Carnegie Mellon University – Associate Professor of Acting Position

Carnegie Mellon University, School of Drama, a professional BFA acting conservatory program, seeks a full time Acting teacher at the level of Associate Professor (Tenure Track).

Ideally, applicants should have at least five years teaching experience plus substantial professional acting/directing credentials.  Candidates should be able to teach a range of acting styles and methodologies and support collaborative interactions between faculty, staff and students.  This position is Pittsburgh based.

The search will remain open until the position is filled. The start date for the hire is August 2013.

Please send cover letter, detailed CV, teaching philosophy, and list of three references by November 1, 2012 to: Search Chair, Barbara Mackenzie-Wood, Raymond W. Smith Professor of Drama, School of Drama, Purnell Center for the Arts, CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY, 5000 Forbes Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15213. Inquiries by email to drama-relations@andrew.cmu.edu or 412-268-2068. www.drama.cmu.edu

Carnegie Mellon University is an AA/EOE employer.

Another Melissa Concert

The Post Gazette said "Without question, it was the gayest Melissa Etheridge concert ever."

I would concur.  Mrs. TANBI and I went to see Melissa at the Pittsburgh Pride festival last weekend.

The show was general admission and there were no seats.  A little bit my feat still hurt.  Doors were at 6:00.  The plan was there would be a DJ until 8:45 and then Melissa for 90 minutes and then another DJ until midnight.  When we got there, one of the lighting guys we know said that the end of the show was scheduled for 2am - ouch.

What really happened was that there was a DJ until around 8:45 and then there was some talking, and then some drag, and then an opening act, and then time for setup.  Melissa didn't get on until easily 9:30ish.

We didn't come in at doors open.  When we got downtown there was already a line to get in so we decided to get something to eat.  It was fun looking at people and trying to guess if they were there for Pride, one of the theatres, the ArtsFest, or the Pirate game.  I think we got in a little before 7:00.  Right off we managed to weave out way up to maybe 25 feet back.  Sometime a little later I got particularly aggressive and we moved up to maybe 12 feet.  By the time Melissa started her set we were probably 4 or 5 bodies back.  I was a little disappointed to see that they'd put up barriers to keep the crowd 4 feet from the stage.

I didn't shoot many pictures.  Several concerts ago I decided I'd rather watch the show first hand than watch it through a viewfinder.  If you don't keep the camera ready all the time you normally don't get the best shots and that being ready keeps me from really enjoying the show.  So these are camera phone shots.  I learned a little about my phone camera - mostly I am trying to remember which way it thinks is down so the pictures don't need as much editing (also learned that stage lighting tends to wash things out and that the front camera has not nearly the resolution of the rear).

Since taking pictures wasn't keeping me from enjoying things there'd inevitably be something else.  In this particular case that thing was a drunk or altered middle aged lesbian woman with some boundary issues and a propensity to should "sign my dick!"  She had a balloon wrapped around her arm she was having people sign.  It was cute for the first 10 minutes.

The PG wasn't wrong. The show was definitely a little different because of it being a pride event.  Mostly I think is was about things that weren't the set list: things she said and things she improvised.  The set list was pretty good.  I don't think we got to hear anything from the next album but there were tunes from the whole catalog.  It was great to hear Silent Legacy and Meet me in the Back.  I still miss The Angels and Giant and Secret Agent but there isn't time for everything (and I suspect there are other reasons aside from time in play).

I've got a better version of this pic from a prior concert...

Maybe it would have been better with the rear facing camera - but then I wouldn't have been able to aim.  Someday I will have to make a list of all the shows so I can keep track.

The show ended around midnight with Like the Way I Do.  Kind of astoundingly a bunch of people left right after their curtain call, which turned out to be before the encore.  So for the very last song I got to move up even closer, but no handshake due to the configuration.  After that we got ourselves some water and soda and took our aching feet to the car. 

I don't know if the late DJ went past 2am.

Denver Art Museum

Mrs. TANBI and I were recently in Denver for a wedding. On the last day, before we made the trek out to the airport we visited the Denver Art Museum. I have to say this is one of the coolest buildings I had seen in quite some time. At first glance I couldn't figure out how there were going to get any exhibition space.

It certainly isn't conventional.

But unconventional makes for some truly special gallery spaces.  I would never have thought that such odd spacial configurations would be so interesting, but they absolutely are.

The curator/designers have pretty free reign to subdivide the spaces, decide to present things true to the wall or true to the world, and how much space to use for art and how mach space to just leave.  It must be fascinating to plan.

It's not just the gallery spaces that are compelling, the circulation spaces are just as impressive.

All the different planes and the lighting and the levels are just wonderful.  It almost seems like the space should be an architecture museum.  In one of the nooks they created a space for visitor feedback and some kid had filled out a card that said "the museum itself is art."  Bullseye.

One of the floors has an outdoor space as well.

There wasn't anything on display when we were there, but just like inside the space is compelling even without art on display.

Even nicer with something to look at in the background.

We did see some art pieces we liked.  Mrs. TANBI was particularly fond of a piece by Vance Kirkland:

I was intrigued by a piece by Lia Cook:

The Kirkland piece is all dots.  Mrs. TANBI loves dots.  The Cook is a tapestry done like ASCII art, or really more like a newspaper photo.  It really changes character when you get closer.  Probably not a great piece to own if you have cats though :-(

One piece gave me a chance to use a new panorama function on my phone camera (I had of course really needed the app the day before and hadn't had it).

This really shows some of the strength of the place, a huge piece in a dynamic environment.  Really cool.

The museum has free wi-fi and QR codes on the art labels linked to video and other pieces by the artist.  I thought it was a very nice use of technology.

I'm glad I got to see all of it!