Worth a Look

Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...

‘Midnight Rider’ Case: First AD Hillary Schwartz Denied Shortened Sentence

Deadline: Like Midnight Rider’s director before her, the film’s first assistant director Hillary Schwartz asked for and was denied leniency by a Georgia court for her part in the death of her 27 year-old crew member Sarah Jones. Schwartz had motioned the court for a shortened sentence last year asking that her probation end. She was sentenced to 10 years probation in March 2015 for criminal trespass and felony involuntary manslaughter for her role in the camera assistant’s death.

Posted by David at 3/25/2019 01:06:00 PM

Consent in the Spotlight

The New Journal: Center stage at the Iseman Theater, a woman stands clutching two hands to her chest in front of seventy-five first-year students of the Yale School of Drama. “These are my breasts,” she says. “These are Evan’s breasts, and when I come to rehearsal, I don’t want you to touch them.”

Posted by David at 3/26/2019 01:15:00 PM

The Color Purple; who gets to play gay?

Exeunt Magazine: “Nobody who has talent should be kept out of the acting profession. And nobody, even white, middle-class males, should be prevented from playing any part,” said Simon Callow, commenting in a Guardian piece last week which, slightly insidiously, painted a picture of a world in which increasingly strong calls for diversity in casting were limiting some actors’ careers.

Posted by David at 3/25/2019 01:12:00 PM

Cirque, MGM Resorts Downsize; Shuffle Staff

www.cirquefascination.com: Cirque du Soleil is performing some acrobatics away from the theater.

The days are over when Cirque shows have been operated as insular productions, independent of one another. The company is reorganizing — and downsizing — its management operations for its five residency productions on the Las Vegas Strip that are in partnership with MGM Resorts International (“Mystere” at Treasure Island being the exception). Cirque also has a show coming into Luxor to be announced this spring.

Posted by David at 3/27/2019 04:52:00 PM

Rise TV Period Dramas Creates Bigger Need for History Consultants

Variety: Ask production designer Maria Djurkovic how she researched period-accurate sets for the late 1970s-set espionage miniseries “The Little Drummer Girl,” which airs on AMC, and she answers: books, the internet, some personal experience. But then she brings up her secret weapon: Philip Clark.

Posted by David at 3/27/2019 04:45:00 PM

Photo Friday

How long until the blog police make me change the name of these posts?

Ellipses...

I can't be certain, but I am pretty sure that the new EU Copyright provisions make one of my other pages a fairly likely infringer...  Week after week of PT and we're really not getting anywhere.  I did find free parking at the facility...  I really can't get over how much there is that I am no longer willing to put into a post...  When I played ultimate in college our jerseys were not nearly as cool as the ones the current team has...  I'm catching up with Westworld two episodes at a time.  Some of those episodes are a little bit longer than I would have anticipated...  The front lawn is a field of clover.  So much for last year's lawn care vendor...  I am anticipating a fairly high number of credit ultimate games this spring.  I hope I am up to it...  There was another Green Scenery panel at the conference this year.  The advice: build less, use more stock, throw away nothing.  That song is getting old...  Phase two of the basement update is underway.  There's a new furnace and all new duct work.  Somehow I think "new duct work" isn't a highly sought after item in renovation projects...   I can't be sure, but I think I may have found a home for some of the LPs that moved here from Chicago...  Days that start out below 30 and then rise to over 60 provide a challenging toddler clothing selection process...  Lego has this ball & socket joint pair of pieces that I think is a fairly good analog for general problems with ball & socket joints...  Haven't seen Captain Marvel.  Should probably get on that before Endgame comes out...

Photo Friday

Making its way all the way to Sunday this round.

Worth a Look

Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...

It’s time to start caring about “VR cinema,” and SXSW’s stunners are proof

Ars Technica: You may love, hate, or shrug at the idea of virtual reality, but one niche is still unequivocally devoted to the format: film festivals. The reasons aren't all great. Because VR usually requires one-at-a-time kiosks, it invites long lines (which film festivals love for photo-op reasons). These films also favor brief, 10-15 minute presentations, which are the bread-and-butter of the indie filmmaking world. And the concept reeks of exclusivity—of the sense that, if you wanna see experimental VR fare, you need to get to Sundance, Cannes, or SXSW to strap in and trip out.

Posted by David at 3/21/2019 11:31:00 AM

Corporations Are Co-Opting Right-to-Repair

WIRED: "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." As an advocate, organizer, and campaigner for preschool access, tax fairness, plastic pollution and other causes for the last 14 years, I’ve heard this saying many times. You tell it to your volunteers when it looks like your movement has hit a wall or when it looks like your opposition has the upper hand, and you want to show your teammates that many people have faced obstacles before, and overcome them.

Posted by David at 3/21/2019 11:31:00 AM

The Art of Designing Black Hair for the Stage

Theatre Development Fund – TDF: Looking at Cookie Jordan's extensive New York City stage credits, it seems like she's the go-to hair and wig designer for productions with predominantly black casts. After all, her résumé includes Eclipsed, Once on This Island, Choir Boy, An Octoroon, Fairview, Sugar in Our Wounds and School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, which earned her a Drama Desk Award nomination. But Jordan will not be pigeonholed. "I did Sunday in the Park with George, too," she says. "Of course I can do Caucasian hair -- my training is in opera!"

Posted by David at 3/19/2019 01:59:00 PM

Eliza Dushku slams NDA from CBS' $9.5M payout after claims of harassment

www.usatoday.com/story/life: Eliza Dushku is still upset about the sexual comments "Bull" star Michael Weatherly made about her on the set of the CBS legal drama and the culture that allowed it to happen. In a new interview with Time, the actress, 38, says the non-disclosure agreement she signed as part of her $9.5 million settlement means she has to "talk in code" when she wants to discuss the situation.

Posted by David at 3/18/2019 02:00:00 PM

The Development Of Israeli Theater–A Brief Overview

The Theatre Times: In comparison with West European theater, Hebrew theater is young: only a century separates the Moscow première of the first professional Hebrew production on October 8th, 1918, and any of over 50 current theater events that can be attended nightly in Tel Aviv, Israel’s theater capital. The almost total lack of theater traditions in Judaism, other than the inherent theatricality in religious services, until the turn of the 20th century and the ensuing quantitative as well as qualitative proliferation of shows, demonstrates a strong link between Israeli reality and universal theatricality.

Posted by David at 3/20/2019 10:54:00 AM

Worth a Look

Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...

Arts Sector Contributed $763.6 Billion to U.S. Economy—More Than Agriculture or Transportation

Artsy: The arts and cultural sector contributed over $763.6 billion to the American economy in 2015—more than the agriculture, transportation, or warehousing sectors, according to new U.S. government data released Tuesday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

Posted by David at 3/14/2019 12:38:00 PM

Richard Burbage: Shakespeare's leading man and the reason Hamlet was fat

theconversation.com: It’s 400 years since the death of Richard Burbage, the first person to play the roles of Hamlet, Lear, Othello and Macbeth in the original version of the Globe in London. As far as Shakespeare was concerned, Burbage was both a blessing and a curse. He was a good actor, and he seems to have been a particular draw for female audience members – an anecdote by the contemporary diarist John Manningham tells of a citizen’s wife who was so smitten after seeing Burbage play Richard III that she sent a note backstage to make an assignation, only for it to be intercepted by Shakespeare, who went off to the rendezvous himself with the remark that “William the Conqueror was before Richard the Third”.

Posted by David at 3/11/2019 12:23:00 PM

Artists Temporarily Drop ‘Fortnite’ Lawsuits For Copyright Snag

Variety: With a recent US Supreme Court ruling that plaintiffs suing for copyright infringement must have their work registered with the US Copyright Office, several artists have put their lawsuits against Epic Games “Fortnite” dances on hold, according to a report from Law360 via law firm Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hect.

Posted by David at 3/11/2019 12:24:00 PM

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD Faces New Litigation After Regional Shut Downs

www.broadwayworld.com: BroadwayWorld previously reported cancellations of a number of productions of the Christopher Sergel stage adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird, licensed by Dramatic Publishing, in the UK, Dayton OH, and Buffalo, amongst others across the US. According to the New York Times, president of Dramatic Publishing Company Christopher Sergel III, who also happens to be the grandson of the original adaptation's author, says he will be suing for damages.

Posted by David at 3/14/2019 12:36:00 PM

The Revolution is Here and Now

HowlRound Theatre Commons: We’re at a critical point in the history of Roma movements in Europe. Day after day, we receive news of pogroms, killings, shootings, beatings, family separations, school segregations, rapes, and homophobic violence against our people all across the continent. The response from some Roma artists and writers is anger.

Posted by David at 3/14/2019 01:50:00 PM

Photo Friday

Ellipses...

The idea that there could be planes crashing not due to pilot error or even over some mechanical problem but rather over a software problem is really, really scary...  I don't understand why at the doctor's office they bring you back to an exam room when they really aren't ready for you, so you wind up waiting, alone, in a tiny room.  The room you were in is literally called a "waiting room."  Seems like they know what it is for...  I am beginning to think that I can make myself agitated enough to actually make myself ill.  I would not have thought that would be possible...  This week is Spring Break.  I have now been to work three days in a row and am going in tomorrow.  I think I am doing Spring Break incorrectly...  Next week is USITT.  I will be at the conference.  You should look me up if you go...  The multiple layers of fraud in this college admissions scandal is really disturbing.  It is even more disturbing to think about how vulnerable the system is to this type of manipulation...  The Friday Photos posts depend on me taking photos over the week.  Sometimes I forget...  If you have an app, and that app shows a schedule, you ought to adhere to that schedule, and if you can't do that then you are probably better off not showing the information...  Season 7 of DS9 is really good, but there are also more episodes than I remember that are off the main road plotwise...  The other day I participated in a kind of "Yes, this is really a job" presentation for  bunch of 8th graders.  There was among the group exactly one person that seemed genuinely interested.  She, of course, was interested in performance...  I drove a truck today.  I want to say it was like the fourth time (not counting pick up trucks).  "Don't let them know you can drive the truck" is one of my standard pieces of professional advice...  Apparently "amongst," although a word, is less favored than "among."  And now you know...

Worth a Look

Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...

AAPAC Releases Report Analyzing Ethnic Representation on NYC Stages

www.broadwayworld.com: The Asian American Performers Action Coalition has taken on the task of breaking down ethnic representation in the New York theatre community, analyzing how ethnic groups are making gains and losses on the city's many stages between 2016 and 2017.

Posted by David at 3/05/2019 10:50:00 AM

A Directing Roundtable with Arpita Mukherjee, Christa Scott Reed, and Colette Robert

The Interval: Out of the 21 plays currently on Broadway or are upcoming this season, only three (a dismal 14%) are directed by women. However, Off-Broadway, there is a vibrant group of emerging new directors, many of whom are women staging exciting new work. I recently sat down for a roundtable discussion with Colette Robert (director of Behind the Sheet by Charly Evon Simpson at Ensemble Studio Theatre), Arpita Mukherjee (director of Eh Dah? Questions For My Father by Aya Aziz at Next Door at NYTW) and Christa Scott Reed (director of A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt at the Acorn Theatre). The women spoke about their desires to bring diverse stories to the stage; the challenge of balancing directing with their myriad other jobs, including acting, writing, and artistic directing; the importance of building community in the rehearsal room; and more.

Posted by David at 3/06/2019 02:35:00 PM

#CancelMichaelJackson? — It’s Not That Easy

New Pittsburgh Courier: After a riveting documentary that revisited some of the alleged crimes by R&B superstar R. Kelly – even before his high-profile arrest on child pornography and other sex-related acts – a major social media movement got underway to #MuteRKelly and #CancelRKelly.

Now, a possibly equally explosive documentary about the late Michael Jackson has led some to wonder if it’s time to “#Mute” or “#Cancel” the late King of Pop.

Posted by David at 3/04/2019 11:01:00 AM

Creating Opportunities For "Inclusive Dance" With Stopgap Dance Company

The Theatre Times: Stopgap’s debut Japan tour with its international hit, The Enormous Room, illustrates how dance can be open to all. Dave Toole, its male lead, has no legs, and Hannah Sampson, the female lead, has Down syndrome.

The company’s acclaimed productions, such as this—which drew rapturous applause in Yokohama ahead of upcoming shows in Tokyo and Kitakyushu—are made possible because of their innovative concept of “inclusive dance.”

Posted by David at 3/08/2019 10:59:00 AM

Hawaiʻi’s Theatre Landscape

HowlRound Theatre Commons: There is a movement happening in the arts scene in Hawaiʻi: artists are indigenizing theatre spaces and breaking the idyllic paradise stereotype others hold of the area. Ancient deities are emerging as murals on city walls; kapa (ornate traditional bark cloths) decorate gallery and hotel ceilings; myths and legends are being retold as sci-fi, Disney’s Moana was translated in Hawaiian language, and contemporary Pacific stories of the Samoan diaspora and Micronesian migration, reflecting Hawaiʻi’s social landscape, are finally being made into theatrical dramas. But even with this cultural movement, Hawaiʻi’s theatre landscape continues to be underrepresented and marginalized.

Posted by David at 3/07/2019 12:49:00 PM

Photo Friday

on Saturday...

Ellipses...

I had to get sick to do it, but I dropped below 200# again briefly this week.  Its nice to know it isn't impossible...  The basement now has internal French drains.  Now the rest of the renovation can continue...  Nearly a year later I finally had a reason to go into the new Tepper building.  The Eberly Center has a nice, big, new space there...  The boy, by getting sick, seems to have turned his birthday into a week long birthday festival...  This is the furthest I've stretched the definition of "Monday" for posting. I could really do better...  We had a choice of committees for this project at work.  I chose: New Pedogogies.  Here's hoping it is interesting...  Google Photos pretty regularly sends me automatically generated projects: photos, photo books, and videos.  They are on average pretty cool.  I don't know how to feel about that...  I rented way, way too much storage unit.  I am trying not to give myself too much grief for that decision...  Posts on this page used to be about politics fairly regularly.  Now much less so.  That's probably to everyone's benefit.  But it does cut down on the number of posts...  I need eight more sentences and I am really laboring...  Burgatory sends an email like every Monday offering a special for Monday or Tuesday.  We nearly never go there Monday or Tuesday.  Probably that's why there's a special Monday or Tuesday...  There really is only one answer to the question: "is this anybody's coat?"  It isn't a useful answer...  The keyboard on this computer causes me to make many typos.  Probably it is me and not the keyboard...  Usually I don't miss football, but the last couple of weeks I've craved that TV...  This is one of the days in the schedule where I am most likely to have a backlog of work.  Naturally it is the day that we regularly schedule a full company meeting...

Worth a Look

Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...

Industry Editor Exclusive: The Real Results of Equity's Lab Agreement Strike

www.broadwayworld.com: A couple of weeks ago, Actors' Equity Association ended its strike against the Broadway League related to development of new work. Most of the press regarding the strike and its termination is related to the Lab agreement--after the strike, and a #NotALabRat social media movement, Equity members will receive some profit participation for what we used to know as Labs. But there is a lot of the story that this spin misses.

Posted by David at 2/27/2019 12:54:00 PM

Oscars: audio description brings film to life for blind people, it deserves an award too

theconversation.com: Awards season is in full swing but as Oscars weekend approaches there is one group of cinema professionals who will not be preparing to take their place on the read carpet: audio describers.

For blind cinema goers, audio description is a crucial part of any film. It is just as important as acting, cinematography and score. Yet many sighted movie fans have no idea that audio description even exists – and it is not a skill that is awarded at the BAFTAs, Oscars or any other of the countless film institute ceremonies around the world.

Posted by David at 2/25/2019 11:42:00 AM

Are community choruses exploitative?

Exeunt Magazine: The concept of community theatre is evolving. A new wave of productions are casting local people in commercial shows, alongside a principal cast of professional actors. In the past few years, top London theatres including Almeida Theatre, Bush Theatre, Lyric Hammersmith, Young Vic Theatre, Theatre Royal Stratford East and National Theatre have all made use of this casting method. But it isn’t exclusively a London thing; the Actors’ Touring Company production of The Suppliant Women cast a new group of women in each city of its UK tour. More recently, Royal and Derngate’s Our Lady of Kibeho and Eclipse’s Princess & The Hustler join the list of productions that feature a community cast.

Posted by David at 2/26/2019 04:49:00 PM

Harm Reduction in the Storefront Theatre Community

HowlRound Theatre Commons: A collaborator of mine, the poet, playwright, and activist Kristiana Rae Colón, once asked me: “What would a people-centered theatrical process look like?” As a director, it was definitely one of those record-scratching moments. I had thought my process was great, that the rehearsal room was a joyous one. And while it did have its moments, I realized it didn’t truly center people; I was focused on telling the story. By operating from the assumption that everyone in the room was there to tell the story at all costs, the rooms I created required a sacrifice for the good of the play both, from myself and those working with me. After all, the show must go on, right? I have harmed people, or, more specifically, I have allowed those under my leadership to be harmed by the steadfast practicing of this adage that every theatremaker is taught as Truth.

Posted by David at 2/28/2019 11:37:00 AM

ASCAP, BMI Issue Joint Statement on Reforming Consent Decree

Variety: With the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) evaluating the future of the BMI and ASCAP consent decrees, there has been much discussion and concern throughout the industry about the potential long-term impact. This is not surprising, since modifying or sunsetting the decrees would have far-reaching implications for the entire music business. Given that BMI and ASCAP are at the core of this issue, we feel it is important to share our perspective on how potential changes to our decrees could benefit all involved – if done right.

Posted by David at 3/01/2019 12:06:00 PM

Photo Friday