The AI-Generated Script From the Fake Willy Wonka Experience Is Beyond Wild

The Mary Sue: Willy’s Chocolate Experience, an AI-generated disaster that recently went down in Glasgow, Scotland, is going to dominate the news cycle for weeks. Why? Because every time we think we’ve learned the most bonkers thing about the whole fiasco, something even more wild comes out.

How Hollywood Should Absorb Tyler Perry's AI Warning After Sora

variety.com: Madea may be the role that made Tyler Perry famous, but he’s made headlines recently for inhabiting another iconic female character. The tragic goddess Cassandra, remembered in Greek mythology for having the gift of prophecy but the curse of no one believing her predictions, came to mind when Perry announced he was stopping an $800 million expansion on his Atlanta studio after one look at the new OpenAI software Sora.

Disneyland Parade Performers Move to Unionize with Actors’ Equity Association

The Mary Sue: In recent years, unionization has taken hold at the Magic Kingdom in a piecemeal way. Various employee divisions have successfully joined unions to ensure competitive pay and various workplace protections. The latest cohort of Disneyland employees to unionize are the cast members who suit up each day to bring beloved Disney characters to life.

Slave Play allocates two nights for all-Black audience to watch ‘free from the white gaze’

The Independent: A new West End play has allocated two nights exclusively for Black-identifying theatre-goers to enjoy the performance “free from the white gaze”. Slave Play, written by American playwright Jeremy O Harris, will run at the Noël Coward Theatre in London from 29 June to 21 September and will co-star Kit Harington, best known for his role as Jon Snow in the HBO series Game of Thrones.

Oompa Loompa Actor From 'Willy Wonka Experience' Speaks Out

brobible.com/culture: The “Willy Wonka Experience” that unfolded in Glasgow, Scotland has taken the internet by storm given the sheer absurdity of it all. Not only did the organizers use AI art to advertise the event, but the event itself was hosted in a dingy warehouse and featured nothing but “plastic props, a small bouncy castle, and some backdrops pinned against the walls.”

Exhibit Design Inspiration -- Decisions, Decisions!

ExhibiTricks: The Museum Exhibit Design Blog: Sometimes as part of a museum exhibit experience, we'd like the users to make a choice of some sort -- "Which historical figure do you want to find out about?" "Choose one of these six minerals to test ..." "Did your animal survive the winter?" and so on.

At More Than 800 Pages, 'The Book of Colour Concepts' Revels in Four Centuries of Chromatic Wonders

Colossal: We perceive color everywhere. Although it’s omnipresent, the concept is challenging to describe, in part because color itself is not an inherent property of matter. Our brains perceive hues through photoreceptor cells in our eyes, often called cones, that allow us to discern the visible light spectrum—think of a rainbow or a prism.

Latinx Theatre Commons Announces 10th Anniversary Convening

AMERICAN THEATRE: The Latinx Theatre Commons is a national movement to transform the narrative of the American theatre, amplify the visibility of Latinx performance-making, and champion equity through advocacy, art, convening, and scholarship. The LTC is a flagship program of HowlRound Theatre Commons.

Len Cariou & Peter Filichia To Be Honored at 78th Annual Theatre World Awards

www.broadwayworld.com: The Theatre World Awards Board of Directors has announced two of the individuals to be honored at 78th Annual Theatre World Awards to be held on Monday evening, June 10, 2024 beginning at 7:00 p.m. at a Theater Venue TBA. Tony Award winner Len Cariou (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, A Little Night Music, Applause) will receive the 11th Annual John Willis Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, while acclaimed theatre journalist Peter Filichia will receive a 2024 TWA Special Award for his quarter-century of service to the organization.

Tectonic Theater Project Responds to Texas High School Cancellation of The Laramie Project

Playbill: A Texas school district—Keller Independent School District—has cancelled a high school's spring production of The Laramie Project, the groundbreaking play about the murder of Matthew Shepard. Parents of students at Timber Creek High School received an email February 23 announcing that the production would be replaced with something along the lines of Mary Poppins or White Christmas, according to a local news report.

Bennett Leak named interim artistic director for Second Stage

www.broadwaynews.com: Second Stage Theater has announced veteran staff member Bennett Leak as interim artistic director for the 2024-2025 season. Leak will step in following the previously announced departure of current president and artistic director Carole Rothman, who co-founded the nonprofit in 1979. She will leave her post in August.

Get to Know the Big 4 Venues at Edinburgh Fringe

Playbill: The 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe has announced its first large batch of programming, with over 200 shows. With only six months to go until the festivities begin, why not brush up on the main venue operators? Known as the Big Four, these spaces dominate the programming for the world’s largest international arts festival. And if you're a Fringe newcomer, these four operators are a good start when it comes to deciding what to see.

Pittsburgh public art: Homewood controversy highlights competing voices

90.5 WESA: When public art is proposed in a community, who gets to decide what it looks like? That’s one question at the heart of a recent controversy around a work proposed for Homewood Public Park by one of the city’s most prominent artists.

Live Nation Loses Bid to Dismiss Antitrust Class Action

www.ticketnews.com: U.S. District Judge Kenly Kato issued the ruling on Monday and found that Live Nation may have violated securities laws, noting the suit contains “cogent and compelling” allegations regarding the company’s choice “not to disclose the full picture” of its success or antitrust concerns.

Lortel Special Awards, artEquity BIPOC Leadership Circle, InterAct’s Philly Cycle

AMERICAN THEATRE: The 39th annual Lucille Lortel Awards ceremony will take place Sun., May 5 at 7 p.m. at NYU Skirball. Tickets will be available for purchase starting April 4. Produced by the Off-Broadway League and the Lucille Lortel Theatre, with additional support provided by TDF, the awards recognize outstanding achievement Off-Broadway and serve as a benefit for the Entertainment Community Fund.

Honoring the legacy of griot ‘Grandmother’ Edna Lawrence-Williams: A celebration of storytelling and sound

AFRO American Newspapers: In a vibrant celebration of African-American culture and storytelling, the Waxter Center in Baltimore recently hosted an event to honor griot Edna Lawrence-Williams for her outstanding achievement in the art of storytelling.

'Poor Things' design team breaks down how they created the iconic movie's style

ABC News: When "Poor Things" was released late last year, it left a lasting impression not only on avid moviegoers, but also fashion enthusiasts for its otherworldly costumes. The film's Bella Baxter, played by Emma Stone, donned standout looks that truly embodied main character energy that aligns seamlessly with her role as a young Victorian London woman (brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist) on a journey of self-discovery.

Netflix Becomes a Broadway Producer With Peter Morgan’s ‘Patriots’

The New York Times: The company will pick up its first Broadway credit this spring as a producer of “Patriots,” by Peter Morgan, the creator of the hit Netflix series “The Crown.” The new play is about an oligarch who was an early supporter of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia but then fell out with him and wound up dead.

KISS Ends Historic Career on a High Note at Madison Square Garden with Martin MAC Ultra

Lighting&Sound America Online - News: Legendary rock and roll band KISS recently ended their iconic live performance career with a historic final concert at Madison Square Garden, complete with their signature stunning live production featuring Martin MAC Ultra Performance and Wash lighting fixtures by Harman Professional Solutions.

CITT/ICTS Announces Call for Sessions for Rendez-vous 2024

Lighting&Sound America Online - News: The Canadian Institute for Theatre Technology / Institut canadien des technologies scénographiques (CITT/ICTS) is now accepting proposals for Educational Sessions, TEC Talks, Hands-on Workshops, Roundtables, and Panel Discussions for its August 2024 annual conference.

5 Historically Black Theatres You Should Know

Playbill: Theatre and performance is a cathartic escape for everyone, but Black Americans were not always included fairly in that vision. Since the early 19th century, Black people were impersonated by white performers on stage through racist stereotypes in vaudeville and minstrel shows, creating offensive caricatures of Black people using blackface for the enjoyment of white audiences.

Pittsburgh Opera Announces an Innovative Rideshare Voucher Program

onstagepittsburgh.com: The rideshare program will let Pittsburgh Opera ticket buyers add $60 of Uber Vouchers to their Pittsburgh Opera ticket purchase at no extra cost. All performances of Pittsburgh Opera’s remaining four 2024 operas in downtown Pittsburgh are eligible

Orson's Shadow is returning to the New York stage

www.timeout.com: In 2005, Austin Pendleton's Orson's Shadow was the sleeper hit of the Off Broadway season, running for nearly 350 performances at the West Village's Barrow Street Theatre. The play takes a backstage look at a 1960 production of Eugène Ionesco’s antifascist allegory Rhinoceros starring Sir Laurence Olivier, who was then in the process of leaving his wife, Vivien Leigh, for the younger and more stable Joan Plowright.

Sweet Emotions: Why the Original Broadway Hunnies Returned to Jelly's Last Jam at Encores!

Playbill: Now back on the boards thanks to New York City Center Encores!, it has been 32 years since Jelly's Last Jam first tapped its way to Broadway, changing the lives of all involved in immeasurable and innumerable ways. A syncopated bio-musical chronicling the life of acclaimed jazz musician Jelly Roll Morton, the musical unfurls somewhere between heaven and hell on the eve of Morton's death.

‘Water for Elephants’ Brings the Circus to Broadway

The New York Times: At the sound of a gunshot, a performer, wreathed in white silks, tumbles from the ceiling. His body somersaults, over and over, faster and faster, until it hangs suspended, just above the stage floor. This scene, in the first act of “Water for Elephants,” a new musical that begins previews Feb. 24 at the Imperial Theater, portrays the death of an injured horse. And it captures the singular methods of the show — a synthesis of theater and circus, bedazzled for a Broadway audience.

North Carolina Theatre Files for Bankruptcy

Playbill: The North Carolina Theatre (NCT), which is the largest professional theatre company in Raleigh, North Carolina, has announced it is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, due to external forces during and after the pandemic. While the company undergoes financial restructuring, the remainder of its 2024 season will be suspended.

The Second City Opens New York Location in Williamsburg, Brooklyn

www.broadwayworld.com: The facility, located on the site of an old record shop and club, will feature "a 200-seat mainstage, a 60-seat Second Stage, several classrooms, where improv and comedy writing are taught, and a restaurant."

Todrick Hall Launches First Black-Owned Theatrical Performance Rights Company; Releases Recordings from First 3 Musicals

www.broadwayworld.com: Performer Todrick Hall has launched the first black-owned theatrical performance rights company, Todrick Hall Musicals. Hall will release the rights to three of his original musicals: Cinderella Rock, U.G.L.Y., and OZ the musical, for license to both professional and amateur companies.

Review: 'Fiddler on the Roof in Concert' Adds a Resplendent Chapter to a Classic Musical

onstagepittsburgh.com: It takes a balancing act of faith, talent and chutzpah to create a nontraditional Fiddler on the Roof, a concert version, featuring dozens of musicians and chorus members, a cast of two dozen actors, a Fab Five of Tamburitzans, and one virtuoso fiddler on the roof.

The 2024 No Proscenium Audience Awards Nominees

by NoPro Newswire | Feb, 2024 | No Proscenium: In every region and category where we were able to get a consensus/quorum on nominees you will find a list of nomiees. The nominees represent work that premiered or was remounted in a new configuration in 2023. Work that opened before 2023 or was indicated as in development/beta was not eligible for the Audience awards.

The Economics of Dance—Dance's Future According to the Numbers

Dance Magazine: To help kick off the December release of findings from Dance/NYC’s Dance Industry Census, Lorena Jaramillo gave a short performance, dancing barefoot as she talked to the audience. “When I started this solo, I had $132 and 30 cents in my bank account,” she said, breathing heavily into the small microphone taped to her cheek. “I had $4,232 in credit card debt. I owed $2,087 and 10 cents in medical bills. I owed $7,075 to the IRS.”

Review: Productions by two of America's Best Black Playwrights are Bringing Light and Warmth to a Dismal Pittsburgh Winter

onstagepittsburgh.com: It’s tough to find a better location for Skeleton Crew than across the street from the Edgar J. Thomson Works of U.S. Steel in Braddock, home of barebones. The story unfolds in the breakroom of an automobile sheet metal plant in Detroit as the 2008 recession eroded the country’s economy, raising fears of the plant’s closing.

100 years of memories at the Balboa Theatre: Centennial gala set for late March

The San Diego Union-Tribune: At 6 p.m. March 28, 1924, the Balboa Theatre celebrated its grand opening at the corner of Fourth Avenue and E Street in downtown San Diego. The program for the inaugural evening’s entertainment included a 30-minute orchestra concert, the silent film “Lilies of the Field” and a costumed tableau featuring vaudeville players Fanchon & Marco and the Sunkist Beauties re-enacting Spanish explorer Vasco Nuñez de Balboa’s discovery of the Pacific Ocean.

Dizzee Rascal goes Bonkers with Eighth Day Sound

LightSoundJournal.com: Working with Production Manager Tommy Sheals-Barrett of Back On Your Heads, the tour hit UK arenas following a major comeback at London’s O2. Commenting on the importance of choosing the right vendors, Sheals-Barrett says: “This job can be hard enough without worrying about whether you’re in safe hands, supplier-wise. You get the best out of the artist (and the artist’s crew) when they have confidence in a production supplier.”

The Biggest New Star Wars Movie Just Broke a Crucial Lucasfilm Tradition

www.inverse.com: Star Wars may be set in a galaxy far, far away, but its filming locations are very terrestrial. Tatooine is in Tunisia, Padme and Anakin discuss sand while overlooking Lake Como in Italy, and Rey first meets Luke on a tiny crag off the coast of Ireland. But aside from those exceptions, most of Star Wars is filmed in studios, and the upcoming spinoff movie The Mandalorian and Grogu won’t be an exception.

As Film & TV Productions Slow, Crews Are Being Hit the Hardest

IndieWire: Dan Vetanovetz, a crew member with Local 728 who deals with set lighting, wrapped work on upcoming “Star Wars” series “Skeleton Crew” in January 2023. The show capped a period dating back to September 2020 in which he worked back-to-back on projects including “Westworld” and Ryan Murphy’s “The Prom.”

Matt Smith weighs in on theatre trigger warning debate: ‘Isn’t art meant to be dangerous?’

The Independent: Matt Smith has weighed in on a debate over the inclusion of trigger warnings in theatre productions, stating that he believes it can lead to art being “sanitised”. The Doctor Who and House of the Dragon actor has also appeared in several professional stage shows, including the current run of the Henrik Ibsen play An Enemy of the People in London’s West End.

We go to the theatre to feel something – and people do. Trigger warnings don’t stop that

Arifa Akbar | The Guardian: So we’re back here again: the debate on trigger warnings has become so persistent and volatile that the discussion might require its own trigger warning these days (as per above). Is the act of alerting an audience to sensitive, potentially triggering, content such as sex, violence and suicide (and that’s just in Romeo and Juliet) a helpful access aid or it is infantilising us and neutering the power of theatre?

Musicians Union, AMPTP Reach Tentative Contract Agreement

variety.com: The American Federation of Musicians has struck a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, reaching a deal that union leaders hailed as “a watershed moment for artists” that includes residuals for made-for-streaming content and protections against the use of AI.

2024 Oscars Craft Awards: Who Will Win, Who Should Win

 IndieWire: When it comes to craft, we all know the Academy likes big, bold, and obvious uses of great artisans’ skill sets — but that doesn’t always mean it’s the best. With Oscar voting starting later this week, the IndieWire craft team looks at seven categories to see who is most likely to win and who we would pick if we had a vote.

'Rust' Trial: Armorer's Texts Allude to Drug Use Night Before Shooting

variety.com: Jurors in the trial of “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed were shown text messages on Friday that indicated she was smoking marijuana the night before a fatal accident on set. Prosecutors are building a case that Gutierrez Reed’s sloppiness and lack of professionalism led to the death of Halyna Hutchins, the film’s cinematographer.

Oppenheimer Trinity Test Sound: Nolan, Richard King Interview

IndieWire: What really takes “Oppenheimer” to the next level, however, is its sonic complexity; with this film, Nolan’s longtime sound designer and supervising sound editor Richard King (in collaboration with an Oscar-nominated sound team comprised of production sound mixer Willie Burton and re-recording mixers Gary A. Rizzo and Kevin O’Connell) has created a mix in which every layer is both thematically motivated and viscerally charged — it’s a stunning aural achievement filled with subtleties that require multiple viewings to fully appreciate, even if the cumulative effect is immediately apparent.

Massive Book Explores The Vibrant History of How We Catalog Color

mymodernmet.com: We all know how important color is to our world. And a new book pays homage to the different ways that it can be arranged, presented, and preserved. Color Charts is an incredible journey through the different devices that have been developed since the 15th century to help us organize and catalog color. Color theory enthusiasts will marvel at the opportunity to view nearly 200 diverse color charts, many of which were previously unpublished.

The Second City comedy troupe opens an outpost in New York City

NPR: The sketch comedy and improv group, The Second City, is famously named for its location: Chicago. And while some of its illustrious graduates, like Stephen Colbert and Tina Fey, have become famous New Yorkers, there's never been an outpost in the First City, until now.

Becoming a Citizen Dramaturg

The Theatre Times: What is a citizen-dramaturg? Could I study it at a university? Is it merely a state of mind? Would I need a certificate to practice? Until I participated in the 2023 Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, a national program bolsters collegiate theater by evaluating student productions, I did not know. In response to my work as dramaturg for my university’s production of Oliver Lansley’s Ernest and the Pale Moon, I was selected for the LMDA/KCACTF Dramaturgy Award, an honor that extended me an invitation to the KCACTF Dramaturgy Fellows Online Intensive, my chance at becoming a citizen-dramaturg.

Zendaya, Women Donors Network Give $100,000 to Cal Shakes

www.hollywoodreporter.com: The Oakland, CA-based California Shakespeare Theater (a.k.a. Cal Shakes), where the Emmy-winning actress got her start, announced that Zendaya made a sizable donation alongside the Women Donors Network to the theater’s North Star Fund.

How AI Is Tackling Jobs Humans Don’t Have Time for

www.businessinsider.com: Like most people, there were things on Heather Holding's to-do list she knew she'd never get to. That led Holding, who oversees risk management at fintech company Best Egg, to wonder whether an artificial intelligence tool could draft policy documents she and her colleagues couldn't find time to pull together.

Reviving ‘The Wiz’ Through ‘the Blackest of Black Lenses’

The New York Times: Schele Williams first saw “The Wiz” when a tour of the original Broadway production came through Dayton, Ohio. She was 7 years old, and recalled it being the most “beautiful reflection of Blackness that I had never seen.”

NFTRW Weekly Top Five

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

The POSEC Method Is a Better Way to Structure Your Time

Lifehacker: Managing your time throughout the day is key to getting everything accomplished, but it’s easier said than done. Try the POSEC method, which mirrors Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs to give you a daily outline that leaves room for fulfillment—which, in turn, will keep you motivated.

Posted by David at 2/23/2024 10:21:00 AM

Stockholm Furniture Fair exhibition stands designed to cut down on waste

www.dezeen.com: Is it possible to stage a trade fair without producing excessive waste? Dezeen editor-at-large Amy Frearson explores eight approaches that were all on show at this year's Stockholm Furniture Fair. The trade show format is increasingly under scrutiny, with environmental concerns prompting many to reconsider the material cost of building large exhibition stands that are only used for a few days.

Posted by David at 2/23/2024 10:20:00 AM

Google Pauses AI Image Generation of People to Fix Racial Inaccuracies

variety.com: After critics slammed Google‘s “woke” generative AI system, the company halted the ability of its Gemini tool to create images of people to fix what it acknowledged were “inaccuracies in some historical image generation depictions.”

Posted by David at 2/23/2024 10:22:00 AM

How the NBA built its 27-million pixel floor for the NBA All-Star Game

www.fastcompany.com: The typically flashy events surrounding the NBA All-Star Game just got exponentially flashier. Other than the game itself, the court’s hosting events, including the Slam Dunk and Three Point contests, will not just be played on the typical glossy hardwood flooring, but on a glass-covered, LED-infused, color-spewing video mega-screen.

Posted by David at 2/22/2024 10:55:00 AM

How Dance Artists are Fusing ASL With Choreography

Dance Magazine: For Deaf audiences, watching performances with traditional sign language interpretation can feel like watching a tennis match: Their focus has to toggle between whatever is happening onstage and the interpreter, often off to the side, who might be communicating what the music sounds like or what’s being said. That’s if the performance even has an interpreter, which all too often is not the case.

Posted by David at 2/20/2024 10:02:00 AM