Hilti Takes on Heavy Duty Work with its Unified Battery Platform

Engineering News-Record: When Hilti announced its Nuron battery platform in 2021, there were open questions on whether its commitment to a single 22-Volt battery format would hold as it moved into more demanding applications normally dominated by corded and gas-powered tools.

“Midnight Radio Lampoons Christmas Vacatyinz” at Bricolage Production Company

The Pittsburgh Tatler: It’s December, an’ lemme tell yinz what, that means Bricolage Production Company’s holiday Midnight Radio is crawlin’ ahtta the woodwork again, n’at — this year doin’ up a whole jagoff-y spoof of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, turned into a big ol’ comedy present duct-taped together speshly fer Picksburgh. They’re callin’ it Christmas Vacatyinz, ‘cause of course they are.**

Travels of a Scenic Artist and Scholar: Thomas G. Moses and His Scenic Designs for the Oakland Scottish Rite

Drypigment.net: Tens of thousands of historic opera houses were constructed between 1850 and 1950. Of that number, a significant percentage was lost to fire and other natural, or manmade, disasters. Many of the remaining structures fell prey to building renovations, repurposing, and demolition. Thousands were gutted, transformed into department stores, apartment complexes, and office spaces.

'Theater is the sun' for Karla Boos, and will remain so as she retires from Quantum Theatre

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: It could have happened in any mid-size American city, but it happened here: A young woman arrived in 1990 to start a theater company with big hopes, bigger ambitions and some scraps of experience.

Best Cordless Reciprocating Saw 2024 - Tested and Reviewed

www.protoolreviews.com: After testing dozens of options over the years and weighing them against our collective decades of experience, we’ve narrowed down the absolute best cordless reciprocating saws (AKA Sawzalls) from manufacturers we trust the most. We rounded up the newest, most advanced models and tested them head-to-head in a series of experiments to help you decide which model is the best or simply see how well your favorite brand competes.

Kathy Hochul Signs SAG-AFTRA Bills to Regulate AI Performers

variety.com: Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday signed two bills backed by SAG-AFTRA that will regulate the use of “synthetic” AI performers in New York. One bill will require disclosure when an AI performer is used in advertising, while the second will forbid the use of a dead performer’s likeness to create a deepfake without the estate’s consent.

Best New Milwaukee Tools: Winter Update 2025

Pro Tool Reviews: Milwaukee puts out tons of new products every year—often well over 100! It can be tough to track everything, so I aim to keep you up to date with the best new Milwaukee Tools as they’re announced.

Women Directors Are Reshaping Our Perception of the Arab World

www.indiewire.com: While its submission process certainly has its faults, the Best International Feature category has only gotten more and more exciting each year in the past decade since the Academy reconfigured its diversity efforts. No longer are films in languages other than English partitioned from consideration in other categories, save for a few outliers.

2026 Music Festivals: The Ultimate Guide You’ll Check All Year

www.ticketnews.com: As 2025 nears its end and we approach a new year, festivals are already popping-up across North America for 2026. We’ve rounded-up a list of must-see festivals from all different genres; whether you’re looking to put on some cowboy boots and sing along at Stagecoach and Cattle Country, dance the night away at EDM’s Ultra and EDC Daisy Carnival, head-bang alongside metalheads at Louder Than Life and Aftershock, or reminisce with early 2000’s rock at When We Were Young and Sick New World — we’ve got you covered.

Springboard to Design Launches $150,000 Fundraising Campaign

Playbill: Design Action's Springboard to Design program, which offers tuition-free theatrical design mentorship and training to high school students from underrepresented communities, has launched a fundraising goal of $150,000.

Top Rock Tours of 2025: 10 Highest Grossing Tours

www.billboard.com: Much has already been made of rock’s decline in popularity over the last several decades. It’s still the biggest revenue generator in live music, but hits an all-time low on the 2025 Top Tours chart. At 30.2% of the year’s top 100 tour grosses, the genre represents less than half of its share from the 1990s after consistent dips throughout the 2000s and 2010s.

American Academy of Dramatic Arts Launches New Works Project for In-Development Musicals

Playbill: The American Academy of Dramatic Arts is launching a new initiative to present readings of in-development musicals, New Works Project, December 15-16, with readings of Winner and Much Ado.

What's That Red Square on My Tape Measure?

www.familyhandyman.com: If you’ve ever taken a close look at some of your tools, you’ve likely noticed perplexing features on them. Surely these features serve some purpose, but they’re not always intuitive. Take tape measures for example. There are all kinds of marking on them. But do you know why there’s a red square around some numbers on a tape measure? It certainly makes the squared numbers easier to see at a glance, but there’s more to it than just visibility.

Fall of Remembrance and ‘Good Trouble’

AMERICAN THEATRE: As I was gathering my thoughts for this issue’s letter, I couldn’t help but notice that it would be heading to print around the 24th anniversary of 9/11. What’s different in today’s cultural and political landscape from 2001, and what’s the same? What does it take mentally, emotionally, physically to stay true to the North Star of our values? What are we fighting for versus what are we fighting against? Is it possible to both fight for and against simultaneously?

RIGZ! – Roy Bickel Keynote

Live Design Online: A highlight of the second annual RIGZ! on Saturday, December 6, 2025 at LDI 2025 was the keynote by Roy Bickel: From Human Cannonball to Award Winner: The Extraordinary Journey Of Roy Bickel: a master rigger reflects on his six-decade career.

2025 Edgerton Foundation New Play Awards Announced

AMERICAN THEATRE: Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre and the publisher of American Theatre, has announced the recipients of the 2025 Edgerton Foundation New Play Awards. The awards, totaling $783,000, allow 16 world premiere plays extra time for development and rehearsal with the entire creative team. This support aims to encourage and bolster future productions.

Review Roundup: GOTTA DANCE Opens Off-Broadway at the York Theatre

www.broadwayworld.com: The York Theatre Company and American Dance Machine are now presenting Gotta Dance, co-directed by Nikki Feirt Atkins and Randy Skinner. The production runs through December 28, 2025 at 7:00 p.m. at Off-Broadway’s Theatre at St. Jean’s.

Lessons from the BIPOC Critics Lab at Five

HowlRound Theatre Commons: As a freelance critic of color who works in a field where Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) voices are often excluded, I wanted to build a space that disrupted traditional paths into arts journalism. In 2020, I started the BIPOC Critics Lab, a free, fully digital training program for emerging critics who meet weekly on Zoom over ten weeks for workshops on craft, ethics, experimentation, and industry advice.

Elvis' Birthday Fight Club celebrates 15 years of inappropriate fun with 3 weekends of debauchery

DC Theater Arts: Astro Pop Events is excited to announce the 15th anniversary performance of one of DC and Baltimore’s most bizarre and exciting annual traditions! The annual Elvis’ Birthday Fight Club (EBFC) will kick-off 2026 with glorious debauchery on January 2 and 3 at Washington, DC’s Gala Hispanic Theater and, for the first time, will run for two straight weekends in Baltimore

Re-Imagined Multi-Concept Venue The Bristol Opens In Australia With Martin Audio

ProSoundWeb: A major makeover of a popular Sydney, Australia-based 80s retro venue in the city’s Central Business District has resulted in a completely re-imagined multi-concept venue called The Bristol, with many of its spaces outfitted with Martin Audio loudspeakers and supporting components.

ROBERT JULIAT and MADRIX announce strategic partnership

LightSoundJournal.com: With the original MADRIX software well-established outside the entertainment industry, MADRIX RADAR was released in 2020 and is specifically tailored and refined for the theatre and architainment markets. MADRIX RADAR software is designed for remote management, configuration and monitoring of lighting devices compatible with the RDM protocol (Remote Device Management).

SGPS/ShowRig Acquires Niscon to Expand Global Automation Solutions

www.billboard.com: SGPS/ShowRig, the global staging, rigging and automation company, has acquired Niscon Inc., the Ontario-based engineering firm behind the widely used Raynok motion-control software. The deal brings together two long-time partners and further consolidates SGPS/ShowRig’s position in live entertainment as a provider of automation solutions for tours, festivals, film/TV productions, and permanent installations.

An Introduction To Analog Filtering

Hackaday: One of the major difficulties in studying electricity, especially when compared to many other physical phenomena, is that it cannot be observed directly by human senses. We can manipulate it to perform various tasks and see its effects indirectly, like the ionized channels formed during lightning strikes or the resistive heating of objects, but its underlying behavior is largely hidden from view.

The 10 Best Booths at Art Basel Miami Beach 2025

Artsy: Art Basel Miami Beach returned for its 23rd edition on December 3rd, when its VIP day got underway at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Featuring some 283 galleries from 43 countries, this year’s fair remains the main event of the U.S. art world’s most chaotic week of the year.

How we created a climate change museum to inspire hope among eco-distressed students

theconversation.com: In 2023, a visit to a local state secondary school to discuss our project, The Museum of Climate Hope, led to an unexpected discussion. A few weeks earlier, an eminent climate scientist had presented a harrowing tale of climate apocalypse to the school’s sixth form. But the students told us the scientist’s presentation, intended as a wake-up call to apathetic teenagers, had backfired.

Director Joseph Kosinski and Mixer Gary Rizzo Talk Sounds of F1

www.thewrap.com: It is, for one, the story of Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt), a washed-up Formula One driver who is recruited by a failing team, to help a hotshot young driver (Damson Idris, in a breakthrough performance) focus and get their team on the path to glory. It is also, under the stylish direction of Joseph Kosinski, a true technological marvel.

Recording Academy Advocacy Chairs On Creating a 'Fair Music Ecosystem'

www.billboard.com: As musicians face myriad challenges, from negotiating fair streaming royalties to navigating the proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI), the Recording Academy is among the most critical institutions fighting for their rights. With the business staring down another consequential year, the academy announced in October its new National Advocacy Committee co-chairs: DJ-producer Dani Deahl will return for a second consecutive yearlong term, with Hanson’s Taylor Hanson joining her for his first term in the role.

Maker Faire Shenzhen Soars to New Heights

Make:: It’s always a shock to witness the scale of things in China’s Bay Area. Despite only being the third largest national central city in China, Shenzhen dwarfs the combined population of the three largest US cities. Descending toward Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport, this notion of scale is reinforced, as one immense skyscraper after another dominates the horizon, even as new construction dots the outskirts of the city. Likewise, Maker Faire Shenzhen continues to grow and impress.

Video: Andrew Lloyd Webber's Thoughts on Broadway Economics Amid Financial Uncertainty

www.broadwayworld.com: Andrew Lloyd Webber, known as the most successful Broadway composer ever, has sat down for a new interview where he dissects the current financial state of Broadway and the West End. In the new video with MarketWatch, the Sunset Boulevard composer reveals what he thinks is wrong with the economics of theatre and how they can improve.

KAWS' companion lifts glowing moon along abu dhabi's waterfront

www.designboom.com: KAWS’ monumental Companion lands on Abu Dhabi’s waterfront, not floating this time, but stretched across the edge of Mina Zayed as if pausing between breaths, lifting a glowing moon toward the sky. The arrival of KAWS:HOLIDAY Abu Dhabi, created in collaboration with long-time partner AllRightsReserved, marks the newest stop in the artist’s global series of large-scale public sculptures.

NFTRW Weekly Top Five

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

AI Slips In Where Hollywood Is Weakest

www.forbes.com: Hollywood fears AI might threaten prestige films and award-season scripts. The first real shift is happening somewhere else. The fastest-growing category in filmed entertainment is the one-minute vertical soap opera, the micro-drama. Viewers enter these stories the way they enter social feeds, without intention or commitment.

The Composer Making a Hip-Hop Musical About Anne Frank

The New Yorker: A few years ago, Andrew Fox was struck by a transcendently bad idea. He would turn the story of Anne Frank into a satirical hip-hop musical: intersectional, inclusive, and inane. Fox was a theatre-loving composer who had grown dispirited by the industry in general, and by humorless and preachy productions in particular.

Experience: I was stabbed in the back with a real knife while performing Julius Caesar

Life and style | The Guardian: As someone committed to my craft, I’ve always believed that the show must go on. An accident in my second year of university took it to new extremes. It was the Exeter University theatre society’s annual play at the Edinburgh fringe and I’d landed the part of Cassius in Julius Caesar.

RSC to cut workforce by 11% as it faces ‘perilous situation’

Royal Shakespeare Company | The Guardian: The Royal Shakespeare Company has defended plans to reduce its workforce by 11% and merge its costume departments by saying the proposal will ensure it is “match fit” as it faces a “perilous situation”. Daniel Evans, the RSC’s joint artistic director, told the Guardian the reduction in staff numbers could save £2.8m a year, as the organisation attempts to address a shortfall thought to be between £5m and £6m.

Equity Threatens U.K. Actors Strike Over AI

variety.com: U.K. performers union Equity is set to ballot members over potential strike action related to AI protections. Negotiating partner Pact, the U.K. producers union, has been notified. “Nobody wants further instability in our industries ahead of what we hope will be a positive year in 2026,”

 

AI Slips In Where Hollywood Is Weakest

www.forbes.com: Hollywood fears AI might threaten prestige films and award-season scripts. The first real shift is happening somewhere else. The fastest-growing category in filmed entertainment is the one-minute vertical soap opera, the micro-drama. Viewers enter these stories the way they enter social feeds, without intention or commitment.

Iran Sentences Dissident Director Jafar Panahi to Prison in Abstentia

www.hollywoodreporter.com: Iran has sentenced the Palme d’Or-winning director Jafar Panahi to one year in prison in absentia, his lawyer told the Agence France-Press news service on Monday.

This haptic mattress topper lets you feel a movie while you fall asleep

The Verge: Woojer is best known for its vibrating vests and belt straps that let you feel the sounds from games, movies, and music. Now the company has taken that same haptic technology and incorporated it into a new mattress topper called the Woojer Mat that will let you feel those same vibrations across your entire body to make what you’re watching or playing feel more immersive.

5 Times William Shakespeare Took to the Stage, Literally

Playbill: From Romeo and Juliet to Hamlet to Macbeth to A Midsummer Night's Dream, his plays are the blueprint for the thousands of playwrights who have followed him, serving as the foundation of the English language stage as we now know it. His works are often people's first introduction to drama, and for many actors, conquering a piece from his "classic" canon is a career must.

What The Orange Light Means On A Ryobi Battery Charger

www.slashgear.com: Your battery charger is a pretty complicated tool, and troubleshooting it can be a challenge. Fortunately, manufacturers tend to build in some kind of trouble indicator. For instance, there's a series of lights on your Ryobi battery charger that will help determine a fault with the battery.

RSC to cut workforce by 11% as it faces ‘perilous situation’

Royal Shakespeare Company | The Guardian: The Royal Shakespeare Company has defended plans to reduce its workforce by 11% and merge its costume departments by saying the proposal will ensure it is “match fit” as it faces a “perilous situation”. Daniel Evans, the RSC’s joint artistic director, told the Guardian the reduction in staff numbers could save £2.8m a year, as the organisation attempts to address a shortfall thought to be between £5m and £6m.

Equity Threatens U.K. Actors Strike Over AI

variety.com: U.K. performers union Equity is set to ballot members over potential strike action related to AI protections. Negotiating partner Pact, the U.K. producers union, has been notified. “Nobody wants further instability in our industries ahead of what we hope will be a positive year in 2026,”

As the DEI Pulls Back, Top Female Producers Stand Their Ground

www.thewrap.com: With the Trump Administration targeting DEI programs set up in the wake of #MeToo and Black Lives Matter and Hollywood studios backpedaling from commitments for more representation, it is now up to producers and creatives to take up the work of changing the entertainment industry’s status quo.

5 Biggest Music Sustainability Stories of 2025: Merch, Festivals, More

www.billboard.com: On a federal policy level, 2025 was a nightmare year for the environment. The Trump administration’s proposals have included the rollback of protections on millions of acres of wetlands and streams; the allowance of new oil and gas drilling across 1.3 billion acres of U.S. coastal waters; the pausing of the expansion of clean energy infrastructure; withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord for the second time; and more.

The Composer Making a Hip-Hop Musical About Anne Frank

The New Yorker: A few years ago, Andrew Fox was struck by a transcendently bad idea. He would turn the story of Anne Frank into a satirical hip-hop musical: intersectional, inclusive, and inane. Fox was a theatre-loving composer who had grown dispirited by the industry in general, and by humorless and preachy productions in particular.

Cynthia Erivo explains Wicked: For Good's sex cardigan

www.jezebel.com: Love it or hate it, there’s one moment in Wicked: For Good that has left people of all ages confused. No, not when Madame Morrible somehow inflates Glinda’s bubble from the outside despite explaining the rules of how the bubble worked just 90 seconds prior

Tilly Norwood: Exec Dream, Union Nightmare and an AI Actor Army Already on Set

theankler.com/a>: Hollywood’s collective blood pressure spiked the moment Tilly Norwood’s latest Instagram post went live. Not because the AI actress — a creation of London-based production company Particle6 and its AI studio, Xicoia — flubbed a line or missed her call time, but because she looks frighteningly castable.

'Frankenstein,' 'Warfare,' 'Bone Temple' Case Studies Hosted at Focus

variety.com: The 10th anniversary edition of production event Focus, which takes place at Business Design Centre, London, on Dec. 8–9, includes case studies of “Frankenstein,” “Warfare” and “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.” The session titled “Crafting Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Frankenstein’” features Tamara Deverell, production designer on “Frankenstein,” Kate Hawley, the film’s costume designer, and Mike Hill, who worked on creature design and character prosthetics make up FX.

Step Inside Freaky Friday Musical's U.K. Stage Premiere

Playbill: Freaky Friday, based on the novel and films of the same name, made its U.K. stage premiere beginning November 27 at HOME Manchester, and Playbill has an up-close-and-personal look at the production, both onstage and in rehearsals.

Helen Shaw Named New York Times Chief Theatre Critic

Playbill: There is a new New York Times chief theatre critic: Helen Shaw. The outlet has been publishing reviews by a number of writers in the months since predecessor Jesse Green was reassigned earlier this year. That list of fill-ins notably did not include Shaw, who joins the Times after a stint as theatre critic and staff writer for The New Yorker, and a tenure as chief theatre critic at New York Magazine prior.

Prime Video pulls eerily emotionless AI-generated anime dubs after complaints

Ars Technica: In March, Amazon announced that its streaming service would start including “AI-aided dubbing on licensed movies and series that would not have been dubbed otherwise.” In late November, some AI-generated English and Spanish dubs of anime popped up, including dubs for the Banana Fish series and the movie No Game No Life: Zero. The dubs appear to be part of a beta launch, and users have been able to select “English (AI beta)” or “Spanish (AI beta)” as an audio language option in supported titles.

Do You Need A $500 Tool Chest? Pros And Cons Of High-End Storage

www.slashgear.com: Over time, it's easy to accumulate lots of tools. From picking up wrenches and sockets now and again to trying out and keeping new power tool releases, you can quickly fill up a toolbox, workshop, or even a whole garage with equipment. Fortunately, there's no shortage of tool storage solutions out there, with numerous companies offering massive tool chests for customers to consider.

How NIN Guitarist Robin Finck Scored Horror Game 'Sleep Awake'

www.rollingstone.com: Whether it’s a movie or a game, a good horror experience is almost entirely driven by sound. Audiences react to jump scares, body horror, and skin-crawling nightmarish imagery, but all work in tandem with audio — or the intentional lack thereof — to drive home discomfort. Just as much as viewers can recall a particularly gruesome visual or haunting scene, they inherently play back in their heads the squelches, footsteps, whispers, and sonic booms that triggered their fight or flight.

Watch: Sting Explains Why He—and Shaggy—Are Headed to Met Opera for The Last Ship

Playbill: Maria Callas... Leontyne Price... Shaggy and Sting? Yes, they may be better known as recording artists, but both are bound for NYC's Metropolitan Opera, one of the genre's preeminent venues, for a newly revised version of Sting's The Last Ship, a musical that played a brief Broadway run in 2014. The work will take the stage at the Lincoln Center space June 9-14, 2026, as announced last week.

Catherine Corcoran Launches Production Company FareStream

www.indiewire.com: When it comes to building a better Hollywood, Catherine Corcoran is in it for the long haul. On Monday, the “If It Bleeds” and “Terrifier” actress launched FareStream Pictures — a new film and TV production company with plans to champion “bold, emotionally charged storytelling” through women and underrepresented voices

How China's Wanda Film Attracts Gen Z With Immersive Experiences

www.hollywoodreporter.com: In an age when audiences are spoiled for choice across countless entertainment platforms, it’s no secret that cinema operators worldwide are feeling the heat.

‘Vape! The Grease Parody’ Features The Humor And Harms Of E-Cigarettes

www.forbes.com: When I first saw Grease on the big screen decades ago, little did I know that I would one day be watching an off-Broadway parody with vaping as the backdrop. Even less expected—that I would find key medical lessons throughout the musical, particularly involving the use of e-cigarettes or vaping, which is a growing public health concern.

Is Gen X Actually the Greatest Generation?

The New York Times: NINETEEN-NINETY-FOUR WAS THE year I graduated from high school, and the year Kurt Cobain died. I remember coming home from school in suburban Illinois on that April afternoon, turning on the TV and seeing the MTV News anchor Kurt Loder report that the 27-year-old lead singer and guitarist for Nirvana had been found dead by suicide in Seattle.

The Best Bay Area Theater We Saw in 2025

KQED: During a spate of theater closures, funding challenges and diminished audiences, there’s been no shortage of ideas from the Bay Area’s top theater brass as to how Bay Area theater can survive. There were also plenty of victories to be had on our region’s stages in 2025.

Amazon's Atrocious AI Anime Dubs Are a Dark Sign of Things to Come

gizmodo.com: As generative AI material threatens to encroach further and further upon the entertainment industry, animation—and Japanese animation in particular—has become something of a major battleground, as both sides of production and distribution weigh up the worth (and potential backlash) of using the technology. But over the weekend, a surprisingly grim new frontier opened up in that battle: the arrival of AI-generated anime dubs.

How To Design 3D Printed Pins That Won’t Break

Hackaday: Sure, one can make pins stronger simply by upping infill density or increasing the number of perimeters, but those depend on having access to the slicer settings. If someone else is printing a part, that part’s designer has no actual control over these things. So how can one ensure sturdier pins without relying on specific print settings? [Slant 3D] covers two approaches.

Photos: Disney Unveils Photos from New HERCULES Musical on Disney Destiny Cruise Ship

www.broadwayworld.com: Disney has released new first-look photos from the world premiere of Disney's Hercules, the Broadway-style live musical from Disney Cruise Line. Taking place on board the Disney Destiny, the new adaptation of the 1997 film will make its world premiere when the ship sets sail for its Maiden Voyage on November 20.

First look at Disney's new nighttime spectacular

www.themeparkinsider.com: Today in Paris, Disney Live Entertainment introduced the new nighttime spectacular that will debut with Disney Adventure World on March 29, 2026 - Disney Cascade of Light. Set on the park's Adventure Bay, the new production will feature fountains, World of Color-style water screens, and next-generation, purpose-built drones that will fly closer to the audience than ever before.

Who Makes Snap-On Wrench Sets & Where Are They Manufactured?

www.slashgear.com: Despite their relatively limited availability in the retail arena, Snap-on branded products continue to rank among the more respected tools on the scene. They also tend to be among the pricier options in the consumer tool market.

Microdramas Take Center Stage at Crisp Content Conference in Seoul

variety.com: The future couldn’t look more vertical than from the 76th floor of the Lotte Tower, the sixth tallest building in the world, where microdrama key stakeholders attended the conference Future Is Vertical: The Global Rise of Short Form Media. The splashy location was aptly chosen by the event’s organizer, the short-form scripted video content company Crisp, which means to shape the next phase of an industry racing toward $26 billion in global revenues by 2030.

Tom Stoppard Made Us All Smarter

AMERICAN THEATRE: Being in the rehearsal room with Tom was like a mashup of a sports event and a colloquium: You got smarter and you got faster as time went along. The reason we who had the privilege of working with him loved it so much is that his plays demand the highest level of collaboration from everyone involved. Although, like Henry in The Real Thing, Stoppard believed that “words are sacred. They demand respect,” he also understood that a playscript is the springboard by which other artists can dive into the pool.

"A Working Class Hero" - Identity And Class at Voila! Theatre Festival

The Theatre Times: Representation in the performing arts in the UK is in crisis. For years, voices have been warning of the lack of authentic working-class actors in TV and Theatre. Audition fees at the top drama schools are absurdly high; concurrently, schemes like The Television Workshop, an affordable training ground for working-class actors, are seeing their funding cut.

Sean Cercone opens new licensor for theatrical content

www.broadwaynews.com: The launch of a boutique theatrical licensing firm has been announced. Named the Licensing House, the company will be dedicated to providing personalized, strategically driven representation for stage properties to troupes around the world.

A Toronto holiday tradition: ‘The Nutcracker’ turns 30

www.thestar.com: One of the National Ballet of Canada’s best loved productions is approaching a major milestone. On Dec. 21, choreographer James Kudelka’s jaw-droppingly spectacular version of “The Nutcracker” will celebrate its 30th birthday.

Ailey dance company's new leader discusses her ‘fresh’ vision

NPR: Alicia Graf Mack's office is filled with ghosts, the benevolent kind. She sits at an industrial metal desk once occupied by Alvin Ailey, the late dancer and choreographer who founded the dance company that bears his name in 1958. In a corner stands a chaise lounge that belonged to the late Judith Jamison, the group's longtime principal dancer who succeeded Ailey as artistic director.

Front Porch Theatricals in 2026 Musicals: 'Working' and 'Come From Away'

onstagepittsburgh.com: Reaching back and passing the torch was a running theme of Front Porch Theatricals‘ 2026 season reveal on Monday, where it was revealed that Working and Come From Away will be their summer shows.

Who Is Latino Theater Company’s Work For? It’s in the Name

AMERICAN THEATRE: When, starting in June 2025, protestors and border patrol agents clashed for 40 days in the historic downtown area of Los Angeles, Latino Theater Company founding artistic director José Luis Valenzuela recalled, “Everybody was freaked out, and people were deciding that they didn’t want to come to work. Our employees were saying, ‘I don’t want to come to work. Can I stay home?’ The answer was yes, because you could be arrested. City Hall is right here; all the detention centers were only nine blocks away. And we are all brown.”

Holiday Shows in NYC 2025: A Spirited Guide

New York Theater: Any guide to holiday theatergoing in New York City must begin with the three annual staples: “The Radio City Christmas Spectacular” starring the Radio City Rockettes, “George Balanchine’s the Nutcracker” (and about a dozen sweet or sassy alternatives), and the many variations of “A Christmas Carol.” But there’s more — plays, ballets, operas, concerts, musicals, burlesques, and hybrid entertainments that have reappeared each December, some for decades.

Tom Stoppard, Diane Keaton and More to be Honored With Broadway Marquee Dimming

www.broadwayworld.com: The Broadway in Memoriam Committee, composed of theatre owners in consultation with industry service organizations, has determined that Broadway’s lights will dim in honor of Tom Stoppard tomorrow evening, Tuesday, December 2 at 6:45pm ET. The solo dimming will honor Stoppard’s indelible legacy and aligns with the West End theatres’ memorial tomorrow evening.

Is There Really A Difference Between A Mechanic Tool Set And A Home Kit?

www.slashgear.com: At a glance, a mechanic tool set and a home kit might seem similar, as both contain ratchets, sockets, wrenches, and screwdrivers. A closer look, however, would reveal some differences. A mechanic's tool set is often geared towards mechanical work, such as car repairs and engine maintenance. A home kit, on the other hand, is typically used for everyday, around-the-house jobs like repairing furniture and erecting frames.

Is Hiring a Professional Organizer Worth the Money?

Family Handyman: Professional organizers can help you take back control of messy closets, an out-of-control pantry, and overwhelming clutter. But are their services worth the price? The answer depends on a few different factors, including your personal budget and how much organizing help you need (just one small closet, or the whole house?). And although a professional organizer cost isn’t exactly cheap, they can completely transform your home—in more ways than you might think.

Experience: I was stabbed in the back with a real knife while performing Julius Caesar

Life and style | The Guardian: As someone committed to my craft, I’ve always believed that the show must go on. An accident in my second year of university took it to new extremes. It was the Exeter University theatre society’s annual play at the Edinburgh fringe and I’d landed the part of Cassius in Julius Caesar.

San Francisco Opera has a hit with Huang Ruo's'Monkey King'

Los Angeles Times: San Francisco Opera’s hit new opera, Huang Ruo’s “The Monkey King,” which had its final performance Sunday at War Memorial Opera House, quickly became the hottest show in town, all its performances sold out. It was the talk of the town, an opera with a little something for everyone, an opera that that stands for something culturally, spiritually and ethically.

FluxPose Could Be The Spiritual Successor To Lighthouse Body Tracking

www.uploadvr.com: With Valve itself abandoning its "Lighthouse" SteamVR Tracking system in favor of inside-out computer vision in Steam Frame, the future of VR body tracking is in flux (no pun intended). Computer vision has made setting up VR fast, easy, and portable, all at a lower cost, but cameras on a headset have only a partial view of your body.

Arden Theater explores Martin Luther King's last night in 'The Mountaintop'

The Arts | phillytrib.com: More than a half century ago, on April 3, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. took the stage at Mason Temple, a Black church in Memphis, Tennessee, to deliver what was to become his final speech. His historic “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech, which touched on his own mortality and how the Civil Rights Movement would go on without him, proved to be prophetic.

TCG Fall Forum 2025: Navigating the Long Arc of Change

AMERICAN THEATRE: Change—how to navigate it thoughtfully, how to ignite it courageously, and how to fund it sustainably—was a major topic of discussion at this year’s Theatre Communications Group (TCG) Fall Forum on Governance, Leadership for the Long Arc.

Why synthetic emerald-green pigments degrade over time

Ars Technica: The emergence of synthetic pigments in the 19th century had an immense impact on the art world, particularly the availability of emerald-green pigments, prized for their intense brilliance by such masters as Paul Cézanne, Edvard Munch, Vincent van Gogh, and Claude Monet. The downside was that these pigments often degraded over time, resulting in cracks and uneven surfaces and the formation of dark copper oxides—even the release of arsenic compounds.

Common Problems With The Ryobi Link Modular Storage System (According To Users)

www.slashgear.com: Thanks in no small part to an exclusivity pact with big box home improvement retailer The Home Depot, Ryobi has become a bit of an "it" brand in the power tool arena of late and is often ranked well among the market's most notable manufacturers. So popular has the brand become, we'd wager many of you have at least one Ryobi device tucked away in your garage at this very moment, with the brand's wares earning a solid reputation for producing power and quality at budget-friendly prices.

BEGIN AGAIN Musical Will Premiere in San Diego in 2026 Ahead of Broadway Run

www.broadwayworld.com: The new musical Begin Again, inspired by the Academy Award nominated film written and directed by John Carney, will have its pre-Broadway engagement next year. With an original score by Pat Monahan of the Grammy Award-winning band TRAIN, BEGIN AGAIN will make its world premiere at The Old Globe in San Diego as part of its 2026 season with performances from September 6-October 11, 2026.

Power Tool Batteries & Salt Water Don't Mix, They Explode - Florida Warns Residents As Hurricane Season Continues

www.slashgear.com: We've become increasingly reliant on lithium-ion batteries. In their various shapes and sizes, they can power everything from smartphones to EVs and have proven invaluable for their capacity to charge quickly and efficiently. Sometimes, we barely spare them a thought, beyond plugging in our devices when the display asks us to.

Riggers and Race Car Drivers

Kayt Lucas: I recently had the pleasure of watching the 2013 movie Life on the Edge about the development of safety standards in F1 racing. It was an exhilarating documentary, featuring uncensored footage of a great many crashes and the stories behind them.

Tom Stoppard, 1937 – 2025

New York Theater: Tom Stoppard, 88, an acclaimed author of some three dozen plays, had an extraordinary body of work, and lived an unusual life: Although he was viewed as one of the greatest English-language playwrights of his generation, his first language was not English. Although he was an erudite intellectual and the most cerebral of playwrights, he dropped out of school as a teenager, never attending college.

Oasis Live ’25 tour brings the biggest band of the ’90s back with DiGiCo on monitors

LightSoundJournal.com: Announced two days before the 30th anniversary of Oasis’ debut album, Definitely Maybe, the Oasis Live ’25 tour marks the band’s first live appearances since they acrimoniously split in 2009. The trek, which has crossed the UK, North and South America, Australia, and Asia, was so highly anticipated that it had the serendipitous and unexpected outcome of prompting six of Oasis’ previous LP releases to re-enter the UK charts, one of which even made it back into the top ten.

From Clamshell To Icicle Crown

The Quintessential Clothes Pen: In October, The Footwork & Frolick Society hosted a fairytale themed late 19th century ball. I wanted to wear something fun from my historical wardrobe that I hadn’t worn in awhile and decided on my 1899 Elusive Blue dress. Once the outfit was decided on I had to figure out how that might fit the theme!

Tom Stoppard Wrote Dialogue for Indiana Jones and Obi-Wan Kenobi

The New York Times: Whenever a playwright’s last name becomes an adjective, it’s a pretty clear sign that we the audience have learned what to expect. Terse and incantatory and a bit end-timesy? Beckettian. Terse and sinister and pause-ridden? Pinteresque.

Disney's new theme park lands in Paris get their opening date

www.themeparkinsider.com: The new World of Frozen land will open officially March 29, 2026. It will be the second installation of Disney's Arendelle, following the land's 2023 debut at Hong Kong Disneyland.

Paddington: The Musical review – they’ve looked after this bear quite splendiferously

Musicals | The Guardian: Here is the Peruvian bear as we have never seen him before – or so we are led to believe from the marketing of this musical, which is based on the beloved 2014 film, based on Michael Bond’s beloved books.

Hits buoy Pittsburgh theater community, defying a national pattern

90.5 WESA: How about a little good news from the local theater scene? While it’s too soon to call it a trend, several local troupes staged concurrent hits this fall, defying a national pattern that’s seen audiences stagnate and companies shut their doors.

The British Are Coming ... For American Songwriters Like Dave Grohl

www.forbes.com: Some songwriters, like Dave Grohl, are switching from America’s big song licensing agencies, BMI and ASCAP, to their British counterpart, PRS for Music, at least when it comes to handling song royalties outside of the U.S.

Pittsburgh expert recalls new Hollywood free-expression group's roots

90.5 WESA: The relaunch of Hollywood’s 1940s-era Committee for the First Amendment made national headlines in early October. One person thrilled to hear the news was Kathy M. Newman, a professor of English and media studies at Carnegie Mellon University. Newman has studied the original committee, and in fact is writing a book about its long and perhaps surprising artistic legacy.

NFTRW Weekly Top Five

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

Fragile public art leads to unexpected costs

Boing Boing: Amelia Vanderhorst, 19, was charged with property damage in Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia after applying googly eyes to a local sculpture.

South Park Creators Explain Trump Attacks: Politics Is Pop Culture Now

variety.com: “South Park” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker recently spoke to The New York Times about their decision to turn the latest episodes of their Comedy Central series into full blown Donald Trump takedowns. The show has been criticizing MAGA nonstop in Seasons 27 and 28

Live Nation Study: Fans Choose Live Music Over Sports, Film, Sex

www.ticketnews.com: Live music has officially taken center stage in global entertainment, surpassing sports, film, and even sex as the world’s most preferred form of enjoyment, according to a new report from Live Nation.

Shakespeare By The Numbers: 64 violent deaths, 1,700 new words, 1,800 movie credits

New York Theater: William Shakespeare wrote 37 plays (10 tragedies, 10 histories, 17 comedies) and 154 Sonnets — 884,647 words in all. He is said to have invented 1,700 words in the English language

Fei-Fei Li debuts world-generating AI model

Fast Company: World Labs, the AI model developer cofounded by AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li, has released its 3D-space generating model, “Marble.” At the World Labs website, creators can now input text prompts, images, or videos of pieces of a real-world environment. Marble uses them to create full 3D environments, which can include interior spaces or expansive exterior ones.

 

Live Nation Study: Fans Choose Live Music Over Sports, Film, Sex

www.ticketnews.com: Live music has officially taken center stage in global entertainment, surpassing sports, film, and even sex as the world’s most preferred form of enjoyment, according to a new report from Live Nation.

Lucas Museum of Narrative Art Sets Opening for September 2026

www.hollywoodreporter.com: The new cultural institution designed to celebrate illustrated storytelling, founded by Star Wars creator George Lucas and his wife Mellody Hobson, will open to the public on Sept. 22, 2026. “This is a museum of the people’s art. The images are illustrations of beliefs we live with every day,” said Hobson in a statement making the date announcement. “For that reason, this art belongs to everyone.”

How Artists Are Exploring the Possibilities and Implications of Dance in Space

Dance Magazine: In a performance at the Conference for Research on Choreographic Interfaces this past June, Sasha Peterson leaned the side of her body onto Michael Figueroa’s shoulders, sharing weight in a traditional contact-improvisational lift. But rather than disembark back to the floor, Peterson rolled down Figueroa’s back—and stayed there, her body perpendicular to his, suspended in space.