There are no bad ideas

Friday, October 14, 2022

DP Weekly Wrap Up

Sunday, October 09, 2022

Don't Believe Everything You Read

In response to one of the articles from last week:

Bruce Willis and Russian AI Company Deny Reports of a Deal to Create ‘Digital Twin’

www.thewrap.com: On Saturday, representatives for Willis told BBC News that the actor had “no partnership or agreement” with the Russian company Deepcake to create a digital copy of himself using machine learning technology, with Deepcake itself confirming that no deal was in place. The supposed deal was first reported by The Daily Mail on Sep. 27.

Posted by David at 10/03/2022 10:20:00 AM
Bruce Willis’ Rep Refutes Report That He Sold Likeness for Deepfakes

The Hollywood Reporter: Recent media reports, including one from The Telegraph, suggested that the actor sold his rights to Deepcake to authorize the creation of a “digital twin” of himself to appear in projects following the announcement that he has stepped away from performing. Although reports stated that this made Willis the first Hollywood personality to set up this type of deal, his team denies the existence of any such arrangement.

Posted by David at 10/03/2022 10:19:00 AM

Worth a Look

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

#MeToo, Five Years Later: Why Time’s Up Imploded

The Hollywood Reporter: When it was founded in the months after the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke in 2017, Time’s Up was supposed to put Hollywood’s considerable power and money — and its sudden outrage — to work fighting sexual harassment. Instead, today Time’s Up is a ghost organization, technically still operating, but with no CEO or programming offered in nearly a year, and with a skeletal board.

Posted by David at 10/07/2022 02:35:00 PM
Dramatists Guild, TCG, Shakespeare Theatre Association Stand With Oregon Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Nataki Garrett

Playbill: The Dramatists Guild, Theatre Communications Group, and The Shakespeare Theatre Association have released a joint statement standing behind Oregon Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Nataki Garrett, who has been the recipient of racist death threats and other harassment in response to her progressive artistic decisions.

Posted by David at 10/04/2022 10:26:00 AM
Veteran Broadway Producer Ron Simons Discusses Black on Broadway

www.theroot.com: Contrary to popular belief, and the unfortunate stereotypical demographic of theater-goers, Black people have long had a presence on Broadway. In fact, we have a rich, documented history with theater that goes all the way back to 1821, when a free Black man from the West Indies, William Alexander Brown, opened up the African Grove Theatre in New York City with America’s first Black theater troupe.

Posted by David at 10/06/2022 10:11:00 AM
Latinos Continue To Be Invisible In Hollywood And The Media, A New Report Finds

LAist: Despite making up nearly 19% of the population, Latinos continue to be underrepresented or misrepresented in Hollywood, news and book publishing, according to a new report released by the Government Accountability Office.

Posted by David at 10/07/2022 02:08:00 PM
How a new law could remake California's small theater landscape in the wake of AB5

Datebook: California is moving toward a revolutionary overhaul in how it finances the performing arts. In signing SB1116 into law on Thursday, Sept. 29, Gov. Gavin Newsom created the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund, which would reimburse small performing arts organizations for large portions of their payroll costs. The smaller a company’s budget, the more the fund would reimburse.

Posted by David at 10/05/2022 02:51:00 PM

Friday, October 07, 2022

DP Weekly Wrap Up

Sunday, October 02, 2022

Worth a Look

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

Oregon Shakespeare Festival focuses on expansion – but is not without its critics

NPR: After two years of pandemic closures, audiences are back at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Founded in 1935, it is one of the oldest and largest non-profit theaters in the country. But things aren't the same as they were during the pre-pandemic 2019 season.

Posted by David at 9/29/2022 10:40:00 AM
Homage or Copy? Deborah Roberts Is Suing a Fellow Artist for Allegedly Stealing Her Photocollage Style

Artnet News: Deborah Roberts waited a long time for recognition. Six years ago, the 59-year-old artist was working in a shoe store when a grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation allowed her to start focusing on her creative practice. Her collage-based portraits of Black children are now found in museum collections across the United States. Dealers also noticed her talent, and she signed onto the rosters of prominent galleries Susanne Vielmetter in Los Angeles and Stephen Friedman in London.

Posted by David at 9/30/2022 10:35:00 AM
Ryan Donovan Is Making The Stage An Inclusive Space

Theater Studies: Ryan Donovan, assistant professor of Theater Studies, can pinpoint the moment he decided to become a dancer. “It all began at the National Theater in Washington, D.C., when I was seven years old and my mom took me to see the touring production of ‘Cats,’” he said. “I was sitting on the aisle, and when those dancers came into the auditorium dressed as cats, one of them came up to me and played with my clip-on tie. I was hooked.”

Posted by David at 9/29/2022 10:45:00 AM
Org Culture More Important Than Artistic Reputation

Butts In the Seats: A couple weeks ago Aubrey Bergauer hosted a LinkedIn conversation with Karen Freeman from Advisory Board for the Arts (ABA) to discuss what mattered most to arts professionals as they sought jobs in the arts. Freeman discussed a survey ABA conducted where they asked people to prioritize between different situations in order to drill down to what really mattered. An example Freeman gives is would you rather have great pay, but so-so benefits or a lower pay rate but with better benefits.

Posted by David at 9/28/2022 10:33:00 AM
"Everybody has Access Needs": In Conversation with Stratford Festival's Kayla Besse

www.intermissionmagazine.ca: Kayla Besse has what might be described as a highly specific set of skills. She has both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Guelph’s school of English and Theatre Studies. Despite the school not offering a standalone disability studies program or department, she integrated disability studies into her work in English literature and theatre, examining representations of disability in literature and performing arts, as well as the the histories of disabled people and the degrees of autonomy they have/have not had when telling their own stories and representing themselves.

Posted by David at 9/28/2022 10:34:00 AM

Friday, September 30, 2022

DP Weekly Wrap Up

Sunday, September 25, 2022

Worth a Look

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

AFRIYAH: Ghanaian Costume Designer Who Worked On The Woman King Speaks On Styling Actors And Her Career

YEN.COM.GH: Ghanaians born in the nineties have seen the best of local movies such as Diabolo, Mamma Mia and theatrical dramas like Obra and Osofo Dadzie by great actors such as David Dontoh and Grace Omaboe, popularly known as Maame Dokono.

Posted by David at 9/23/2022 11:01:00 AM
I Coordinated Sex Scenes for 'Blonde,' the NC-17 Marilyn Monroe Biopic With Ana De Armas

www.businessinsider.com: I'm a certified intimacy coordinator for film, TV, and theater, which means I help facilitate the performance of intimate scenes for productions.

Posted by David at 9/19/2022 10:23:00 AM
How Drama Can Help Open Up Conversations on Suicide for Young People in Post-Pandemic Times

The Theatre Times: Suicide is the second highest cause of death in 15-to-29-year-olds around the world, according to UK charity Young Minds, an organization set up to help children and young people with mental health issues.

Posted by David at 9/19/2022 10:17:00 AM
Women Still Underrepresented Behind the Camera in Indie Film World

Vanity Fair: Despite making up over half of the country’s population, women are still underrepresented behind the camera in America’s independent film industry. According to the study “Indie Women: Behind-the-Scenes Employment of Women in U.S. Independent Film, 2021-22” released today by Dr. Martha M. Lauzen

Posted by David at 9/21/2022 10:18:00 AM
A Capital Season

AMERICAN THEATRE: For this year’s survey of what theatre insiders are looking forward to in the coming season, we asked folks who work for theatres located in our nation’s capital cities: What show or program at your theatre most exemplifies that way the American theatre has changed? And what play not at your theatre are you most looking forward to seeing, even if you have to travel to see it?

Posted by David at 9/22/2022 10:37:00 AM

Friday, September 23, 2022

DP Weekly Wrap Up

Sunday, September 18, 2022

Worth a Look

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

Here are just some of the ways theater depends on 'women's work,' often unpaid

Datebook: In honor of Labor Day, I got to team up with five female photojournalists at The Chronicle to explore the notion of women’s work. The team followed five Bay Area moms for an entire day each to document their paid and unpaid labor, which got me wondering about the unpaid women’s work of theater.

Posted by David at 9/13/2022 11:27:00 AM
John Adams' 'Antony and Cleopatra' utilizes a crucial role: opera prompter

NPR: To reach the prompter's box at the home of the San Francisco Opera, Matthew Piatt heads under the stage and walks down a long, narrow passageway. Then he shimmies up a metal ladder. "I always have to be careful not to rip my pants," Piatt says, as he hoists himself into a seat and pushes a button to propel himself upward several feet, using a hydraulic lift.

Posted by David at 9/15/2022 02:06:00 PM
How one Berkeley company plans to house traveling artists amid soaring Bay Area housing crisis

Datebook: Across the breezeway from Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s new Medak Center, fuchsia light from the set of the new musical “Goddess” streamed through an open loading bay door, like a portal to Narnia.

Posted by David at 9/14/2022 09:52:00 AM
Teenage ‘House of the Dragon’ Actor Thanks Intimacy Coordinator After Uncomfortable Sex Scene

jezebel.com: This week’s House of the Dragon episode was all about sex, with two teenage girl characters and their vastly different experiences at the heart of it all. Emily Carey was cast as one of these characters, Alicent Hightower, when she was just 17 years old. Having watched parts of HotD’s predecessor, Game of Thrones, Carey said in a Newsweek interview that she was initially afraid to take on the role of a teenage queen married to a much older man and the inevitably uncomfortable intimate scenes this would surely entail.

Posted by David at 9/13/2022 11:20:00 AM
Death of Ukrainian dancer on battlefield underscores costs of war

The Washington Post: The recent Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russian forces has been hailed as a stunning success, offering a jolt of optimism in a grueling nearly seven-month-old war. But the battlefield death earlier this week of beloved Ukrainian ballet dancer Oleksandr Shapoval, a father of two remembered as “a pure and bright soul,” crystallizes the dreadful cost of the nation’s military victories.

Posted by David at 9/16/2022 02:19:00 PM

Friday, October 14, 2022

Sunday, October 09, 2022

Bruce Willis and Russian AI Company Deny Reports of a Deal to Create ‘Digital Twin’

Bruce Willis’ Rep Refutes Report That He Sold Likeness for Deepfakes

#MeToo, Five Years Later: Why Time’s Up Imploded

Dramatists Guild, TCG, Shakespeare Theatre Association Stand With Oregon Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Nataki Garrett

Veteran Broadway Producer Ron Simons Discusses Black on Broadway

Latinos Continue To Be Invisible In Hollywood And The Media, A New Report Finds

How a new law could remake California's small theater landscape in the wake of AB5

Friday, October 07, 2022

Sunday, October 02, 2022

Oregon Shakespeare Festival focuses on expansion – but is not without its critics

Homage or Copy? Deborah Roberts Is Suing a Fellow Artist for Allegedly Stealing Her Photocollage Style

Ryan Donovan Is Making The Stage An Inclusive Space

Org Culture More Important Than Artistic Reputation

"Everybody has Access Needs": In Conversation with Stratford Festival's Kayla Besse

Friday, September 30, 2022

Sunday, September 25, 2022

AFRIYAH: Ghanaian Costume Designer Who Worked On The Woman King Speaks On Styling Actors And Her Career

I Coordinated Sex Scenes for 'Blonde,' the NC-17 Marilyn Monroe Biopic With Ana De Armas

How Drama Can Help Open Up Conversations on Suicide for Young People in Post-Pandemic Times

Women Still Underrepresented Behind the Camera in Indie Film World

A Capital Season

Friday, September 23, 2022

Sunday, September 18, 2022

Here are just some of the ways theater depends on 'women's work,' often unpaid

John Adams' 'Antony and Cleopatra' utilizes a crucial role: opera prompter

How one Berkeley company plans to house traveling artists amid soaring Bay Area housing crisis

Teenage ‘House of the Dragon’ Actor Thanks Intimacy Coordinator After Uncomfortable Sex Scene

Death of Ukrainian dancer on battlefield underscores costs of war

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