Scream! Bleed! Take Off Your Clothes! goes inside the legendary Organic Theater Company

Chicago Reader: As a budding theater enthusiast growing up in DuPage County in the 1970s and early 80s, I learned what was going on in Chicago mostly by reading reviews from Glenna Syse, the theater critic for the Sun-Times. (As proud public schoolteachers and union members, my parents didn’t let the Chicago Tribune in our house, relenting only after Mike Royko moved over to the paper when Rupert Murdoch bought the Sun-Times in 1984.)

Laika's 'Wildwood': Steve Emerson on Stop-Motion VFX

variety.com: Laika’s “Wildwood” took more than five years of stage animation and visual-effects work, with 2,776 shots requiring a carefully orchestrated mix of handmade puppets, miniature sets and digital imagery. But for production VFX supervisor Steve Emerson, the defining challenge of Travis Knight’s fantasy epic was ensuring that the technology served the stop-motion performances rather than overwhelming them.

How New Federal Student Loan Rules Could Affect Acting Programs

Backstage: Twenty-seven percent of American students borrow an average of about $40,000 in federal loans to pay for college. But for students considering certain acting programs, access to those loans could soon be at risk. Under a new Department of Education provision, tying federal loan eligibility to graduate earnings, Congress has a new warning: Buyer beware.

Carnegie Museum of Art plans a major redesign of the Heinz Architectural Center

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: If you were to enter the Heinz Architectural Center at Carnegie Museum of Art today, you’d be forgiven for not even knowing you were there. In its current use as part of the Carnegie International exhibit, running through Jan. 3, it appears as a T-shaped hallway, with two darkened, adjoining gallery spaces and a cordoned-off stairway leading to an area designated for “staff only.”

Plot Luck 2026: Raw Cereal Lights Bryson Tiller

Live Design Online: For Bryson Tiller's first tour in almost 10 years, his brief for production designers Raw Cereal were the words: cool, metallic, robotic, reflective, illuminated, back lit. In place of a complicated stage environment, Tiller asked for a monolith with video and lasers, strong and simple, where he would look almost like the last man on earth.

5 Bosch 12V MAX Tools Under $200 Worth Adding To Your Collection

www.slashgear.com: It can be difficult to determine which power tool brand to choose these days, if only because consumers are positively spoiled for options. If you're looking to keep to the major cordless power tool manufacturers, however, Bosch is one name you're certain to see in all corners of the market.

Quantum’s Magical, Menacing 'radio island' is Theater Finely Tuned

Entertainment Central Pittsburgh: The world premier of Liza Birkenmeier’s new play radio island opened last night in Rockwell Park, cleverly staged (as are most all of Quantum’s productions) in an empty warehouse. Directed by Katie Brook, soon to become Quantum Theatre’s new artistic director in January, radio island is thus the last production to be staged under the leadership of Karla Boos, Pittsburgh’s most adventurous dramaturg, producer, artistic director, actress, designer and audience development director.

Student Blog: Sophomore Year 'Ins' and 'Outs' - Moving Past the Comfort Zone in College

BroadwayWorld: I spent most of my freshman year of college adjusting to a completely new lifestyle: navigating dorm life with a roommate, figuring out meals according to the dining halls, and taking classes just to fulfill my gen-ed requirements.

Why Cycles Matter More Than Hours When Estimating Battery Life

Power & Motion Tech: The average human life expectancy in the USA is about 687,000 hours. That number is accurate, but it is also completely useless for estimating your individual lifetime. Car makers don’t warrant engines in years of ownership; they warrant them in miles, because a delivery van and a leisure car can be the same age and in a very different state.

Vekoma: 100 years in motion

InPark Magazine: As Vekoma celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2026, the company has considerably more to recognize than being in business for a century. Its history is one of continual reinvention – from agricultural machinery and industrial steelwork to one of the world’s leading roller coaster and attraction manufacturers.

Make It or Send It Out?

Sign Builder Illustrated, The How-To Sign Industry Magazine: For many sign and graphics shop owners, there’s a certain satisfaction that comes with producing a job entirely in-house. From the initial design to the final installation, having control over every step of the process can make it easier to maintain quality, meet deadlines and keep customers happy. However, just because your shop has the equipment and expertise to complete a project doesn’t necessarily mean producing it yourself is always the smartest business decision.

From Theaters to Living Rooms: Women+ Playwrights Take on Democracy Ahead of Election Day

BroadwayWorld: Tomorrow, theaters, community groups, and other organizations across the country will begin presenting short plays about democracy by women+ playwrights. The project, entitled Women+ on the Edge of Democracy and spearheaded by the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts in partnership with the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, enlisted 34 women+ playwrights to write the plays.

NFTRW Weekly Top Five

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

Student Blog: How to Balance Doing Everything Without Burning Out

BroadwayWorld: We are officially 9 weeks into the fall semester, and I am burnt out. So I thought it would be a good time to look back on how I got here. Coming back to school was great, and I was so ready to get started. I had a million things I wanted to accomplish this semester. I did really well accomplishing those same things over the summer, so why would this fall be any different?

Student Blog: Lifelong Lessons Learned from Theatre

BroadwayWorld: I’ve been acting in the theatre industry since I was four, and I've had the opportunity to perform in productions ranging from school to professional and regional work across Pennsylvania and New Jersey. From a very young age, I learned crucial skills that will stick with me forever and have little to do with talent, acting, singing, or dancing ability.

Broadway’s ‘School Girls’ will be available for streaming during final week of performances

www.broadwaynews.com: Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) and the League of Live Stream Theater (LOLST) will stream a live capture of Broadway’s “School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play” during its final week of performances. “School Girls” is currently playing at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, where its limited run began previews on Sept. 8 and opened on Sept. 28.

DEI Law Prompts School to Cancel 'Little Shop of Horrors'

www.mediaite.com: A suburban Dallas school district claimed a state law that references “social transitioning” prompted it to cancel a high school production of Little Shop of Horrors after a female student was cast in the role of Seymour, the nerdy flower shop assistant at the center of the tale.

More than half of theatre workers taking jobs outside of sector to survive – survey

www.thestage.co.uk: More than 50% of respondents to an Equity survey have had to take work outside of the sector to survive, with only a quarter thinking they will be working in the industry in three years’ time. The findings are part of a survey of more than 2,100 Equity members, with general secretary Paul W Fleming saying the results highlight “a precarious workforce”.

 

“The Wave,” Fascism Cautionary Drama, Restored at OCVTS in New Jersey

hesherman1.substack.com: School Violence Awareness Week at Ocean County Vocational and Technical School’s Grunin Performing Arts Academy in New Jersey will come and go this month without one of its tentpole events, performances by students of The Wave (aka The Third Wave), a play designed to show how easily societies – and high schoolers – can fall under the sway of Fascist ideologies.

Presidential Crowd Work in ‘FDR’s Very Happy Hour’

AMERICAN THEATRE: Almost alone among American presidents, our 32nd, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, is still remembered not for a single incident or tic but for a cluster of iconic landmarks and attributes: the New Deal and World War II, the ivory cigarette holder and pince-nez glasses, fireside chats in an arch mid-Atlantic accent, the wheelchair.

Student Blog: Lifelong Lessons Learned from Theatre

BroadwayWorld: I’ve been acting in the theatre industry since I was four, and I've had the opportunity to perform in productions ranging from school to professional and regional work across Pennsylvania and New Jersey. From a very young age, I learned crucial skills that will stick with me forever and have little to do with talent, acting, singing, or dancing ability.

Stream The Stage Managers’ Association 2026 Del Hughes Awards

Live Design Online: On Monday October 26th, 2026, the Stage Managers’ Association (SMA) will present its annual Del Hughes Awards for Lifetime Achievement in the Art of Stage Management at the National Opera Center’s Marc A. Scorca Hall in NYC. The event will also be live streamed: register for free virtual tickets here: Del Hughes Award live stream.

What Walt Disney Taught Tim Downey About Building Communities

Builder Magazine: Walt Disney might not be the most obvious influence for a real estate developer. For Southern Land Co. founder and CEO Tim Downey, however, Disney’s obsession with the details that shape an experience has provided a blueprint for four decades of business.

AV Sustainability Summit urges education and collaboration

AV Magazine: Marjolein Koens-Schaddelee presented the keynote Designing AV for a Net Zero Future. The MD of AVEX made an analogy between sustainable practices and owning your first home; they both involve a sense of freedom with responsibility. She made the point that the AV industry needs to adopt a system approach rather than focus on individual behaviours and told summit attendees that it’s OK to fail, and that we can pick ourselves up and try something else.

Sound artist May Wilcher on finding community at Open Improv Lab

90.5 WESA: Sound artist May Wilcher was a self-described “homebody” before she started attending Pittsburgh Sound Preserve’s Open Improvisation Lab. “I’ve just been interested in weird stuff for a long time.” Wilcher said. “If you are at the margins, you won’t feel so welcome in, like, a standard musical environment.” Open Improv Lab is an every-other-Monday night gathering at Bantha Tea Bar in Garfield, where — as Wilcher puts it — “there are almost no rules.”