving the safety of school for the strictly gate-kept, scarcity-fueled arts field—but doubly so for me: as an immigrant student, I had only one year left on my visa. That was all the time I had to amass a substantial record of artistic achievement to qualify for the Extraordinary Abilities in the Arts visa, one of my only means of staying in the country. I was, to put it mildly, not in a good way.

Prolight + Sound 2022 closes: emotional encounters and a great spirit of optimism

LightSoundJournal.com: The future of the event and entertainment sector has begun! This was the unmistakable signal transmitted by Prolight + Sound 2022 after bathing the halls of Frankfurt Fair and Exhibition Centre in a sea of light, effects, sounds and inspiration from 26. to 29. April. Around 20,000 visitors from 93 countries took part in this tremendous reunion of the event industry, discovered the latest technological trends and gathered valuable insights for successful business within the framework of the #Restart.

Sculptor Eva LeWitt on Designing the set for Justin Peck's Partita

Playbill: Usually, the artists commissioned to produce an original installation for New York City Ballet’s Art Series have not worked within the Promenade of the Company’s home theater. But sculptor Eva LeWitt had a sneak peek as to what an installation might look like when the Promenade, with its soaring, gold-leafed ceilings and dramatic beaded curtains, recently served as her workshop.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella reopened the West End in style – its closure is no way to ‘build back better’

Theatre | The Guardian: Buns N Roses, the cheeky opening number in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella, sets the scene in Belleville, imagined by writer Emerald Fennell as an “aggressively picturesque” place whose supremely buffed citizens keep their dirty laundry out of sight. “We’re so dependent on the tourist trade to fill our cupboards and our coffers,” observe the chorus of the town, before the Queen unveils a grand statue. “Should be a luc-ra-tive att-ract-tion” she predicts in a contented staccato.

Wendell Pierce, Sharon D. Clarke & André De Shields to Star in DEATH OF A SALESMAN on Broadway

www.broadwayworld.com: The Young Vic / West End production of Death of a Salesman is coming to Broadway next season. Director Miranda Cromwell co-directed the London production alongside Marianne Elliott, and together they won the 2020 Olivier Award for Best Direction.

Researchers Invent Smart Screws That Detect When They're Loose

gizmodo.com: Working to reduce the need for regular inspections of large structures, researchers from the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Internet Technologies CCIT have created a smart self-powered screw that leverages IoT tricks to automatically send out alerts when it detects that it’s become looser than it was on the day it was installed.

Golden-Era Backdrops Star in a New Museum Exhibition

The Hollywood Reporter: Production designer Thomas Walsh quotes a saying well-known to scenic artists and designers: “If you really notice the backdrop, it’s a failed backdrop.” Mammoth paintings designed to depict everything from Mount Rushmore to an office hallway or an Austrian mountain range may have been created to fool the eye and fade into the literal background in a movie, but now they take center stage in a new museum exhibition that just unveiled in South Florida.

'Nothing short of a miracle': Capital Fringe to return in July

DC Metro Theater Arts: After two shuttered years, the Capital Fringe Festival returns in July to one of DC’s most historic neighborhoods, Georgetown Park, a dynamic retail environment in the heart of Georgetown.

Guide to the Classics: Shakespeare’s "Hamlet," The Everest of Literature

The Theatre Times: Although I’m wary of declaring any literary work to be the greatest ever, Shakespeare’s Hamlet would be a frontrunner. It’s often proclaimed to be or voted Shakespeare’s best play (Google it). It has countless film adaptations, is widely referenced, and even gets a homage of sorts in The Simpsons.

‘Almost Famous’ Broadway Musical From Cameron Crowe Sets 2022 Debut

IndieWire: Two of the most popular trends on Broadway in recent years are musicals based on iconic films and “jukebox musicals” that feature the songs of popular American artists. So it was almost inevitable that “Almost Famous,” a beloved film that takes place in the music industry, would eventually be turned into a musical. Cameron Crowe has been working on a stage adaptation of his film for years, and the production announced this week that it will be opening on Broadway later in 2022.

Winners of Off-Broadway’s 2022 Lucille Lortel Awards

DC Metro Theater Arts: Produced by the Off-Broadway League and Lucille Lortel Theatre, with additional support provided by TDF, the 2022 Awards, presented in sixteen categories, were the first to feature an award for Outstanding Ensemble and for non-gender specific performance categories.

For these dancers, defending Ukraine means sharing its culture

NPR: After a pandemic hiatus, the Voloshky Ukrainian Dance Ensemble is a little bit rusty. A few times a week, around two dozen semi-professional dancers run through choreography in the basement of the Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center in suburban Philadelphia. Among their ranks are engineers, designers and students, brought together by common heritage. One that is now under attack.

Playwright David Eldridge: ‘What’s important to me is to move people’

David Eldridge | The Guardian: David Eldridge is an acclaimed dramatist and screenwriter. Born in Romford, where his father was a shoemaker, his plays include Market Boy, In Basildon and an adaptation of Thomas Vinterberg’s film Festen. His new play, Middle, is at the National Theatre, the second in a trilogy of dramas about couples that began in 2017 with the West End hit Beginning. He has three sons, lives in north London, and attends every West Ham home game.

Prima Facie playwright Suzie Miller: ‘We should be able to go out, get drunk, party and walk home without being afraid’

The Independent: At the halfway point of Suzie Miller’s one-woman tour de force, Prima Facie, the mood changes in a snap. Having swaggered and wisecracked her way around the stage for the first hour, Jodie Comer’s barrister Tessa Ensler seems to shrink, folding in on herself, unsure how to move or what to say. She has just been raped by a colleague. Someone she liked, who she’d fantasised about a future with.

‘I want to create a lesbian mecca’: Iman Qureshi on her play about a glorious women’s choir

Theatre | The Guardian: A group of women are singing along to My Favourite Things, the old favourite from The Sound of Music, except the original words have been switched with lesbian-specific lyrics. “Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings” becomes instead “the soft brush of pubic hair on my chin”. This is the raucous rehearsal for The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs, Iman Qureshi’s new play about a queer choir and the struggle for harmony within it.

City Theatre Closes Their Season with the Premiere of ‘The Garbologists’ and Momentum ’22

onStage Pittsburgh: Before the pandemic shone a spotlight on jobs we now think of as essential, playwright Lindsay Joelle focused on those workers who remove our former treasures and stinky trash and allow us to get on with our lives.

Liberation Theatre Names 4 Resident Playwrights

AMERICAN THEATRE: Liberation Theatre Company (LTC) has selected four emerging playwrights for the 2022-23 Writing Residency Program: Calley N. Anderson, Brysen Boyd, Devon Kidd, and Zakeia Tyson-Cross. Now in its fifth year, the program provides dramaturgical and career support to playwrights over a 10-month period beginning in May. Playwrights will each complete the first draft of a new original full-length play, which will be presented in a public reading in the spring of 2023.

Negotiations Continue for Modified Hollywood COVID Safety Protocols

The Hollywood Reporter: Negotiations will continue next week regarding modifications to Hollywood’s COVID-19 Safety Agreement, which expires this weekend (April 30). The protocols in the current agreement between the industry’s major guilds and studios will remain in place until a new agreement is reached.

NFTRW Weekly Top Five

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

It’s no joke – since lockdown, live audiences have forgotten how to behave

Dani Johns | The Guardian: Do you consider yourself a well-adjusted, functioning adult who enjoys a night of live entertainment? Or are you the type of person who turns up to a comedy gig four Malbecs deep, and decides to sit in the front row to have an in-depth chat with your mate about how bad your boss’s BO is?

Posted by David at 4/26/2022 10:07:00 AM

Judy Garland’s ‘Wizard of Oz’ Dress Found, On Display Before Auction

IndieWire: Few costumes in movie history are as iconic as the blue and white checkered dress that Judy Garland wore in “The Wizard of Oz.” MGM’s classic film was one of the first movies to be filmed in Technicolor, and the initial reveal of Garland’s Dorothy stepping out into the colorful Land of Oz is instantly recognizable both for its narrative significance and the technological breakthrough that it signified.

Posted by David at 4/25/2022 10:33:00 AM

Immersive Q&A: Future-Proofing Entertainment Design

Live Design Online: Immersive's projects range from superyachts to trade shows, the giant dome in Philadelphia's Comcast Center to musician Jason Mraz's world tour and everything in between. One of the first agencies to pioneer immersive storytelling, founder, chief creative officer, and CEO, John Munro, used his background in art and design to combine traditional forms of expression with cutting edge technology.

Posted by David at 4/28/2022 09:36:00 AM

Wheelchair aerial dance at center of ‘Wired’ at the MCA, a performance that centers disability

Chicago Tribune: Alice Sheppard does not shy away from a challenge. In devising her latest dance, “Wired,” she and her Bay Area disability arts company Kinetic Light had to first write the rule books for wheelchair aerial dance.

Posted by David at 4/29/2022 09:32:00 AM

Industrial hygiene and safety management programs

2022-04-24 | Safety+Health: When introducing a safety management program, safety practitioners aim to reduce the risks associated with hazards within the workplace, a common component of most employers’ safety programs since the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 was passed.

Posted by David at 4/25/2022 10:24:00 AM