Friday, September 16, 2011
Take a Nap! Change Your Life
Cool Tools: Napping is a evolutionarily habit that still works wonders today. I can get by with several hours less sleep per night by adding a 20-minute nap in the afternoon. But I work at home where napping is easily done. The point of this book is to persuade you that the benefits of napping, scientifically derived, are so great you should do everything you can to make napping a habit whatever your schedule.
Sophocles: Seven Sicknesses at the Hypocrites
Time Out Chicago: Sean Graney’s been distilling and deconstructing classic texts for a decade and a half with the Hypocrites (and, more recently, with tonier outfits such as Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Court Theatre and the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival). His adaptational approach might be described as an indifference to language and context but with a consummate reverence for theme. That’s certainly the case in his remarkably effective riff on Sophocles’ seven surviving plays. In the opening playlet, Creon (Zeke Sulkes) asks Oedipus (Jeff Trainor), “Are you, like, banishing me?”
PLASA 2011 – Show Report
On Stage Lighting: Armed with nothing but a well worn pair of shoes and four days supply of anti-migraine pills, On Stage Lighting hits Earl’s Court in London for the 2011 assault on the senses that is the PLASA show.
'8' courts aud with gay-marriage issue
Variety: A star-filled courtroom drama makes its stage debut on Monday, but the intent of this one-night Broadway outing isn't boffo box office but public influence.
The play is "8," Dustin Lance Black's account of the Prop. 8 trial that unfolded over three weeks in January 2010, eventually leading to U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker's ruling declaring California's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. With a cast that includes John Lithgow, Morgan Freeman, Ellen Barkin, Rob Reiner and Anthony Edwards, the reading at the Eugene O' Neill Theater will benefit the court effort to overturn Prop. 8.
The play is "8," Dustin Lance Black's account of the Prop. 8 trial that unfolded over three weeks in January 2010, eventually leading to U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker's ruling declaring California's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. With a cast that includes John Lithgow, Morgan Freeman, Ellen Barkin, Rob Reiner and Anthony Edwards, the reading at the Eugene O' Neill Theater will benefit the court effort to overturn Prop. 8.
'Angels In America,' 20 Years Later
NPR: Two decades ago, in 1991, the first part of an ambitious work of theater by playwright Tony Kushner took the stage in San Francisco. It was called Angels in America, and its two parts — Millennium Approaches and Perestroika — clocked in at an epic seven hours.
The fight over retrofitting classics for modern tastes
The Washington Post: For some time, Michael Kahn has wrestled with the script of a rarely performed drama by a playwright so revered that, over his career, he was rewarded with four Pulitzer Prizes. But it’s not an interpretive issue with which Kahn is struggling as much as a practical one. At a length of more than five hours and filled with rambling soliloquies, Eugene O’Neill’s 1928 psychological study, “Strange Interlude,” is considered by many to be virtually unplayable.
Don Holder’s Lighting Design For Spider-Man
LiveDesign: “From what Julie had envisioned and George was creating, I got the sense of a world that included very bright, bold, dynamic color, particularly in the backgrounds,” says Don Holder of his lighting for Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark. Holder won a Tony Award for the Taymor-directed The Lion King and also lit McKinley’s Broadway debut, The Boy From Oz. “What we were building was a 3D comic book world.”
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Emmy Nominations
Carnegie Mellon University: While many will be tuning into the 63rd Primetime Emmy awards live this weekend, two Carnegie Mellon University alumni are already celebrating their Emmy victories.
Douglas Huszti (A'94) won an Emmy for art direction for "Boardwalk Empire," and Robert Dickinson (H'05) won for lighting design for the "53rd Annual Grammy Awards."
Douglas Huszti (A'94) won an Emmy for art direction for "Boardwalk Empire," and Robert Dickinson (H'05) won for lighting design for the "53rd Annual Grammy Awards."
Alumus Joe Manganiello talks acting with Mt. Lebanon students
Post Gazette: Even as Joe Manganiello explained to his rapt audience at Mt. Lebanon High School how he spent time studying the mannerisms of the wolf he portrays on HBO's hit series "True Blood," the actor slowly morphed into an uncostumed version of his werewolf character.
His soft brown eyes turned dark, foreboding. His shoulders rounded, as if he were on the prowl. His brow scrunched, turning his handsome face into a more sinister visage. A snarl escaped his lips.
His soft brown eyes turned dark, foreboding. His shoulders rounded, as if he were on the prowl. His brow scrunched, turning his handsome face into a more sinister visage. A snarl escaped his lips.
David Mamet puts the issue ahead of the characters in legal thriller 'Race'
Post Gazette: The excitement is still vivid from David Mamet conquering Pittsburgh back around 1980, with the punchy dialogue and dark comic insight of "American Buffalo" and "Sexual Perversity in Chicago" at Fine Line and City Theatre.
Next came "Glengarry Glen Ross," another Pittsburgh favorite, and "Speed-the-Plow." Then came something new, the ideological explosion of "Oleanna," which was an assault on feminism and perhaps a sly explosion of male insecurity, as well. "Oleanna" was more provocation than play.
Next came "Glengarry Glen Ross," another Pittsburgh favorite, and "Speed-the-Plow." Then came something new, the ideological explosion of "Oleanna," which was an assault on feminism and perhaps a sly explosion of male insecurity, as well. "Oleanna" was more provocation than play.
'Harvey' gives audience a reason to believe
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: The classic comedy "Harvey," which opens Theatre Factory's 17th season, will have different meanings to different audience members, according to actor Douglas Peters of Harrison City.
Peters portrays Elwood P. Dowd in the show, the role made famous by Jimmy Stewart in the 1950 film version of "Harvey." While movie buffs will relate to the story because of Stewart, Peters says regular theatergoers will recognize the play as Mary Chase's Pulitzer-Prize winner and children will relate to the invisible rabbit.
Peters portrays Elwood P. Dowd in the show, the role made famous by Jimmy Stewart in the 1950 film version of "Harvey." While movie buffs will relate to the story because of Stewart, Peters says regular theatergoers will recognize the play as Mary Chase's Pulitzer-Prize winner and children will relate to the invisible rabbit.
Footlights adds plenty of laughs to 'Cinderella'
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: A touch of humor will add a comedic twist to the classic rags-to-riches fairy tale of a poor cinder maid who becomes a princess when the Valley Players of Ligonier perform "Cinderella" this weekend as part of their Footlights Children's Theater series.
The plot stays true to the traditional story of a girl mistreated by her nasty stepmother and stepsisters until a fairy godmother grants her wish to attend the prince's ball.
The plot stays true to the traditional story of a girl mistreated by her nasty stepmother and stepsisters until a fairy godmother grants her wish to attend the prince's ball.
Review: REP's 'Heresy' world premiere offers stronger visuals than plot
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: In his program notes for "A Child's Guide to Heresy," playwright Kendrew Lascelles explains that it is "...a tale of the occult; no messages, nothing profound."
Sadly, it's that and a whole lot less.
The story of the play is ripe with the potential for drama. In 13th-century Yorkshire, England, an ambitious bishop with a thirst for power enlists a young boy named Tom to raise the angel Uriel in a cabalistic ritual led by a Jewish scholar who dabbles in the dark sciences.
Sadly, it's that and a whole lot less.
The story of the play is ripe with the potential for drama. In 13th-century Yorkshire, England, an ambitious bishop with a thirst for power enlists a young boy named Tom to raise the angel Uriel in a cabalistic ritual led by a Jewish scholar who dabbles in the dark sciences.
'Complete Works (Abridged)' lampoons many literary conventions
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Contrary to its title, "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)" is not a 17th-century literature refresher course.
It's a lot more fun, according to Nate Newell of Greensburg, who directs the comedy opening this week at Apple Hill Playhouse.
"You can definitely enjoy this show, even if you are not uber-familiar with Shakespeare," he says. "The entire show 'goofs' on Shakespeare's works. It is a satire on some of the longest-standing writing in literary history."
It's a lot more fun, according to Nate Newell of Greensburg, who directs the comedy opening this week at Apple Hill Playhouse.
"You can definitely enjoy this show, even if you are not uber-familiar with Shakespeare," he says. "The entire show 'goofs' on Shakespeare's works. It is a satire on some of the longest-standing writing in literary history."
Addams Family Tour Begins Scaring Up Business in New Orleans; Doug Sills, Sara Gettelfinger Star
Playbill.com: The national tour of the Broadway musical The Addams Family takes its first breath Sept. 15 for a run to Sept. 24 at the Mahalia Jackson Theater in New Orleans, LA. Tony Award nominee Douglas Sills plays Gomez; Sara Gettelfinger is Morticia.
How Diverse Are The Directors Of Your Favorite Television Shows?
ThinkProgress: The Directors Guild of America has some new numbers out about the percentage of episodes of each major show that are directed by men. And they’re impressively terrible: white women directed 11 percent of the 2,600 episodes the guild analyzed, while women of color directed just 1 percent of episodes.
Four theories on the death of 3-D.
Slate Magazine: This time last year, there were whispers among film executives and industry-watchers that 3-D cinema had worked its way down a blind alley with its pockets full of cash. That summer, the format seemed like the answer to all of Hollywood's problems: shrinking ticket sales, video piracy, home-theater viewing. The studios had put out a run of record-smashing, premium-priced blockbusters: Avatar, Alice in Wonderland, How to Train Your Dragon, Clash of the Titans, Shrek Forever After, and Toy Story 3—a half-dozen 3-D movies that earned more than $2 billion in domestic sales. Yet by the end of August 2010, the future of cinema was starting to look unsteady on its feet. Box-office returns from the next wave of 3-D films were disappointing. The revival needed reviving.
Exhibit Design Toolbox: babyCAD
ExhibiTricks: The Museum Exhibit Design Blog: BabyCAD is an online tool that lets you intuitively create exhibit installations. It's clear that right now babyCAD is geared more toward trade show and pop up exhibits, but that being said, I really liked how quickly and intuitively I could knock together a respectable rendering with multiple exhibit elements.
National Dating Abuse Helpline » 43% of College Women Experience Violence and Abusive Dating Behaviors
Love is respect: Love is Not Abuse, a program of our founding sponsor Liz Claiborne, has revealed the findings of their recent study of dating abuse among college students. The results? Dating violence and abuse among college students is more prevalent on college campuses than previously believed.
New Season Includes ‘King Lear’ With Sam Waterston
NYTimes.com: SHAKESPEARE’S saddest monarch will be out on the heath again this fall, yelling at the elements and courting death by lightning, when the Public Theater opens its new production of “King Lear,” starring Sam Waterston, in November. New Yorkers may feel that this demented curser of the gods has been hanging out a lot in their neighborhood recently. You could even say he’s become sort of a cautionary fixture in this town, like that homeless guy on the corner who talks to space aliens and throws rotten fruit at passers-by.
Plays by Katori Hall, Lydia R. Diamond and Suzan-Lori Parks
NYTimes.com: TO the casual theater observer, and sometimes even to the obsessed aficionado, one Broadway season can look very much like the next. Names of stars more familiarly splashed on movie trailers are glowing from marquees around the district. The London-to-Broadway express delivers its usual cargo of prestige attractions. New musicals based on popular movies cause devotees to lament the days when Broadway was not a recycling plant but a hotbed of cultural creativity.
New Layers for Broadway-Bound Musical Revivals
NYTimes.com: THE theater director Michael Mayer faced deep skepticism in 1997 when he first proposed a radical plan to the literary executors for “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever,” a 1965 musical admired for its lush score but undercut by loopy story lines about ESP and reincarnation. Mr. Mayer wanted to rewrite the book and to transform its muddled romantic subplot into a love triangle full of dramatic and comic tension. His boldest idea: turning one of the central characters, a flighty woman named Daisy, into a gay florist named David. The gender switch was meant to throw impediments into the main narrative, about a male psychiatrist who hypnotizes Daisy/David and then falls in love with her/his past self, a woman named Melinda Wells.
Baryshnikov in ‘In Paris,’ a Tragic Love Story
NYTimes.com: This week Mr. Baryshnikov is performing in the Paris premiere of “In Paris,” a stark, experimental theatrical adaptation of a 1940 short story by Ivan Bunin, the first Russian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The well-heeled audience, which usually comes to the Théâtre National de Chaillot for more traditional fare, responded on opening night last Thursday with barely polite applause.
The well-heeled audience, which usually comes to the Théâtre National de Chaillot for more traditional fare, responded on opening night last Thursday with barely polite applause.
Playwrights group opposes Utah Performing Arts Center
The Salt Lake Tribune: A group of prominent Utah playwrights have read Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker’s script for a proposed 2,500-seat "Broadway-style" theater on downtown Main Street, and they don’t like the plot.
In a statement sent Tuesday to the mayor’s senior adviser , the recently formed Utah chapter of the Dramatists Guild of America calls the prospective theater "an echoing and unrealistic, airplane-terminal of a building." The group, comprised of 15 Utah playwrights, contend the project will be dependent on a small number of touring Broadway shows, even as it ignores the needs of smaller theater companies.
In a statement sent Tuesday to the mayor’s senior adviser , the recently formed Utah chapter of the Dramatists Guild of America calls the prospective theater "an echoing and unrealistic, airplane-terminal of a building." The group, comprised of 15 Utah playwrights, contend the project will be dependent on a small number of touring Broadway shows, even as it ignores the needs of smaller theater companies.
It Is Necessarily So: Revamped 'Porgy and Bess' Will Come To Broadway
NYTimes.com: A controversial version of “Porgy and Bess,” the famous 1935 opera, will move to Broadway as planned this winter now that the estates of the opera’s creators have signed off on the adaptation, its producers announced on Wednesday.
Automation - The Technology Behind Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
prglive's Channel: PRG presents a series of "webisodes" about the innovative technologies used in the new musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Each episode includes interviews with the designers and PRG personnel discussing the technology behind this groundbreaking production.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
PLASA Announces Restructuring
FOH online: PLASA, noting ongoing merger activities and the end-of-year departure of European executive director Ruth Rossington, announced additional restructuring. Starting Oct. 1, CEO Matthew Griffiths will temporarily oversee the U.K. and North America Events divisions. Finance Director Shane McGreevy becomes COO with responsibilities expanding into operational administration and personnel.
Sam Shepard to Receive Inaugural Ellen Stewart Award from La MaMa
Stage Directions: New York avant-garde stalwart La MaMa is gearing up to celebrate their 50th anniversary and honor the legacy of their founder Ellen Stewart, who died in January. As part of their 50th year celebration they will present not only a gala, but a block party as well. They will also hand out the inaugural Ellen Stewart Award, honoring an artist who “embodies the courage and pioneering spirit that Ms. Stewart encouraged at La MaMa, an artist who carries on her ideal of challenging conventional theatrical boundaries and expanding our understanding of human potential.” The recipient of the award will select a young theatre artist to develop and present a new work at La MaMa. The first-ever recipient of the award will be Sam Shepard.
PLASA Releases Several Rigging, Transfer Protocol and Lighting Standards for Public Review
Stage Directions: PLASA has released a bevy of standards for public review. There are four rigging standards in draft format (Construction and Use of Wire Rope Ladders; Design, Inspection and Maintenance of Electric Chain Hoists for the Entertainment Industry; Selection and Use of Chain Hoists in the Entertainment Industry; Selection and Use of Personal Fall Arrest Systems on Portable Structures Used in the Entertainment Industry), a new draft for extensions to the lighting control protocol standard (to ensure it remains compatible with ACN and DMX) and two new photometric standards—one to quantify how light output is measured and another offering recommendations on how to best measure and report photometric info for LED fixtures.
19 Local One Members Get ETCP Certified
Stage Directions: The Entertainment Technician Certification Program (ETCP) has awarded 19 International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local One members with its Entertainment Electrician Certification. Among those newly certified, is the first female ETCP Certified Technician in the New York Local.
Abbey Rosen Holmes Helms PMC@LDI
LiveDesign: Abigail Rosen Holmes, partner and principal designer at NYX Design, will take over for Bob Bonniol of MODE Studios as creative consultant for the Live Design Projection Master Classes (PMC@LDI) at Full Sail in Orlando, during LDI2011 on October 26 and 27. Holmes is an Emmy-nominated designer whose work spans the disciplines of concert, television, special events, and corporate to include lighting, video, and production design.
Indiana state fair board hires risk assessment firm
13 WTHR: State investigators say Eyewitness News video could shed light into the stage rigging collapse that killed two workers and five others at the Indiana State Fair.
The news comes as the State Fair Commission met with board members for the first time since the tragedy. There are new efforts to review the staff's emergency response, and an embattled director's charge for 2012.
The news comes as the State Fair Commission met with board members for the first time since the tragedy. There are new efforts to review the staff's emergency response, and an embattled director's charge for 2012.
Broadway star returns to his roots
Star Local News > Plano Star-courier: Hunter Ryan Herdlicka was a long way from home. The 25-year-old was starring in a lead role in a play like he had done hundreds of times before. Only this time, instead of being on stage at Shepton High School, he was in front of 1,000 people on Broadway.
He was not alone, however. With him in the Walter Kerr Theatre were two women who had also made the long trip from Plano to see their star pupil.
He was not alone, however. With him in the Walter Kerr Theatre were two women who had also made the long trip from Plano to see their star pupil.
Pittsburgh Biennial: Bigger than ever
Examiner.com: Conventional wisdom says “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” But that does not appear to be a guiding principle at Pittsburgh Filmmakers/Pittsburgh Center for the Arts*. The Pittsburgh Biennial has been one of the organization’s premier regular events since 1994 and invariably a huge success. Yet this year PF/PCA took some big risks in expanding the exhibition to include three other Pittsburgh arts institutions, and the payoff is proving to be a spectacular show.
Insurer Covers HD House after Theft of $255,000 Worth of Gear
PLSN: In January of 2011, HD House experienced a rental company’s worst nightmare: a new customer, whom they fully vetted and researched, stole $255,000 worth of their equipment in a single day.
A cool new (free!) productivity tool
Daniel Pink: Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer have shown that making progress on meaningful work is the single most motivating aspect of any job. But . . . many people don’t know what kind of progress they’re making – because their main source of workplace feedback comes only once a year in that hideously awkward and bizarrely formulaic ritual known as the annual review.
Pittsburgh Filmmakers
Pittsburgh
Filmmakers fall Semester is in full
swing and there's room for YOU!
Yes, we're still accepting
enrollments! Students can register until the second week of class. So hurry before its too late!!
These are just a few of our new or introductory courses:
Audio for Radio
Motion Picture Fundamentals
Script Analysis
Basic Digital Photography
Intermediate Digital Photography.
For a full listing of all our classes and course descriptions go to
http://pfm.pittsburgharts.org/?q=class-schedules
RWANDA PRESIDENT SPEAKS AT CMU FRIDAY, SEPT. 16; CMU TO HELP RWANDA BECOME EAST AFRICA’S LEADER IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
Faculty, staff and students are invited to attend a keynote
address by Paul Kagame, president of the Republic of Rwanda, at
5:15 p.m., Friday, Sept. 16 in Rangos Ballroom, UC. President Kagame will speak
about Rwanda’s strategy for continued growth in the global economy and its
plans to become East Africa’s leader in information and communication
technology. Under President Kagame’s leadership, Rwanda has become one of the
world’s most compelling stories of economic development.
In addition, President Kagame and CMU President Jared L.
Cohon will be making an important announcement regarding the
collaborative role that Carnegie Mellon will play in helping Rwanda to realize
its vision.
If you plan to attend, please RSVP by Wednesday, Sept. 14 to govrel@andrew.cmu.edu and
indicate the number of people attending in your party. Doors open at 4 p.m. and
all attendees must be seated in Rangos Ballroom by 4:45 p.m. A partnership
ceremony will take place at 5 p.m., just prior to President Kagame’s address.
Read more: http://www.cmu.edu/event/rwanda
Designing Spider-Man: The Musical
Live Design: Oh, what a tangled web Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has woven. The most hotly anticipated Broadway musical of the 2010-2011 season instead opened the 2011-2012 one on June 14, after a record-setting number of preview performances (182) at the Foxwoods Theatre, highly publicized accidents, a change in direction and a subsequent three-week shutdown for revisions this spring, and an ever-ballooning budget, all relayed on the (worldwide) web as the work in progress generated international headlines. Read all about it on Wikipedia, etc. Suffice it to say that a joke about the show’s finances actually made it into the finished production. “I’m a $65 million circus tragedy,” wails the villainous Green Goblin at one point. “Well, more like $75 million.”
Miller Gallery Opens New Section of 2011 Pittsburgh Biennial Next Week
The Miller Gallery will open a new section of the 2011
Pittsburgh Biennial next week, featuring five new installations including
sculpture, printmaking, painting, video, publications and workshops. A tour of
the exhibition with the curator and artists will be given at 5:00pm next
Friday, September 16th, followed by an opening reception that evening at
6:00-8:00pm. For more details, see the full story currently featured on the CMU
home page (http://www.cmu.edu/homepage/creativity/2011/summer/rising-national-profile.shtml)
or look for the feature article in the upcoming September issue of The Piper.
In Defense of Geekery: Why Society Needs SF/F
The Mary Sue: Looking at our problems head-on is uncomfortable. It either makes us angry, or it makes us retreat. Neither of those options are enjoyable. This is where SF/F has an advantage over other genres. Very few folks would opt to spend their Friday night watching a movie about, say, apartheid. But a movie with aliens and spaceships and giant arm cannons? Yeah, we’re all for that. Which is, of course, why we all went to see District 9, a movie about aliens and spaceships and giant arm cannons – and, y’know, apartheid.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
NFTRW Weekly Top Five
Here are the top 5 comment generating posts of the past week:
7 Symptoms of Procrastination and How to Fight Them
Lifehack: We all do it to some degree or another; put off for tomorrow what we know should be done today. Postpone the inevitable pain for the current moment of pleasure. But we know that even if we can manage to put it out of our minds for the present, it will eventually come around and bite us on the butt and disturb our external calm demeanor.
Math and the Actor
Matt Gray: So ‘artist’ aside, what does math have to do with actors, especially training actors? I just left a 14 year run of training exclusively at ‘conservatory’ drama schools. In each iteration of ‘conservatory’, the faculty seemed (with only a few exceptions) emphatic that students needed fewer ”distractions” from their discipline.
Equity asks gay performers whether it is safe to be 'out'
The Stage: Gay performers’ experiences of working in the entertainment sector are being put under the spotlight, following concerns the industry may not be safe for artists who are open about their sexuality.
A new Equity survey will ask gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender members a series of questions about working in the profession, including whether or not they are ‘out’, what the positive or negative aspects of this have been and whether they have ever experienced homophobia in their careers.State of arts slowly fading
Adelaide Now: NO concert hall. No ensemble theatre. A famous drama school sinking under the weight of "managerialism".The pleasure Emeritus Professor Michael Morley feels at becoming the 2011 recipient of the Premier's Lifetime Achievement Award is tinged with a sense of triste that the arts to which he has devoted his life have left their heyday far behind.
A 9/11 Reflection: When the Curtain Came Down on the American Heart
Playbill.com: Is there anyone more insignificant — or more vital — than a theatre person in a time of national tragedy? A decade after the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York City, Playbill.com's Robert Simonson talks to industry people and reflects on who we were when America changed forever.
_Wicked_ defies disappointment (and gravity)
The Tartan Online: Unloved by her father and despised by all around her, the Wicked Witch of the West still managed to charm Pittsburgh last Thursday night. Last week marked the return of Broadway Across America’s production of Wicked to Pittsburgh, bringing Elphaba, Glinda, and all the wonders of Oz to the Benedum Center for the first time since 2008.
Theater review: 'Wicked' uneven but delightful as ever
Post Gazette: The "Wicked" showstopper "Defying Gravity" is one of those transcendent moments when a composition, a character and special effects come together to deliver musical theater magic, even after multiple viewings.
I've seen "Wicked" a couple of times on Broadway and a couple in Pittsburgh, so I'm somewhere between the woman who wrote to say she'd experienced the Tony-nominated show 38 times and the couple of "Wicked" newbies who accompanied me to the Benedum Center Thursday night.
I've seen "Wicked" a couple of times on Broadway and a couple in Pittsburgh, so I'm somewhere between the woman who wrote to say she'd experienced the Tony-nominated show 38 times and the couple of "Wicked" newbies who accompanied me to the Benedum Center Thursday night.
'A Child's Guide to Heresy' a showcase for The Rep's talents
Post Gazette: A world premiere calls for a major effort from all hands -- set design, costumes, lighting, sound and talented actors orchestrated by a veteran director. The Pittsburgh Playhouse Rep rose to the occasion in mounting Kendrew Lascelles' "A Child's Guide to Heresy" for its season opener.
Review: Strong performances, relentless energy in 'Race'
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Poor drama asks what is the truth, says playwright David Mamet. Better drama asks what are the lies.
His thought-provoking, disquieting and thoroughly compelling drama "Race" does the latter.
In just shy of 90 intermissionless minutes, Mamet examines the issue of race and the lies we tell each other -- and ourselves -- about it.
His thought-provoking, disquieting and thoroughly compelling drama "Race" does the latter.
In just shy of 90 intermissionless minutes, Mamet examines the issue of race and the lies we tell each other -- and ourselves -- about it.
St. Lawrence Centre Locks Out Local 58 Stagehands
IATSE International: On August 13, the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts locked out members of IATSE Local 58, Toronto stagehands. The local had been without a contract at the venue since the previous December. Although the union and the employer had met on a number of occasions, no agreement was reached and the employer determined it would lock out the stagehands, claiming that the local's agreement was unreasonably expensive. Despite Local 58 having offered concessions that would reduce overall labor costs by about ten percent, the employer has not budged.
No Beatles for you! EU adds 20 years to music copyrights
arstechnica: It took three years of doing, but the music industry has finally won its European battle to lock up in-copyright sound recordings for another 20 years. Looking forward to The Beatles' music entering the public domain as the 50-year copyright terms expires? Not going to happen.
Postcard from Alaska, Part Two
Art Works: As you read yesterday, my first day in Alaska was truly jam-packed. The pace didn’t let up! On the second day of our trip with the Rasmuson Foundation, we went to Bethel, and a small town nearby called Napaskiak, which you can only reach by boat. Both towns are very poor and it was very sobering for all of us on the trip. I’ve been in the third world and haven’t seen conditions this tough. Napaskiak didn’t even have a road. It had a boardwalk on which some very small three-wheelers could maybe go, a store without much on the shelves, and a rudimentary medical center. I mean this is deep poverty and subsistence-fishing living. Again, it was very sobering to see the economic conditions and what these people are struggling with just to survive.
TechShop's Mark Hatch Is Building A Place Where You Can Build Your Dreams
Fast Company: You don't need to look far to see that a growing community of makers--people who like to work on art- and science-based DIY projects--is blossoming in the U.S. Not all of these makers own the pricey tools necessary to work on their projects, of course. That's where TechShop, a San Francisco-based chain of DIY workshop spaces that offers tools for artists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and everyone in between, comes in.
Protocol.by Turns Your Email Signature into a Guide to How to Reach You
Lifehacker: New web service Protocol.by helps you generate email signatures that link to your account at the service, and that contain the information your email recipients need to best contact you, and the order in which they should try.
ZARKANA: Scenic Design
Live Design: In taming the huge stage at Radio City Music Hall, French-Canadian scenic designer Stéphane Roy (whose previous designs for Cirque du Soleil include Dralion, Varekai, and Zumanity) reduced the size of the stage to something more manageable yet still majestic. “It’s like a temple when you first go into Radio City,” Roy says. “The best approach in dealing with this large space was to blend and continue the perspective in the theatre to make it smaller.” To do so, Roy used a series of three portals, noting: “Within the third portal, the stage is almost the same size as a Broadway theatre.”
Founders of Broadway producer Livent lose appeal
Yahoo! News: An Ontario court has upheld fraud convictions against the two Canadian theater impresarios behind the 1990s Broadway hits "Show Boat" and "Ragtime", but has reduced their prison sentences.
In a decision released Tuesday morning, Ontario Court of Appeal rejected a request for a new trial by Garth Drabinsky and Myron Gottlieb, founders of now defunct theater production company Livent Inc.
In a decision released Tuesday morning, Ontario Court of Appeal rejected a request for a new trial by Garth Drabinsky and Myron Gottlieb, founders of now defunct theater production company Livent Inc.
Artists rally around Cameroonian playwright facing deportation
The Guardian: The forced deportation of a Cameroonian playwright and her husband, scheduled for Saturday, is "disturbing, shocking and unjust", the actor Juliet Stevenson has said. The actor joined campaigners including writers Joan Bakewell and Andrea Levy in condemning the UK Border Agency (UKBA), which they say has disregarded its own procedures.
Reading Shakespeare in Kandahar
Foreign Policy: "Thank you for coming," Prof. David Kastan told the half-full auditorium. "You did not have to be here this morning. I did. It means the world to me that you came." I looked around at my fellow classmates; we were all tired and dazed. The night before, the acrid, unforgettable smell of melted steel, atomized concrete, and human remains had drifted seven miles north, from southern Manhattan up to Columbia University's campus.
Livent co-founders to report to jail to await outcome of appeal
The Globe and Mail: Garth Drabinsky and Myron Gottlieb will report to a Toronto jail early Monday evening to spend a long night in custody awaiting the outcome of an appeal of their 2009 fraud convictions.
Monday, September 12, 2011
'Wicked' casts its spell anew
Post Gazette: The "Wicked" showstopper "Defying Gravity" is one of those transcendent moments when a composition, a character and special effects come together to deliver musical theater magic, even after multiple viewings. I've seen "Wicked" a couple of times on Broadway and a couple in Pittsburgh, so I'm somewhere between the woman who wrote to say she'd experienced the Tony-nominated show 38 times and the couple of "Wicked" newbies who accompanied me to the Benedum Center Thursday night.
In the Cut, Part I: Shots in the Dark (Knight)
In the Cut, Part I: Shots in the Dark (Knight)
from Jim Emerson on Vimeo.
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