How American Stages Should Look in the Future, According to a Cohort of Emerging BIPOC Producers

Playbill: Earlier this spring, 25 up-and-coming theatre makers completed the inaugural Producing 101 course from Theatre Producers of Color. The program, committed to supporting the next generation of BIPOC producers, ran for 10 weeks and taught the fundamentals of commercial producing, including development paths, financing, and budgeting, with experienced BIPOC and white ally leaders as their guides.

McDonald’s commits to diverse-owned production partners

Reel Chicago - At the intersection of Chicago Advertising, Entertainment, Media and Production: Over the next four years, McDonald’s and Owner/Operators are accelerating the allocation of advertising dollars to diverse-owned media companies, production houses and content creators.

Amazon to stream major National Theatre plays in UK and Ireland

Amazon Prime Video | The Guardian: Amazon has partnered with the National Theatre to stream four high-profile live-recorded stage shows, including Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag. The shows, which include Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller in 2011’s Frankenstein, will be made available to Amazon’s Prime Video customers in the UK and Ireland from 11 June.

ETC lights new Austrian rollercoaster 'Gesengte Sau'

blog.etcconnect.com: ETC’s Mosaic architectural system and Source Four fixtures have been selected for Austrian amusement park Prater’s latest attraction: the new, rapid rollercoaster ‘Gesengte Sau’. Designed and operated by Barth GmbH, the rollercoaster in Vienna offers an immersive experience speeding around an animated, bustling farm with animals and race cars. The ‘Gesengte Sau’ is 610 meters long with a maximum height of 24 meters and a top speed of 60 km/h.

Inside the Broadway Community Project: On Stage, In the Wings, and Throughout the House, 'Props Is Tops'

Playbill: Today, meet Rebecca Jean Heroff. While she likens the Broadway community to “a big family,” she’ll make sure you remember the mantra “props is tops.” As a house props person, Heroff facilitates the steady load-in and load-out of productions at the theatre while maintaining various fixtures of the space (such as seating, the pit, dressing rooms, and green room). The house props team is also present during rehearsals and during the run of the show, and will often be among the first crew members to walk through the stage door for each performance, mopping and vacuuming the stage before others arrive.

Actors' Equity Association Urges All States To Continue Federal Pandemic Unemployment Insurance

www.broadwayworld.com: Actors' Equity Association, the national labor union representing more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers in live theatre, has released a statement in response to reports that at least 23 states are choosing to terminate their federal pandemic unemployment insurance programs far before their current scheduled expiration of September 6, 2021, potentially affecting nearly 2 million Americans, disproportionately workers of color.

Las Vegas headliners prepare for their comeback, led by four new Resorts World stars

Las Vegas Weekly: It’s never been done before. Resorts World Las Vegas announced four superstar headlining musical residency acts at the same time, ahead of its planned June 24 opening. Starting in November and continuing into March, Celine Dion, Carrie Underwood, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan will be performing at the brand-new, 5,000-seat Theatre at Resorts World.

Howard University Renames College of Fine Arts After Chadwick Boseman

www.broadwayworld.com: Howard University President Wayne A. I. Frederick has announced that the newly reestablished College of Fine Arts will be named in honor of alumnus Chadwick Boseman, whose remarkable career as an actor, director, writer, and producer inspired millions around the world.

The Tony Awards Return! But You'll Have to Pay to See 'Em

thebroadwayblog.com: Let the joyous news be spread! The Tony Awards are finally scheduled! Oh, wait. Now we have to subscribe to Paramount+ to see who wins? Well, yes and no. CBS and Tony Award Productions will celebrate Broadway’s highly anticipated return of live theatre with a multi-platform event, THE TONY AWARDS® PRESENT: BROADWAY’S BACK! on Sunday, September 26 (9-11 p.m. EST) on the CBS Television Network and available to stream live and on-demand on Paramount+ and the CBS app.

Biden to Replace Several Trump-Appointed Members of the Federal Commission of Fine Arts

www.broadwayworld.com: The New York Times has reported that four of the seven members of the federal Commission of Fine Arts have been told to resign by the Biden, or face termination. All seven members of the commission were appointed by former President Donald J. Trump.

David Lan: In the age of apartheid, theatre resisted

Theatre | The Guardian: I grew up in South Africa during the bleak, violent, seemingly never-ending iron age of apartheid. In 1971, when I was studying acting at Cape Town University, the National Party government built a monolithic 1,500-seat theatre complex in a commanding position near the centre of the city. The Afrikaner Nationalists had an easy rule of thumb by which to distinguish between the value of white people and black people – we have culture and they don’t.

Disabled people fear being left behind as U.K. culture venues reopen

The Seattle Times: Before the pandemic hit Britain last year, Michelle Hedley could only go to her local theaters in the north of England if they happened to be doing a captioned performance. That happened five times a year — at best, said Hedley, who is deaf.

Broadway Advocacy Coalition Announces Reimagining Equitable Productions Program, Working With COMPANY, TINA & More

www.broadwayworld.com: The Broadway Advocacy Coalition has announced the launch of its newest program, Reimagining Equitable Productions. Created to address the many safety and equity concerns raised last summer, BAC will initially work with the companies of Company and Tina: The Tina Turner Musical. Disney Theatrical Productions will be working with BAC on a customized pilot process alongside members of the companies of Aladdin (Broadway), Frozen (Tour), and The Lion King (Broadway & Tour).

Colonial Williamsburg is facing up to its own past through theater

The Washington Post: On the streets of Colonial Williamsburg — one of the world’s premier living-history museums — Emily James cuts a formidable figure. Portraying Edith Cumbo, a free woman of color who walked these byways in the 18th century, James tries daily to convey to tourists the humiliations and contradictions Cumbo lived with.

Apart and Together, CMU Celebrates a Class Like No Other

www.cmu.edu/news: Maggie McGrann arrived in Gesling Stadium feeling restless. "I didn't sleep well last night — both from a combo of nerves and because it's a big day. And it was a big year," said McGrann, who graduated Saturday with a master of fine arts in costume design from the School of Drama in the College of Fine Arts. "I'm excited to see my classmates and cohorts who I haven't seen a ton of this year, so I think that contributed to the restlessness."

GLP Rocks Tunnel with Over 200 Creative Light 1

LightSoundJournal.com: In 2020, GLP presented the new Creative Light 1, the first battery operated, completely wireless creative LED system for maximum flexibility—anytime, anywhere. With 24 individually controllable RGB pixels, the Creative Light 1 offers countless design options and can be installed in no time, thanks to the integrated magnet. In March 2021, a small GLP team impressively demonstrated this by transforming a dreary motorway underpass into a pulsating dance temple within a few hours.

Tony Winner Clint Ramos: Where Is The American Theater That Speaks To Everyone?

Deadline: Many theater practitioners feel a profound closeness to their work. It is their life’s purpose. It is their essence. That is how I feel about the theater. So, when Covid drew stage curtains across prosceniums throughout the American stage, I felt my very selfhood slip away.

Tales from a Disabled Theatre School Grad |

www.intermissionmagazine.ca: Before one discusses disability in theatre, it is important to understand that theatre, all theatre, is inherently ableist. From being allowed to perform on stage to having access to the buildings, theatre has obstacles toward disabled acceptance literally built into it. Acting, in particular, exists on the idea that the artist is able to do certain things: memorize scripts, perform physical actions, understand “typical” social norms, work long hours with few breaks, and “see” or “hear” the cues in the show. Overall, disabled actors in the theatre are expected to inherently know how to exist in an able-bodied and able-supremacist society. If they cannot, or struggle to do so, they are often bullied, ridiculed, and harassed.

Broadway Advocacy Coalition launches equity workshop program for productions

Broadway News: The Broadway Advocacy Coalition is launching a program to help productions address equity and safety concerns before resuming performances. The program, entitled Reimagining Equitable Productions, will begin with workshops for the Broadway companies of “Tina,” “Company” and “Aladdin,” both the touring and Broadway production of “The Lion King” and the tour of “Frozen.”

How One Broadway Stylist Found Light in the Darkness of the Pandemic

Playbill: When the COVID-19 pandemic hit New York City, like most members of the theatre industry, Greg Dassonville saw his life come to a standstill. The Broadway stylist had been hard at work making a name for himself since founding his business DassonVogue in 2018, styling theatre talent for red carpets, editorial shoots, and more, but suddenly his trajectory came to a halt just ahead of a wave of the Broadway’s spring openings. A season that is typically marked by energetic frenzy and excitement was instead defined by confusion and loss.