CLEAR-COM® ANSWERS PRAYERS FOR CROSSINGS COMMUNITY CHURCH

Briefing Room on SVConline: "On any given Sunday, Crossings Community Church of Oklahoma City, OK, serves its 4,000 plus member congregation in three services led by Senior Pastor Marty Grubbs with music provided by a 120-piece chorus and a full orchestra, all of which are networked via world-leading intercom provider, Clear-Com®."

Brookfield Academy Student Builds Portable Tech Booth for Theatre

Stage-directions: "Neutrik, designer and manufacturer of the XX series XLR cable connector, recently donated a variety of its connectivity products to Brookfield Academy student, Joey Steven, to help him create a new portable tech booth for the Academy’s theare. The theatre’s tech booth project consists of a sound board and light board desk, a wireless microphone tower with belt pack recharging drawers, and a computer recording pod that was equipped with a custom built hydraulic monitor lift."

PlayPenn Announces Playwrights for 2008 New Play Development Conference

Stage-directions: "PlayPenn, Philadelphia's professional new play development organization, will hold its fourth annual New Play Development Conference on July 13-July 27 at both the Adrienne Theater and the Playground in Philadelphia."

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICALS… THE REAL DEAL

Briefing Room on SVConline: "Each spring for the past twelve years, Memorial High School chemistry teacher and long-time theatre-buff Steven Hempel has directed the schools’ annual musical production. Carousel, Guys And Dolls, Pajama Game… the list reads like a ‘Best of The Tony Awards’ salute. However, through all those stellar productions, Hempel has constantly wrestled with one nagging problem – flawed audio."

'Nailed' dodges bullet with funding deal

Hollywood Reporter: "David O. Russell's political comedy 'Nailed' will resume filming Wednesday thanks to a late-breaking financing deal with Comerica Bank and the film's financier, Capitol Films. Key cast members, including Jake Gyllenhaal, Jessica Biel and Catherine Keener, were en route to the South Carolina set Tuesday to begin shooting the next day."

Tamalewood Works

Zane's World: "It looks like higher education will stay at the College of Santa Fe (at least in some form; more on that next week), but which industries are developing our workforce? The city and Santa Fe Community College continue to do good work with certificate programs for sustainable energy industries, but the real standout is the New Mexico Film Office."

Truss for Pageant Collapses, Injuring Two

PLSN: "Truss loaded with lights and drapery buckled and fell June 2, injuring two Pratt youths, according to news reports. The truss had been erected in preparation for the Miss Kansas Pageant."

How a little hamlet near Lindsay is keeping the flagging film industry alive in Ontario

TorontoSun.com: "It's difficult to believe this hamlet of 250 people on the way to Lindsay on Hwy. 35 could represent the future of Canadian movie-making!"

Stage review: Venerable 'Odd Couple' shows some surprises

Post Gazette: "Several things surprised me about the 'The Odd Couple,' which closes the Pittsburgh Public's season and is its first-ever staging of one of those workhorses of American theater, the Neil Simon comedy."

When George Antheil Met Hedy Lamarr (A True Story)

NYTimes.com: "The American composer George Antheil, the Bad Boy of Music, as he titled his 1945 autobiography, is best known for a jackhammer of a piece he wrote in Paris in his mid-20s, “Ballet Mécanique.” It was originally conceived as a 25-minute score to accompany a Dadaist silent film by Fernand Léger and Dudley Murphy. The music was supposed to be performed by 16 synchronized player pianos, but Antheil could never figure out how to get the pianos to play in sync. A concert version for a roster of percussion instruments including an airplane propeller was introduced in Paris in 1926."

Worker dies in accident after wrestling event in Southaven

WMC-TV: "The accident happened Sunday night around 11pm, shortly after a televised wrestling event had concluded. Officials said a group of men was working to break down a metal backdrop, which was about 15 to 20 feet off the ground, when a scaffolding collapsed."

Command:_EXTRUDE

Daily Autocad: "Let us first remember what EXTRUDE command is before going into detail. This information provides you to better understand the use of EXTRUDE command. The definition of EXTRUDE can be put in this way: Forcing to flow a pre-heated metal or plastic material in high pressure through a mold which is constructed for forming an target object."

Hottest venues at this year's arts festival really H-O-T

Post Gazette: "The 10 discarded shipping containers that line Forbes Avenue between Market Square and Stanwix Street as 'immersive art experiences' seemed a cool idea when festival officials decided to introduce them to the city this year as part of an answer to limited exhibition venues."

Hollywood actors unions at war with each other

Reuters: "While SAG bills the event as a 'solidarity' rally, some members are expected to use the gathering to speak out against the new primetime/TV contract that its sister union the American Federation of Telvision and Radio Artists (AFTRA) will be sending to members for ratification."

Villazon, Hytner Pair in `Don Carlo' at Royal Opera

Bloomberg.com: Muse Arts: "Tickets were changing hands for 900 pounds ($1,777) on the Internet. The Royal Opera foyers crackled with anticipation. Nicholas Hytner's new production of ``Don Carlo'' was clearly going to be the highlight of the London music season."

Edward Albee Talks About Dead Artist Pal Nevelson, Bette, Cat

Bloomberg.com: Muse Arts: "If, as playwright Edward Albee says, he can talk to his cat -- ``and she talks to me'' -- how much of a stretch is it really to chat with Louise Nevelson, the Ukrainian-born American sculptor who died in 1988?"

Arts: No drama without a crisis

Scotsman.com Living: "The age-old battle cries about the Edinburgh Festival Fringe being too risqué (from bestiality to bible bashing, take your pick) have been joined in recent years by growing fears that the once spontaneous has become too commercial. Competition from Manchester, Brighton and other global counterparts has caused alarm."

Theater in Denver: Strengths and weaknesses

The Denver Post: "Colorado has 97 theater companies that have produced at least one play in the past 12 months, a statistic that usually engenders such disbelief from outsiders, I've taken to just keeping the list handy. Only about half present full seasons, but, all told, our theaters produce about 400 works per year, drawing more than 1.5 million patrons and $50 million in revenue."

AFTRA's Tentative Pact Brings Labor Issues into Focus

Backstage: "On May 28 at around 4 a.m. Pacific time, producers reached a tentative agreement on a new network prime-time television contract with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Six hours later, they resumed their second round of negotiations with the Screen Actors Guild on a new TV and film deal. Talks between the guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers broke off May 6, largely over new-media issues."

Writers' Strike Cost Calif. $2.1 Bil.

Backstage: "The recent Hollywood writers' strike tipped California into a recession, resulting in a loss of $2.1 billion to the state economy and costing 37,700 jobs, the Milken Institute said in a research report."

Patrick Stewart, $251 Tickets Brew `Macbeth' Profit

Bloomberg.com: Muse Arts: "Playing just 63 performances on Broadway, an acclaimed, brutal production of ``Macbeth'' starring Patrick Stewart earned its producers a cauldron full of money."

Wicked producer to hold town hall meeting on green theater

ecoTheater: "The meeting will feature Dr. Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and hailed in the press release as an “environmental adviser to the Oscars, the Grammys, Major League Baseball and the NBA.”"

Scribd Launches New Feature to End Email Attachments «

Web Worker Daily: "Scribd is a document hosting service that we’ve touched on before that allows users to bring their documents into their online service for viewing and later use. Scribd recently launched a service called iPaper@Scribd that is aiming to do away with annoying email attachments by granting users the ability to convert documents to the company’s iPaper format."

10 Tips for Working with the Not-So-Tech-Savvy «

Web Worker Daily: "It’s easy to forget that the average web worker’s skills and knowhow is quite specialized, even though Internet use is growing gradually over the years. Your colleagues might have Facebook accounts, but do they know how to use it for networking? Likewise, a client may have an existing website, but have they maximized its potential? You might have been brought in to deal with the tech issues, or you may have some ideas on how to make things work better."

The Week in Tools: Toolmonger Top 5

Toolmonger: "It’s been a busy week here at Toolmonger. If you’ve been spending time in the shop — you should! — and you haven’t had a chance to keep up with Toolmonger this week, we suggest you start with these posts, which our readers helped to select"

Ballet fined $3,500 for panda suit fall

ajc.com: "The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited the Atlanta Ballet for exposing dancers to the risk of falling into an empty orchestra pit during performances of 'The Nutcracker' at the Fox Theatre.
OSHA fined the ballet $3,500 for failing to have a guard rail or equivalent system while the pit was lowered. OSHA described the violation as 'serious' in a letter to the ballet, dated May 30."

A Free Multi-User Time Tracker «

Web Worker Daily: "TrackMyPeople offers direct time entry, online timers, or time-entry widgets for Windows or Linux (an OS X widget is promised soon). It’s especially strong in reporting, offering multiple views of your cumulated time over various time periods, including fancy graphs."

Greensburg troupe makes 'Books Come Alive'

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Students from Greensburg's Stage Right performing troupe are taking their shows on the road.
The group will perform a series of plays based on children's books at area libraries. The programs are performed with the purpose of bringing attention to the joys of reading."

'Take Me Out' focuses on second chances

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Baseball, our most American sport, becomes the playing field for Richard Greenberg's examination of democracy, racism, celebrity, sexuality and discrimination.
The focus of Greenberg's Tony Award-winning play 'Take Me Out' is baseball superstar Darren Lemming, the young, rich, biracial, talented and handsome centerfielder of the world-champion New York Empires professional baseball team."

'Odd Couple' is textbook comedy

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "The Pittsburgh Public Theater's production of Neil Simon's 'The Odd Couple' is a dependably funny comedy that offers frequent and abundant laughs."

Shows enhanced when space is just right

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "But there's another element that's often overlooked. The space in which you see a show performed can affect the success or failure of a production.
Call it the Three Bears Syndrome.
Just as shoes can be well made and attractive but pinch when they're too small, and hats can be beautiful and well-crafted but uncomfortable if they're too big, performance spaces can be too big or too small for a specific play."

Oskar Eustis Finds Sun and Clouds at the Public Theater

NYTimes.com: "The bearish and engaging Mr. Eustis, 49, is finishing his third season as artistic director of the Public, one of the most demanding jobs in the theater universe. The theater’s mission, as defined by its founder, Joseph Papp, is nothing less than “a theater for all New Yorkers.” For Papp that meant an institution that was as accessible to as many as possible, that engaged directly with the social and political issues of the day and that reflected the wide cultural, ethnic and economic diversity of New York on its stages and in its audiences."

Infamous Carolina Rogue, Bloody Blackbeard, Sings in New Musical June 8-July 6

Playbill News: "Following its premieres of two Appalachian mountain-set musicals in earlier seasons, Triad Stage in Greensboro, NC, draws on lore of the Carolina coast for its new homegrown musical, Bloody Blackbeard, beginning previews June 8."

AFTRA sends deal to members

Hollywood Reporter: "AFTRA's national committee on Friday 'overwhelmingly' voted in favor of the tentative primetime/TV agreement reached with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers last month. The contract now goes to its 70,000 members for ratification."

SAG's ploy has AFTRA brass furious

Hollywood Reporter: "In the meantime, AFTRA president Roberta Reardon plans to meet with AFL-CIO leader John Sweeney to discuss the clash between the two actor unions, which intensified Friday when SAG's national executive board voted 13-10 to spend $75,000 on educating members about the AFTRA deal."

Stage Preview: Production of 'Take Me Out' swings for the seats

Post Gazette: "The space on the ground floor at 131 7th St., Downtown, is large and empty. Creating a theater space with lights, seating and a stage area that can suggest a baseball diamond and support functional showers has been a challenge. Showing it off, Jordan says they 'begged, rented, borrowed and stole' everything for what he calls a 'massive set,' necessary because of the plumbing for real showers."

Touring shows top $1 billion

Variety: "Despite the sub-prime mortgage crisis and four-buck gas, the 2007-08 road season posted substantial gains over the prior year, bringing home more than $1 billion in revenues. According to figures compiled by the Broadway League, this season's road take was $1,000,066,000, up about 14% from last year's $935,000,000."

'Brokeback Mountain' takes to stage

Variety: "Slated to premiere in the 2013 spring season, the work will be Pulitzer-winning composer Wuorinen's second commission for City Opera, following the 2004 premiere of 'Haroun and the Sea of Stories,' based on the Salman Rushdie novel."

Abroad - A Festival in Baden-Baden Finds Freedom by Courting Donors

NYTimes.com: "And there you had it. The trans-Atlantic gulf. The very notion of hitting up private companies and rich people for money, of setting up boards of trustees and answering to them, the way American cultural organizations do, appalled this director’s European sense of entitlement."

Secret Service questions artist over 'assassination' display

McClatchy Washington Bureau: "Artist Yazmany Arboleda was working Wednesday morning to open an installation piece called 'The Assassination of Hillary Clinton/The Assassination of Barack Obama.' But before the exhibition opened, police officers and Secret Service agents descended upon Arboleda's makeshift gallery in New York City. Building workers covered the exterior windows with blue masking tape and brown paper."

Carnegie Museum of Art to lose director

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Richard Armstrong, director of the Carnegie Museum of Art, today announced his intention to retire from the museum at the end of the year."

LisaGay Hamilton Stars in World Premiere of Barfield's Of Equal Measure

Playbill News: "Michael T. Weiss, Christian Campbell, LisaGay Hamilton and Lawrence Pressman are among cast members in the world premiere production of Tanya Barfield's Of Equal Measure, June 29-July 27 at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles."

Stage Preview: Production of 'Take Me Out' swings for the seats

Post Gazette: "Patrick Jordan looks excited and tired, the way he might while battling the 'hands down' most elaborate production in the six years of his modest but edgy guerrilla theater, barebones productions."

Stage Review: Broadway stars sizzle in 'Color Purple'

Post Gazette: "The musical of 'The Color Purple' movingly captures the spirit, both human and divine, of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and Steven Spielberg's popular film. It's the story of Celie's journey, not just as she finds her own voice and self-worth, but of her desertion of and return to God. Walker tracks that journey in a series of letters Celie writes to God. The musical, with music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray, begins with Celie's prayer for understanding and ends with a resounding 'Amen.'"

There's nothing criminal about 'The Heist'

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Police are present at public events for good reason, but even they won't be able to prevent a crime from being repeated six times over this weekend and next at the Three Rivers Arts Festival."

Strong cast leads powerful 'Color Purple'

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "It's a thoroughly well-supported and well-acted production that honors the spirit and intent of Alice Walker's classic 1983 novel while downplaying some of the more graphic and violent excesses of Steven Spielberg's 1985 film."

Flatwoods serves up tea, mystery with 'Mousetrap'

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Flatwoods Productions serves up a classic British whodunit and high tea complete with scones and other proper English desserts for its first production of the summer season."

AFTRA's Tentative Pact Brings Labor Issues into Focus

Backstage: "On May 28 at around 4 a.m. Pacific time, producers reached a tentative agreement on a new network prime-time television contract with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Six hours later, they resumed their second round of negotiations with the Screen Actors Guild on a new TV and film deal. Talks between the guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers broke off May 6, largely over new-media issues."

China's SAT, if the SAT lasted two days, covered everything you'd ever studied, and decided your future

Slate Magazine: "For China's 31st annual National College Entrance Exam, which takes place on the first Thursday and Friday of June, at least 10 million Chinese high-school students have registered to sit the gaokao, as it is colloquially known. They are competing for an estimated 5.7 million university spots."

Minor Accident Occurs On Hannah Montana Film Set

Access Hollywood: "According to WKRN in Nashville, a projection screen was blown into a Ferris wheel, which children were riding during filming of a scene for the movie on Tuesday."

4 Tips for Juggling Multiple Projects «

Web Worker Daily: "As we’ve pointed out before, independent web workers often have patchwork careers. While it would be nice to only have one project needing attention, the reality is that we need to juggle together multiple projects with overlapping deadlines for many clients. Depending on the workload and your personality, this can be either exhilarating or oppressive."

Tritsch recovering from injuries

Pratt Tribune: "Ryan Tritsch had surgery on his left ankle to repair tendon damage from injuries suffered following the collapse of a lighting truss at the Miss Kansas Pageant stage setup Monday morning. Tritsch was a volunteer worker for the Pageant."

'Bodies' exhibition puts grants to Carnegie in jeopardy

Post Gazette: "The science center grant, an annual allotment, is part of House Bill 2327, which is part of the 2008-09 state budget. The bill also contains an identical grant of $254,000 for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and that grant might also be in danger."

'Invasion' puts Mount Pleasant on the silver screen

Post Gazette: "The average budget of a studio picture is $65 million. The average budget of an independent film is around $3 million.
So what does it take to make a full-length movie with a whisper-thin budget of $1,000?
It takes a village."

Studios may owe actors over writers strike

Los Angeles Times: "The writers strike may have ended four months ago, but the studios still have checks to write -- at least according to actors.
Because of an obscure provision in the contract between the Screen Actors Guild and the Hollywood studios, hundreds of actors could be owed more than $10 million in back pay as a result of being thrown out of work when the writers strike shut down TV production last year."

Paul Sills, a Guru of Improv Theater, Dies at 80

NYTimes.com: "As a founder and resident director of a series of small theater companies that began in bars, former bakeries and Chinese restaurants in Chicago, Mr. Sills taught an approach to theater that would later feed directly into the creation of “Saturday Night Live” and influence a range of artists including David Mamet and Richard Foreman. Under Mr. Sills’s direction, performances were based on games, audience suggestions and bare-bones scenarios, the basic building blocks of improv comedy."

NEED PHOTOSHOP HELP ASAP

Craigslist: "i am looking for someone who can help design and customize my pictures for an upcoming calendar project."

'Boys' shuffle fuels rumors

Variety: "Chatter about the possible scuttling, or at least delay, of the show's summer 2009 run circulated when word got out that cast members' agents were getting calls saying Toronto dates weren't firm."

Stage Review: Complex drama drives 'Eastburn Avenue'

Post Gazette: "It's impossible not to take sides in the poignant family drama of 'Eastburn Avenue,' a new musical by Pittsburghers Marcus Stevens and Douglas Levine having its world premiere at Playhouse Rep."

Witness recalls Drabinsky's keen interest in Livent auditor

TheStar.com: "A former Livent accountant insists that theatre impresario Garth Drabinsky ordered him and newly hired finance executive to make sure outside auditors checking the company's books for a U.S. buyer didn't find any evidence of fraud."

Second City Founder Paul Sills Dies

WSJ.com: "Paul Sills, one of the founders of the improvisational comedy group 'The Second City,' which has turned out some of America's best-known comedians, died Monday. He was 80."

New York's film, TV incentives could tax L.A.'s economy

Los Angeles Times: "A dramatically expanded state tax credit for film and television productions has made New York a more appealing shooting locale than ever, bringing a wave of projects into the city this summer. Barring an actors strike, local soundstages expect to have more demand than they can fill in the coming months."

Singapore stages a renaissance

The Australian: "The voices of discontent were not political - Singapore does not have a strong opposition force - but came from the media, business and the establishment. How could the government justify such a costly development when so few people cared about the arts? Which local companies could hope to fill the vast 2000-seat theatre?
More to the point, who was the audience?"

Murney and More Teach Diva Master Classes

(BroadwayWorld.com): "Transport Group, the winner of 2007 Drama Desk and Obie awards, will offer the Diva Master Classes, its second series of master classes taught by some of the biggest divas in Broadway musicals. Jack Cummings III, the company's artistic director, announced that classes begin June 30."

Universal Studios fire sparked by blow torch

Reuters: "The blaze erupted before dawn on Sunday in a portion of the lot containing exteriors used to resemble a New York City streetscape. It reduced a two-city-block area of the lot to ashes and burned through much of the adjacent Courthouse Square set that has appeared in such films as 'Back to the Future' and 'To Kill a Mockingbird.'"

Movie studios reviewing their fire-prevention plans

Los Angeles Times: "Sunday's fire at Universal Studios Hollywood is prompting other film studios to re-evaluate their strategies. Some have already been taking preventive measures over the years."

Marshall, team leave 'Nice Work'

Variety: "Director-choreographer Kathleen Marshall and a team of producers have withdrawn from 'Nice Work if You Can Get It,' the Broadway-bound Gershwin tuner starring Harry Connick Jr."

Stage Review: In the Presence of Alan Stanford and Oscar Wilde

Post Gazette: "Yesterday afternoon, Alan Stanford kept an audience of about 300 entertained with an hour-long biographical survey of Oscar Wilde stuffed with a rich array of his aphoristic wit and wisdom; then, after an intermission, he stirred us for a second hour with the tragedy of Wilde's martyrdom at 46, killed by moralistic hypocrisy."

PG plans theater tour to Canadian festivals

Post Gazette: "The Post-Gazette's annual Critics Choice theater tour by motorcoach to Canada's Shaw and Stratford festivals heads northward July 9-13.
At the Shaw Festival, in the picturesque town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, just a half-hour beyond Niagara Falls, we'll stay at the pretty Pillar & Post Inn."

'Color Purple' takes audience on incredible journey

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "In 2005, the Independent Presenters Network, in which Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera is a partner, brought 'The Color Purple' to Broadway in a musical adaptation that received 10 Tony nominations and played for 910 performances.
Beginning Tuesday, the national touring company of 'The Color Purple' arrives at the Benedum Center for a two-week stay as the opening show for the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera's 2008 summer season."

Feature Film seeks INTERNS for credit

Craigslist: "Gain excellent experience and onscreen credit working with top A-list cast and crew on a feature film with worldwide distribution shooting in the Pittsburgh area."

Wedding Event Coordinator $300

Craigslist: "The wedding is complete, just need someone to manage the day."

For Actors and Audiences, Smoking Can Be a Drag

washingtonpost.com: "Ever since 2003 when New York City banned smoking in enclosed public spaces, theater directors have been walking a thin line between artistic freedom and legal necessity. Under a special exemption for the arts, theaters are allowed to use tobacco-free cigarettes -- usually sweet-smelling herbal cigarettes."

What's up with the Shubert Theater?

MPR: "The group that is renovating the Shubert Theater in downtown Minneapolis has modified its plans for the long awaited facility. It's also pushing back its opening date by more than a year. Officials at Artspace say the modifications will help contain costs, even though the cost of the project is going up, and ensure the Minnesota Shubert Center will be the state's flagship venue for dance."

Fire Devours Sets at Universal Studios

Backstage: "A massive fire raged on a back lot at Universal Studios Inc. on Sunday, devouring several movie sets, including mock New York and New England States streets. There were no immediate reports of injuries."

For Here, Owning Space Is Where It's At

Backstage: "A project like this 'will take a lot longer than you would expect,' says Kim Whitener, producing director of the Here Arts Center, which will celebrate its grand reopening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday. 'There are many layers of complexity' to what Here did, says Whitener, 'and there are always a series of revelations.'"

Probe in Universal Studios Fire Points at Sprinkler System

eFluxMedia: "A huge blaze broke out on a lot at Universal Studios in Los Angeles this morning alerting over 300 firefighters who tried to stop the fire, which already destroyed a building and threatened the studio's film vault. Apparently, the fire started at around 4 a.m. Sunday morning on a sound stage on a back lot."

How to Admit Your Mistakes

Stepcase Lifehack: "The problem with dodging the bullet is that the bullet is still flying, and still needs to be dealt with — if you dodge it, then it will probably hit someone else. “Whew!” Except not; if you’ve pinned your reputation on your ability to do the job, whatever the job, right, then the failure is still going to stick to you. Plus, you’ll have lost the trust of the people around you, especially the ones who ended up paying for your mistakes, whether by taking the blame or cleaning up the mess. Or, in the worst case, you’ll have distracted enough attention that the mess doesn’t get cleaned up at all."

Lights collapse on Pageant stage, injuring two

Pratt Tribune: "Two Pratt youths were injured Monday morning when a light truss supporting most of the lights and drapes at the Miss Kansas Pageant collapsed onto the stage, floor and bleachers in Dennis Lesh Sports Arena."

Who Cares Whose Footprints Those Are In The Sand... The Real Question Is Who Gets The Copyright?

Techdirt: "You've probably come across the infamous 'footprints in the sand' poem at some point in your life. It's hard to avoid. It's usually used as a religious parable about having God/Jesus/something 'supporting' you during the toughest period in your life. For many years, it was attributed to 'anonymous' and found on all sorts of kitschy merchandise. Except, at some point, with all that merchandise, people started to realize that there may be money in 'owning' such a poem, and suddenly, out of the woodwork, approximately a dozen different folks have shown up to claim authorship -- with a few filing for the copyright, and a legal battle now ensuing. If you thought the saga over the Happy Birthday copyright was confusing, you haven't seen anything yet."

Production: The Lion King (WIT #270)

AmericanTheatreWing: "The Lion King production team — press representative Chris Boneau, composer Lebo M, advertising representative Rick Elice, producers Peter Schneider and Thomas Schumacher, and director, costume and mask designer Julie Taymor — talk about the development of the animated film, the subsequent development of the theatrical show led by Taymor’s vision, forming a creative design team, merging Western and African music into a unique collaborative sound, the publicity and advertising challenges, and marketing a nearly sold-out show for a long run."

Gore's 'Truth' warms to opera

Variety: "Al Gore's book and bigscreen warning on climate change, 'An Inconvenient Truth,' is being made into an opera.
Italo composer Giorgio Battistelli's interpretation will play at Milan's Scala in 2011."

Bad Meat, indeed

Uptown Magazine Online: "It would probably be a good lead if I said that things sounded ominous the moment I heard the news that zombie flick, Bad Meat, was coming to town to shoot.
But actually, for several of my Chinatown film-technician neighbours, the offshore production was heaven-sent employment."

Sapsis Award Winners Speak Out

USITT Sightlines: "For the past several years Sapsis Rigging Entertainment Services, Inc. and President Bill Sapsis have supported professional development of USITT student members with Sapsis Rigging Professional Development Awards. This year, Mr. Sapsis provided awards for three students who were attending the two-day Stage Rigging Professional Development Workshop held before the start of the 2008 Annual Conference in Houston, Texas."

2008 Conference a Success

USITT Sightlines: "With higher paid attendance than ever before, USITT's 2008 Annual Conference & Stage Expo was a record-setting and innovative event which drew thousands to the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas."

USITT Issues Challenge Grant for ETCP Support

Stage-directions: "The Entertainment Technician Certification Program announces that the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) has put forward a generous challenge grant of $50,000 over the next five years in their continuing support of the program. USITT has played a key role in the development of the certification program, both through their financial support and their active participation on the ETCP Council."

Geffen Playhouse Managing Director Stephen Eich Announces Resignation

Stage-directions: "Stephen Eich, managing director of the Geffen Playhouse since August 2000, tendered his resignation effective in mid-June, after the opening of the theater’s final production from its 2007-2008 season."

Strike stops Broadway from setting records

Yahoo! News: "In 12 months ending on May 25, 2008, theatergoers were treated to 36 new productions -- including eight new musicals and 11 new plays -- compared to 35 new productions in those months for 2006/07."

The Media Caucus of the Canadian Labour Congress: TV Stars and Workers Demand Government Action on Culture

MarketWire: "The resolution calls for government action on a range of issues including limiting foreign ownership of media companies, denouncing media convergence, fixing the crisis in Canadian dramatic television programming, restoring local news and deleting the censorship provisions from Bill C-10 that would give the Heritage Minister arbitrary powers to deny tax credits to film and television productions after the fact."

Gyllenhaal's 'Nailed' shut down again

Digital Spy: "The political indie comedy Nailed has been shut down for a third time due to financial problems, Variety reports.
The film's crew were ordered by the International Alliance of Theatrical & Stage Employees (IATSE) guild not to come to work last Thursday after they weren't paid."

High End Systems Debuts Online Training Center | May 2008

Live Design: "A new online training c recently debuted on the High End Systems website dedicated to training resources, including new videos and tutorials with specific information about Wholehog consoles, digital lighting products, and new automated luminaires."

Clay Paky Signs PRG To Exclusive Distribution Agreement | May 2008

Live Deisgn: "Clay Paky is pleased to announce that it has signed Production Resource Group, LLC (PRG) as the exclusive distributor of Clay Paky moving lights in the US and English-speaking Canada."

Long Reach Long Riders Complete Another Successful Charity Ride | May 2008

Live Design: "The Long Reach Long Riders (LRLR) are happy to announce the successful completion of their 5th annual charity motorcycle ride. The LRLR ride benefits Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and the ESTA Foundation's Behind The Scenes program and the current total raised by the LRLR this year is $40,500"

2008 Broadway Master Classes Photo Gallery

Live Design: "Thanks to all the faculty, students, and staff at this year's Broadway Master Classes..."

Pre-Visualization Software Chosen for Olympic Ceremonies

PLSN: "ESP Vision was selected to provide lighting pre-visualization software and support for use in the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Using a pre-release of Vision 2.3, due out later this month, lighting designers in Beijing are now previsualizing nearly 3,000 moving head lights in more than 120 universes."

Dragon Flames Keep Detroit Hockey Fans Stoked

PLSN: "The number 8, a vertical symbol of infinity, is also an emblem of good luck in sports, from Beijing to Detroit. Hence the 08/08/08 start date for the Summer Games, and the tradition among Detroit Red Wings fans for heaving an octopus out onto the ice. (That tradition is so strong that fish mongers in Pittsburgh refused to sell octopi to anyone wearing a Red Wings logo before the Stanley Cup finals began at the Penguins’ home arena on May 24.)"

Clay Paky Announces the Nominations for Knight of Illumination Lighting Design Awards

Lighting&Sound America Online - News: "Clay Paky announces the nominations for the Knight of Illumination Lighting Design Awards, to be awarded with the U.K.'s Association of Lighting Designers and the Society of Television Lighting Directors at the annual ABTT dinner on June 11."

CMU announces new vice president for campus affairs

Post Gazette: "Dr. Murphy, an associate vice president since 2005, succeeds Vice President for Enrollment William Elliott, who is retiring June 30 after 38 years with the university, Carnegie Mellon officials said."

j-o-b - Miller Gallery

POSITIONS AVAILABLE

Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University
Purnell Center for the Arts
5000 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213

1) FULL-TIME GALLERY STAFF:
Exhibitions Coordinator/Facilities Manager

2) PART-TIME CONTRACTOR:
Art Handler

3) PART-TIME STUDENT EMPLOYMENT:
Installation/Production Assistant

4) PART-TIME STUDENT EMPLOYMENT:
Marketing/Communications Assistant

For details, see: http://www.cmu.edu/millergallery/employment/opportunities.html

States Race to Woo TV and Film

WSJ.com: "In the past month and a half, at least four states -- Georgia, New York, Mississippi and Michigan -- have increased the scope of tax credits, cash rebates and other incentives to encourage spending money in the state and hiring local workers. They are competing with nearly 40 other states and U.S. territories that have incentive programs on the books, some with established film- and TV-production infrastructure, including New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana and Pennsylvania."