CAA and Black Theatre Coalition Collaborate on New Fellowship

AMERICAN THEATRE: Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and the Black Theatre Coalition (BTC) have partnered on a new talent representation fellowship aimed at increasing employment opportunities for Black theatre professionals.

A refugee story set to Jewish wedding music? Christian Barry explains.

DC Theater Arts: When Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story opens at Theater J, the play will be celebrating its long-overdue DC debut, capping five years of international acclaim with a reminder that immigrants, of all colors and faiths, are still lining up on distant shores, hoping for a welcome that often isn’t there.

Preview: ‘Clyde’s’ at City Theatre

onStage Pittsburgh: Don’t laugh. John Updike, who grew up outside this Central Pennsylvania city, set his “Rabbit” novels there. Nottage, one of the country’s most honored playwrights, moved to the faded industrial town to research Sweat, her study of working-class people whose lives were upended and, in some cases, destroyed by the 2008 recession.

DeWalt 20V Max XR High Torque Impact Wrench

PTR: More power is always welcome for tough fastening jobs, especially in professional or commercial capacities where time is money. DeWalt plans to help with the 20V Max XR High Torque Impact Wrench (DCF900). An update to the previous model (DCF899), this model improves upon the high-torque impact wrench formula.

Texas Medal of Arts Awards returns with star-studded Austin affair

CultureMap Dallas: One of the Lone Star State's premier arts events, the biannual Texas Medal of the Arts Awards, is making its post-pandemic return in 2023. The nonprofit Texas Cultural Trust's signature event will take place at venues across Austin on Tuesday and Wednesday, February 21 and 22, 2023. Honorees will be announced at Fort Worth's Kimbell Art Museum on September 14.

Ruth E Carter Becomes Only 2nd Costume Designer to Get Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

www.thewrap.com: Ruth E. Carter, the legendary costume designer known for working on films like “Malcolm X,” “Amistad” and “Black Panther,” will receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday, making her only the second costume designer to ever be recognized.

Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia Workers Vote to Form Union

IATSE: In a historic election, Production Employees at Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia voted “Yes” for a union with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), Local 8. One hundred percent of the votes cast were in support of IATSE. Last month, the Stagehands, Technicians, and Engineers employed by Live Nation at the 1000-person capacity music venue, bowling alley, and restaurant in Philadelphia petitioned the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for an election of eligible employees.

Flex Stack Pack Storage System Review

Pro Tool Reviews: The classic stackable tool box system has been around for a long time. Take various box depths with the same length and width, and give them a way to connect the bases and tops. At first glance, that’s what the Flex Stack Pack storage system does. Even at the foundational level, there are worthwhile talking points.

Erasure is Not an Option: Intimacy Advocacy Through a Transgender Lens

HowlRound Theatre Commons: I became aware of the intimacy field in about 2017 while I was living in Chicago and working in the DIY, devised storefront theatre scene. I recall hearing little rumbles about the idea of something called an “intimacy director,” and I got really curious. At the time, I was writing for this DIY arts magazine, and I had approached my editor and I got approved to write an article on this new role and how it might find its way into the DIY arts community.

Natalie Portman Apple TV Show “Threat” Details Updated by Police

The Hollywood Reporter: When the story first broke Saturday, The Baltimore Banner, quoting police sources, reported that production sources had claimed the show’s “cast and crew” were threatened by a group of Baltimore “drug dealers” on Friday afternoon who brandished a firearm and demanded $50,000 to allow the production to continue filming or that somebody would be shot. The “producers” on set refused to pay.

A.I. software called DALL-E turns your words into pictures

www.cnbc.com: In scrolling through your social media feeds of late, there’s a good chance you’ve noticed illustrations accompanied by captions. They’re popular now. The pictures you’re seeing are likely made possible by a text-to-image program called DALL-E. Before posting the illustrations, people are inserting words, which are then being converted into images through artificial intelligence models.

Highlights from the Mladi Levi Festival in Ljubljana

The Theatre Times: The 25th edition of the international theatre and dance festival Mladi Levi (Young Lions) was successfully held in Ljubljana from 19th to 27th August. The festival, organized by a Slovenian non-profit cultural organization Bunker, is held at the end of each summer and it primarily showcases independent performing arts works, but it also bases a big part of its program on discursive events and the intersection of theatre with other arts.

Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Parks’ 18th Season Opens with ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’

onStage Pittsburgh: Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream will call on the powers of magic and love as Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Parks’ continues its 18th year. Artistic Director Jennifer Tober steps back into the directing realm with this production.

Winner of the 2022–23 Queensland Premier's Award announced

limelightmagazine.com.au: Playwright Ryan Enniss has been announced as the winner of the 2022–23 Queensland Premier’s Drama Award. Enniss was named as a finalist by Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk earlier this year, alongside Phoebe Grainer for her work Sugar Cane and Anthony Mullins for The Norman Mailer Anecdote. Enniss’s work Drizzle Boy, a heartwarming story of an autistic young man’s navigation through a world of miscommunications and misunderstandings, will hit the stage as part of Queensland Theatre’s 2023 season.

Did You Know – Dressing Room Power and Light

ASTC: There are fewer than 200 words in the National Electrical Code (NFPA 70 – 2020) in regard to dressing and makeup rooms, but it’s amazing how often those words seem to be misapplied. Walk into a theatre or other performing arts facility with dressing rooms and it seems more often than not the lights or power outlets around the makeup mirrors do not comply with the electrical code. It should not be this hard.

Hippotizer Nevis+ turns up the VJ volume for We are FSTVL

LightSoundJournal.com: Digital Insanity teamed up with House powerhouse Defected and Disco-House connoisseurs Glitterbox in August to deliver dazzling visuals for London’s We are FSTVL, choosing up a Hippotizer Nevis+ Media Server to pump out extra VJ prowess.

The Immersive 5 with The Ministry of Peculiarities | by Noah J Nelson

by Noah J Nelson | Aug, 2022 | No Proscenium: East of Los Angeles, in an unassuming strip mall just off of Route 66 one can find a portal to the strange: The Ministry of Peculiarities. In the brief time that the Ministry has been revealed to the public, the Ministry’s Hope End experience has developed the reputation for being one of the best escape games in Southern California.

& Juliet, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, More Receive 2022 Dora Award Nominations

Playbill: Nominations for the 42nd Annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards, recognizing the best of Toronto theatre, were revealed August 29, with the Broadway-bound & Juliet among the most-nominated productions. The West End transfer earned eight nods, including Outstanding Production. The top spot went to Talk is Free Theatre's Sweeney Todd, which earned nominations in 13 categories.

You Couldn’t Say No to Myrna Salazar

AMERICAN THEATRE: As I sat across from Myrna in a little coffee shop in 2015, just blocks away from Humboldt Park, the epicenter of Puerto Rican life in Chicago, she began to tell me her life story: her triumphs, her regrets, her loves, and the enduring power of music in her life.

‘I forgot I was blaspheming a saint!’ – Charlie Josephine on writing a non-binary Joan of Arc

Theatre | The Guardian: ‘I’m always hungry for historical queer representation,” says Charlie Josephine, the non-binary playwright of I, Joan, a sweaty, heady, joyously queer new drama about the patron saint of France. “Because our history has been erased – particularly transgender people’s – there is very limited documentation of us throughout history, even though we have existed since the beginning of time.”

Latinx Playwrights Circle Names 5 Artists in Residence

AMERICAN THEATRE: The Latinx Playwrights Circle has announced partnerships with five new artists in residence. They are Rebecca Aparicio, Nelson Diaz-Marcano, Alisha Espinosa, Darrel Alejandro Holnes, and Janio Marrero. The residency is part of the Creatives Rebuild New York Artist Employment Program, which seeks to support employment opportunities for artists in New York state.

Nomination Announcements: 42nd Annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards

www.intermissionmagazine.ca: The Dora Mavor Moore Awards — named after the pioneering Canadian actress, director, and teacher — celebrate the best of Toronto theatre. This year’s awards will take place on Monday, September 19 at the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre at 7:30 PM EST.

“Jitney” at Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company

The Pittsburgh Tatler: Dear Readers, we are gifted yet again with a staging of an August Wilson play in the backyard of his boyhood home. First it was Seven Guitars, then King Hedley II – both of which used the (at the time) long-neglected structure as a backdrop to the action, which lent the productions an only-in-Pittsburgh historical authenticity.

Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton Talk About Taking Their Children’s Book Empire to the Stage

Observer: Sometime after Victor/Victoria opened on Broadway in 1995, a small, solitary mouse made its way up from the bowels of the Marriott Marquis Theater and into the theater’s wardrobe room. Julie Andrews, then inhabiting both title roles, got the word from her hairdresser, who told her traps were set.

Duolingo funds more local projects with Community Arts Program grants

Pittsburgh City Paper: The Pittsburgh-based language learning app company, Duolingo, created its Community Arts Program to "support local artists and arts organizations by providing funding and resources for public art projects." Earlier this month, Duolingo announced that local artists Ebony Castaphney, Dominick McDuffie, and Lori Hepner would receive grants from the program.

National Black Theatre Names Kamilah Long 1st Director of Development

Playbill: The National Black Theatre has appointed Kamilah Long as its first director of development. Long joins the New York company after serving as executive director of Play On Shakespeare, a former program of Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Pittsburgh-based space museum and learning center counts down to October opening

Pittsburgh City Paper: Texas has NASA. Washington, D.C. has the National Air and Space Museum. Florida has the Kennedy Space Center. And soon, Pittsburgh will have its own tribute to space travel with the opening of the Moonshot Museum.

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust Announces the 2022-2023 season for Liberty Magic

onStage Pittsburgh: At 811 Liberty Avenue in the Cultural District – the same block where Harry Houdini once mesmerized Pittsburghers in 1916 — Liberty Magic is an intimate, speakeasy-style performance space perfectly designed to showcase magic. Since its surprise opening in 2019, Liberty Magic has become an essential stop for the world’s best magicians and one of the only venues in America specifically dedicated to the craft of magic.

WILL A NEW ‘SWEENEY TODD’ MAKE ITS INVESTORS A KILLING?

broadwayjournal.com: Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller is raising as much as $14.5 million to revive Sweeney Todd on Broadway this spring, a test of whether a big-budget Stephen Sondheim revival can succeed in the post-Sondheim era.

Texas Church Who Staged Illegal Hamilton Posts Apology, Will Pay Damages

Playbill: The Door Christian Fellowship McAllen Church has released an apology for their recent unauthorized production of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton, revealing that the church will pay unspecified "damages" for the performances. The Texas church performed the Tony-winning musical earlier this month without obtaining the legal right to do so, additionally making changes to the work that inserted biblical references.

Revival of María Irene Fornés’ Mud/Drowning Set Via Mabou Mines and Weathervane Productions

Playbill: María Irene Fornés’ works Mud, featuring original music by Philip Glass, and Drowning, transformed into an opera by Glass, return to Mabou Mines September 21. The revival, presented with Weathervane Productions and in association with Philip Glass’ Days and Nights Festival, will officially open September 24, with a run through October 9.

How the kimono became a symbol of oppression in some parts of Asia

theconversation.com: A woman in Suzhou, China, was reportedly detained recently for “provoking trouble”. Her alleged crime was being spotted outside wearing a kimono. The woman was dressed like a character from a manga (a Japanese comic). Arresting her might seem dramatic but there is more at play here than a simple fashion faux pas.

Intimacy and Equity: A Balancing Act

HowlRound Theatre Commons: The intimacy industry is under pressure. While many creatives and artistic leaders see the benefits of intimacy direction and coordination as specific care and technical support for actors, the industry itself has not yet created an equitable and inclusive training process for marginalized people.

Texas Church To Pay Unspecified Damages For Altered ‘Hamilton’

Deadline: The Texas church that staged two performances of a highly altered and “Christianized” version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical Hamilton has apologized for the unauthorized productions and will pay unspecified damages.

Ambition Amid the Angst: The High School Theatre Program Tim Ortmann Built

AMERICAN THEATRE: Driving north from Chicago on I-94, you’ll pass Touhy Avenue, Dempster Avenue, and then just off the freeway on your right will appear a high school campus. From the outside, it doesn’t appear strikingly different from any of the other suburban high schools littered around the Chicagoland area: just a collection of beige, square buildings abutting one another, with decent athletic facilities, all set against the backdrop of the large Westfield shopping mall. This is Niles North High School in Skokie, Ill. One half of Niles Township High School District 219, a traditionally middle-class community, the high school serves approximately 2,200 students from a wide variety of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. More than 40 first languages are spoken in students’ homes, and only 38 percent of students identify as white.

Beyond the Back Row: The Breakthrough Potential Of Digital Live Entertainment and Arts

New York Theater: Jim McCarthy was as charmed and cheered as everybody else by the online shows in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many, he soon tired of these spontaneous, slapdash productions, mostly on Zoom, a platform built for meetings, not theater. Yet it wasn’t long before McCarthy saw the limitless possibilities of a new medium.

Meyer Sound PANTHER Arrives to Outside Lands’ Main Stage

LightSoundJournal.com: San Francisco’s Outside Lands Festival, presented by Another Planet Entertainment and co-producer Superfly, returned to Golden Gate Park August 5⁠–⁠7, with headliners including SZA, Green Day, and Post Malone. This year, a Meyer Sound PANTHER large-format linear line array loudspeaker system powered the “Lands End” main stage, provided by Bay Area rental company UltraSound, LLC.

Artistic staff changes shake up 2 Dallas theater companies

CultureMap Dallas: Change is in the air, at least for Undermain Theatre and Second Thought Theatre. The two Dallas companies have announced the departure of some key artistic staff members, one of whom has been on board for the last 15 years.

Before it was “227,” a hit NBC sitcom, ‘Two Twenty Seven’ was a play about Bronzeville in the 1950s

Chicago Sun-Times: Christine Houston wrote her play “Two Twenty Seven” while proving a point to her sons. She had started attending college at age 42 because she wanted to show them that getting an education was important. That’s how Houston, now 86, ended up at Kennedy-King College and writing the play that would become the NBC sitcom “227” in 1985.

Wallace Shawn on reading plays: ‘the written play has its own music’

Wallace Shawn | The Guardian: On the one hand, there’s something rather strange about the idea of reading plays. You could certainly say that what a play is, really, is what actors do together in front of an audience—or a one-person play is what one actor does alone in front of an audience.

Panned 'Devil Wears Prada' musical is seeking a massive makeover

nypost.com: Magazine editor Miranda Priestly’s famous catchphrase from “The Devil Wears Prada” is a withering “That’s all.” But that — somehow — is not all for Elton John’s disastrous new musical version of the Meryl Streep movie. At least not yet.

‘Night after night I get harassed’: comedians call for safer working conditions

Edinburgh festival 2022 | The Guardian: Posey Mehta, like many performers at the Edinburgh fringe, has been flyering for her own show. It’s called I Am Not a Gorilla so she took to the streets in a gorilla costume. She did not expect to encounter daily sexual harassment.

Dinosaurs found where art and technology intersect

College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University: Memorable stories and acting give life to great movies, but many of our favorite films are enshrined in cinema history thanks to the people behind the screen, like John Schlag (ECE, ’83). An engineer and artist, Schlag created reality-defying graphics for some of the most famous movies of our time, including Jurassic Park and Terminator 2.

Star Garden strippers turn to theatrical union in labor fight

Los Angeles Times: For nearly five months a group of former Star Garden dancers have positioned themselves on the sidewalk on busy nights with picket signs and costumes. They make it hard to enter the bar without first hearing why exactly they believe Star Garden does not deserve your business. They allege it’s a workplace plagued by unsafe conditions, a lax attitude toward dangerous patron behavior, and unfair terminations.

St. Lou Fringe Fest Gets its Own Holiday

Arts Stories & Interviews | St. Louis | St. Louis Riverfront Times: As the city's premier purveyor of out-of-the-box, boundary-busting theater and off-kilter art, the annual affair reliably sees its performers swinging for the fences, working outside the confines of the conventional and taking all manner of risk in the name of showing audiences what art can be when the guardrails are removed. It's been weird, it's been exhilarating and it's been one of the most consistently entertaining festivals in St. Louis' arts world.

Kacie Pimentel Is Alliance Theatre’s New BIPOC Stage Management Fellow

AMERICAN THEATRE: The Alliance Theatre has named Kacie Pimentel its National Vision, Inc. BIPOC Stage Management Fellow for the 2022-23 season. A graduate of the University of Houston, Pimentel will relocate to Atlanta and begin her fellowship this month.

Asian Lantern Festival brings spectacular display of lights, culture to Pittsburgh Zoo

Pittsburgh City Photos | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh City Paper: The spectacular lights of the Asian Lantern Festival have returned for the second year in a row, bringing over 50 towering handcrafted sculptures to the pathways of the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium. This year's all-new display highlights Asian culture and history while showcasing endangered and extinct animals, including lanterns as tall as 30 feet high and 100 feet long.

Live From Lviv: Ukrainian Kids Bring a Play to Brooklyn

AMERICAN THEATRE: Last week at Brooklyn’s Irondale, in a cavernous auditorium that was once a Presbyterian Sunday school building, a group of girls and a few adults ran through tech rehearsal for a show called Mom on Skype, in preparation for a limited run over the weekend, Aug. 13-14. The girls acted like typical tweens and teens in a punchy mid-afternoon slump at theatre camp: They lolled and flitted about the space, chatting and laughing, occasionally breaking into spontaneous song—including a spirited rendition of the viral hit “Numa Numa” (“Ma-ia hii! Ma-ia huu!”).

Seattle Wants to Look Sexier to Film Productions

The Stranger: Last week, Seattle City Councilmember Sara Nelson announced her plan to introduce a bill next month that would create a Seattle Film Commission. The legislation calls for an 11-member board to advise the City on policies and programs to better develop the film and television industry here in Seattle, so if some big-brained director decides to remake the classic Seattle film, Scorchy, then perhaps they'd find more incentives to actually shoot it in town rather than up in Vancouver, B.C.

Review: ‘Jitney” at the August Wilson House

onStage Pittsburgh: Playwright August Wilson is a perennial tour de force in the theatre world. I remember studying his plays in graduate school theatre classes at the University of Southern California long before I lived in Pittsburgh and being staunchly impressed by the poetic undertones of his flowing, working-class dialogue.

‘It must have felt extraordinary’: the play inspired by English theatre’s first female actors

Edinburgh festival 2022 | The Guardian: On 8 December 1660, crowds gathered on Vere Street, off Oxford Street in London, where the King’s Company was performing Othello. The night was cold and windy, the sky prepped for a storm. For the first time in the history of professional English theatre, a woman was taking to the stage.

Sarah Evelyn–Best Idea Wins

Costume Designers Guild, I.A.T.S.E. Local 892: Bullet Train is the story of the unlucky assassin Ladybug [Brad Pitt] tasked with a job that gets more and more complicated as other operatives get involved. We spoke with costume designer Sarah Evelyn about her process on the film, and especially what it’s like working on a project with such a veteran cast.

BandLab Mastering: A Review

SoundGirls.org: I’d heard about BandLab Mastering a while ago, and was very curious to experiment with such an interesting bit of kit – a free, web-based tool that will quickly master tracks through the use of algorithms created by industry experts. What’s not intriguing about that? So, I sat down for an afternoon of mastering and re-mastering fun, to see what BandLab Mastering has to offer.

Arianne Phillips: Don't Worry Darling

Costume Designers Guild, I.A.T.S.E. Local 892: Always pushing her creativity, Arianne Phillips often takes breaks from film to design theater, music videos, and concert tours, as well as styling print work and cover shoots for fashion magazines like Vogue Italia. “It’s kind of a path cleanser,” she explains. “I’ve gone out of my way to work across genres, so I can be choosy with the films I do.”

Tony-Winning Set Designer Beowulf Borrit Releases New Book, TRANSFORMING SPACE OVER TIME

www.broadwayworld.com: Transforming Space Over Time tells the stories of six diverse productions: five on Broadway and one Off Broadway. Tony Award-winning set designer Beowulf Boritt begins with the moment he was offered each job and takes readers through the conceptual development of a set, the challenges of its physical creation, and the intense process of readying it for the stage. Theater is at heart a collaborative art form, and Boritt shares revealing details of his work with the many professionals-directors, designers, technicians, producers, stage managers, and actors-who contribute their talent and ideas to each show.

Dallas' Cara Mía Theatre gets vocal about social justice in 2022-23

CultureMap Dallas: Cara Mía Theatre’s 2022-23 season spotlights international, national, and local Latinx artists and activists, reinforcing the company's core values of Chicano/Latinx identities, experimental theater, and social justice.

Gabrielle Randle-Bent Named Associate Artistic Director at Court Theatre

AMERICAN THEATRE: In July the Court Theatre welcomed Gabrielle Randle-Bent as its new associate artistic director. A director and dramaturg with several credits at the theatre, Randle-Bent will work alongside artistic director Charles Newell and executive director Angel Ysaguirre. Randle-Bent’s role will include advising on season planning for the theatre, managing the development of new work, and setting and articulating new engagement strategies as a part of the engagement division the theatre is introducing.

August Wilson House officially opens in Pittsburgh's Hill District

Arts + Entertainment | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh City Paper: The August Wilson House officially opened over the weekend in a tearful and emotional ceremony, bringing over 500 residents, celebrities, officials, and local Black leaders to Pittsburgh’s Hill District.

One Scarf Vs. Siberia: What Can ‘Fiddler’ Teach a Parent in a Dangerous World?

AMERICAN THEATRE: I was 11 in the fall of 1990 when my parents took me and my 9-year-old sister to the third Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof. Never had a show felt so familiar yet so revelatory; it became, and remains, my favorite musical. So when Broadway in Chicago welcomed the new Bartlett Sher production in May, featuring the sublime Israeli actor Yehezkel Lazarov, I jumped at the chance to take my own children, who are also now 9 and 11. Fittingly, their grandfather gifted us the tickets.

Shakespeare's Globe's artistic director releases statement over decision to give Joan of Arc they/them pronouns

WhatsOnStage: Shakespeare's Globe's artistic director Michelle Terry has released a statement over the use of the character of Joan (based on Joan of Arc) using they/them pronouns in their upcoming production of I, Joan.

Review: An uneven 'A Little Night Music' by Barrington Stage Company

The Washington Post: Revisiting as many Sondheim musicals as possible is not an arduous undertaking, and one I have engaged in at many junctures of my life. But this year, the first in the aftermath of Stephen Sondheim’s death, feels like an essential part of a grieving process. As much as I can — to paraphrase one of Sondheim and James Lapine’s own characters in “Sunday in the Park With George”— I want to live again in his canvasses.

Carnegie Mellon University: Pittsburgh’s star factory

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Interactive: The Purnell Center for the Arts is a relatively unassuming building on Carnegie Mellon University’s campus. Its utilitarian exterior doesn’t reflect the razzle-dazzle going on inside.

Berkeley Rep’s world premiere hopes to become Broadway’s next big hit musical

Datebook: Building a brand new musical from scratch is an arduous task, even when the original source material is vast or when it’s inspired by an existing artist’s expansive catalogue. Yet there is an entirely unique challenge for the new musical “Goddess,” beginning previews Sunday, Aug. 14, at Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

Aussies take Edinburgh by storm

limelightmagazine.com.au: Director Eamon Flack’s production of S. Shakthidharan’ Counting and Cracking, has floored the critics at this year’s Edinburgh International Festival, with The Times giving it five stars and The Guardian dubbing it “an absorbing Sri Lankan family odyssey”, while the Financial Times wrote that it “offers a gentle but insistent plea for humanity. It’s impossible not to listen, rapt.”

Checking In With… Lavender Men Playwright and Star Roger Q. Mason

Playbill: This week Playbill catches up with Black Filipinx playwright and Kilroys List honoree Roger Q. Mason, whose play Lavender Men is currently enjoying a limited engagement at Los Angeles' Skylight Theatre through September 4. Mason also stars in the production, which is directed by Lovell Holder and features Alex Esola and Pete Ploszek.

Emma Thompson Calls Intimacy Coordinators 'Fantastically Important'

Variety: During an appearance on the Australian “Fitzy & Wippa” radio show to promote her new film, “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande,” one of the presenters asked the Oscar-winning actor what she made of Sean Bean’s recent comments in which he decried the use of intimacy coordinators in productions.

Entertainment Community Fund reelects Brian Stokes Mitchell and announces new trustees

Broadway News: The Entertainment Community Fund, formerly The Actors Fund, held its first yearly meeting since changing its name back in May. Brian Stokes Mitchell was reelected as chair of the fund. This marks the Tony winner’s 19th term in the role.

Jonathan Berry Returns to August Wilson’s ‘Jitney’ and Pittsburgh Playwrights

onStage Pittsburgh: August Wilson‘s characters are people whose stories leave a mark. Their journeys, as told in plays Wilson drew from real life, are vividly relatable, multi-layered, and resonant. When Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company presents August Wilson’s classic drama Jitney, its second production of the play. Several actors are returning to perform in the play in the backyard of Wilson’s childhood home in the Hill District.

Costume Shop Management

Dramatics Magazine Online: Gordon DeVinney has decades of costume shop management tips honed at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park that stand the test of time. And he’s sharing them here with you! In his role as Costume Shop Manager he oversees a department of artisans and craftspeople, designs costumes for main stage shows, and maintains a lush inventory of costumes and wardrobe necessities.

After 'Thor' and 'Lightyear' Malaysia Will Ban More LGBT Films

Variety: The Malaysian government has confirmed that Marvel film “Thor: Love and Thunder” was prevented from releasing in local theaters due to its LGBT elements. A minister said on Wednesday that the government is committed to curtailing gay culture.

Sesame Place announces diversity plan after racial bias incident

blooloop: Sesame Place has announced initiatives to expand its “commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion” following an incident of racial bias at the Philadelphia-based theme park that went viral.

Indian Government Approves Film Co-Production Agreement With Australia

Variety: The Indian government has approved an audiovisual co-production treaty with Australia, designed to promote joint production of films between the two countries. While details are currently scarce, producer contributions from the two countries can vary from 20% to 80% of the final total cost of the jointly produced work.

'Hamilton' team protests after church production adds Christian themes

The Arts | phillytrib.com: Lawyers for the creators of “Hamilton,” the record-setting musical that remains a worldwide draw seven years after its Broadway debut, protested after a Texas church put on an unauthorized production this weekend. Church performers changed some lyrics and introduced Christian themes that were not part of the original.

World expos, planned and proposed through 2030

InPark Magazine: With fewer than 1000 days to go till opening, 130 countries and regions have confirmed participation in Expo 2025, putting it close to its goal of 150. By way of comparison, the past two world’s fairs on this scale were Dubai 2020 (192 participants), and Milan 2015 (145 participants).

Theatre Latté Da’s Goal: 25 New Musicals by 2025

AMERICAN THEATRE: Theatre Latté Da has announced the Next 25X25, a new initiative to introduce 25 new musicals by the year 2025. Under the leadership of associate artistic director and director of new work, Elissa Adams, the initiative is being introduced during the theatre’s 25th anniversary season, and comes after the success of the Next 20/20 campaign, which delivered over 20 new musicals between 2015 and 2020, including Twelve Angry Men: A New Musical and All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914.

Denzel Washington Will Speak at the Grand Opening of the August Wilson House

Pittsburgh Magazine: A big name is coming to Pittsburgh to celebrate the grand opening of the August Wilson House, slated for Saturday, Aug. 13. Denzel Washington, two-time Academy Award-winning actor, will join Wilson’s widow Constanza Romero-Wilson in delivering welcome remarks starting at 1:30 p.m.

‘An epic drawn from real life’: the radical hit play about a Sri Lankan family’s journey

Theatre | The Guardian: Australia is a country of immigrants,” says Counting and Cracking director Eamon Flack. He’s not wrong: nearly 60% of the population are immigrants from Europe who began arriving about 250 years ago; Indigenous people make up just over 3%. After England, the top countries where overseas-born immigrants come from are India and China. Yet until Counting and Cracking, there hadn’t been a major theatrical work in Australia about a non-white migrant family. “To put it plainly, I don’t think there’s been a play of this scale with 19 people who are all brown,” says the play’s creator S Shakthidharan, known as Shakthi.

Review: CLO’s Sister Act – Serious Fun

onStage Pittsburgh: The skies have parted, and the heavens have opened on the Benedum Center, where the Pittsburgh CLO concludes its triumphant 2022 summer season with Sister Act. Running through August 14, 2022, the show is based on the hit 1992 movie of the same name.

Comp Tickets Are Not Cost Free Transaction

Butts In the Seats: Last month Drew McManus had box office manager Tiffin Feltner make a guest post on his Adaptistration blog on the topic of comp tickets. It has taken me about three weeks to stop grinding my teeth long enough to make a post of my own on the topic. You will see a lot of posts about optimizing ticket prices based on various criteria and I think those assume people have a handle on their comp ticket policies. But let me tell you, in my experience there are a lot of people out there you think would know better who have absolutely bonkers approaches to comp ticketing.

Five Pulitzer Prize-Winning Plays Will Take Over Broadway This Fall

www.broadwayworld.com: Nine plays (and seven musicals) are on their way to Broadway this fall, and the season is sure to be a stellar one. That's because five of them are already Pulitzer Prize winners.

errazuriz warns AI may replace artists: 'illustrators the first to go'

www.designboom.com: While artificial intelligence has long been present in the fields of technology and robotics, it is now sweeping the creative industry and has captured the attention of artists and designers — with a mix of reactions. Of course, elements of AI have long been creeping into the design field, from parametric algorithms used by architects to Adobe Photoshop’s object awareness tools used by photographers. These tools have been embraced as just that — tools to aid the design process.

Pittsburgh CLO delivers glitzy good time with Sister Act

Pittsburgh City Paper: Pittsburgh CLO finishes its summer 2022 season with Sister Act, a rollicking musical adaptation of the hit 1992 film starring Whoopi Goldberg. Playing now through Sun., Aug. 14 at the Benedum Center, the musical — set in ‘70s Philadelphia, as opposed to the film’s setting of ‘90s San Francisco — follows a flashy nightclub singer who goes into Witness Protection as a nun in a stuffy convent, only to discover a higher calling for her showmanship.

Theatre Washington announces update and extension of COVID policies

DC Theater Arts: Theatre Washington, in coordination with its partner theaters, has announced an update and extension of the previously implemented COVID-related safety policies at theater venues across the Washington, DC, region.

Caroline Guiela Nguyen's Fraternity, A Fantastic Tale to Perform at NYU Skirball

TheaterMania: NYU Skirball and the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF)'s Crossing The Line Festival 2022 will present the North American premiere of Caroline Guiela Nguyen's Fraternity, A Fantastic Tale, which will make just two performances at NYU Skirball: Friday, September 16 at 7:30pm and Saturday, September 17 at 7:30 pm.

Will Hollywood's $21 Billion Cash Hoard Be Enough to Save Studios? | Analysis

www.thewrap.com: The record amount of money studios have stashed away for a rainy day might not be enough to fortify its balance sheet — and studio jobs — from the recession For Hollywood moguls running the world’s biggest entertainment studios, cash is king.

Caste-ing review – shining a light on the inequities of the acting industry

Edinburgh festival 2022 | The Guardian: Making it as an actor is hard enough but this play by Nicole Acquah is a lesson in the particular realities, hardships and pressures faced by Black women when they step into the industry. Acquah has fused together a series of frustrations to form her play, which is written with feeling and staged on a stripped back set.

Lin-Manuel Miranda Responds to McAllen Church HAMILTON and Thanks Dramatists Guild

www.broadwayworld.com: Today, Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda has spoken up about the issue on Twitter. "Grateful to all of you who reached out about this illegal, unauthorized production," he writes. "Now lawyers do their work. And always grateful to the Dramatists Guild, who have the backs of writers everywhere, be it your first play or your fiftieth."

HAMILTON is Reviewing Unauthorized Changes Made by Texas Church Production to Decide Further Action

www.broadwayworld.com: As BroadwayWorld reported yesterday, RGV Productions of The Door Christian Fellowship Ministries in McAllen, Texas performed an unauthorized, wildly edited version of Hamilton last week that has raised eyebrows across the country.

E is for Emilio Sosa, Mr. Broadway, costume designer

New York Theater: Emilio Sosa, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic who grew up in the South Bronx, has been a costume designer for the theater for more than two decades — and, since July of 2021, the chair of the American Theatre Wing. If the clothing by this latest in my Broadway Alphabet Series has gone beyond Broadway – he’s designed for the Rockettes, for the movies, for more than three dozen shows Off-Broadway; he makes custom clothing under the label ESosa — this year marks not just the twentieth anniversary of his Broadway debut, but his increasing presence on Broadway, with three shows planned this season alone: 1776, Ain’t No Mo, and A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical.

HAMILTON And Lin-Manuel Miranda, In Partnership With Prizeo, Launch Ham4Choice

www.broadwayworld.com: Today, Hamilton and Lin-Manuel Miranda, in partnership with Prizeo, part of the Charitybuzz Impact Marketplace, announced the launch of Ham4Choice to raise much-needed funds for organizations providing abortion access and reproductive health services.

Remaining Staff at Chicago's Victory Gardens Theater Unionize With IATSE

Playbill: The remaining full- and part-time staff of Chicago's Victory Gardens Theatre has begun to process of unionizing through IATSE, the latest development in struggles between the Tony-winning theatre's board of directors and its staff and artists.

Pittsburgh Playwrights commits to the Hill District with Jitney and new project

Pittsburgh City Paper: Ride-share services should properly thank Black jitney drivers for creating their business model. This is according to Mark Clayton Southers, the founder and producing artistic director of the Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company.

Try On Theatre, It May Fit Better Than You Think

Butts In the Seats: American Theatre recently had a great piece about an interesting approach Princeton University is using as an alternative to auditions called “Try On Theatre Days.” They describe the program as “replacing high-intensity auditions with educational workshops as a means to cast performers and stagehands for the school’s seasonal productions.”

Hamilton Launches Pro-Choice Fundraiser Ham4Choice

Playbill: In partnership with Prizeo, Lin-Manuel Miranda's hit musical Hamilton launched Ham4Choice, a fundraiser in support of abortion access and additional reproductive health services.

Three Ways To Use Rosco Color Effects Filter Kits In Dance Photography

Rosco Spectrum: As a dance photographer, I get hired to take a lot of photos on white backgrounds for educational establishments to use for their marketing purposes. Gray backgrounds are also highly requested by dancers for their audition photos, but I have a confession… I absolutely LOVE color. Whenever a dancer comes to me and requests color for their photoshoot, my soul jumps for joy.

Broadway Hits Withstand Summer Heat As Others Sweat It Out

Deadline: Broadway’s heavy hitters withstood New York’s heatwave last week, with MJ, Dear Evan Hansen and Hamilton selling out and Hadestown, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Into The Woods, Moulin Rouge!, Six, The Book of Mormon, The Lion King and The Music Man coming very close.

World premiere ‘Prada’ bedeviled by details big and small

www.chicagolandmusicaltheatre.com: Among the greatest joys reviewing Chicagoland musical theatre for the past decade-or-so are having figurative front-row seats to pre-Broadway productions developing in the City of Big Shoulders before their transfer to the Great White Way. A second (really, the first) is getting to know the immensely talented, compassionate, lovingly supportive cadre of artists who make up the Chicagoland theatre community.

Illegal Production of Hamilton at Texas Church Ordered to Close

Playbill: The Door McAllen church in McAllen, Texas, was ordered to close its illegal production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Hamilton, which was streamed on YouTube August 5. As reported by The Washington Post, The Door McAllen changed lyrics to Lin-Manuel Miranda's hit musical to include biblical references and added a closing sermon that shunned the LGBT+ community.

Why Crafting More-Inclusive Immersive Theater Matters

Dance Magazine: I am a unicorn, so I’ve been told. I can make people feel a certain way, move a certain way and feel validated. I nestle, negotiate and fly in spaces on- and offstage. My role? Making performers, spectators and directorial/producorial teams feel like they belong. This magical work grew out of my lifelong career in postmodern, physical, immersive and dance theater in Europe and in the U.S.

Pam & Tommy Behind the Scenes: Making Lilly James Into Pamela Anderson

IndieWire: Hulu’s limited series “Pam & Tommy” chronicles the marriage of two of the most iconic and ubiquitous celebrities of the ’90s, “Baywatch” star Pamela Anderson and Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee. The show is both an intimate character study and a sweeping portrait of an era, which created both inspiring opportunities and daunting challenges for the filmmakers tasked with comparing and contrasting the public and private lives of Pam, Tommy, and the members of their circle during the most dramatic period in their relationship.

The TikTok Revolution

HowlRound Theatre Commons: A couple years ago, I created a podcast about theatre entitled “For the Revolution.” It originally started as a project for a class, a way for me to recommend plays and share advice to other young theatre creators, but soon it evolved into a conversation about the future of theatre and Generation Z’s place in it. At the end of every episode, I ask my guests the same question: What does theatre need?

5 Books Every Costume Design Student Should Read

www.broadwayworld.com: Costume designers are an integral part of any theatre. While the audience might see a beautiful costume on stage, behind the scenes there is a great amount of detail and work put into preparing each costume design. Costume designers shine through their work on stage by understanding not just each individual piece, but the history behind it. Here are the five books every costume design student should read at least once!

Why are so many Bay Area theater leaders leaving their jobs?

Datebook: For years now I’ve been writing about what feels like a sea change in Bay Area theater leadership: artistic directors and managing directors stepping down, many after decades of service, having left indelible imprints on their companies, the region, the art form.

Martin Audio Outlines Green Policy, including commitment to plant 50,000 trees

LightSoundJournal.com: Martin Audio recently introduced a dedicated environment page to its website, detailing its approach to the climate emergency. Today, they took that a step further, announcing the funding completion for planting 50,000 trees, plus an ongoing commitment to plant another new tree for every line array cabinet sold.

Heinz History Center honors 19th-century African-American leader and abolitionist

Pittsburgh City Paper: Considering his many accomplishments, it seems as though Pittsburgh should know of Martin Robison Delany, a Black activist who spent his formative years in the city. Born in 1812 in Charles Town, Virginia to a free mother and an enslaved father, he fought in the Civil War (becoming the highest-ranking African-American field officer in the U.S. Army at the time), went on to study a variety of subjects, and became what is considered by many to be the father of Black nationalism.

Tom Stoppard's LEOPOLDSTADT Begins Broadway Rehearsals

www.broadwayworld.com: Broadway rehearsals have begun for Leopoldstadt, Tom Stoppard's Olivier Award-winning Best New Play, directed by two-time Tony Award nominee Patrick Marber and produced by Sonia Friedman Productions, Roy Furman, and Lorne Michaels.

Theatre After COVID: The 2022 Avignon Theatre Festival in Search for Theatrical Magic and Forms of Philosophical Transgressions - Part I

The Theatre Times: I arrived at the 2022 Avignon Theatre Festival seeking emotional rejuvenation after two years of COVID related isolation, working on screens, and deprived of live encounters in theatre; but also shattered by the war in the Ukraine and realization that the world I have known, specifically in Europe, has dramatically changed.

O’Neill Conference: Long Days’ Journey Into a Legacy

AMERICAN THEATRE: “She’s my hero, no matter what her compromises were,” remarked Charlotte Moore, co-founder with Ciarán O’Reilly of New York’s Irish Repertory Theatre, of Mary Tyrone, the morphine-addicted matriarch of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night.

Batting for Godot: the play about Beckett and Pinter teaming up for a game of cricket

Theatre | The Guardian: Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter had a lot in common. Both changed the way plays are written and perceived, both were Nobel prize winners and both had a passion for cricket. That last link is a crucial factor in a new play by Shomit Dutta, Stumped, which will be streamed live from Lord’s.

Texas Church Performs Unauthorized Version of HAMILTON with New Lyrics and Anti-LGBTQ Sermon

www.broadwayworld.com: The town of McAllen, Texas got a taste of Hamilton last week. The problem? Not only was the production (presented by RGV Productions of The Door Christian Fellowship Ministries) unauthorized, but the text was altered to include anti-LGBTQ messaging.

Essentials & Creativity of Location Sound

SoundGirls.org: Sound designers for films and podcasts have access to many amazing tools to match and enhance the audio recorded in the field. There are multitudes of audio repair options, as well as EQs, reverbs, preamp simulators, saturation plugins, stereo field wideners, as well a ton of sound libraries. Yet, the technology available to us can still only do so much. We can make our projects sing by recording more quality options on location. This is a guide on how to capture audio in the field and why it matters for post-production. Although I use film terminology throughout this article, these recommendations can apply to any medium.

Review Roundup: THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA Pre-Broadway Run Opens in Chicago; What Did the Critics Think?

www.broadwayworld.com: The world premiere production of The Devil Wears Prada, The Musical has officially opened in Chicago! The production began performances on July 19th, and celebrated opening night last night, August 7th. The production runs through August 21st at Broadway In Chicago's James M. Nederlander Theatre.

How to Own Your Work Without it Owning You

SoundGirls.org: Working in theatre can be full of ups and downs. You get some jobs; you lose out on others. You don’t always get to know why. Some production processes are smooth; others are nightmares. Since I resumed working in live theatre in 2021, I’ve had my share of all these experiences, and everything else in between. But one thing that has changed for me post-shutdown is how I approach those messier situations. And learning to survive them and still do my job well has helped me learn an important lesson about letting go of some of my emotional attachment to my work.

An Introspection on Theatrical Sound Design

SoundGirls.org: Where to begin? An empty screen, a blank page, and a freshly printed script. Still warm from the printer. I love designing for theatre. It allows me to experience hundreds of different renditions of the same script. The same story, but from a different perspective. Theatre is the original never-ending story.

Lexi Jackson Music Licensing, Songwriting, and Production

SoundGirls.org: Lexi Jackson is one of the most inspiring, generous, and vibrant musicians/audio people I’ve befriended online. She not only writes and produces music as eye.elle and creates playlists to feature other artists, but she is also forging a career in music licensing. After obtaining a certificate in Music Production at the Community College of Baltimore County in 2021, and interning at both Maryland Public Television’s Content Department and Women’s Audio Mission, she began work at The Sync Center. She has since landed a job as a Music Licensing Assistant at ESPN.

GLP impression X4 Bar 20 and JDC1 enter the virtual world of Jack White

LightSoundJournal.com: When Canadian creative director Matt Larivée, of Lüz Studio, sat down to design the stage set for Jack White’s Supply Chain Issues tour, GLP’s trusty JDC1 hybrid strobe and X4 Bar 20 batten were prominent in his tool kit. And so were 144 additional ‘virtual’ X4 Bar 20s… more of which later.

This Show Must Go Off – Soccer Mommy

SoundGirls.org: Soccer Mommy landed in New York to support their new album “Sometimes, Forever”. As part of the “Gov Ball After Dark” series, the band played the Bowery in the early morning hours, and I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to mix the show, and then some.

August Wilson House Announces Grand Opening Event Schedule

onStage Pittsburgh: The August Wilson House host committee has announced the schedule of events for the grand opening celebration on Saturday, Aug. 13, of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson’s childhood home at 1727 Bedford Ave., in Pittsburgh’s Hill District.

Into the Woods' Patina Miller on Witches and Children

Playbill: Into the Woods—the much-loved Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine musical that finds the lives of several Grimm fairy tale characters intertwining as they venture through the woods in pursuit of happy endings—has once again journeyed to Broadway. This third revival of the 1987 musical, a transfer of the recent New York City Center Encores! production, opened at the St. James Theatre July 10 and recently extended its initial limited run at the St. James Theatre, now through October 16, with the cast extending through September 4.

What's Coming to Broadway in Fall 2022?

www.broadwayworld.com: A new Broadway season has officially begun! Two Broadway shows (Into the Woods and The Kite Runner) have already kicked off the 2022/23 theatre season this summer and a whole lot more are on the way. As the weather starts to cool, get ready for 15 (and counting) new productions, which will take their first Broadway bows this autumn. What are the best shows on Broadway this fall...?

Front of House Engineer Brad Divens Switches To RIVAGE PM

LightSoundJournal.com: After hanging up his bass guitar from his time in bands like Kix and Wrathchild America, Brad Divens has been the Front of House engineer for a range of major artists, including Linkin Park, Cyndi Lauper, Garbage, Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band and Mötley Crüe.

Pittsburgh Musical Theater to stage Evil Dead, The Little Mermaid, and more

Pittsburgh City Paper: Pittsburgh Musical Theater announced its 2022-2023 season with a lineup that features a musical twist on a cult horror classic, a Disney favorite (or two), and more.

Live Nation Touts More Record-Breaking Revenue in Q2 Earnings

www.ticketnews.com: Business is booming for Live Nation Entertainment, which reported another record quarter on Thursday with its Q2 2022 earnings report. The entertainment giant reported operating income to be up by 86 percent compared to the same quarter in 2019, reaching $319 million as live events continued to roll on in the reopening from the long COVID slowdown.

Jodi Picoult and the Team Behind Between the Lines Reflect on the Power of Female Voices in Theater

TheaterMania: When bestselling author Jodi Picoult set out to adapt her YA novel Between the Lines into a musical, she was trying to locate two unicorns. At least that's how she described her search to find a female songwriting team. She soon learned that such teams are still a relative rarity in the theater world. (To date, only one all-female songwriting team has won the Best Score Tony Award.)

Atlanta's Music Midtown Festival Cancelled Over Gun Law Ruling

www.ticketnews.com: Live Nation called off the upcoming Music Midtown Festival in Atlanta this week. The event, scheduled for September 17-18 had been announced in the spring with performers including My Chemical Romance, Future, Jack White, and Fallout Boy.

SCP Cadet School turns internet horror stories into Pittsburgh-shot short films

Pittsburgh City Paper: SCP-049 is best described as a humanoid entity, something resembling a person but with a body that more closely fits that of a plague doctor, complete with long robes and a beak-like face. It’s prone to bouts of speaking French and performing surgeries, and a general distaste of anyone infected with “The Pestilence” (whatever that may be).

National Black Theatre's 2022-23 Season Features Co-Productions With New Group, Rattlestick, Ars Nova

Playbill: The National Black Theatre's 55th season, titled NBT Beyond Walls: Love, A Ritual of Repair, will launch November 9-13 at the Chelsea Factory with Resident Playwright Tylie Shider’s Gospel Woman. Directed by Adrienne D. Williams, the play concerns sisters Ruth and Orpah Fowler, who are part of a ministry family in early 1970s Fairfield, New Jersey. The sisters must find a way to end a feud, stemming from a demo that helped launch Orpah’s R&B career, if they are to help their father keep the church from foreclosure.

Cirque du Soleil's fantastical 'Kurios' is a heart-stopping marvel

DC Theater Arts: “Exhilarating. Heart-stopping. Old-timey curious.” Those were the words from my companion last evening, Pete, a rising sixth-grader, and this was his first time experiencing the indomitable global phenomenon that is Cirque du Soleil. As something of a die-hard groupie, I was also curious how the show, Kurios, first brought to the area in 2016, would hit me since the world had inarguably changed. I concur with Pete.

Get a 1st Look at Chicago World Premiere of The Devil Wears Prada Musical

Playbill: The world premiere of the new musical The Devil Wears Prada is currently playing Chicago's James M. Nederlander Theatre through August 21. Get a sneak peek of the production in the video above. Based on the 2006 film and 2003 novel, the musical adaptation features a score with music by Elton John and lyrics by Shaina Taub (Suffs) and a book by Kate Wetherhead

Claypaky TAMBORA FLASH: A unique three in one trailblazer of a fixture to create instant impact

LightSoundJournal.com: It is the only hybrid fixture on the market that can act simultaneously as a strobe, wash and blinder, specifically designed with a modular approach for use in a linear array, to offer new creative opportunities to lighting designers.

A Broadway Debut Through Suzy Nakamura's Lens

Playbill: Known primarily for her onscreen roles, most recently appearing in HBO's Avenue 5 and Netflix's Dead to Me, Suzy Nakamura returned to her theatre roots this spring in POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive. Nakamura plays Jean, the acerbic White House press secretary in the political farce centered on a PR nightmare that befalls the White House as seven female support staff risk everything to keep the commander-in-chief out of trouble.

Robert Hooks: Always About the Ensemble

AMERICAN THEATRE: Actor, producer, and cultural activist Robert Hooks is now best known as one of the founders of the historic Negro Ensemble Company (NEC), where he served as executive director and producer. But his career stretches beyond that milestone; he also created two other major Black theatre companies during the 1960s, and worked as an actor on Broadway, on TV, and in film for decades.

CEO Mitch Swain to Exit Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council in 2023

onStage Pittsburgh: Mitch Swain will retire from the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council in March of 2023 after 17 years as the organization’s first and only CEO. Swain took the reins in 2005, when the Arts Council was created by a merger of ProArts and the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Alliance.

The Red Stuff: A Guide to Letting It Bleed Onstage

AMERICAN THEATRE: Make no mistake about it: There will be blood. Ever since the Romans broke the tradition of Greeks keeping violence out of sight, there has been blood onstage, both real and fake. As a prop master for the last 30-odd years, I’ve had to navigate my way through some truly inspirational and some pretty disastrous blood special effects ideas posed by directors and actors. That’s why I was so happy to pick up Jennifer McClure’s Bloody Brilliant, a book that explains, as its subtitle puts it, “How to Develop, Execute, and Clean Up Blood Effects for Live Performance.”

L-Acoustics K2 Helps Bring New Life To Philly’s Franklin Music Hall

ProSoundWeb: Franklin Music Hall, the 2,500-capacity live music venue on Philadelphia’s North 7th Street that first opened its doors in 1995 as Electric Factory, has been equipped with a new sound reinforcement system headed by L-Acoustics K2 line arrays and supporting components to serve a range of touring artists that include LCD Soundsystem, which christened the newly-installed rig with a four-night stand in March.

Oscars 2023: Will ‘Marcel the Shell’ Qualify for Best Animated Feature

IndieWire: A24’s acclaimed stop-motion/live-action hybrid “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” could be the wild card in the animated feature Oscar race — going up against such early favorites as Pixar’s “Turning Red,” Disney’s “Strange World,” and Netflix’s two stop-motion behemoths: “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” and Henry Selick’s “Wendell & Wild” (the latter being the lone animated feature premiering at TIFF).

An Audition Power Shift: Princeton Tries On a New Approach

AMERICAN THEATRE: Elena Araoz wears many hats: She is a director, actor, and lecturer in theatre at Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts. As such, she sees the audition room from a variety of perspectives. As an actor, for instance, she is conditioned to show her best self to the production staff. As a director, she is trained to make judgements about each actor entering the room in hopes of casting the best possible person for each role. And as a lecturer at Princeton University, she is intent on ensuring that every student she encounters has the tools needed to succeed in theatre post-graduation.

'Unofficial Bridgerton Musical' Targeted by Netflix Lawsuit

reason.com: Netflix has filed a lawsuit against the creators of The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical, alleging copyright infringement. The musical, which won a Grammy this year, has gained popularity (and sold out shows) since its inception on TikTok in January 2021.

Black Theatre United and Alexander Consulting Group to create digital unconscious bias training program for entire theater industry

Broadway News: Black Theatre United (BTU) has announced a partnership with Alexander Consulting Group to create a digital Unconscious Bias and Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Accessibility & Belonging (EDIAB) training program. The Founding Members of BTU will work with Christina Alexander of Alexander Consulting Group to create the resource.

What would it take for Seattle to become a hotbed for playwrights?

The Seattle Times: Playwriting can be a precarious profession in a city with as high of a cost of living as Seattle. Even before the pandemic, as playwright Nikki Yeboah, known for her work as an oral historian and performer, pointed out, people didn’t get paid much to write plays. But as COVID-19 upended the theater industry, it exposed just how tenuous the support system really is around writers who are trying to make a living creating new work for the stage, especially those outside of major theater markets like New York City.

In Salzburg, New Lives for Two Scandalous Plays

The New York Times: The 1920 premiere of Arthur Schnitzler’s “Reigen” provoked a riot in a Berlin theater. A year later, in Vienna, the work was shut down by the police. Shortly afterward, the playwright, who was prosecuted for indecency, banned further performances in Germany and Austria. The play, a merry-go-round of love affairs with a cast of characters drawn from all echelons of society, was not performed again in German until 1982, over half a century after Schnitzler’s death.

Twelve angry children: young jurors call adults to account for climate crisis in The Trials

Stage | The Guardian: In 2019, the playwright Dawn King was booking flights to New York for a writing residency. It was the day of the UK’s first large-scale School Strikes for Climate, a movement launched by Greta Thunberg in Sweden. Checking her news feeds, King – who had meant to join the protests – realised she had clean forgotten. She winces at the memory.

Harry Potter: Magic at Play experience to debut in Chicago

InPark Magazine: The Harry Potter: Magic at Play will make its worldwide debut at Chicago’s Water Tower Place on Friday, November 11, 2022. Created by Superfly X and Warner Bros. Themed Entertainment, the interactive experience will allow fans of all ages to engage with the Wizarding World through 30,000 square feet of hands-on magical interactivity including games, exploration, sensory activations and more that celebrate Harry’s own journey in discovering the wizarding world.

E11EVEN Sound by DAS Audio Invigorates the Atmosphere at the Rosebar Lounge

LightSoundJournal.com: At the Rosebar Lounge, club management has taken the liberty to create an exciting atmosphere, where the best drinks and an inspired decor create a feeling of unlimited possibility. This attitude certainly extends to the house audio system, which was recently upgraded to include loudspeakers drawn from the E11EVEN Sound series by DAS Audio.

Upgrading to sustainability

et cetera...: The sustainability of a versatile, easy-to-use, and reliable lighting solution is important for an education space as it enhances the mood of assemblies, and academic, cultural, and festive events. The Chinese Foundation Secondary School (CFSS) in Hong Kong recently upgraded its lighting package and rigging system in its School Hall.

d&b CPO J-Series makes the scene in new Times Square venue.

LightSoundJournal.com: A certified pre-owned (CPO) d&b J-Series loudspeaker system has been installed in NEBULA, the new Times Square hot spot, featuring world-renowned and up-and-coming DJs. On a recent Sunday night, Diplo performed a special set from his new electronic album at this premier nightclub.

Kara Mikula, E. Clayton Cornelius back in habitual roles for CLO season finale ‘Sister Act’

onStage Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh CLO completes summer season 2022 with a production first, the uplifting Sister Act, and its filled with faces familiar to local theatergoers.

Opulent maternity wear and a 'war dress' play into 'The Great'

Los Angeles Times: Hulu’s hit series “The Great” is showrunner Tony McNamara’s comedic, fictionalized take on Russia’s Catherine the Great. It’s ribald, full of sex, saucy language, courtly intrigue and machinations, and gorgeous opulent costumes, which is where London-based designer Sharon Long comes in. She was tasked with creating the sartorial world in which Catherine (Elle Fanning) and Emperor Peter III (Nicholas Hoult) do battle inside a hilarious yet dangerous world. “We tried to up the visual ante,” says Long, who is working on Season 3 filming in London during its recent heat wave.

5 Books Every Stage Management Student Should Read

www.broadwayworld.com: The job of a stage manager requires one to wear many different hats. A stage manager acts as an organizer, communicator, motivator, and sometimes...a mediator or therapist. Behind any great show in theatre, there is a stage manager helping to hold things together and push things forward. A stage manager is a job that is so essential to the world of theatre, but how does one get started in that field?

The Best Furniture Paint in 2022—Start That Home DIY Project

www.housebeautiful.com: Whether you inherited a beat-up dining set from your parents or want to update a salvaged, vintage piece, furniture paint is a quick and easy way to breathe new life into old pieces. Opt for trim or furniture paints that have harder finishes, so the completed paint job will be more durable and won’t chip or peel easily.

This new app turns Times Square into a real-looking animal jungle

www.timeout.com: A new app-based augmented reality experience called Concrete Jungle has just debuted, literally transforming the public plazas into a playground for animals. The app is produced by Jamestown, the owner and developer of One Times Square

Absen Polaris takes centre stage at NWG Innovation Festival

LightSoundJournal.com: Absen’s versatile, high-performance Polaris series of rental LED displays supplied visual flair for the recent NWG Innovation Festival, which returned to Newcastle Racecourse (UK) earlier this month after a two-year hiatus.

How To Use Day Theming For Productivity (With Examples)

Lifehack: In the constant quest to become more productive, many look for new concepts when it comes to improving their productivity. That’s where a specific type of workflow comes in called day theming.

Multiple Broadway musicals hit new box office highs

Broadway News: Multiple Broadway musicals hit new box office highs last week. For the week ending July 31, the 24 shows on Broadway grossed $29,502,148 – a decrease of less than $30,000 from the previous week. Attendance was maintained at 89% capacity.

RCF XPS Series High-Power 4-Channel DSP Amplifiers - Now Available For Pre Order

LightSoundJournal.com: RCF knows power amplification and the development of active speaker technology in many diverse solutions. Now they have unleashed their power and signal processing technology into a convenient 2U package, designed for mobile touring and install applications.

‘Paradise Square’ Director, Choreographers Take Legal Action on Owed Payments

The Hollywood Reporter: The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society is seeking to enforce payment of owed royalties, fees and pension and health contributions to the musical’s director, Moisés Kaufman, choreographer Bill T. Jones, and three specialty choreographers who worked on the production. As of May 15, these payments totaled more than $140,000.

Trainwreck: Woodstock '99 Review: Netflix Captures the 3-Day Disaster

consequence.net: The world of documentary film seems to believe in one thing: Why have just one documentary covering a disastrous music festival when you can have two? Unlike the paired Netflix and Hulu documentaries which investigated the wildness of Fyre Fest, though, Netflix’s new docuseries Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99 at least has a good year or so of distance from HBO’s Woodstock ’99, while rehashing much of the same material.

Lumber Hits 2022 Low As Reality Sets in That Housing Market 'Back to Normal'

markets.businessinsider.com: The essential building commodity has seen a wild ride since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with prices peaking at a record high of $1,733 per thousand board feet as demand for homes picked up and supply chain woes plagued saw mills across Canada.

ShadowMachine Editors Guild Union: Postproduction Workers Voluntarily Recognized

The Hollywood Reporter: A few months after production workers at BoJack Horseman studio ShadowMachine joined The Animation Guild, postproduction workers at the company have unionized with the Motion Picture Editors Guild (MPEG).

What Causes Chronic Procrastination And How To Overcome It

Lifehack: Have you ever postponed a task and promised yourself to do it the next day, only to put it off again and again? Everyone has at some point in their life. We all procrastinate at times. We put off tasks and give in to distractions easily. But when does it become extreme and even chronic procrastination? And how can you break free from this vicious cycle that ruins so many people’s lives?

Netflix Sues ‘The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical’ Days After It Sells Out the Kennedy Center

jezebel.com: In lieu of new Bridgerton episodes, have I got some real-life tea to hold you over: On Friday, July 29, after many a warning, Netflix finally filed a copyright and infringement lawsuit against The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical, a musical stage production inspired by the book series-turned-TV show. Featuring songs that were originally composed on and for TikTok, the 15-song album, co-created by Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, has been nothing short of a viral sensation, with the #bridgertonmusical hashtag on TikTok racking up over 317.8M views.

‘This show is starting to live under my fingernails’: the road to Edinburgh fringe

Edinburgh festival 2022 | The Guardian: Haley McGee is returning to the festival with a new show, Age Is a Feeling. Her rehearsal diary recounts nerve-jangling weeks of learning lines – and finding just the right lifeguard chair

When Performance Art Is an Anti-War Instrument

HowlRound Theatre Commons: Alexandra Skochilenko is a thirty-year-old artist from St. Petersburg—the city where I lived before Russia attacked Ukraine. She made music and films, drew comics about depression, and worked as a photojournalist. On 11 April 2022, Skochilenko was arrested and placed in a pre-trial detention center, where she is currently still being held. A criminal case was filed against her, with a maximum sentence of fifteen years in prison.

South African cast members bring authenticity to the stage in 'The Lion King'

Datebook: “If there’s more than one or two South Africans in one space, we’ll start singing,” said singer Gabisile Manana. “That’s who we are.” Manana and five fellow South African performers have brought their talents from overseas to perform in Disney’s latest North American tour of “The Lion King,” singing together on stages across the country.

'Andor' Ditches Digital 'Star Wars' Sets for Old-School Feel

www.businessinsider.com: A new "Star Wars" series, "Andor," is coming to Disney+ next month, and it could look a lot different than the streaming service's other live-action "Star Wars" shows. That's because it didn't use the technology that those other shows did, called StageCraft — a type of "volume" created by the visual-effects company ILM that is basically a wall composed of giant LED screens that wraps around a film set.

Wooster Group to Present Get Your Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me

TheaterMania: The Wooster Group has announced a New York mounting of its newest production, Get Your Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me. The piece is an original work that explores a distinctive genre of Black American storytelling called Toasts, and reunites the core creative team behind the Group's 2017 production The B-Side: "Negro Folklore From Texas State Prisons," A Record Album Interpretation. Performances are set to run from September 16-October 8, at the Group's home, the Performing Garage, in New York City.

All for one and one for all - The d&b Y-Series.

LightSoundJournal.com: Positivity and joyfulness are central messages of many a musical production, conceived to uplift and entertain its audiences. These sentiments also ring true for Singing in the Rain and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Joseph for short), two productions that are well established and much-loved staples on the international musical circuit.

Netflix Files Suit Against Grammy-Winning Unofficial Bridgerton Musical Writers Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear

Playbill: Netflix has filed suit against musical theatre writers Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, creators of viral sensation The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical. The move comes just days after Barlow and Bear performed songs from the project in a starry concert at The Kennedy Center, where they were joined by Broadway favorites Kelli O'Hara, Ephraim Sykes, Denée Benton, and more, as well as the The National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Steven Reineke.

TikTok rocks KenCen with Barlow & Bear’s 'Unofficial Bridgerton Musical'

DC Theater Arts: Earlier this year, a big surprise shook the Grammy Awards — the winner of Best Musical Theater Album wasn’t Andrew Lloyd Webber, Burt Bacharach, Bob Dylan, or Stephen Schwartz (all of whom were nominated). Instead, a concept album that debuted on TikTok, created by two young women and fans of the show Bridgerton on Netflix, took home the big award.

Aaron Sorkin's TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD Will Not Reopen On Broadway

www.broadwayworld.com: According to a new report from the New York Times, Aaron Sorkin's acclaimed stage adaptation of Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird will not reopen on Broadway. The Times writes that the decision not to reopen was handed down by the show's lead producer, Scott Rudin, the disgraced theatre and film empresario whose alleged abuse of colleagues and staff caused him to step away from the production in 2021.

Hippotizer Tierra+ MK2 feeds kaleidoscope of visuals for Electric Forest festival

LightSoundJournal.com: Michigan’s much-anticipated Electric Forest Festival returned for 2022 with an expertly curated line up of EDM stars, jam bands, dubstep heroes and multiple other genres. On the Sherwood Court stage, a massive 7056×2864 canvas of LED screens made up of 180m2 of Roe MC7 and 150m2 of YesTech MG7 featured mind-blowing visuals created by Observatory and powered by Hippotizer Tierra+ MK2 Media Servers.

How Extravagance and Vaudeville Inspired Emmy-Nominated Production Designers

Variety: “The Gilded Age” production designer Bob Shaw didn’t want to go overboard as he gave the grand home of Agnes van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) a “lived-in” feeling. He hung portraits on top of one another and used patterns on the wallpaper, the curtains and the chairs — all of this to show old money. “The layering is what gave that sense that they had lived there for 20 years,” says Shaw.

‘How many litres of blood do we need?’: Ivo van Hove’s ITA on 20 years of shocking theatregoers | Ivo van Hove

The Guardian: Ivo van Hove, director: I’m from a small village in Belgium. My parents wanted me to be a lawyer and thought I’d never make a cent as a director. The arts in Belgium were totally old-fashioned: there was no room for new talents, only the old crocodiles.