Another week, another blog from the performance side of theater. This week--breaking through the negative stereotypes.

In pop culture, few words conjure up as specific mental pictures and or as many (usually negative) associations as the words "mime" or "clown." Mimes and clowns often get a bad rep as creepy, weird, uninteresting, or even deserving of disdain. A mime teacher of mine semi-jokingly told the class that when she worked as a mime and there was a shift…

Over the last couple of weeks, I've written about a few of the steps in the design process I teach for approaching technical design problems--including structural and mechanical designs. We looked at the design specification phase--during which a designer records the breadth and scope of the performance characteristics (everything from how it functions to how much it can cost to how many times it will be loaded and unloaded off a truck, and by how many people); the concept design…

OSHA knows who’s been naughty and who’s been nice (and safe). The Deputy Director for OSHA’s Directorate of Environmental Programs, Patrick Kapust, provided the new list of the top 10 violations for fiscal year 2011 (October 1, 2010 to…

I mean does my writing have a specific voice, something that sounds uniquely me. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately as I prepare for a table reading next month as part of AlterTheater’s AlterLab. I’m currently participating in AlterLab and working on a new play called The River Bride which is the second play in a cycle of what I’m calling “grim Latino fairy tales.”

We’re in the process of inviting actors to…

I decided that blogging here on theatre face would be an interesting forum to document the trials and tribulations of my project.

I am an Engineer with my focus in theatre and it is required by my university to undertake a collaborative, comprehensive, final design project for all engineers. most engineers at Purdue do projects for local companies and never really see their project into fruition. I having a unique major and always trying to get the university to work for me…

Since my first post things have been moving along slowly, read frustrating for me, I want to see more finished. I am wiating for the show to be cast and the student technicians to join me in my quest to master the software and start creating the imagery.

The first major portion of the project is finished and has been approve by the director. That would be the video plot for the show. I did major script analysis and developed the concept for how I wanted to utilize video and…

Last year in my blog Chapter 4 of the Care and Feeding of Wireless Mics... Sweat Protection I talked about using what my crew has dubbed "the booty" for wireless mic elements to help prevent sweat outs. I thought I'd expand on this idea while I'm writing about home built mic accessories and give you all a further detailed "how to" on making them.

The mic element…

Another week, another blog from the performance side of theater. This week--talking about everything but the performance side of theater.

I realized the other day that a big part of the reason I love theater is its collaborative nature. In the world of art, many art forms are rather solitary pursuits. Writers slave away…

Following the weather-induced collapse last summer of the stage canopy at the Indiana State Fair, the Indiana State Legislature announced today that a Senate Bill was authored that addresses the need to have outdoor entertainment structures inspected before use. The bill was passed and forwarded to the House for consideration. …

By the time you reach the detail design phase of the mechanical design process, you should have a clear understanding of the broad scope of the performance requirements of your stage machine--everything from how much it can cost to what it must do, from how heavy it can be to how many people are available to operate it. (You'll have developed this picture through multiple conversations with designers, the director, producers, production managers, etc., during the design…

I’ll tell you what: if you don’t know how to communicate, directly and honestly, and to listen with openness and engagement without losing touch with who you are, it can be damn hard to be a playwright.

Not long ago, I was sitting in a room with a great many folks who had gathered to do some table work on my new play. It was a low-stakes read-through: really not much more than a chance for me to hear the text as it stood and have a rousing discussion with trusted (and talented)…

Another week, another blog on the performance side of theater. This week, some thoughts inspired partially by MLK day.

First, the more PC term is "non-traditional" casting--which, according to Wikipedia, is "the casting of ethnic minority and female actors in roles where race, ethnicity, or sex is not germane." (Tangential confession--quoting Wikipedia, even just for a blog, just made all the English major cells in my body convulse in horror all at once.)

My personal…

Expendables and accessories are a necessary part of using wireless microphones - some are common place and easy to come by - bobby pins and medical tape are available just about anywhere - even the odd gas station. Some items can only be found in specialty stores or online - things like toupee clips, surgical tape, and sweat block. No matter if you buy them on line or at the corner store, the cost of accessories can add up - so being able to save the odd penny or two can really make a…

I have a script being produced the end of Feb. in John Chatterton's Mid Winter Madness Festival. Two characters, easy tech...no pay but a nice place to have your work seen...e-mail me at dunn.t@comcast.net if you'd like to look at script...thanks, tom d.

I sent out an email about this over the week -- but we've upgraded the chat functionality here on TheatreFace.com. It's been recoded from the ground up to be more friendly and reliable:

• Better technology: It's not Flash-based anymore, so it will even work on some mobile devices.

• Easy to find: You'll…

2012-01-11 - UK - The Standing Committee on Structural Safety (SCOSS) has published a 4-page Alert on Temporary Stage Structures that discusses the ramifications of the numerous stage structure collapses that plagued the entertainment production industry over the past few years. More information at:…

It's the end of the first week of the semester and as is often the case, I'm incredibly excited about the students in my classes this semester, in particular the class in mechanical design I'm teaching. There are a number of undergraduates in the course, including an engineering student and an engineering technology student. The mix of experiences and backgrounds has already made for some interesting conversations about the design process, which was the primary focus of our class time this…

Can theatres in New York still maintain a fire curtain made out of asbestos? Or, do they have to be replaced? Can you lead me to any laws regarding this?

Last night I had an interesting conversation about a color. There is an institution out there teaching young designers that all you will ever need is five colors of gel in order to light any show. Not a specific genera or type of show... ALL SHOWS.

What utter crap! If all we need is five colors, why on earth do the major gel manufacturers make over 300 different colors. Including any where from 20-30 shades of any given color. Then there are the color mixing fixtures, CMY or RGB... If…

I went out to get in the car today and found that one of the tires was decidedly flat on one side. “No big deal,” I thought, “I’ll just put on the spare and take the flat one to the tire shop for repair.” After a bit of grunting and groaning to get out a jack, bust loose the stuck lug nuts, and remove the defunct tire, I proceeded back to the trunk and retrieved the micro-doughnut spare tire. I put it in place and…