There are no bad ideas

Sunday, April 09, 2023

Worth a Look

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

Actors’ Equity Issues Strike Threat Over Touring Contract

AMERICAN THEATRE: The National Council of Actors’ Equity Association has authorized the union’s lead negotiator, executive director Al Vincent Jr., to call a strike on all Broadway League tours at a time he deems appropriate. The union is seeking fair pay, appropriate housing and per diem, and sufficient coverage to ensure that shows can go on when individual Equity members cannot.

Posted by David at 4/04/2023 10:38:00 AM
How New Legislation Could Redefine the Broadway Body

Playbill: As the Broadway industry continues to evolve, debates around body inclusivity and the diversity of performers seen onstage remains a hotly contested topic. Fatphobia and Achondroplasiaphobia remain prevalent, and when combined with traditional binary gender roles and their strictures, legions of talented performers are shut out of the theatre industry for not conforming. New York City Bill INT 0209 aims to change all of that.

Posted by David at 4/06/2023 11:15:00 AM
Why Williamstown Theatre Fest has no full shows this summer

www.timesunion.com: Conspicuously absent from the 2023 season at Williamstown Theatre Festival is the middle third of its name: For only the second time since the company’s 1954 founding, there will be no fully staged theater productions. (The first was in 2020, when its shows were available online as audio versions because of early pandemic prohibitions against large in-person gatherings.)

Posted by David at 4/06/2023 11:21:00 AM
Texas Republicans Just Proposed a Bounty on Drag Shows

theintercept.com: Given Republicans’ relentless legislative attempts to erase trans and gender nonconforming people, a new bill in Texas that LGBTQ+ advocates are describing as the “drag bounty hunter bill” may seem like a drop in the ocean. This fact alone is intolerable. There is, however, something particularly barbaric in the bill’s explicit encouragement of citizen harassment to drive gender variance out of public life.

Posted by David at 4/03/2023 10:36:00 AM
WGA East and West authorize strike vote

Reel 360 News: It could be 2007 all over again. The Writers Guild East and West (WGA) announced that its members will take part in a strike authorization vote between April 11 and April 17.

Posted by David at 4/06/2023 11:23:00 AM

Friday, April 07, 2023

DP Weekly Wrap Up

Sunday, April 02, 2023

Worth a Look

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

Actors' Equity Association and League of Resident Theatres Reach New Five-Year Agreement

www.broadwayworld.com: Actors' Equity Association and the League of Resident Theatres have reached a tentative agreement for a new five-year contract. The agreement remains subject to ratification by both Equity members and LORT members.

Posted by David at 3/29/2023 10:45:00 AM
Hollywood’s COVID-19 Safety Protocols Will End on May 12

www.thewrap.com: Thirty months after they were first implemented, it was announced Thursday that Hollywood’s COVID-19 safety protocols will cease after May 11, the same day that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will end the federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency declaration.

Posted by David at 3/31/2023 10:56:00 AM
Arts, Entertainment, and Media Unions Launch Updated DEI Policy Priorities for the 118th Congress

IATSE: Unions of professionals in the arts, entertainment, and media industries affiliated with the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE) announced their updated diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policy agenda for the 118th Congress, Tuesday. The policy agenda’s legislative priorities are centered around creating diverse talent pipelines, incentivizing diversity in hiring, and strengthening creative professionals’ workplace rights.

Posted by David at 3/30/2023 10:37:00 AM
Visa fees may be hiked for performing artists traveling to the U.S.

NPR: Traveling to the U.S. could get more expensive for some folks later this year. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has proposed raising the cost of visa applications by some 250%. NPR culture correspondent Anastasia Tsioulcas says while these fee hikes would affect sectors from tech to agriculture, musicians have been among the loudest critics.

Posted by David at 3/28/2023 10:46:00 AM
President of Major Texas University Cancels Student Drag Show, Citing 'Misogyny'

The Mary Sue: Well, the war on drag continues. This time a student drag show in benefit to The Trevor Project at West Texas A&M University has been canceled by the school’s President because I guess he ran out of puppies to kick and this was the next best thing.

Posted by David at 3/27/2023 10:34:00 AM

Friday, March 31, 2023

DP Weekly Wrap Up

Sunday, March 26, 2023

Worth a Look

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

Actors’ Equity, musicians union and more announce collective diversity, equity and inclusion policy agenda

Broadway News: The Department for Professional Employees (DPE) and its 12 affiliated unions in arts, entertainment and media have announced an updated diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policy agenda with the intention of proposing legislation to Congress. Among the 12 unions involved are four with Broadway ties: Actors’ Equity Association, the American Federation of Musicians, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

Posted by David at 3/22/2023 10:42:00 AM
Pennsylvania School District Vetoes Production of THE ADDAMS FAMILY

www.broadwayworld.com: A voting board in the school district of Northern Lebanon, Pennsylvania has vetoed a proposed production of the popular musical, The Addams Family. On Tuesday night, the board voted 2-7 to not approve a production of Andrew Lippa's musical adaptation of the iconic property for 2024. Board members who voted against the show expressed concerns over some of the musical's darker themes, which include sequences involving cartoonish depictions of violence and smoking.

Posted by David at 3/20/2023 10:41:00 AM
Paid Internships Key to Expanding Industry Talent Pool

Variety: On the heels of Oscar night, I applaud the broad Asian representation among the winners and am particularly in awe of Michelle Yeoh, who made history as the first Asian woman to win the Academy Award for best actress. While this is welcome progress, we are all aware that many extraordinary filmmakers, cinematographers and craftspeople from underrepresented backgrounds remain undiscovered because they don’t have the right opportunity to break into the industry.

Posted by David at 3/21/2023 11:02:00 AM
How Pittsburgh Really Will Be Hollywood on the Mon In A Couple of Years

Pittsburgh Magazine: Start with a sea of mud near the bank of a river. It’s hardly inspiring — not yet. But add some tax-credit magic and a dash of pixie dust. Voila: Pittsburgh really will be Hollywood on the Mon by 2024. Ground was broken late last year on the construction of film studios at RIDC Carrie Furnace along the Monongahela River in Rankin, right next to the historical blast furnaces.

Posted by David at 3/21/2023 12:54:00 PM
Florida Is Reportedly Sending Undercover Agents to Surveil Drag Shows

jezebel.com: In December, Florida sent a small squad of undercover state agents to an Orlando drag show at the Plaza Live theater with the express purpose of documenting any possible “lewd” activity performed in front of children. According to their subsequent report obtained by the Miami Herald, the agents identified several minors in attendance, but stated that no “lewd acts” took place at the show. Nonetheless, the Herald reported on Monday that the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation still filed a complaint against the nonprofit that runs Plaza Live.

Posted by David at 3/23/2023 10:49:00 AM

Friday, March 24, 2023

DP Weekly Wrap Up

Sunday, March 19, 2023

Worth a Look

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

Actors' Equity Association Speaks Out Against New Legislation Restricting Drag Performances in Tennessee

www.broadwayworld.com: President Kate Shindle and Executive Director Al Vincent, Jr. of Actors' Equity Association -- the national labor union representing more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers in live theatre -- have issued the following joint statement regarding Tennessee's new legislation restricting drag performance

Posted by David at 3/13/2023 01:17:00 PM
Broadway avoids massive financial crisis after Signature Bank fails

Broadway News: On Friday, March 10, California regulators shut down Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) after it was deemed insolvent; the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was then put in charge. The closure of the California bank set off alarm bells for regulators to look at other banks with risk elements similar to SVB or exposures to the maligned cryptocurrency industry (not to mention that the closure of SVB sent a panic to customers of other mid-size banks). There were rumblings that New York-based Signature Bank, the preferred bank of multiple Broadway shows and ancillary businesses, could be next.

Posted by David at 3/16/2023 10:42:00 AM
Snobbery about audience behaviour stifles theatre – it’s a collective experience

Stage | The Guardian: The recent debate over unruly audience behaviour began, very rightly, with warnings against drunken disorder in auditoriums after horror stories of rowdy musical theatre audiences taking the idea of “dancing in the aisles” a little too literally.

Posted by David at 3/14/2023 11:04:00 AM
Hollywood sets have a safety problem

The Washington Post: Back in October 2021, two major events happened in Hollywood. First, 60,000 union members overwhelmingly voted to go on strike because of rough working conditions on television and movie sets. The strike was narrowly averted, but it left union members wanting more. Later that month, actor Alec Baldwin allegedly shot and killed a crew member on the set of his movie “Rust.” Many blamed poor set conditions, with crew members walking off-set the day of the shooting.

Posted by David at 3/13/2023 10:15:00 AM
Copyright Has Been One Of Life’s Certainties: But Will It Always Be?

Techdirt: Copyright seems to be a fixture of our legal, economic and social systems. For 300 years, it has formed the backbone of the structures used to incentivize and remunerate creators. During that time, copyright has been extended repeatedly in length and breadth. The original term of the 1710 Statute of Anne – 14 years’ monopoly protection with a provision for renewal for a further 14 years – has blossomed into life plus 70 years for much of the world.

Posted by David at 3/16/2023 01:09:00 PM

There are no bad ideas

Sunday, April 09, 2023

Worth a Look

Actors’ Equity Issues Strike Threat Over Touring Contract

How New Legislation Could Redefine the Broadway Body

Why Williamstown Theatre Fest has no full shows this summer

Texas Republicans Just Proposed a Bounty on Drag Shows

WGA East and West authorize strike vote

Friday, April 07, 2023

DP Weekly Wrap Up

Sunday, April 02, 2023

Worth a Look

Actors' Equity Association and League of Resident Theatres Reach New Five-Year Agreement

Hollywood’s COVID-19 Safety Protocols Will End on May 12

Arts, Entertainment, and Media Unions Launch Updated DEI Policy Priorities for the 118th Congress

Visa fees may be hiked for performing artists traveling to the U.S.

President of Major Texas University Cancels Student Drag Show, Citing 'Misogyny'

Friday, March 31, 2023

DP Weekly Wrap Up

Sunday, March 26, 2023

Worth a Look

Actors’ Equity, musicians union and more announce collective diversity, equity and inclusion policy agenda

Pennsylvania School District Vetoes Production of THE ADDAMS FAMILY

Paid Internships Key to Expanding Industry Talent Pool

How Pittsburgh Really Will Be Hollywood on the Mon In A Couple of Years

Florida Is Reportedly Sending Undercover Agents to Surveil Drag Shows

Friday, March 24, 2023

DP Weekly Wrap Up

Sunday, March 19, 2023

Worth a Look

Actors' Equity Association Speaks Out Against New Legislation Restricting Drag Performances in Tennessee

Broadway avoids massive financial crisis after Signature Bank fails

Snobbery about audience behaviour stifles theatre – it’s a collective experience

Hollywood sets have a safety problem

Copyright Has Been One Of Life’s Certainties: But Will It Always Be?

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