Tip: Fight Your Way to Breakthroughs

Behance: "Many creative teams believe that their greatest mistakes are made when nobody argues. When you really care about an idea, you are likely to develop an opinion; when multiple people have a strong opinion, you’re bound to disagree - and clash. Your approach to managing the impassioned “fighting” that ensues is a critical factor in your ability to find the best solution. While some people shy away from confrontation, we have found that a healthy dose of tension helps ideas thrive."

Speedy Delivery*

The Tartan Online: "In tribute to Mr. McFeely’s role on the show and his continued appearances as the character, Carnegie Mellon graduates Paul Germain (Heinz ’06), Friedrich Myers (CFA ’03), and Bryan Senti (CFA ’05, Heinz ’06), along with co-producer Stuart Friedel, have created a documentary of Newell’s life. The documentary explores both Newell’s life and his experience as the character Mr. McFeely."

Art: The Giant Laser Clouds of Helsinki

I09:



"The entire city of Helsinki, Finland gets its hot water and energy from the Salmisaari power plant. And now its towering smokestacks are about to become a giant laser light show."

Holographic Water Monster Promotes Movie

Geekologie:



"Sony recently installed this holographic water display in Tokyo to hype the upcoming film Water Horse: Legend of the Deep aka Puff The Magic Water Dragon II."

Crossing Fashion's Thin White Line

WSJ.com: "Earlier this week, fashion designer Peter Som and casting director Jennifer Venditti stood in his office studying five photos of pale, thin teenage girls with dirty-blond hair.
'Weird,' said Mr. Som, scanning the teens in the photos. 'They're all the same.'"

Graying of arts audience a concern

Post Gazette: "Ever look around at the crowd when the lights come up at a live performance around Pittsburgh and get the feeling it seems a little old? No need to adjust your bifocals. Your eyes are not deceiving you."

Super Bowl Intellectual Property Insanity: No Big Screen Super Bowl Parties, Trademarking 19-0

Techdirt: "Last year, we had a story that got tremendous attention about the NFL stopping churches from having Super Bowl parties, if they had a TV that was bigger than 55'. There was a lot of fuss about it, and you would think that, perhaps, the NFL would let it slide this year. Not so."

Art: Screaming Light Show Illuminates Goth Cathedral

I09:



"The York Minster is the largest gothic cathedral in Northern Europe. It's usually dark and gloomy, but at the end of last year, as part of the city-wide Illuminating York iniative, a bunch of artists projected massive neon animation against the facade of the building."

Robots: Georgia Tech to Launch First Interdisciplinary Robotics Ph.D Program

Gizmodo: "he university will begin the program with 15 students, eventually bolstering it to 60, and currently have 30 faculty working in robotics. This announcement goes hand in hand with the launch of Georgia Tech's new center specifically designated for robotics. Maybe Carnegie Mellon should worry about their distinction as the robotics school."

AquaScript paints words onto water

Engadget:



"Apparently, water is all the rage these days if you want to get a message seen. In Tokyo Bay Monster-fashion (sans holographic video monster), a designer named Julius Popp has created a system of displaying moving text and images using falling drops of water, thus creating a kind of virtual billboard that appears to be hovering in mid-air."

The high cost of e-mail autocomplete

CNET News.com: "I've always been leery of Microsoft Outlook's autocomplete feature. That's the one that guesses who you want to send the e-mail to by looking at the first few letters you type.
It's right most of the time."

Beat Blank Page Syndrome: 10 Tricks to Get Your Writing Started

Lifehack.org: "Anyone who writes, whether for school, for work, or for a living knows the scene: you sit there, a blank document open on your computer screen, that little cursor silently (accusingly?) blinking away, and your mind a complete blank. You know overall what you want to say, but how do you get there?"

How to Cope with More of Those Pesky Distractions

Lifehack.org: "Most of the articles you read about dealing with time- and attention-wasting distractions concentrate on avoiding them altogether (shutting yourself away, better organization, better time allocation) or not adding to their number yourself (minimizing responding to e-mails and IMs, filtering phone calls, avoiding gossiping).
This is fine. But what about those that simply get through such defenses: the phone calls you can’t avoid, the personal visits to your desk, the calls from your boss? Are there any ways to deal with those and still keep your mind focused on what you need to be doing?"

Architectural firm disputes convention center report

Post Gazette: "The prestigious architectural firm that designed the David L. Lawrence Convention Center said yesterday it was not to blame for the collapse of a section of loading dock floor at the facility last February."

Spotlight is on Kuntu Theatre

Post Gazette:



"Citiparks' annual observance of Black History Month arrived with a dramatic flair yesterday as Kuntu Repertory Theatre took center stage."

Basic PTM - Estimating Project

DoinMyEstimate (11:41:25 PM): is ripping 1x6 in half an acceptable solution for the rocket flat?

eProf (11:41:40 PM): Hi

DoinMyEstimate (11:42:32 PM): hello

eProf (11:42:40 PM): who is this?

DoinMyEstimate (11:43:00 PM): DoinMyEstimate

eProf (11:43:06 PM): cool

eProf (11:43:17 PM): 1x3 would be standard for this type of construction

eProf (11:43:31 PM): getting that by buying 1x6 and ripping it down would also be standard

DoinMyEstimate (11:43:37 PM): ok

DoinMyEstimate (11:43:39 PM): thanks

eProf (11:43:45 PM): np

Basic PTM - Estimating Assignment

Question:
Hi Dave,
A couple of us from Basic PTM class were confused about some of the elements of assignment one. Is the project summary sheet and description done by each group collectively? Or do we do those elements separately? Any info would be much appreciated!

Answer:
Each pair can turn in one set of paperwork with both names.

db

Stage Review: 'Freeman' celebrates black history

Post Gazette: "New Horizon Theater celebrates Black History Month with Philip Hayes Dean's 'Freeman,' a classic family drama from the 1970s, a sense of which is given immediately by Mark Clayton Southers' homey and detailed set. Southers, who also directs, fills the stage with comfortable but inexpensive furniture, indicating a house well-cared for and very much -- maybe too much -- lived in."

Stage Review: 'Paris' puts ideal love on the spot

Post Gazette: "To an American, the title of 'The 13th of Paris' may have a surreal air, like 'the last of never' or 'westward into morning.' Actually, it refers to a specific place, the 13th arrondissement -- or borough -- of Paris. But the surreal tinge is appropriate for a romantic comedy that plays fancifully with time and space while its young American hero encounters the eternal spirit of Parisian amour."

A curious nudity protest at About Face

Chicago Tribune | Blog: "About Face Theatre has put out a rather curious statement admitting that the playwright Douglas Carter Beane was upset about the lack of full-frontal nudity in its current production of the Broadway comedy 'The Little Dog Laughed.'"

TV's grave new world

Los Angeles Times: "Blame it on the writers strike, but network TV is rushing to embrace cheap and sponsor-friendly unscripted programming that makes gross-out contests look like 'St. Elsewhere.' And leading the way is NBC, the network that for two decades staked its reputation on upscale, high-quality shows such as 'ER' and 'Law & Order.'"

TV's grave new world

Los Angeles Times: "Blame it on the writers strike, but network TV is rushing to embrace cheap and sponsor-friendly unscripted programming that makes gross-out contests look like 'St. Elsewhere.' And leading the way is NBC, the network that for two decades staked its reputation on upscale, high-quality shows such as 'ER' and 'Law & Order.'"

Hollywood on verge of deal to end writers strike

Reuters: "Negotiators for Hollywood studios and striking writers have agreed to terms of a new contract that could be presented to union leaders in days and, if approved, end their three-month-old labor clash later this week, two sources told Reuters on Monday."

Blind, deaf actors take centre stage in Israel

Yahoo! News: "The theatre lights dim and the audience settles into their seats -- usually a cue for the actors to deliver their opening lines. Instead, the Nalaga'at troupe start pummeling and stroking each other's hands."

3D Modeling Application: Drawing a 3D chain

Daily Autocad: "Today we are going to learn how to draw a 3D chain in Autocad. Let me mention first, we will draw the chain in 3D instead of drawing in 2D and moving it. The chain photo in the figure is added to the drawing by Raster-Image command."

Can we survive another strike?

News: Show Business Weekly: "With the Writers Guild of America strike dominating the headlines, leaders at the Screen Actors Guild are haunted by the increasing possibility that the protracted work stoppage could have a negative impact on upcoming SAG negotiations. The actors union, whose contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers expires June 30, is preparing for what could be a fierce battle to secure a fair deal for its 120,000 members."

Disney's musical 'Toy Story' takes to the stage

OrlandoSentinel.com: "The result, set to be announced today by Disney executives, is a multimillion-dollar musical version of Toy Story, the 1995 Disney-Pixar animated film that shrank moviegoers' perspective to the size of Mr. Potato Head and company."

Larissa FastHorse's 'Teaching Disco'

Los Angeles Times - calendarlive.com: "Larissa FastHorse still looks like a ballet dancer: long-limbed and graceful, delicate face framed by dark curls. But after injuries ended her 10-year ballet career -- 'It's a brutal world, there's a lot of blood involved,' she says -- FastHorse turned to TV and film writing.
Now, she's 'coming home' to the theater, gaining notice as a fledgling playwright."

Writers strike a mixed blessing for the theater

Los Angeles Times - calendarlive.com: "If you think it's a drag being fed a bunch of reruns and reality shows because Hollywood's writers are on strike, consider what it means for George Wendt.
With prospects iffy for fresh film and television roles, the former 'Cheers' star just re-upped for six more months in drag on Broadway."

Stage Review: Complex, tasty 'Amadeus' could use a darker heart

Post Gazette: "Imagine a fanciful construct like both an elaborate sacher torte and a chapel of high rococo decoration. That's 'Amadeus,' Peter Shaffer's serio-comic historical drama about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as seen through the eyes of his envious contemporary, Antonio Salieri."

'Zorro' makes mark on West End

Variety: "Zorro is set to swashbuckle his way through a UK tour of a new tuner about the Latin swordsman, with the aim of leaving a mark on the West End."

Source: Breakthrough in Writers Talks

Backstage: "A breakthrough in contract talks has been reached between Hollywood studios and striking writers and could lead to a tentative deal as early as next week, a person close to the ongoing negotiations said Saturday."

WGA, studios frame a deal

Hollywood Reporter: "Clear progress has been marked in informal contract talks between studio execs and striking writers, stoking broad expectations that a tentative agreement may be announced sometime this week."

Hemingway Makes Stage Début, His Intent Intact at Last

The New York Sun: "This seems to be the season for new plays by dead writers. First came Mark Twain's 'Is He Dead?,' freshly dug out of the vault and adapted for Broadway by David Ives. And now the off-Broadway Mint Theater is mounting the first faithful production of 'The Fifth Column,' the only play by Ernest Hemingway."

Streep's Daughter Goes Man-`Hunting,' Plot-Seeking Off-Broadway

Bloomberg.com: Muse Arts: "Looking for decent housing in New York is an endless and enervating process. Give playwright Brooke Berman credit, then, for her play, ``Hunting and Gathering,'' which opened last night at Primary Stages, a company that performs in midtown Manhattan's 59E59 complex."

Hollywood Writers May Be Near Agreement With Studios (Update1)

Bloomberg.com: Muse Arts: "Hollywood writers and studios may be close to reaching a labor agreement and bringing an end to the three-month strike that has put more than 11,000 people out of work."

Spanish turn Anne Frank diary into musical

Yahoo! News: "Spanish producers have turned the life of Anne Frank, the Jewish girl who wrote a diary while hiding from Nazis, into a musical, tearing up the genre's widely held convention of light-hearted, sugar-coated tale."

Is the Writers Strike Nearing an End?

TIME: "The ice appears to be cracking in Hollywood's long, cold winter of picket lines, shuttered productions and canceled award shows. As early as this week, the Writers Guild of America, which has been on strike for three months, may be presented with a new contract. With two key industry events fast approaching — the Academy Awards and TV pilot season — the writers and the studios have had plenty of incentive to return to the negotiating table and get past the rancor that doomed the early talks. Thanks to a deal hammered out by directors, they have also had a road map to a contract."

Carnegie Mellon Steps Up Online Presence

8 1/2 x 11 Newsletter: "With 84 percent of college students on YouTube and 57 million active Facebook users, Carnegie Mellon has stepped up its online game to go beyond www.cmu.edu by adding essential Web 2.0 components like social networking, user-generated content, RSS feeds and podcasts."

Lloyd Webber's 'Wind' blows back

Philadelphia Inquirer: "Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals aren't supposed to go missing for a dozen or so years. They're just too big, too widely discussed, too likely to create a box-office firestorm.
But Whistle Down the Wind, the adaptation of the 1961 film starring Hayley Mills that signified an eagerly anticipated reunion between the composer and his Phantom of the Opera director Harold Prince, disappeared after finishing its 1996 Washington run - until the current season, when it quietly arrived on the road-tour circuit and opens at the Merriam Theater Tuesday in a series of one-week runs across the country."

Sheik breathes life into Broadway

The Denver Post: "'Spring Awakening,' a revolutionary musical written by Sheik and Steven Sater in response to the Columbine massacre, has galvanized young audiences like nothing since 'Rent.' Sheik not only earned two 2007 Tony Awards and a Grammy nomination, he now has more musicals in development, is back on tour promoting his 'White Limousine' CD and is forming a new band with touring mate David Poe."

"Plainsong" laments erosion of family

The Denver Post: "'Plainsong' is the silver spur of a trio of new American plays now being presented simultaneously by the Denver Center Theatre Company. Individually, each works in its own way and for its own audience. Cumulatively, for their risk and diversity and breadth, they make for an emphatic, empirical endorsement of Kent Thompson's grand plan to make his company a national leader in new-play development."

Singer goes under the sea

Journal Constitution: Tituss Burgess, a landlubbing Athens, Ga., native, is pondering the menu at Grand Central Station's famed Oyster Bar. Yet somehow the thought of she-crab soup and lump crabmeat salad is not making his taste buds sing.

Maybe that's because the 28-year-old Broadway actor has such an affinity for the crustaceous character he plays in Disney's recently opened underwater fairy tale, "The Little Mermaid."

Blue Man lawsuit doesn't deter shows from audience antics

chicagotribune.com: "When the fourth wall -- the imaginary one that separates the audience from performers -- is broken down, great things can happen. Or litigation."

The drama of politics

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "For Quantum Theatre artistic director Karla Boos, the second floor of the former Lazarus Department store, Downtown, is the perfect setting for a play about two men attempting to exorcise ghosts both past and present."

Director prefers shock of the new

Variety: "Though she's had a solid reputation for years, Silverman has recently become an Off Broadway fixture. This season alone, she's helming four major productions in Gotham, followed by a buzz-magnet workshop and a world premiere at Los Angeles' Center Theater Group."

'Frankenstein' rethinks its formula

Variety: "Pretty much everyone in the New York theater community believes the $450 'Young Frankenstein' ticket was a producerial blunder.
It turns out producer Robert F.X. Sillerman thinks so too."

A Reporter Finds Drama in Iraqis’ Heartbreak

New York Times: "ONE of the more poignant moments in “Betrayed,” George Packer’s play about a group of Iraqi translators that opens Wednesday at the Culture Project in SoHo, is presented by Intisar, an idealistic young woman employed by the American Embassy in Baghdad."

Kathleen Turner - Crimes of the Heart

New York Times: "WHEN a recording at the Laura Pels Theater recently had Kathleen Turner asking audience members to turn off their cellphones, her mix of sex, gravel and good breeding actually made people turn off their phones. Ms. Turner is making her New York directing debut with a revival of Beth Henley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, “Crimes of the Heart.” The Off Broadway production, which opens on Feb. 14, ran last year at the Williamstown Theater Festival, with Ms. Turner directing and with much the same cast."

A Chorus Line

New York Times: "The dancers and actors who participated in the 1974 recordings and workshops that were the foundation of “A Chorus Line” have been granted a financial interest in the current Broadway revival, according to a joint statement released on Friday by those artists and the beneficiaries of the estate of Michael Bennett, the musical’s creator and original director."

CanStage rattled by shakeup

TheStar.com: "The Canadian Stage Company, which has a stated aim to create and produce the best in Canadian theatre, will not produce any Canadian work on its mainstage next season, industry sources say."

Spat spews a spate of spit and spite

TwinCities.com: "Last September, you might remember, this column was devoted to the creative liberties theater producers sometimes take with their newspaper advertisements; carefully selecting and then reprinting chosen bits of a review to make a bad notice look like a rave.
Last week, something almost the opposite of that occurred.
In last Sunday's Star Tribune, the Guthrie Theater purchased a full-page ad that reprinted - nearly in its entirety - a positive review of its current production of 'Peer Gynt.'
The twist? The review was that of Quinton Skinner, theater critic of the alternative weekly CityPages."

Contract outlined in Hollywood writers strike

Los Angeles Times: "Hollywood's striking writers and major studios have reached the outlines of a new employment contract, resolving key sticking points over how much writers should be paid for work that is distributed over the Internet, people familiar with the negotiations said Saturday."

Changing Skyline: To save the Kimmel, explode part of it

Philadelphia Inquirer: "New York's Lincoln Center is embarking on a major overhaul aimed at making that cultural cloister more welcoming to the public and repairing some of its original architectural missteps. And now, it looks like Philadelphia's Kimmel Center will soon start down the same path.
The big difference, of course, is that Lincoln Center is approaching its 50th anniversary, while the Kimmel was completed barely six years ago. The construction bills haven't even been paid off yet."

The cure for Boston's churning art sector

The Boston Globe: "BOSTON IS experiencing a creative brain drain - a slow exodus of talent that is depriving our cultural scene of many potential bright lights.
A recent Boston Foundation report has taken note of this phenomenon, documenting signs of financial stress among small to midsize arts groups and also the presence of 'churn' - considerable numbers of entries and exits - in the sector."

Parade Float Crushes Man In New Orleans

WRTV Indianapolis: "'Our preliminary investigation reveals that the rider attempted to exit the back of the float prematurely and he fell off the float,' New Orleans Police Department spokeswoman Jeanette Williams said. 'The driver did not know the man had exited or fallen off and was therefore struck by the second, back portion of the float. He was pronounced dead at the scene.'"

Progress reported in hollywood writers talks

MarketWatch: "The leadership of the striking Writers Guild of America and top studio executives have made 'significant progress' on a key issue, people familiar with the matter said, a development that may set the stage for a new labor agreement that would end a nearly three-month-old work stoppage by film and television writers."

Devastating trickle-down effect to the writers strike

Los Angeles Times: "Michael O'Donnell, a leadman and set dresser, had brought a copy of the Hollywood trade paper for his friend, Joe Sabella, a foley artist. On this day in mid-January, the news was that the Directors Guild of America had reached a new contract agreement with the Assn. of Motion Picture and Television Producers -- a deal, it was now hoped, that augured movement toward a settlement between striking writers and the AMPTP.
But for O'Donnell and Sabella -- who are part of that vast and largely forgotten below-the-line class of skilled entertainment industry labor -- the 'peace at last?' question was not greeted just by hope but also a fair measure of cynicism and disillusionment."

Behind The Scenes At USITT

Live Design: "The ESTA Foundation’s Behind the Scenes program is pleased to announce that three companies have already stepped forward as challenge grantors for the Behind the Scenes / Long Reach Long Riders raffle at USITT in Houston: Bigger Hammer Production Services, Sapsis Rigging, and Strong Entertainment Lighting. The grants provide the opportunity for donors to double their contributions, while providing help to colleagues in a time of need."

14th Annual Thea Awards Honor Outstanding Achievement

Live Design: "“The annual Thea Awards recognize and honor excellence in the creation of outstanding visitor experiences, attractions, exhibits and places,” says TEA president Nick Farmer of Farmer Attraction Development, Leicester, UK. “Whatever the continent and whatever the venue,” continues Farmer, “TEA’s Thea Awards have the power to focus international attention on innovation within the Experience Industry. That is why a Thea Award confers great worldwide prestige and is known as the industry’s highest honor.”"

The 2008 Broadway Sound Master Classes Faculty Has Arrived

Live Design: "Abe Jacob, creative consultant for the sixth annual Broadway Sound Master Classes (BSMC) has announced an outstanding faculty of top name sound designers for this year’s classes which include a ticket to see Young Frankenstein on Broadway on Friday evening, May 16, and in depth sessions on Saturday and Sunday, May 17 and 18, at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts, 721 Broadway New York City."

Scholarships open door to study at Entertainment Technology Center

iTWire: "Australian students wishing to pursue careers in the field of entertainment technology can now take advantage of five scholarships on offer from the world renowned Carnegie Mellon Entertainment Technology Center in Adelaide."

Lighting Portfolio Review

Sightlines: "One of the important aspects of the Lighting Commission, and indeed the Institute, is to assure the consistent and pertinent education of the next generation of designers and technicians. To that end, every year at the Annual Conference the Commission sponsors a portfolio review process in which the person to be reviewed, either a student or a professional, presents his body of work to two professionals acting as reviewers"

2008 Rising Star Recipient

Sightlines: "Elisheba Ittoop, a freelance sound designer, is slated to receive the 2008 USITT Rising Star Award, sponsored by LDI2008 and Live Design magazine."

Member Benefit - Conference Employment Service

Sightlines: "USITT's Annual Conference offers a unique opportunity for those seeking employment and those who have positions which need to be filled."

Real food for Real Talk! - Behind the scenes with catering for the R. Kelly show

Connect Savannah: "During six weeks of up to five shows a week, road chef Jeff Schmehl and his HSG Catering crew will travel over 12,000 miles preparing three meals a day on show days for R. Kelly’s Double Up tour. That’s 80 people for breakfast, 120 people at lunch when the local crew is fed, and 100 meals for dinner."

Blanche MacDonald a cut above in hair care training

The Vancouver Sun: "As you become fully proficient in the processes and principles of hair, the emphasis shifts from your role as a student to a hair professional. Fundamental career skills in resumé building, networking, job search techniques are reviewed. In addition, you are provided with expert advice in navigating the complex world of unions (i.e. IATSE and ACFC) with its vast array of standards, requirements and industry etiquette."

Follow a Shakespearean Stagehand

Fame or Famine: "Unfortunately, I’m firmly esconced in the twitterverse, which is why I am able to let you know that the Resident Production Stage Manager for the Shakespeare Theatre Company, M. William Shiner, is “tweeting” about his work."

Stagehand gets financial direction

NY Daily News: "It was a regular day of moving sets and hanging lights for veteran stagehand John Santagata. Then, in an instant, something went wrong.
The 43-year-old from Merrick, L.I., was working at his current job, 'Young Frankenstein,' when a loaded forklift rolled over his left foot."

Carnegie Mellon invites gamers to PeaceMaker

The Peninsula On-line: "Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar will be hosting a five-day PeaceMaker event in which anyone over the age of 18 is invited to play. The event, which started yesterday will run through Thursday. There are 10 computers ready for a diverse group of players to take on the challenge."

Must Watch: Smart People Trailer

FirstShowing.net: "Smart People is going to be the new hit indie comedy, at least I hope. I saw this surprisingly impressive comedy-drama at Sundance, and it's made it very high on my list as one of the best movies of the fest. The story is about a literature professor from Carnegie Mellon University named Lawrence Wetherhold, played by Dennis Quaid, who gets involved in a relationship (with Sarah Jessica Parker) and is dealing with his perfectionist daughter (Ellen Page) and jobless brother (Thomas Haden Church)."

Sundance Review: The Mysteries of Pittsburgh

FirstShowing.net: "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh is the second of two movies from Sundance that were set and filmed in Pittsburgh, a city I spent most of my college years living in (the other movie was Smart People). That alone got me interested in this and I went in looking forward to something funny and cheesy, particularly because of Rawson Marshall Thurber's previous film, Dodgeball. What I discovered was not particularly funny, but rather a very endearing drama with a wonderful score and great characters. It's not anything close to a masterpiece, but Mysteries of Pittsburgh is still a great film."

Sundance Review: Smart People

FirstShowing.net: "Anything with Ellen Page is usually guaranteed to be great, except maybe X-Men 3. Smart People is a surprisingly impressive, remarkably fun, and completely entertaining ensemble comedy. Even though the film is about a professor from Carnegie Mellon University, the college I attended, and was shot on the campus, I wasn't ready for the kind of great dialogue and quirky humor that Smart People is full of. It truly is a smart film with plenty to offer, including Thomas Haden Church's funniest performance since Sideways."

Acclaimed Art School Receives Donation from Breathing Color

PR Web: "On October 16th, 2007, Breathing Color, Inc. of Orange, CA made a charitable donation to the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University. Founded in 1905, the School of Art at Carnegie Mellon was the first comprehensive arts learning institution in the United States and produces some of the world's most outstanding artists, architects, designers, theater artists and musicians."

Conservatory Hour

Conservatory Hour Feb. 4

Liz will be announcing the 2008-09 Season

You won’t want to miss this.

In the Checco Studio A 5:00-6:00pm

$2,000 Scholarship = Pittsburgh Schweitzer Fellows Program

$2,000 Scholarship = Pittsburgh Schweitzer Fellows Program

OPEN TO ALL DISCIPLINES, ALL SCHOOLS

The Pittsburgh Schweitzer Fellows Program cultivates a cadre of professionals to embark on a lifelong path of service. We draw on Dr. Albert Schweitzer’s ethic of “Reverence for Life” and his vision that a wealth of idealism and altruism exists that can be tapped as a powerful instrument against the problems facing the poor and underserved. The Pittsburgh Schweitzer Fellows Program addresses the health needs and well-being of underserved and vulnerable populations throughout the Greater Pittsburgh area. Fellows receive a $2,000 stipend.

Please come to an information session scheduled for:

Wednesday, February 6^th, 5:30 – 6:30pm

College of Fine Art – Room 211

For more information, please contact: Joan Haley, Program Coordinator

(412) 363-0185 ext. 26

Journeys Lectures

CFA Announcements

³Words from the Quiet Axis²
An evening concert-reading of poetry and prose-poetry from the texts of the several major ŒAspects¹ of the ³Quiet Axis² by Lowry Burgess.

³Š Standing in this glare, I set it down but for a moment, in words and marks spun among the dead¹s continued life and among the living¹s bait for death linked together by such love that it may bend down to yield a shadeŠ²

Thursday, February 7, 2008 from 6:30 - 8 pm in the Forum Gallery of the Carnegie Museum of Art.

This event is a Œconcert reading¹ in the Forum Gallery of the Carnegie Museum of Art of essential published and unpublished language-texts from the ³Quiet Axis² by Lowry Burgess. The poetry will be read in front of the specific paintings as if the paintings were speaking the poems related to them.

It will include among other writings: the ³Holographic Glass Book² of the ³Utopic Vessel², the second major Aspect of the Quiet Axis on the deep sea floor of the Pacific Ocean near Easter Island (1978) and the holographic poetic texts of the ³Boundless Cubic Lunar Aperture², the first Non-Scientific payload taken into outer space by NASA in 1989. The evening will also include the first public readings from ³On the Infinite², ³On the Absolute² and ³Memory Forms of the Unmanifest².

Several of these are to be spoken in four languages in different voices, as they were meant as language /sound constructions to address language cultures.

The readers will be:

Professor Stephen Brockmann ­ German

Professor Kenya Dworkin ­ Spanish

Poet Garrett Rosenblatt ­ English

Professor Michael West -- French
____________________

Plastic Poetics
Artist's Talk, February 14, 12:00 pm
Miller Gallery, 1st floor
Ian Finch
http://thediagram.com/5_6/finch.html

Ian Finch (b. 1975, lives and works in Pittsburgh, PA) pushes the boundaries of the written word. Trained and published as a poet, Finch¹s Venn diagrams break rank with traditional forms. Drawn in graphite directly on the gallery walls, Finch¹s visual poetry transforms the space into a large diagram with separate but interconnected installments on each floor.

Plastic Poetics
Curator's Tour, February 21, 12:00 pm
Miller Gallery, 3rd floor
Cara Erskine
http://caraerskine.com

Cara Erskine is the Exhibitions Coordinator at the Regina Gouger Miller Gallery, and her debut curatorial project Plastic Poetics, on view from January 18-February 22, 2008, features the work of artists Ian Finch, Maya Schindler, Sarah E Wood and Colin Zaug.

Cara is an artist and curator based in Pittsburgh, PA. Her paintings and drawings have been exhibited most recently at Front Room Gallery, Cleveland, OH, Tunnel Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA and Jenny Jaskey Gallery, Philadelphia, PA.
__________________

Carnegie Mellon School of Art presents:
The TRANSIT exhibit at the Miller Gallery, opening February 29 5-8 pm.
Student works from Tokyo Zokei University, Kyoto University of Art & Design, and Nagoya Zokei University of Art & Design and Carnegie Mellon University will be represented. This exhibition will fill all three floors of the gallery and be composed of drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, video and new media works as well as site-specific installations created while the artists are here.

Documentation of the traveling TRANSIT exhibition will be published in a brochure produced and underwritten by NZU and The Nomura Cultural Foundation. TRANSIT 2008 opens February 29 with a reception from 5 to 8pm and runs through March 9.
http://millergallery.cfa.cmu.edu/~miller/exhibitions/
____________________

Carnegie Mellon School of Music Presents:

Concert
Saturday, February 9
Contemporary Ensemble
Walter Morales, conductor
Kresge Recital Hall 5 pm

Concert
Saturday, February 9
Eighth Blackbird Sextet
Chamber Ensemble
Kresge Recital Hall 8 pm

Concert
Sunday, February 10
Jazz Vocal Ensemble
Thomas W. Douglas, director
Alumni Concert Hall 6 pm

Senior Recital
Sunday, February 10
Noah Barkan, piano
Kresge Recital Hall 8 pm

Concert
Wednesday, February 13
Jazz Ensembles
David Pellow, director
Carnegie Music Hall 8 pm
Tickets $5/$4 at the door
students free with ID

PGH Events _________________________________________________________________

Carnegie Museum of Art invites public documentation of the Charles ³Teenie² Harris photographic collection as part of Citiparks ³Telling our Stories² exhibit

Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaŠCarnegie Museum of Art joins Citiparks in celebrating Black History Month with an information table and display of images by African American photographer Charles ³Teenie² Harris on Tuesday, February 5, from 6:00­8:00 p.m. The display is part of the opening reception for ³Telling our Stories,² a month-long exhibition on view in the lobby of the City-County Building that features photographs, historical posters, costumes, set pieces, and props from Kuntu Repertory Theatre, the oldest and largest continuing African American performing arts organization in Pittsburgh.

For more information about the Teenie Harris display, call Cecile Shellman at 412.622.5590 or email shellmanc@carnegiemuseums.org. For more information about Citiparks¹ Black History Month activities, call 412.255.2493 or visit www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/parks .
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Friday, February 1, 2008, 8 pm (Special Opening Night Reception) Saturday, February 2, 2008, 8 pm Preserve and Pursue Attack Theatre 412.441.8444 The New Hazlett Theater 412.358.0344 Allegheny Square, Northside Special Opening Night Reception begins at 6:30pm in the lobby featuring authentic Japanese fare and libations, Koto music, and inspired Asian decor.
Meet composers Somei Satoh (Tokyo) and Miyuki Ito (Nagoya) and enjoy the opening night of this world-premiere event.
Attack Theatre proudly presents "Preserve and Pursue" - a dance event featuring the world premiere of newly commissioned scores by esteemed Japanese composers Somei Satoh (Tokyo), Miyuki Ito (Nagoya), and Attack Theatre Music Director Dave Eggar (New York). Ancient myths collide with contemporary images while classic sounds and high-energy physicality coalesce in a passionate look at modern life. Please join us and experience Attack Theatre's expansive choreography, stunning visual imagery and compelling live music.

Tickets: $20 advance; $24 at the door; $15 for students and seniors; and $40 opening night reception including admission to the performance. For more information or to purchase tickets call 412.394.3353 or visit www.ProArtsTickets.org.

Thursdays, January 31, 2008, 7 pm
Point of View Writing Workshop with Sherrie Flick Silver Eye Center for Photography 412.431.1810 Silver Eye Center for Photography, 1015 East Carson Street, South Side These three evenings of generative writing use a current photography exhibition at Silver Eye as a jumping off point to create flash fiction.
Moderator Sherrie Flick is co-founder and artistic director of the Gist Street Reading Series. Reservations required. Limited to 12. Members and students, $15; Non-members, $20. Price is for all three sessions.

January 31 - February 10, 2008
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 8 pm; Saturday and Sunday, 2 pm Thou Shalt Not Point Park University's Conservatory Theatre Company 412.621.4445 Pittsburgh Playhouse, Point Park University Pittsburgh premiere of musical by Susan Stroman, David Thompson and Harry Connick, Jr. Directed by Tome Cousin. Sultry, jazz-infused tale of forbidden love, manipulation and retribution. $24 - $27

Thursday, January 31, 2008, 5:30 pm
Mixer at Elixir
Women In Film and Media 412.973.9799
1500 East Carson Street - Southside
Come and join other members of the film and television industry at this mixer. No pressure, just talking. Free and open to everyone. Networking, munchies and fun are free; Cash bar.

Thursday, January 31, 2008, 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm Last Days Cafe -- Know your resources!
The New Hazlett Theater 412.358.0344
Allegheny Square, Northside
January's gathering will feature five representatives of Pittsburgh's resource networks for individual artists and arts organizations. In addition to casual conversation, you can schedule a brief one-on-one meeting between 7:00 and 8:30 with one or all of the following individuals: Demeatria Gibson-Bocella, Multi-Cultural Arts Iniative; Mac Howison, The Sprout Fund; Justin Lang, Heinz Endowments; David L. Seals, Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council; Germaine Williams, Pittsburgh Foundation. Artists, musicians, writers, dancers, poets, performers, and arts administrators are invited to stop in, enjoy complimentary refreshments and talk about projects, plans, ideas, and interests. Often the key to unique opportunities is discovering who is doing what and interacting regularly with a circle of colleagues who are working creatively. You can preschedule with the above funders by emailing debi@newhazletttheater.org. Free.

Saturday, February 1, 2008, 10am - noon
Talking with....... Elizabeth Rossi - Writer and Executive Producer Women In Film and Media 412.973.9799 University of Pittsburgh, Cathedral of Learning Room G13 We'll talk with Elizabeth Rossi, writer and Executive Producer of All Saints Eve. Free and open to everyone.

February 1 - 17, 2008
Fridays & Saturdays, 8 pm; Sundays, 2 pm The Minneola Twins Open Stage Theatre 412.281.9700
2835 Smallman Street, Strip District
A satirical comedy in "six scenes, four dreams and seven wigs," this play follows Myra and Myrna, nearly identical twin as they battle each other through the Eisenhower, Nixon and Reagan/Bush years over virginity, Vietnam and Family Values. Adults $25-$20, Student and Senior $20-$18. For more information or to purchase tickets call 412.394.3353 or visit www.ProArtsTickets.org.

CFA Announcements

LabA6 Podcast_______________________________________________________________

Listen to Mitch Swain and Dan Martin discuss the economic impacts of the arts community on Pittsburgh. They also reveal how the arts have improved the quality of life in the city. They also tell what arts organizations need to do to reach out to new audiences and the community. Click link:

http://www.cmu.edu/cfa/labA6.html

Listen to Lowry Burgess and Miriam Seidel analyze four Burgess paintings on display at the Carnegie Museum of Art and discuss the influences on the paintings as well as how the paintings are impacting viewers. The paintings are blue prints or visionary portals for Burgess 40-year project, Quiet Axis, which consists of linked projects in Afghanistan, in the Pacific Ocean near Easter Island and in Greece. Click Link:

http://www.cmu.edu/cfa/labA6.html

Events _____________________________________________________________________

Future Tenant
Call for Artists: I-Am-A-Heather
Are you a Heather?

Deadline for submission: February 9th, 2008

People spend many years developing their identities, and this is the opportunity to show off yours. Heather Mallak, the curator of the upcoming I-am-a-Heather show, is seeking artworks created by or about a Heather.

Selected artists will be showcased in both craft and character in digital format including large-scale prints and interactive media.

The I-am-a-Heather exhibition intends to explore the social and psychological relevance and connotations of names. By analyzing artwork by or about Heathers from varying social and geographical climates, everyone is invited to consider the importance and impact of their own first name.

The exhibition coincides with both the April 26, 2008 Gallery Crawl through Pittsburgh's Downtown Cultural District and the Carnegie International opening on May 3, 2008. I-am-a-Heather will engage and interact with Pittsburgh's gallery scene and beyond; expect surprise guests, memorable performances and lots of Heathers!

Heather Mallak has spent 10 years coordinating, collaborating and performing with dozens of local artists to present over 40 multi-level, site-specific pieces in Pittsburgh. In May 2006 Mallak guest-curated "For Those About to Rock," a one-night performance art event at the Mattress Factory that drew hundreds of attendees. Mallak is "looking forward to making connectionswith Heathers across the country and potentially beyond."

So who are the Heathers in your life?

Visit i-am-a-heather.com for details and guidelines.
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Don't forget about Pay It Forward 2: A Special Event Fundraiser!

Future Tenant's second annual fundraiser is coming! Keep your eyes open for more information from Future Tenant about this exciting event of food, drink, and festivities.
SAVE THE DATE: February 29, 2008
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The Carnegie Mellon School of Drama
2008 Winter New Play Festival continues
Feb. 9 and Feb. 10 - Feb. 23

New Works Schedule:

PAST PERFECT/FUTURE TENSE
By John-Paul Nickel
Directed by Allegra Libonati
Jan. 30, 8 PM Feb. 6, 8 PM
Feb. 1 4 PM Feb. 8, 8 PM
Feb. 2 8 PM Feb. 9, 2 PM

TIGHTROPE
By Rob Smith
Directed by Max Montel
Jan. 31, 8 PM Feb. 7, 8 PM
Feb. 1, 8 PM Feb. 8, 4 PM
Feb. 2, 2 PM Feb. 9, 8 PM

GRAE MATTERS
By Carol J. Godart
Directed by Kate Pines
Feb. 13, 8 PM Feb. 20, 8 PM
Feb. 15, 4 PM Feb. 22, 8 PM
Feb. 16, 8 PM Feb. 23, 2 PM

FATI¹S LAST DANCE
By France-Luce Benson
Directed by Dana Friedman
Feb. 14, 8 PM Feb. 21, 8 PM
Feb. 15 8 PM Feb. 22, 4 PM
Feb. 16 2 PM Feb. 23, 8 PM

Admission is FREE. Seating is limited. Tickets are available at the door 1 hour before performance. John Wells Studio Theatre. Purnell Center for the Arts.
For more information contact Rob Smith at resmith@andrew.cmu.edu.

QoLT Industry Panel

The Quality of Life Technology Engineering Research Center has brought together senior industry representatives in the first QoLT Industry Panel where they will share and discuss their experiences about the technologies they've developed to improve quality of life.

The Industry Panel is an opportunity for both students and faculty to network with senior engineers and managers in industry. Industry representatives are looking for research collaborations with faculty.
Students can find employment and internship opportunities. A social networking hour will follow the panel.

We have invited the following industry panel speakers:
*Tom Seder, General Motors Research and Planning
*Soundararajan Srinivasan, Research Engineer for Bosch LLC
*Jeff Pepper, CEO for Touchdown Inc.
*Ela Lewis, Director of Product Management for Myomo
*Dave Aune, Research Director for Seagate

When: Thursday January 31st, 3-5pm
Networking Hour: 5-6pm (with refreshments)
Location: Distributed Education Center at the CIC at CMU
Directions: http://www.ini.cmu.edu/about/dec.aspx

CLO Cabaret adds three more shows

Post Gazette: "Just as it is opening 'The Big Bang' as its new comic musical attraction, the Pittsburgh CLO Cabaret at 655 Penn Ave., Downtown, announces three more shows, already with proven popularity nationwide. Together they make up a four-show, 16-month-long subscription series."

Stage Preview: Harlem theater performs here

Post Gazette: "As you'd expect, the Classical Theatre of Harlem does the Greek and Elizabethan classics. But, based in Harlem, where it grew out of artistic director Alfred Preisser's work at the Harlem School of the Arts, it has a largely African-American audience and also tackles the great black playwrights -- Douglas Turner Ward, Adrienne Kennedy, August Wilson -- and what Preisser calls, 'great plays, not just great black plays.'"

CLO Cabaret will add 3 shows to 2008-09 season

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "A trio of popular, long-running shows are planned for the 2008-09 CLO Cabaret season."

'13th' delves into relationships' intricacies

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "At 90 minutes without intermission, the play, directed by Melia Bensussen, moves along with seamless efficiency and abundant good humor. It's always clear what the issues are and where we are in both time and space."

stage crew members for Passion Play

Craigslist: "Looking for high school/college males for volunteerstage crew positions for America's Passion Play,"

PR problems for 'Frankenstein'

Variety: "Robert F.X. Sillerman wants the legit community to know that he agrees with them: That $450 ticket was a mistake."

No Growth in Film Jobs for Women: Report

Backstage: "Women working in the entertainment industry have yet to break through the 'celluloid ceiling,' making up just 15 percent of those in powerful behind-the-scenes roles, according to a study released Thursday by San Diego State University."

Lerner's permit granted

Hollywood Reporter: "On Tuesday, the Nu Image/Millennium co-topper complained bitterly that the guild was letting his request for an interim work agreement collect dust, perhaps as a payback for his criticism of the writers strike. The next day, the outspoken producer got word that the WGA would be granting him just such a pact, meaning that Lerner could get back into development with a slew of projects and reshoot some scenes for the Robert De Niro-Al Pacino starrer 'Righteous Kill.'
Company executives signed off on the deal Thursday."

Danger! Theatre can affect your health

Guardian Unlimited: "One of my earliest theatre-going memories is of a performance of Toad of Toad Hall which was halted during the final battle for Toad Hall when one of the actors hurtled off the stage and into the orchestra pit and had to be carted off to hospital. Over the years, I've seen actors suffer a number of accidents on the job, most of them minor. But it seems that being a member of the audience is becoming more hazardous too. In Chicago last week, a lawsuit was filed against the Blue Man Group by an audience member who claimed that a camera was forced down his throat - causing damage to his oesophagus - during a piece of audience participation that has been part of the show in performances all over the world."

Theater review: 'Alice' experiments at UCF

Orlando Sentinel: "You could compare the making of Alice Experiments in Wonderland, at UCF Conservatory Theatre, to the attempt to scale an especially high mountain. You do it because you can.
Doing it because you can, though, may work better for mountains than for theater, where a piece like Alice Experiments in Wonderland — a technological challenge in which three university theater departments collaborate on a show in real time — does a whole lot more for the folks onstage than it does for those of us out in the house."

Britney's life made into ballet

BBC NEWS: "Meltdown, by the Rambert Dance Company, has its premiere at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall on Friday. It portrays Spears as she fends off the paparazzi, shaves off her hair and is carried off on a stretcher."

The Maddening Truth

New York Times: "It is one of the myths of the profession that inside every journalist there is a great novel struggling to get out. For Ernest Hemingway, the myth became a reality. For Martha Gellhorn, Hemingway’s third wife, the struggle was her life story. In “The Maddening Truth,” a new play being staged by the Keen Company at the Clurman Theater, David Hay makes a case that Gellhorn ultimately won the battle."

Kate Burton - Spring Awakening

New York Times: "EARLY in the first act of “Spring Awakening,” the hit Duncan Sheik musical about teenage lust in 19th-century Germany, Kate Burton throws open her blouse, revealing a lacy, low-cut corset, and does a bouncy, hoochie-coochie dance into the face of her young co-star, Gerard Canonico. She looks as if she’s having a lot of fun. (So does he.) But not as much fun as in the last scene, when Ms. Burton — a Serious Thespian herself and the daughter of another, Richard Burton — sings and dances in a buoyant group number."

Spend a 'Hard Days Night' in Liverpool

Marketplace: "A new Beatles-themed hotel opens today in Liverpool. Hoping to appeal to the group's global fanbase, The Hard Days Night Hotel has a John Lennon suite and 9-foot statues of the band members outside. Alex McRae has more."

Theater community should watch out for overindulgence

ReviewJournal.com: "The theater community has a drinking problem. It's unfair, we know, to put any more blame on it than any other sector, since alcohol abuse is everywhere. But there's something about performing that encourages overindulgence."

Soldiers from Fighting 69th brought in as advisers for new Off-Broadway play

NY Daily News: "When the producers of a new Off-Broadway play about serving in Iraq needed help making it realistic - they called in the troops.
Soldiers from Manhattan's legendary Fighting 69th worked as advisers to help the director and playwright of 'SAND,' which opens in previews Friday, understand what war is really like."

Classical Theatre of Harlem visits with Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death.

Pittsburgh City Paper - Pittsburgh: "Whatever you might imagine a group called Classical Theatre of Harlem to be, there's a good chance the company's résumé defies it."

Attack Theatre tracked some far-flung collaborators for Preserve and Pursue.

Pittsburgh City Paper - Pittsburgh: "Attack Theatre, led by Michele de la Reza and Peter Kope, has cemented a reputation as one of Pittsburgh's most theatrically uninhibited performance companies. Its body of dance-based works ranges from intimate duets to vast investigations involving everyone from small children in outreach programs to grand institutions like the Pittsburgh Opera. In the group's upcoming premiere, Preserve and Pursue, the frame of reference widens further, with resurrected older material joining fresh artistic collaborations."

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Pittsburgh City Paper - Pittsburgh: "He's dressed in a white loincloth and a pair of flimsy sandals. There's a studded dog collar around his neck and a look of anticipation on his face.
She's wearing a skin-tight black dress and thigh-high leather boots. She leads him around on a leash. There's a look of excitement on her face.
The audience oohs and aahs.
Porno in Pittsburgh?
Think again."

Journey of the Spirits

Pittsburgh City Paper - Pittsburgh: "My relationship with black gospel music (which I love) is problematic. The church and its music has helped sustain blacks through 400 years of virulent American racism ... and I, privileged Caucasian that I am, feel like a carpetbagger every time I listen to a Mahalia Jackson CD. Complicating the matter is my own take on God. It's hard to imagine someone less religious than me. No, that's too polite: It's hard to imagine someone who hates religion more than me. And not just religion, but the very notion of faith, surely the most life-negating concept of all time. Consequently, poor old Mahalia doesn't make it on to my iTunes playlist as often as she should."