Throughout this semester in my Show Networks and Show Control class, we've tried to connect concepts we've been discussing back to the Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) layering scheme, which is a model of communication systems that breaks these systems into modular functional building blocks. Hammered out in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the OSI layering scheme provides a complex framework for communication systems; each of the seven functional layers describes a specific set of "duties"…

As a sound supervisor, I've remounted several designs for productions by other designers who, for one reason or another, weren't able to come with a remounted production, or weren't available for a later version of a show. I've also remounted my own designs for productions at my own theatre. (I talked about this in a past post,…

Well...I did it! After our Christmas Drama production and trying to use a dvd player and old system to project our show, I asked my principal to allow me to rewire the theater so that I could do things right...he said YES!! I brought in a few guys and told them what I needed ...went to the local college to see what they were using and decided that Isadora was worth a dry.

Well...it only took a week to get all three screens rewired and for me to learn Isadora..it is go cool...I am…

I'm sitting in the Delta Center located in downtown Milwaukee, WI waiting for dinner with my aunt and, eventually, a bus back to Minneapolis. My brain is full and my feet hurt but I've learned a lot. I've just spent the week at the annual USITT conference and stage expo.

Highlights of the week include:

• The ETC Layers of Light presentation and getting the spiffy Source4 USB drive afterwards.
• Running into someone I worked with 10 years…

For my last trick, I will live-blogging as much of Donyale Werle's Sustainability in Design talk from USITT! I will have to leave before the talk is over to catch a plane, so it won't be complete -- I'll try and update it with people's comments who were there, and I'll give you as much as I can!

Taking photos,…

Alright! Incandescent Profile vs. LED Profile. Richard Cadena and Hideaki Tsutsui. Steve Shelley will be MC'ing.

We will turn on a pair of ellipsoidals. One is tungsten ETC Source 4, one is LED Profile. We will conduct three tests. Dimming test: Pop on and pop off. Then fade up quickly, then fade down quickly.…

Good morning! The Friday morning session USITT Distinguished Award Winners in Conversation has been a little delayed, but it looks like we're ready to go soon! Tim Hartung, Desmond Heeley, Otts Munderloh, Neil Mazzella, Howard Jones, and Rachel Keebler will all be in discussion!

Who taught you? Who got you in…

Hello all! I'll be live-blogging Reimagining Theatre with Green Ideals! Please forgive any typos as I'll be typing quickly! :-)

Panel is…

The last few weeks we explored moving the perceived source of a sound image along both the “Y-axis” (up and down) and the ‘Z-axis’ (from downstage to upstage) as ways of helping the audience achieve a better sonic placement of performers and instruments. This type of adjustment can be accomplished by manipulating the signal delay of each sound source and each speaker system so it aligns to or precedes the sound emanating…

Alright! My first session at USITT! Gonna be lots of typos, but here we go!

Panelists are Judy Schoenfeld and Steve Shelley.

The process of cueing, running and archiving shows.

But first! Histories, eduction and background!

Steve Shelley started shows in…

I'm happy to announce that I just published Never Trust an Angel and Other Plays (my second book), and it's available through CreateSpace and Amazon...the book sells for $10, and $1 from every copy sold will be donated to the SC Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault.…

As a poet I very much understood that the acceptance of one of my poems for publication was very separate from whether or not the poem was any good. Knowing there are other deciding factors—the publication’s meta narrative, how poems flow from one to the next, interact with one another—allowed me to separate my emotions from the business of sending my work out into the world.

And I understood that it was a numbers game. The more I sent work out into the world, the higher the…

A few days ago, I came across this image on Facebook:

and it made me laugh a lot.

It also reminded me of years past when I was a tour guide, and took…

Today, I am performing in my graduating showcase with CalArts in New York City.

Today, my graduating company and I will strut our stuff for agents, theaters, and industry folk.

And at the end of the day, some of us may have a dossier full of said agents and managers approaching us for interviews and conversations.

Some of us will also walk away empty handed.

Will I be disappointed if I get no meetings? A little, sure.

But I also know that an agent doesn't…

Hello all! Inspired by Rich's blog about USITT, I figured I'd post my schedule for the show as well! As always I'll be live-blogging any session I go to, and uploading photos and longer posts every…

Eric Hart has built many things in his careers as props artisan. During his time at Actors Theatre of Louisville, the Santa Fe Opera, New York City’s The Public Theater and as a freelancer, he has built an enviable portfolio of fascinating, detailed and ingenious props. And now he’s built a book. The…

I can’t tell you what I’m writing this week.

Actually, I can’t tell you on several levels. For one thing, it’s a secret project set to drop next month. “It’s something of a surprise” is about all I can say to that. But I also can’t say what I’m writing because, for the first time in a long time, I’m writing without an outline, a net, anything. It’s surprising me as I go.

I know what you’re thinking. …