I recently stumbled upon a fantastic animation illuminating a lecture given by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert. In his lecture, Robinson discusses the modern model of education, its roots in the industrial revolution, and his belief that for our students to be successful, this model must be overturned. There are a number of key sections in this lecture that I think have a great bearing on what we do in theatre, what we do as teachers, and what we do as…

Wait….a short throw projector? Here? On Projectionfreak, I talk a lot about really big projectors and the size of the images you can get from them. But what about the small stuff that still makes a big screen? The new Hitachi iPJ-AW250NM would be that projector. It’s an LCD rather than DLP, so you’ll see relatively brighter data output, if that’s your…

THE MEANING OF WELDED LINK CHAIN GRADE NUMBERS

The chain grade numbers which manufacturers commonly use are actually one tenth of the actual grade classes. Therefore, our grade 80 is 800, grade 70 is 700, and so on. The markings applied to the chain product are sometimes abbreviated (8 or 80 for 800,…

In my ongoing series of blog posts in which I respond to requests from readers -- of which this is the last, unless anyone asks any more questions -- I wanted to talk about the touring productions of shows that have been scaled down from their Broadway origins.

Here's how the issue was raised by Richard Young:

I saw The Little Mermaid in pre-NY previews in Denver. Years later, when I saw it again, it was in the touring version in St. Louis. The spectacle had been…

What's that old adage about never working with children or animals? Well... we're breaking both of those 'rules' with ASF's next production - our 2011-2012 season opener Dracula. In addition to thunder, lighting, haze, fog, pyro, massive moving scenery, fangs, stakes, buckets of blood, trick books,…

...Become famous to be an actor.

Let me back up a little.

Many actors (and probably most theater artists in general) are first attracted to theater and performance by the glamor of the movie stars. We see a film or TV show we love, we admire the actors in said shows, and we decide to give the acting thing a go.

…

This week Lighting Designer Jaymi L. Smith will be joining us for a video chat! We'll be talking about the intersection of academia and professional lighting, repertory lighting and more! Join us Wednesday, September 28 at 2 p.m. Eastern/11 a.m. Pacific for a great chat!

Jaymi has designed lights for over 200…

UPDATE:

We have a winner! Congrats to the Andover Community Theater! Their photo "Luck Be a Lady" from their 2011 production of Guys and Dolls won Photo of the Week honors! Thanks to everyone who submitted a pic, and come back next week to learn the theme of our next big photo contest!

ORIGINAL…

Technology problems in theatre are difficult and complex. Consider a production of Iphigenia and Other Daughters one of my graduate students is working on at the moment: the set includes four large, rolling wall units, 10’ wide by 2’ deep by about 17’ tall (they look a little like eroded stone at the top, so the height varies a bit). Not a big deal to make them roll around—just put them on wheels. But for this production, the team has envisioned that at the opening of the play, each…

You might think that after all of the tragic outdoor festival events of this summer that show organizers might be even a little concerned about how the show goes on, but apparently you would be wrong. It’s business as usual. Nary a forethought towards safety. Oh yes, there are police to keep the peace, and . . . well, that's…

In a comment on my recent post in which I solicited topics to blog about, Richard T. Young posed the following question:

When we in the academy do weird avant-garde theatre, as wonderful as it might be, are we really preparing our students for the real world of trying to make a living as a theatre artist? I read about a University production of Measure for…

Theatre is a collaborative art - and I remember that most not during tech implementing a sound design, but in the weeks leading up to tech when the tech folks pull together to help the shop(s) with the extra work load, the big project, the random need, or the looming deadline.

In the past, I've ripped seams and sewn buttons; painted floors, trim, furniture, drops, and flats; hung and focused lights; run an RFU; soldered various connectors and plugs; hung curtains, scrims,…

Hey look, the weekend's gone and it's Monday again, which means it's time for another blog about acting, directing, and / or stage managing! Today I wrap up about callback auditions (part 1 can be found here).

Last week, we talked about saying yes, being prepared and mining your callback material. This week, we have a few more tips to keep in mind.

Don't…

When I started this blog a little over 9 months ago (has it been that long already?), I thought I would spend a lot of time writing about teaching—I’d spent the previous four years researching cognitive theory and instructional design theory, and was brimming with thoughts. It didn’t take long, however, for me to be sidelined by interesting technological problems, fascinating internet videos, and all sorts of other cool theatre technology or management topics. Not that I regret that—it’s…

Last week I attended the EIC hosted by University of North Carolina School for the Arts (UNCSA) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They brought together specialists from Cirque du Soleil, their technical support vendors Stage Technologies, Philips Vari-Lite, CooLux, CM Entertainment Hoists, and Meyer Sound, and business partners Carnival Cruise Lines.



What…

The best collaborative relationship I’ve ever had was also the most difficult.

In my post last week about looking for “my” director, I referred to a woman I used to work with several years ago who is now, sadly (for me, not for her), no longer making theater. We collaborated on three projects: a production of one of my plays, a workshop of another, and a year-long collaborative play development project.…

Many of my friends who are sound designers became designers because they are musicians and music and sound is simply in their blood. A few became interested because they were composers and got bitten by the theatre bug. As I've said in different ways in many blogs, I ended up being a sound designer via the road of engineering and supervision. There are lots of roads that lead to a career in sound design - but one obstacle I constantly run into is my limited musical…

On September 11, 2001 a horror happened on US soil which, in my observation, did two particular things. It woke us up and it closed us in.

I watched back then as the extremity of positions were identified and then held with no middle ground. The left, the right – everyone took sides. Up to that moment I generally followed the lead of my party. I voted without thinking, I believed ‘we’ were in the right and ‘they’ were in the wrong on any given issue. But my observation after…

Welcome to the TheatreFace Monday blog, where I get to talk about things onstage (or near stage, or you know, somewhat stage-related sometimes.) Also, stay tuned for a special announcement at the very end!

[Note: Part 2 can be found…