Blackwork Elizabethan Coif

Avant Garbe: So I finally pulled out the embroidery kit I bought so long ago that I can’t even remember when I got it (at least 6 years? 8 years?) for a blackwork coif – the Elizabeth Coif from Reconstructing History. (Note, I would never normally recommend a Reconstructing History pattern. However, these were created by Laura Mellin who is an expert in Elizabethan embroidery, and RH is just the distributor).

Fall Festivals Amid COVID-19 Highlight Big Screen Experience

Variety: The common ground between American film consumers and critics is when the two get to converge at a film festival. Equally measured in their “first look” at a film that has yet to open in a theater near you, the two get to take in the spectacle of a movie, sharing in those experiences and reacting to it on Film Twitter or with one another outside a theater.

SAG-AFTRA Taking Jurisdictional Dispute With Actors' Equity to AFL-CIO

Variety: Leaders of SAG-AFTRA have escalated the union’s bitter jurisdictional battle with Actors’ Equity Association, asking that the Associated Actors and Artistes of America name a mediator. SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris and National Executive Director David White also requested AFL-CIO intervention in a letter to Richard Trumka, president of the national labor federation.

Mozart 2020 Style – Pittsburgh Opera to Present “Così fan tutte” to Small, Protected Audiences

Pittsburgh in the Round: This is not the time nor place to rehash the devastation wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic in this country and across the globe. Everyone knows that their lives have been virtually turned upside down in its wake. And those in the performing arts know all too well that their livelihoods have been all but obliterated for the foreseeable future.

Cirque Launches All-New CirqueConnect Digital Experience

www.cirquefascination.com: Cirque du Soleil is proud to unveil its exciting fall programming along with a brand-new lookfor its CirqueConnect content hub. Featuring an enhanced library of titles, the newly revamped CirqueConnect platform will provide fans with inspiring freshly-produced never-before-seen series and exclusive content.

Time's Up! Diversify The Stage Now!

Pollstar: Fitz And The Tantrums singer Noelle Scaggs, for much of her 20-year career, was already painfully aware of the many times she’d performed and been the only woman, and often the only Black person, on or behind the stage. By the time the nation was convulsed in May after the police killing of George Floyd, it was even more acute.

Searching a Way Forward

HowlRound Theatre Commons: Last autumn, during a plenary at the Theatre Communications Group (TCG) Fall Forum, there was a presentation about the impact of the Great Recession on theatres. A lot of smart people spoke, including a researcher and an investment broker. They told attendees: These are the good days... The sun is shining, the market is great, things are as good as they can get.

Buying Guide: The Best VR Headsets in 2020

Road to VR: With big game launches and more VR headsets on that market than ever, 2020 is shaping up to be a huge year for VR, and an excellent time for first-timers to jump in. In this article we’ve pulled together a concise look at the best VR headsets currently available, and a few you might want to keep your eyes on.

The Flaming Lips Host Trial Run Of Bubble Show At OKC’s Criterion

Pollstar: The need for social distancing during the pandemic has led to a lot of innovation within the concert industry, from livestreaming to drive-in shows. For The Flaming Lips, individual bubbles for audience members seems like the only obvious choice.

The Problem with Being Called Bossy

SoundGirls.org: I was recently listening to an episode of The Guilty Feminist podcast titled ‘Being Bossy with Carrie Quinlan.’ It is quite possible you are already rolling your eyes due to the use of that awful B-word. Every woman and young girl has been called bossy at some point in their life, and the connotation that comes with it is not a good one. I love this podcast and this particular episode piqued my interest. Being too emotional was also brought up, which might evoke a second eye roll from some readers.

The Virtual Arena: The Ascendance of Arena-Scale Entertainment

VRFocus: While some pontificate that location-based VR has probably taken a terminal hit from COVID – at the same time we have reports on the reopening of venues in Asia and Europe and even America, and see the return of the audience, though in tentative numbers. One aspect of the successful growth of LBE VR before the ravishes of the global health crisis closed all forms of social interaction and entertainment, was the growth in interest of “Arena-Scale”, also dubbed “Free-Roaming” or in Asia “Walking Attractions”.

Mumbai’s The Company Theatre Finds Innovative Ways to Navigate Theatre Digitally

The Theatre Times: A woman haunted by insomnia, a djinn, and a hallucinatory mind during the COVID-19 lockdown; a failed social media influencer’s journey down the rabbit hole of infinite scrolling; a 2020 version of The Mahabharata’s “warrior princess-turned-mute doll,” Chitrangada. Ranging from Marathi to Hindi and English, these are just some of the many stories being told at The Company Theatre’s TheatreFILMTheatre — A Festival of Shorts.

'Lovecraft Country' Production Designer on Ardham Lodge, Time Machine

Variety: For HBO’s “Lovecraft Country,” production designer Kalina Ivanov’s work had to not only convey and reflect the 1950s Midwest and Chicago, but also tackle the supernatural, monsters, drag queens, 1921 Tulsa, outer space, 1920s Paris and the Dahomey Amazons of 19th century Africa. It was an epic task that Ivanov and her term handled with eye-popping aplomb.

Not waiting for Godot: new show tackles Beckett's ban on women

Samuel Beckett | The Guardian: A dead man’s voice can travel a long way. In 1988, Samuel Beckett sued a Dutch theatre company for casting women in his existential drama Waiting for Godot. When Beckett died a year later, responsibility for his estate was passed down to his nephew Edward, who has since continued to throttle any production that sways from his uncle’s precise instructions.

If recycling plastics isn’t making sense, remake the plastics

Ars Technica: A few years back, it looked like plastic recycling was set to become a key part of a sustainable future. Then, the price of fossil fuels plunged, making it cheaper to manufacture new plastics. Then China essentially stopped importing recycled plastics for use in manufacturing. With that, the bottom dropped out of plastic recycling, and the best thing you could say for most plastics is that they sequestered the carbon they were made of.

Global Platforms Offer Opportunities for Shows From Black Talent

Variety: In a panel discussion, titled “The Black experience: Creating community and diversity in the scripted industry,” hosted by MIA market in Rome on Saturday, TV executives discussed the opportunities for Black talent in television and the challenges they face.

Hack to get rid of Zoom fatigue

www.fastcompany.com: Everyone keeps telling me to go outside! Take a walk! Get some fresh air! But here’s the thing: I like being inside. I like sitting. I’m perfectly happy opening a window for my daily dose of fresh air. Leaving the house (!) for a walk is not the kind of break I want. If I’m going to take a midday break, it’ll be to watch reruns of The Office or do a crossword puzzle.

BBC Studioworks creates Covid-secure environment for Strictly Come Dancing

www.avinteractive.com/news: BBC Studioworks is providing full studio and post production services to BBC Studios’ Strictly Come Dancing and its weekday companion show, It Takes Two, from its Elstree production hub. The eightieth series of Strictly returns to its home in George Lucas Stage 2 at Elstree Studios, with It Takes Two taking up residency for its live weekday shows in Stage 6, on the same site.

Softwood Lumber Prices Surge a Record 29% in September — Building Materials Up 4.4% in 2020

Eye On Housing: Prices paid for goods used in residential construction climbed 1.8% in September (not seasonally adjusted) according to the latest Producer Price Index (PPI) report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The index for inputs to residential construction, goods less food and energy (i.e. the “core”)—a less volatile price measure—increased 2.2% over the month.

Nike meets a Local 476 picket line in Chicago

Reel Chicago - At the intersection of Chicago Advertising, Entertainment, Media and Production: The members of Chicago Local 476 have become very diligent and resourceful at uncovering those who come “to exploit our city.” It’s a bit of a team effort to protect the opportunities, wages, and benefits of its members, and part of a recent campaign that Local 476 President, Bradley Matthys says is working well.

Nichole Canuso on Taking Risks

National Endowment for the Arts: Nichole Canuso has always danced. Growing up, other extracurricular activities would come and go, but dance, she said, “was a through line.” Now, as artistic director of her Philadelphia-based nonprofit, Nichole Canuso Dance Company (NCDC), she doesn’t just dance, but fundraises, secures venues, and choreographs as well, creating pieces that are part theater, part improv, and part interactive light and sound show.

Quantum Breaks New Ground In an Old Way with ‘Wild’

Entertainment Central Pittsburgh: Livestreamed theater moves beyond the Zoom format with Quantum Theatre’s production of Wild (free online October 20 to 25). Quantum is using realistic methods to stage and stream a political psycho-thriller inspired by real events. Wild, by English writer Mike Bartlett, is a fictional takeoff on the Edward Snowden case.

How Broadway Is Showing Up for the Election- What & When to Watch!

www.broadwayworld.com: The election is right around the corner, and Broadway is showing up to the party. Countless artists have already raised their voices to call for change and inspire people around to world to vote... and they aren't finished yet. Check out some of the most anticipated upcoming events that combine the Broadway stars you love with the most important issues on the moment.

Three Carnegie Mellon Alumni Nominated for Six Tony Awards

www.cmu.edu/news: Three Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama alumni received a total of six Tony Award nominations today for their accomplishments on Broadway. This marks the 12th consecutive year that at least one Carnegie Mellon graduate has received a nomination.

NFTRW Weekly Top Five

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

How 2020 Exposed Everything People Wanted to Ignore

www.themeparkinsider.com: I evacuated a lot of guests from Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Pirates of the Caribbean over the years that I worked at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. Those "in-show exits" actually inspired me to create Theme Park Insider — after I saw how happy some guests were to get an "insider's" backstage tour of the attractions as I led them out to the exit.

Posted by David at 10/16/2020 09:38:00 AM

The company that has a monopoly on ice cream truck music

thehustle.co: In 1973, an electrical engineer named Bob Nichols was watching the film The Sting when a song on the soundtrack — Scott Joplin’s 1902 ragtime hit, “The Entertainer” — caught his ear.

The right clip of that song, Bob realized, would make for an irresistible ice cream truck jingle.

Posted by David at 10/13/2020 11:51:00 AM

Sonia Friedman: I've closed 18 shows and paused 10. Here's my cure for theatre

Theatre | The Guardian: It’s seven months since I shut my last show – and most theatres are still completely dark. It’s the longest prolonged closure since the days of Samuel Pepys. Theatre has endured war, riots, depression and, yes, even disease. Its absence is damaging this country and doing harm to the mental health of its people, and I’m determined to do anything I can to help bring it back.

Posted by David at 10/16/2020 09:43:00 AM

This is Sony’s Spatial Reality Display, and you can buy one for $5,000 in November

The Verge: Two days ago, I received a giant heavy metal wedge from Sony. The largest side contained a camera, and a 15.6-inch 4K screen.

I plugged it into a powerful gaming computer, and fired up the first demo. A tiny, intricately detailed Volkswagen Atlas materialized in front of my face — and when I pressed a button, it floated right up out of the screen.

Posted by David at 10/16/2020 09:38:00 AM

Nominations announced for the 2020 Tony Awards

DC Metro Theater Arts: Today at noon on YouTube, nominations for this year’s 74th annual Tony Awards were announced to honor outstanding achievements in the 2019-20 Broadway season, cut short by the precautionary closure of all theaters on March 12, as necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the number of shows eligible for 2020 Tony consideration was limited to the eighteen that had opened and could accommodate nominators and voters to adjudicate prior to the shutdown

Posted by David at 10/16/2020 09:42:00 AM

Richmond Ballet Is Back Onstage

Pointe: It's a rare ballet company that can present three months of in-person performances despite (and amidst) the chaos of 2020. Against the odds, Richmond Ballet is doing just that, pulling off a COVID-era adaptation of its perennial Studio Series. Arriving at Richmond Ballet's Studio Theatre on a recent Thursday evening, I fully expected to feel discouraged by a highly, um, sanitized version of live dance performance.

Hold, Please

HowlRound Theatre Commons: Regardless of your age, race, or political leanings, if you live in a culture touched by colonialism, it is inevitable that racist ideals have crept into your work—theatrical work included. As such, anyone in the field—including the seven of us working as stage managers across the United States—must actively dismantle these aspects of our beliefs and practices. For stage managers in particular—whether acting as a production stage manager, assistant, or intern—we must be mindful of the ways we facilitate our rehearsal and performance processes.

WHAT WE DO Interview Series: Lavina Jadhwani

rescripted.org: WHAT WE DO is a visual interview series where we briefly talk to Chicago theatre artists about their art — what they do, why they do it, and what their creative process is like, even as it shifts in the midst of a pandemic. We’ve given each artist 8 written questions, as well as 3 prompts for photographs that capture their current headspace.

Today we’re hearing from Lavina Jadhwani, Chicago-based director, adaptor, and activist. She’s directed for Writers Theatre, Silk Road Rising, Remy Bumppo, the side project, and many others.

Through Site-Specific Spectacle, Aerial Artist Jo Kreiter Is Exposing the Human Toll of the Prison System

Dance Magazine: There is a tragic timeliness to Flyaway Productions' Meet Us Quickly With Your Mercy. As the nation grapples with systemic racism and police brutality, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, choreographer Jo Kreiter's new aerial work seeks to amplify the call for ending the mass incarceration that disproportionately affects people of color.

Sonia Friedman: I've closed 18 shows and paused 10. Here's my cure for theatre

Theatre | The Guardian: It’s seven months since I shut my last show – and most theatres are still completely dark. It’s the longest prolonged closure since the days of Samuel Pepys. Theatre has endured war, riots, depression and, yes, even disease. Its absence is damaging this country and doing harm to the mental health of its people, and I’m determined to do anything I can to help bring it back.

Nominations announced for the 2020 Tony Awards

DC Metro Theater Arts: Today at noon on YouTube, nominations for this year’s 74th annual Tony Awards were announced to honor outstanding achievements in the 2019-20 Broadway season, cut short by the precautionary closure of all theaters on March 12, as necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the number of shows eligible for 2020 Tony consideration was limited to the eighteen that had opened and could accommodate nominators and voters to adjudicate prior to the shutdown

'It's a game – and you're going to win': the black coaches electrifying dance

Dance | The Guardian: Dollie Henry started dancing when she was four and by seven had already moved on to choreography. “I used to take my tape recorder into the playground,” she says proudly, “and teach all my school friends.” By her late teens, she was attending Laine Theatre Arts in Surrey, and beginning to wake up to the implications of being the only black student. “I realised I was going to have problems: one, because I’m black; and two, because I’m a woman. The only way I’ve learned how to deal with it is to be the best you can.”

Virtual Production: An Introduction to its Use in the Entertainment Industry

AMT Lab @ CMU: Virtual production (VP) is “a broad term referring to a spectrum of computer-aided production and visualization filmmaking methods” (Spectre Studios). It is not just the technology itself, but also the methods through which it is used. In Parts I and II of this series, we are investigating the technology as well as the methodologies of VP in the broadest definition.

Wynn Las Vegas Brings Entertainment Back To The Strip With Debut Of The New Lake of Dreams

Wynn Las Vegas | Pressroom: Entertainment returns to Wynn Las Vegas with the new Lake of Dreams, the only show to debut this fall anywhere on The Strip. Staged outdoors in an environmental theater with open-air patios for viewing, Lake of Dreams is uniquely suited for a socially distanced experience while providing all the glamour, excitement, and larger-than-life spectacle visitors expect from a Las Vegas show. In development for two years, the new Lake of Dreams is an immersive theatrical journey that unfolds over 12 high-tech artistically diverse new acts that combine magic, lights, film, music, sculpture, and puppetry.

'Blind optimism': Who would open a theatre in 2020?

Stage | The Guardian: Is there a purer expression of hope than opening a theatre in the midst of a pandemic? Hope that the health crisis passes, that the stricken sector recovers, that theatre makers will remain and audiences will return? That’s hope, surely – or, as Georgia Leanne Harris, artistic director of the new Golden Goose theatre describes it, “a level of blind optimism”.

This is Sony’s Spatial Reality Display, and you can buy one for $5,000 in November

The Verge: Two days ago, I received a giant heavy metal wedge from Sony. The largest side contained a camera, and a 15.6-inch 4K screen.

I plugged it into a powerful gaming computer, and fired up the first demo. A tiny, intricately detailed Volkswagen Atlas materialized in front of my face — and when I pressed a button, it floated right up out of the screen.

How 2020 Exposed Everything People Wanted to Ignore

www.themeparkinsider.com: I evacuated a lot of guests from Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Pirates of the Caribbean over the years that I worked at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. Those "in-show exits" actually inspired me to create Theme Park Insider — after I saw how happy some guests were to get an "insider's" backstage tour of the attractions as I led them out to the exit.

Make A 60-Second Video For WeMakeEvents North America

LiveDesignOnline: WeMakeEvents North America is asking people in the entertainment design and technology industry to create a no more than 60-second video (Instagram regular post max is 60 seconds). Tell your story and to humanize the impact that the loss of live events has had on you (and your family if applicable) by answering the questions below. This will help illustrate the overall plight of our industry, which has been shut since March and may not open fully for many months to come.

SDC & SDCF Announce 'On the Edge: The Lives and Livelihoods of Stage Directors and Choreographers…A Next Stage Report'

www.broadwayworld.com: Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation have announced the release of On the Edge: The Lives and Livelihoods of Stage Directors and Choreographers...A Next Stage Report.

The report, which captures the state of the field in fall 2019 and amid the COVID-19 crisis of 2020 with quantitative and qualitative data, is a two-year, three-phase research study.

RESTART Act Update From Capitol Hill

LiveDesignOnline: The Senate Leadership has announced that Monday October 19, when the Senate reconvenes, the first action item will be a vote on a new relief bill to assist those most devastated Americans.

Specifically mentioned was a second round of PPP for those in need.

This will help a lot of small business, including those in Live Events.

From ghostly to gothic to goofy, theater artists celebrate the season

Performing Arts Feature | Chicago Reader: Exal Iraheta grew up listening to tales from Central American mythology. “The stories, kind of like Grimms’ fairy tales did in Europe, didn’t shy away from real danger,” the playwright, screenwriter, and School of the Art Institute alum recalled. “For me, I’ve always thought of horror and scary stories as a way of releasing something, or experiencing life from a different perspective.”

Universal Basic Income for Artists? San Francisco Will Give Local Creatives Struggling Amid the Shutdown $1,000 a Month

news.artnet.com: A cohort of more than 100 San Francisco-based artists will be given a $1,000 monthly stipend as part of the city’s Economic Recovery Task Force, the mayor’s office announced last week.

Ryobi Cordless One Hand Reciprocating Saw Review

Pro Tool Reviews: The biggest deal about the Ryobi 18V One+ HP Compact Brushless One-Hand Reciprocating Saw (whew, that’s a mouthful!) might just be that Ryobi now has a one-hand model. But the Ryobi PSBRS01 isn’t just a saw that happens to pair with 18V One+ batteries, it’s a complete package that raised our eyebrows compared to some well-known names.

Originally sidelined by COVID-19, Prime Stage's Debut of Kathryn Erskine's 'Mockingbird' gets Virtual premiere

Pittsburgh Current: Books have been a refuge for many since the COVID-19 pandemic gripped America, shutting down many public venues for consuming art, from movie theaters to concert halls. To bring these stories we’ve sought to life, local theater company Prime Stage Theatre is working to bring books to the stage, through the screen.

"Absinthe" and "Piff the Magic Dragon" Lead Return of Las Vegas Shows

vitalvegas.com: Two of our favorite Las Vegas shows are reopening and we’re fully engorged with anticipation at the news.

“Absinthe” reopens at Caesars Palace on Oct. 28, 2020.

“Piff the Magic Dragon” reopens at Flamingo on Oct. 29, 2020.

Shows are back on the Las Vegas Strip! Even more importantly, laughter is back, and it’s about damned time.

40 Black theater creatives on the industry’s racism

Los Angeles Times: For Netflix’s “The Forty-Year-Old Version,” writer-director-star Radha Blank channeled the frustrations of a career in theater into her first feature film. Chief among them: the white producer who helps her on-screen alter ego debut a play on Broadway. This gatekeeper’s less helpful notes include saying her piece isn’t “Black” enough, requires a white character to “grab the core audience” and would be perfect for a white director who just staged “A Raisin in the Sun.”

The Success of Margot Robbie's Screenwriting Lab Is Just the Beginning

Collider: It’s a feat worth popping the champagne for: All six female-identifying screenwriters who participated in the screenwriting lab co-founded by Margot Robbie have sold their scripts. That’s five feature films and one television series from a group of experienced female screenwriters graduating from the inaugural lab and making an impact in an otherwise tumultuous year in movies.

Pandemic Pushes Los Angeles Production Down 54%

Variety: The COVID-19 pandemic pushed down location production in the Los Angeles area by 54%, FilmLA reported on Wednesday.

The permitting agency’s data showed 4,199 shoot days from July through September. Reality TV was up 10.3% to 1,159 shoot days, while commercials slid 41.2% to 782 days. Paul Audley, longtime president of FilmLA, said production is poised for a moderate recovery during the current quarter.

This MIDI Controller Swaps Piano Keys for 39 Swiveling Joysticks

gizmodo.com: More often than not, MIDI controllers take the form of tiny keyboards with a limited number of plastic piano keys. If you know how to play the piano, they’re useful, but if you’re looking for a more creative way to express yourself musically, the Joyst JV-1 replaces piano keys with 39 joysticks from a video game controller that allow for more creative performances.

Tony-Winning Costume Designer Paloma Young on Loving Regional Theatre, Her Surprising Connection to Susan Hilferty, and More

Playbill: One positive thing that has come out of the Broadway shutdown is that more people than ever before understand just how big the theatrical community is. Broadway isn't just the stars and the writers—it's a whole team of designers and others, who have their own teams working for them. And Broadway isn't just Broadway: It's regional theatre and community theatre and national tours, all of which serve to inspire the next generation of theatremakers.