A Wild Bar for a Wild Party

Prop Agenda: It is a little over a week since Elon University’s Wild Party closed, so I thought I would share some of the props I built while working as the props master on it. First is the sleek Art Deco bar. This production featured a lot of dancing and movement (in fact, the show was more of a dance piece with singing than a traditional musical) and the bar was key in a lot of the dancing. Actors jumped up and down off of it constantly and danced on top of it. Needless to say, it had to be sturdy.

J-O-Bs Eastern Music Festival

Now entering its 52nd year, the Eastern Music Festival & School (Greensboro, North Carolina) is recognized internationally for its prodigious contributions to the field of classical music and its commitment to nurturing talented youth.  The five-week Festival presents more than 100 public events (concerts, workshops, master classes, open rehearsals, lectures) each season, featuring world-class artists and students from its academy for pre-professional young musicians ages 14–22.  The 2013 season (June 22–July 27) will include, among others, visiting artists Joshua Bell, André Watts, Lynn Harrell and conductors Gerard Schwarz, Grant Cooper and José-Luiz Novo.

It takes a fantastic group of dedicated staff and interns to create and carry out a successful Festival. Please review and share the following links:

2013 Summer Employment / Internships Flyer

http://easternmusicfestival.org/assets/downloads/EMF-2013SummerEmploymentFlyer.pdf

Assistant Front of House Manager

http://easternmusicfestival.org/assets/employment/2013-AssistantFrontofHouseManager.pdf

Assistant Stage Manager

http://easternmusicfestival.org/assets/employment/2013-AssistantStageManager.pdf

Assistant to Director of Operations

http://easternmusicfestival.org/assets/employment/2013-AssistanttoDirectorofOperations.pdf

Stage Management Intern

http://easternmusicfestival.org/assets/employment/2013-StageManagmentIntern.pdf

Outreach Performance Intern

http://easternmusicfestival.org/assets/employment/2013-OutreachPerformanceIntern.pdf

Review: 'American Idiot' proves rock opera is here to stay

TribLIVE: Rock and roll is here to stay. Generations of musical theater fans have been enjoying rock musicals since “Hair” debuted almost 50 years ago. It's time for musical theater fans to welcome it into the family. Each generation has found a rock musical to call its own, whether it was “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “The Who's Tommy” or “Rent.”

American Tragedy at Duquesne Red Masquers

Theater Reviews + Features | Pittsburgh City Paper: David M. Katzin's American Tragedy, in its premiere by the Duquesne University Red Masquers, is full of surprises. The ambitious production, directed by Duquesne's theater-arts head John E. Lane Jr., is uneven but never unwieldy. Most remarkable, though, is the multi-layered text by Duquesne alum Katzin, using the story, if not all the facts, of a mid-19th century disaster to "look for America."

Creator of the Pentametron collaborates with Brooklyn Ballet

Brooklyn Daily: Park Slope artist Ranjit Bhatnagar can’t paint and he can’t sculpt — but he knows how to make ones and zeroes into something beautiful. The computer-based artist will put his programming skills to the test on Feb. 28 in a collaboration with the real-life dancers at Brooklyn Ballet.

New writing survey finds theatres canceling shows in wake of funding cuts

News - The Stage: More than 60 % of UK theatres and producing companies have said they have cancelled or postponed at least one production since April 2012, according to a survey looking at the impact of funding cuts on new writing. The independent report, called In Battalions, surveyed 26 theatre producers including the Almeida Theatre in London, touring company Out of Joint and new writing company Paines Plough.

Review: Becky’s New Car at The Rep

By Taylor Jack Helmbolt

    Last Sunday, February 10th, a colleague and I ventured over to the Pittsburgh Playhouse on Point Park’s campus to see The Rep’s new rendition of Becky’s New Car by Steven Dietz. The matinee was located in the small, intimate studio theatre, and played to a sold-out house. This cozy little venue nicely complimented both the writing style of the play and the directorial choices of this particular production. In fact, the combination of venue, direction, and writing led me to notice a rather commonly occurring tendency in the construction of contemporary American plays. I believe that, under the umbrella of modern American Theatre, there is a specific brand of play that attempts to reach audiences by openly conversing with them. Through the use of direct actor-to-audience dialogue, these plays attempt to draw in audiences and connect them to the characters on a personal, friendly level. I use the term “dialogue” rather than “monologue” because, unlike more classical texts that utilize soliloquy to communicate motivation, inner monologue, or plot points to the audience, these plays actually attempt to start a conversation with the observers and even seem to encourage feedback. They do not simply monologue at the observers, but instead attempt to evoke a response, or perhaps a “mood” of verbal exchange. When successful, the audience members feel as if the keystone “conversational character” is a friend or acquaintance rather than a mere stranger. This dramatic tool can be very effective, and Becky’s New Car seems to be a perfect example of its integration into contemporary American playwriting. This particular production took this talkative attitude to the extreme in what, I believe, was an ultimately successful attempt at establishing amiable character-audience relationships.

Donyale Werle to Speak at USITT 2013

Stage Directions: Tony Award-winning scenic designer Donyale Werle will speak at the upcoming USITT conference in Milwaukee on the subject of making Broadway more environmentally friendly. Werle, who is the pre-production co-chair of the Broadway Green Alliance, is committed to making theatre a “greener” practice, and uses salvaged materials in her sets and designs. Her set for Peter and the Starcatcher, for which she won a Tony, was made entirely of recycled materials. She will speak on Saturday, March 23.

You’re Hired! 26 Tips To Help You Score The Job You Want

www.thefrisky.com: As anyone who’s had a frustrating conversation with their parents knows, the job market just ain’t what it used to be. Where our parents generation may have switched jobs four or five times in a lifetime, these days, it’s far more common for people to change jobs — and sometimes whole careers — at least twice in a decade. The Bureau of Labor reports that the average worker spends around 4.4 years in each position. And for millenials, that number’s even higher. Whew.

Their business really is a Circus.

The Producer's Perspective: Who doesn’t love a little Cirque du Soleil? I remember the first time I saw “O” in Vegas (and yep, I said first time, because I’ve seen in multiple times). I spent most of the evening with my mouth wide open, wondering how the $#&@ they came up with this stuff. (I was actually lucky enough to dine with “O” Director Franco Dragone in Belgium a few years later and heard some of the amazing stories about how he did come up with that stuff – and it was one of the most inspiring dinners I’ve ever had).

Read my book online now!

Prop Agenda: Okay, you can’t read my whole book online. But I do have two whole chapters you can check out on The Prop Building Guidebook’s companion website. What are these chapters, you may ask? Well, as you can imagine, prop making covers a vast amount of information, and choosing what to put in and what to leave out was one of my biggest challenges.

Are Blueprints Really Dead?

(Between the Lines): I read an online articles headline stating blueprints were dead. I would love that, but in reality I find that proclamation of blueprints being dead as a headline hard to believe at this time. This topic also started a flurry of tweets discussing if paper blueprints were really dead and discussing if hardware could survive some work environments.

Mosh Pits Teach Us About the Physics of Collective Behavior

The Atlantic: Stop me if you've heard this one. A Cornell graduate physics student takes his girlfriend to her first heavy metal concert. Instead of diving straight into the mosh pit, as he typically would, he hangs back "to keep an eye on her." Being a physicist first and a mosher second ("fieldwork was independently funded"), the student, Jesse Silverberg, can't help but notice curious patterns in what had always felt like the epitome of chaos. "Being on the outside for the first time, I was absolutely amazed at what I saw -- there were all sorts of collective behaviors emerging that I never would have noticed from the inside." So for an even better perspective, he turns to YouTube, to figure out what happens to people under the "extreme conditions" borne of a combination of "loud, fast music (130 dB, 350 beats per minute) ... bright, flashing lights, and frequent intoxication."

'Martha Speaks' comes to life on Pittsburgh stages

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Every dog has its day. Martha, the talking dog from children's literature, has lined up a few days here in Pittsburgh.

It's courtesy of the Pittsburgh International Children's Theater which has brought "Martha Speaks" to town with performances tonight and through the weekend.

"Martha Speaks," produced by Theatreworks USA in New York, is a stage production based on the kids' books and the PBS cartoon series. It's the story of a little girl's dog who happens to eat a bowl of alphabet soup and suddenly can talk. Naturally, having a talking dog leads to all sorts of fun adventures.

Are Computers Ruining Education?

gizmodo.com: The original description for this image says "My med school this morning. Future doctors of america learning ADHD one imgur link at a time."

How Big Business is Stymying Makers' High-Res, Colorful Innovations

Wired Design | Wired.com: If you're waiting for desktop additive-manufacturing technology to move closer to professional-level results, be prepared to wait for a very long time. The past year was a breakout for desktop 3-D printing. MakerBot released two new models, Formlabs debuted the first prosumer 3-D printer to use high-accuracy stereolithography, and a slew of innovative, printed projects lifted awareness and desirability of additive manufacturing for the general public.

How To Get Started with Programmable RGB LED Strip Lighting

Tested: One of the greatest things about the Maker scene is that there’s just so much of it—it encompasses everything from rocketry to hydroponics. And as a maker, just getting started can be the hardest part: deciding what to work on next, or if you’re new to the scene, what to work on first. So I’m starting up a new series of articles that I hope will help you get your bearings on what's possible. But I'm going to refrain from calling out specific projects to work on; not only would my list probably be unhelpful (there’s only so many ways to write “build a fighting robot”), it sort of defeats the point of the whole endeavor, which is to express yourself through creating something suitable to your own abilities and interests. Instead, I’m going to look at some cool components that could be a major part of lots of different projects. Hopefully you’ll be inspired.

DeWALT TSTAK Storage Boxes - Review

Tools In Action - Tools and Gear for the Working Man: If you have been following us you know that DeWALT makes the toughest storage solutions on the market with the Tough System. The Tough System is great but what if you need a smaller option? Luckily the TSTAK came along to fill that void, think Tupperware for men. The TSTAK was designed from the ground up for the user, not just some rebranded existing storage system.

Come to Design Night on March 7 at the Autodesk Gallery in San Francisco

It is Alive in the Lab: On Thursday, March 7, 6-10 p.m., the Autodesk Gallery will host Design Night: Illumination, where we will explore how artists and designers are using light to enhance our lives, from the very practical to the stunningly beautiful. From solar power technology and programmable LEDs to mind-blowing light art, there’s a lot more to light than meets the eye.

J-O-B Sales

Lighting & Sound America: A Regional Sales Manager is responsible for working with CSL clients and prospects, conducting technical demonstrations, developing proposals and system specifications, and meeting sales quotas within the defined region.