'Pippin' Revival Recoups Investment

NYTimes.com: “You’re on the right track,” the Leading Player sings to the title character in the 1972 musical “Pippin,” and the same can be said of the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival. The producers announced on Monday that the show has recouped its $8.5 million capitalization after about eight months of performances. Only 25 percent of Broadway productions recoup their investors’ money and go on to earn profits.

Interns, Listen Up! Top 5 Things You Shouldn't Be Doing

www.lifehack.org: Ah, internships! The gateway to employment. The key to getting noticed in a bleak economy. The rite of passage that gives you access to influencers, awesome connections, and memorable opportunities.
But why are so many interns doing things they shouldn’t? According to a study by Harris Interactive, there’s a huge gap between students’ perceptions of their abilities and managers’ perceptions of those same skills. Only about half of college grads who have taken the time to complete internships say they feel prepared for the workplace, and the number of bosses who think they’re prepared is lower than 40 percent.

At What Age Will Your Creativity Peak?

99U: There will always be the outliers, but most accomplished creatives need many years of practice, mistakes, and determination before they make their best creative work. So when can the average person expect to hit their stride?

The morning after the hills were (a)live.

Michael Cassara / MichaelCassara.net – NYC Casting Director: Last night NBC brought us a live, theatrical event – by their own description, the first of its kind in over 50 years – a broadcast of (more or less) the stage version of The Sound of Music.
This morning, my Facebook and Twitter feeds closely resemble a warzone – a warzone full of opinions, many of which are opinions about opinions.

Substantive Work

From the President | Actors' Equity Association: Substantive work is what I think we’re all looking for: work that means something, work that challenges us, work that makes a difference. Sometimes that’s a meaty role, sometimes it’s being a modest part of a terrific production, sometimes it’s just a job that makes a significant contribution to our monthly nut.

Are You Still Reading a Ruler? Learn a Better Way to Measure

www.popularwoodworking.com: We learn how to read a ruler in grade school, and for lack of more advanced instruction many of us go on reading a ruler for the rest of our lives – including in our shops. In many cases, however, the best way to read a ruler is not reading one at all. That’s why I chose to highlight the recent video from our YouTube channel for today’s post. Learning to use better measurement tools is one of the quickest ways to move through the intermediate stages of your woodworking career, and onto advanced projects.

All Access: Mixing Nine Inch Nails

c2meworld.com: Mix caught up with Nine Inch Nails (Trent Reznor, vocals, guitar, keyboards; Robin Finck, guitars; Pino Palladino, bass; Ilan Rubin, drums; Alessandro Cortini; keyboards, synths, guitar; Josh Eustis, electronics; Lisa Fischer, background vocals; Sharlotte Gibson, background vocals) in mid-November at the 1st Bank Center in Broomfield, Colorado.

Nelson Mandela dies: His legacy to the arts

latimes.com: Many people know that Nelson Mandela’s life inspired novels, poems, plays and films, but few people know how powerful his effect on the theater was and how powerful the theater’s effect was on him.
The theater served as a mirror to Mandela, each side influencing and reflecting the other, placing them both in time.

Contract Mumbo Jumbo You Really Should Read (And Understand)

Pro Sound Web: It’s been 45 days, you’ve completed the work and you haven’t received final payment. Now you find out your contract included a paid-when-paid provision you didn’t notice. Sound familiar? You are not alone.
Let’s identify some of the most significant contract clauses to watch out for when reviewing your prospective subcontract agreement.
By taking the time to understand and negotiate these danger clauses, it also paves the way for a greater understanding of the shifting risks toward the subcontractor.

Flashlights: Critical Safety Tools

Occupational Health & Safety: Safety managers give much thought to equipping and training employees for emergency situations and keeping them safe on the job. But when it comes to one critical safety tool -- flashlights -- these same safety professionals may be overlooking the many recent technology innovations and options that are now available to them. By taking the time to understand recent enhancements in flashlight technology, safety personnel can better prepare workers to respond to emergencies and, in general, help maintain a safer working environment.

Barebones productions’ Motherfucker and 10th anniversary

Program Notes | Pittsburgh City Paper: It’s the final week of performances for this Pittsburgh-premiere staging of Stephen Adly Guirgis’s The Motherfucker With The Hat — and a good time to note barebones’ unique spot on the local theater scene.

Frank Rich on His Friendship With Stephen Sondheim

New York Magazine: There are few things that remain constant in life, but for me one of them is this: Stephen Sondheim’s work has touched me for more than half a century. It did so when I was first listening to records as a child, when I didn’t know his name or much else, and it does so right this minute, as songs of middle-aged regret like “Too Many Mornings” and “You Must Meet My Wife” are randomly shuffled into my headphones by iTunes. It’s unusual to remain so loyal to a single artist. We tend to outgrow our early tastes and heroes. It’s even more unlikely to have that artist materialize in person and play a crucial role in one’s life—as Sondheim first did when I was 21 and he was 40. Since then, with some lengthy intermissions along the way, he’s been a mentor, an occasional antagonist, a friend, and even an unwitting surrogate parent.

App turns smartphone owners into film crew members

Springwise: The rising quality of smartphones’ video capabilities is opening up new opportunities for consumers to create their own mini films. Now Film Crew is an app that enables professional filmmakers to crowdsource smartphone footage from anyone wanting to join the crew and earn a credit.

The Phantom Seats of Philanthropy

HowlRound: If the defunding of arts were to become a nation-wide reality, what charge would it put on artists?
We’re not opposed to arts funding, in fact we’re in the midst of multiple grant applications as we write this! But the system, as many other systems in our country, is corrupt and must be challenged by those who have the power and imagination to do so.
And do so without asking permission.

Report: Arts, culture add $500B to nation's GDP

WSJ.com: Creative industries led by Hollywood account for about $504 billion, or at least 3.2 percent of U.S. goods and services, the government said in its first official measure of how the arts and culture affect the economy.
On Thursday, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the National Endowment for the Arts will release the first-ever estimates of the creative sector's contributions to U.S. gross domestic product based on 2011 data, the most recent figures available. GDP measures the nation's production of goods and services.

Life After 50: Where Do We Go From Here?

American Theatre – December 2013: “We don’t do anniversaries.” If you’re a press rep at a TCG member theatre somewhere in America, you’ve probably heard that caveat from somebody on the staff of American Theatre magazine. But this 2013–14 season is different: A remarkable array of U.S. theatres date their founding moment to 1963 and ’64, and reaching the half-century mark has provoked not only widespread celebrations of tenacity and accomplishment, but renewed self-examination among theatre organizations and the artists who work there. Breaking with our own tradition, we asked the artistic leaders of seven major companies to talk about how they marked the 50-year milestone, and how they intend to keep their work youthful and relevant to our changing times.

Michigan Opera Theatre Names Wayne S. Brown President and Chief Executive Officer

Yahoo News: Wayne S. Brown, Director of Music and Opera for the National Endowment for the Arts since 1997 and a native Detroiter, has been named President and CEO of the Michigan Opera Theatre (MOT) effective January 1. He succeeds David DiChiera who founded MOT in 1971 and has served as General Director of the theatre since its inception. Dr. DiChiera will remain as Artistic Director.

"The Sound of Music"

Faculty & Staff News - Carnegie Mellon University: Another rehearsal extends well into the night, leaving musical theater senior Michael Campayno (A'14) and Tony Award-winning CMU alumnus Christian Borle (A'95) dog-tired.
But in a good way.
Campayno, Borle and their castmates - among them, Carrie Underwood - will perform the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic "The Sound of Music," live on NBC at 8 p.m. (EST), Dec. 5.

USITT 2014 Early Bird Discount Deadline is Dec. 12, 2013

Stage Directions: Black Friday (and Gray Thursday) may be history for the 2013 holiday shopping season, but "super early bird" registrants for the USITT’s 2014 Annual Conference & Stage Expo, set for March 26-29, can still score a significant discount if they sign up for the four-day show by Thursday, Dec. 12. The full Conference Registration price will rise a bit after the Dec. 12 deadline and increase a bit more after the regular early bird registration deadline of Feb. 13, 2014.

Sennheiser to FCC: Make Auction Winners Pay Those Hurt by Loss of 600 MHz Range

Stage Directions: Noting that the FCC’s pending spectrum auction jeopardizes future use of wireless microphones operating in the 600MHz range, forcing content creators to reinvest in wireless gear, Sennheiser formally proposed that winners of the new spectrum compensate owners of wireless microphone equipment that will be rendered obsolete as a direct result of the planned spectrum repacking.