Worth a Look

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

Steve Way, Maysoon Zayid, Disabled Comedians on Industry Inaccessibility

variety.com: A day before Ramy Youssef was set to record his latest special “More Feelings,” a friend and fellow comedian and actor Steve Way was scheduled to do a practice run as his opener at Brooklyn’s Bell House. It never happened. “The day of the show, they tell Ramy, ‘Sorry, we can’t get Steve on stage.’ They needed a week’s notice to rent a ramp,’” Way, who has his own special coming soon, recalls. “This isn’t Make-A-Wish. I would rather be told I’m not good enough than, ‘Sorry, there are stairs.’”

Posted by David at 7/22/2024 11:04:00 AM

 

New York City Theatre Is Undergoing a Once-in-a-Generation Shift

Playbill: At the 2024 Tony Awards, one of the many producers who took to the stage when Stereophonic won Best Play was Adam Greenfield. He is the artistic director of Off-Broadway's Playwrights Horizons, which premiered Stereophonic last year before the show transferred to Broadway. In his brief remarks on the Koch stage, Greenfield said: “Every play nominated in this [Best Play] category tonight came from an Off-Broadway theatre. Playwrights Horizons stands very proudly among our peers. And if a culture of risk-taking new work is important, then we need the support of our city to maintain that.”

Posted by David at 7/26/2024 03:08:00 PM

 

The Other Side of Summer

AMERICAN THEATRE: Snakes on the sidewalk. No, it’s not a new Samuel L. Jackson movie. The snakes are real, and are just one of the seemingly endless challenges facing summer theatre companies and festivals as they struggle toward recovery after 2020. Snakes—and skunks and bears, oh my—are showing up in theatre communities as their habitats shrink, giving the artistic and managing directors of these companies just one more thing to worry about.

Posted by David at 7/26/2024 03:07:00 PM

 

Public Statement from the Dancers of Dallas Black Dance Theatre: Can You Hear Us Now, Leadership?

American Guild of Musical Artists: We, the dedicated dancers of Dallas Black Dance Theatre (DBDT), voted unanimously on May 29 to form a union with the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA). Since that day, DBDT’s leadership has made several unusual and aggressive decisions. Why? It would seem for no other purpose than to punish us for our decision to have a real voice in our working lives. We’ve attempted to communicate with leadership and have been met with silence. We now exercise our collective right to talk about our situation publicly, with the hope that DBDT leadership will hear us and work with us on a path forward.

Posted by David at 7/25/2024 03:09:00 PM

 

Venice Immersive 2024 Features Gundam, VRChat Worlds & More

www.uploadvr.com: Originally launched in 2017, Venice Immersive serves as the annual XR segment for the 81st Venice International Film Festival, and the latest edition promises 63 different projects from 25 countries. This year's competition will see 26 projects up for three awards, as determined by the three judges: Celine Daemen, Marion Burger (Emperor) and Adriaan Lokman.

Posted by David at 7/24/2024 05:59:00 PM

Worth a Look

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

Meet the man who is pumping air back into the RNC balloon drop

PBS News: Treb Heining’s ambitions for a celebratory atmosphere at this year’s Republican National Convention are sky-high. The self-described “balloon guy” has orchestrated the celebratory balloon drop at every GOP convention since 1988.

Posted by David at 7/19/2024 11:00:00 AM

 

IATSE Members Ratify Contract With All Locals in Favor

www.thewrap.com: Members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees have voted to ratify their two proposed bargaining agreements, both by a wider margin than the razor-thin vote held during the last contract cycle in 2021.

Posted by David at 7/19/2024 10:59:00 AM

 

Disneyland Paris sets drone show Guinness World Record

www.avinteractive.com: A drone light show featuring a Mickey Mouse head made out of 1,571 drones has achieved a Guinness World Record. The record for “largest aerial display of a fictional character formed by multirotos/drones” was set by Disneyland Paris, with the support of drone show technology provider Dronisos.

Posted by David at 7/18/2024 02:26:00 PM

 

Will the Olympics Help Dancers Get Paid Like Athletes?

Dance Magazine: Let’s call the question settled: Breaking’s debut at the 2024 Olympic Games confirms that, yes, dance can be considered a sport. For the most part, we’ve moved past outdated stereotypes and collectively agree that dance is challenging both artistically and physically. It’s no longer an anomaly when dancers lift weights at the gym or model fitness apparel, because dancers can be athletes, too.

Posted by David at 7/16/2024 02:16:00 PM

 

Alec Baldwin Manslaughter Trial in ‘Rust’ Shooting Dismissed Over Evidence

The New York Times: A judge in New Mexico dismissed the case against Alec Baldwin on Friday after finding that the state had withheld evidence that could have shed light on how live rounds got onto a film set where the cinematographer was fatally shot. The dismissal was with prejudice, meaning that the prosecution of Mr. Baldwin is over. If he had been convicted of involuntary manslaughter, Mr. Baldwin would have faced up to 18 months in prison.

Posted by David at 7/15/2024 10:59:00 AM

Worth a Look

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

Is Alec Baldwin to Blame for a Fatal Shooting on Set?

variety.com: Alec Baldwin’s temper is the stuff of Hollywood legend. His volatile behavior on the set of “The Edge” — he refused to shave his beard — left such an impression on producer Art Linson that he made a movie about it, “What Just Happened,” with Bruce Willis caricaturing Baldwin as a tantrum-throwing star.

Posted by David at 7/09/2024 12:17:00 PM

 

The show must go on, heat wave edition: How outdoor theater handles extreme weather

Datebook: If in recent years Northern California wildfires brought attention to the difficulty of mounting outdoor theater amid poor air quality, 2024 is already posing challenges to the Bay Area’s open-air theaters for the heat alone. But as record-breaking temperatures baked the Bay Area on Independence Day, many theaters with performances scheduled over the weekend are practicing one of the art form’s oldest traditions: adapting to the unexpected.

Posted by David at 7/08/2024 10:37:00 AM

 

'Stepping into a video game' in Vegas with Electric Playhouse CEO

attractionsmagazine.com: Electric Playhouse isn’t your average afternoon outing. The 10,000-square-foot facility in Las Vegas, Nev. leverages body-mapping technology and motion sensors to create what it calls a “digital twin” of every guest. This avatar conduit renders the guest as their own character in a real-life video game, with 360-degree effects activating in response to the guest’s actions.

Posted by David at 7/09/2024 12:14:00 PM

 

The Courtroom Battle to Make DEI DOA

www.hollywoodreporter.com: The DEI dominoes started falling — or at least wobbling — last summer. There was a Supreme Court ruling all but gutting affirmative action on college campuses. In Hollywood, there was the mass exodus of diversity officers — at Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney, Netflix and the Motion Picture Academy. Meanwhile, conservative activists launched a barrage of anti-DEI lawsuits with corporations in the crosshairs, like the one filed in March against CBS and Paramount by former (and possibly future) Trump aide Stephen Miller on behalf of a white SEAL Team writer who was allegedly denied advancement because of DEI policies.

Posted by David at 7/11/2024 01:33:00 PM

 

Is Netflix Launching Brand-Building Theme Parks or a House of Cards?

www.indiewire.com: In 2025, Netflix will launch “Netflix House,” aka brick-and-mortar fan venues located in former department stores in Dallas, Texas, and King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. They will offer food, shops, and immersive experiences based on and inspired by Netflix shows and films. Your local zombie mall could have a new lease on life as a Netflix theme park.

Posted by David at 7/11/2024 01:35:00 PM

 

Posting

I was going to post every day in July, but then I realized that what I wanted was an outlet, not additional stress.  The first week in July turns out to be pretty busy and so I haven't gotten round to this until now.

The last posts for the sake of posting on this page were in November of 2022.  That was a post about how Microsoft had nearly bricked Outlook with an update and how unfortunate that was.  For the record, it is still functioning sub-optimally.  Pretty much every computer reboot presents with an Outlook launch that won't access my work email.  In most cases I can just close the application and restart it and that is enough to make it work - although I can't send email from my outlook.com address.  I find that particularly humorous.  Every couple of months the thing gums itself up enough requiring a start in safe mode and a restart.  That actually happened today.  Each time I find myself in that situation I am pretty sure that'll be all she wrote for Outlook, but so far it always manages to come around.  Back in November of 2022 our IT person said he's done with Outlook, so I am pretty much on my own to find work arounds.  It has something to do with user profiles, but I think it might be unfixable.  Last time we looked we found a known issue between Outlook and Google Suite email.  I'm not sure it is in their best interest to fix it.

The post before that shouldn't count as it was sort of a retraction for articles posted on the Newspage.  There were conflicting articles about Bruce Willis and AI.  I had posted them on my page and then put them in my newsletter, so I put a post here contextualizing them.  I am a little concerned every time I hit send on the newsletter that I am promoting something wrong.  That "drama-all" d-list is a disaster just waiting to happen.  So far this has been the only issue though, and I am fairly sure nobody noticed but me.

Before that you have to go back to August of 2021: two "Ellipses" posts where I am trying to do exactly this.  There's probably a theme to posts around "I am trying to get back into the habit of posts."  That effort went two days.  Not too successful.  It is interesting to go back and read even these truncated posts and see how little has changed (and how much COVID had changed things in the short term).  The 10/10 post complains about Pluto TV, which is funny because I just reloaded Pluto on the Rokus.  They seem to have fixed a lot of what I was complaining about, and they added a bunch of content I like.  There are two more Ellipses posts from July 2021 and then back into work posts.

Most of what has been here for a while are two flavors of work post (like you haven't seen it if you are reading this): "Worth a Look" and "DP Weekly Wrap Up."  The former are five Greenpage articles I think are good but got little student attention.  The latter are mostly articles I'd flagged but that didn't make it to the Newspage that have particular relevance to SOD DP disciplines.  Every now and then there's also a YouTube crosspost of students doing a Newspage Podcast.

There are a rash of what I guess I would call "real posts" ending at September 2020 and working their way backward.  The go back through March and then they drop back to mostly work posts.  This is the pattern all through 2019.  I made an effort with "Photo Friday" posts, each with a couple of phone pictures from that week.  Those posts are pretty fun in hindsight.  Maybe I will try them again.  I find it interesting that there are no posts at all from July of 2019, which was a hugely eventful period.  That gap represents a significant shift in my attitude about posting in general.

In November of 2018 there's a run of posts with a culminating "how'd I do" post talking about a posting sprint.  Another attempt to restart the habit.  And then another sprint in July: 31 posts in 31 days.  After that there's nearly nothing until 2014 at which point I think we can say we're into regular posting.  Almost 10 years since I had really been into this.  I would not have thought it was that long.  If someone had asked I would have said 4-5 years at the outset.  10 years is a long time.  Interestingly that does correspond to another significant development.  Maybe it was more about that and less about posting in and of itself.

Worth a Look

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

June News: Artists Take a Stand on AI

AMT Lab @ CMU: This month, it may be challenging to find a headline that doesn’t mention “AI.” For artists and arts managers, AI can now be integrated in every aspect of our work - from creation, to promotion, and general administration. Even your iPhone may soon have AI features integrating messages, calendar, photos, and other personal content. In both performing and visual spaces, artists are finding ways to push back on unethical use – while some take legal action, others call for change through the spaces they share their work. Learn more in the sections below.

Posted by David at 7/01/2024 03:28:00 PM

 

Rethinking Construction: The Rise of Wood as a Sustainable Material

Architect Magazine: Wood’s popularity as a construction material has surged due to its impressive carbon sequestration capacity. Wood is about half carbon by weight, allowing the material to perform significantly better than others—such as concrete and steel—from a carbon emissions perspective. The realization of wood’s massive carbon storage capacity has encouraged much of the recent proliferation of new timber structures.

Posted by David at 7/04/2024 03:14:00 PM

 

Brooke Shields Has Worn Many Hats. Now She’s a Labor Boss

The New York Times: Brooke Shields has a new office. It’s empty, and she hasn’t figured out how she wants to furnish it, or even how often she’ll be there, but it’s a sign of her new and unexpected status, as president of Actors’ Equity Association, the labor union representing theater actors and stage managers in the United States.

Posted by David at 7/04/2024 03:11:00 PM

 

Lauren Lewis and Minh Nguyen Receive 2024 Broadway Green Alliance College Captain Award

Playbill: The Broadway Green Alliance (BGA) has announced Lauren Lewis and Minh Nguyen are the 2024 recipients of its annual College Green Captain Award. The award recognizes students who make an effort to prioritize sustainability in college theatre.

Posted by David at 7/03/2024 02:53:00 PM

 

Your Next Audio Book Might Be Read by Judy Garland

Playbill: Favorite stage and screen stars of yesteryear may soon be releasing new content from the beyond. AI company ElevenLabs has secured agreements with the estates of Judy Garland, James Dean, Burt Reynolds, and Laurence Olivier to add AI versions of their iconic voices to their Reader App, which allows users to listen to digital text from articles, PDFs, ebooks, and more.

Posted by David at 7/04/2024 03:12:00 PM

 

Ellipses...

Long time no type...  Gonna give this thing a go again for July, guess we'll see...  4th of July fireworks are still too late at night for our family...  One of the kids got a new bed.  The flat pack experiences in my life keep getting more complicated, but I am up to the challenge...  Going to try to stay away from politics...  Had to replace my bike.  The new one is supposed to have arrived by today but I haven't heard...  Saw Inside Out 2 in a theatre this weekend, pretty much the only people there...  The weather in Pittsburgh keeps getting more and more exciting.  I could do without exciting...  The TSA lines at the airport have been so bad in the morning they are telling folks to arrive 3 hours early in the morning.  For some plights that's before there's anyone there to check you in...  Paul Riser was on TV this morning and I could not tell who he was...  Teaching in the CMU Precollege Program again.  Something like the 20th time...  I am now reading my third paper book in a row.  Pretty sure my Kindle is confused and lonely...  I'd like to write a book this month.  It is feeling less and less likely every day...  With the replacement bike comes a replacement lock and a replacement helmet, lots of replacement shopping to do...  Trying to get to season 3 of The Bear, but have to finish season 1 of Palm Royale first - and then I bet The Olympics will get in the way...  June is supposed to be home project month, but I didn't get to much this time around.  I'm hoping to get to some things in July.  We'll see...  Every time the Thunderbirds have a home game the weather looks like rain.  I hope that stops soon...  Pluto TV has DS9 and Stargate SG-1 FAST channels.  I'd previously deleted it, but had to bring it back...  Someone was hit by a car just down the street from us.  It's easy to forget we live in a city sometimes...  PPS is starting a process that is probably going to muck up our local school.  That's going to be a real bummer...