This would have been the week of LDI2020 in Las Vegas. In the meantime, industry veteran Anne Valentino is retiring and doing an online exit interview, A Career In Control, and The Metropolitan Opera is presenting a week of operatic comedies online, starting with Barlett Sher's wonderful 2007 production of The Barber of Seville. All this and more the week of October 19, 2020.
Training & Webcasts:
• October 19-22: Chicago Flyhouse and Area Four Industries, Truss Week: A week-long series and deep dive into how truss is conceived, designed engineered and built. Understanding where truss comes from leads to better understanding of how to use it well. Class will also cover reading load tables and inspections. Instructors: Adrian Forbes-Black, Will Todd, Ed Leahy. ETCP renewal credits available. Register Here.
• October 19 @ 7pm Eastern: USITT: Stage Management Theory as a Guide to Practice: Cultivating a Creative Approach: The presenters will speak about themes from their new book, "Stage Management Theory as a Guide to Practice: Cultivating a Creative Approach." As expressed in the introduction, “throughout the years, our discussions and debates around stage management methodology have been a through-line in our relationship. Free for USITT members, $15 for non-members. Register Here.
Looking Ahead, Register In Advance:
• October 20 @ 11am Central: Anne Valentino: A Career In Control: On the event of her retirement, Steve Terry and Dennis Varian talk to Anne Valentino about her long career at ETC and the tremendous influence she has had on the global professional lighting control market. How did the Obsession and Eos family of consoles come to be? That is just one of the topics we’ll cover in this delightful celebration of Anne’s work. Register Here.
• October 20 @ 11am Central: Harman Martin: Yanni: A Case Study in Lighting a Show in the Odd Corners of the Earth with Bud Horowitz:Learn how Bud Horowitz adapts the lighting for a heavily cued concert to a wide variety of venues & lighting systems. This discussion will include dealing with locally provided lighting systems and iconic locations such as the Pyramids of Giza. Register Here.
• October @ 2pm Eastern: Bill Sapsis Free Weekly Remote Training Sessions: Inclusion & Equity: The 900# guerilla in the room. There’s been lots of talk. Panel sessions. Committee meetings. But what is really being done about these issues? We’ll try to find out. This will be an open mic session for all of us to discuss the issues surrounding equity and inclusion in the live entertainment industry. Register Here.
• October 22 @ 1pm Eastern: Ahead Of The Curve: Deep learning has been changing the way we work, the way we live and the way we create. There have been huge advancements in this technology and digital art has found a new method and style to bring some stunning creations directly to your screens. Geoffrey Platt chats with Isabella Salas from Robot Jaguar Studio in an interactive conversation exploring the advancements of artificial intelligence in digital art and creating incredible imagery that will certainly blow your mind. Watch Here.
• October 23 @ 11:30am Eastern: LDI@NAB: Disguise’s xR Workflow for the VMA’s: Vickie Claiborne, Training Manager-Americas for disguise, moderates a panel on the use of disguise’s xR workflow for MTV’s Video Music Awards, the first major awards show to be broadcast since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Silent Partner Studio and XR Studios delivered extended reality with additional software including Notch and Unreal. Speakers include Vickie Clairborne, Trevor Stirlin Birk, and Marcus Bengtsson. Register Here.
Live Design Master Classes:
• Monday, October 26 @ 11am-1:45pm Eastern: Live Design Virtual Master Classes: Design & Production In Virtual Environments: Intro to XR and Virtual Production; Advanced XR Production Techniques & Case Studies; The Role of XR in Compelling Storytelling. Sessions feature Vickie Claiborne, disguise Training Manager in Americas, and additional industry experts. Sponsored by disguise. Free. Register Here.
• Live Design Virtual Master Classes: Lighting: Three sessions focus on various angles of lighting: GDTF & MVR, a look at his innovative new technology and the bi-directional exchange of data developed by Vectorworks, Robe, and MA Lighting as an open standard for the entertainment industry. Plus a look at 2021 updates, with Matt Geasy of Clear All Visuals; LED Color Mixing, Color Temperature, and Light Quality, with Kevin Lawson and Greg Cohen of UVLD; Designing Immersive Lighting: The design and technical challenges of creating compelling immersive lighting for visual storytelling, using Pip’s Island, an interactive kid's experience, as the quintessential example. Speakers include: Al Crawford, Roya Abab, Zakaria Al-Alami, Manuel DaSilva, and Nicholas Palatella. Free; sponsored by ETC. Register Here to watch on demand.
Let's Go Shopping:
• Gillioz Theatre Poster Auction: Calling all poster collectors! In an effort to raise money to survive the pandemic, the historic Gillioz Theatre in Springfield, Missouri, for the first time is auctioning 99 event posters from its archives. Bid Here. Through October 31.
For Your Viewing Enjoyment:
• Operatic Comedies Week at The Metropolitan Opera: Week #32 of nightly streams from the opera archives. Monday, October 19 @ 7:30pm: The Barber of Seville, sets by Michael Yeargan, costumes by Catherine Zuber, lighting by Christopher Akerlind. Watch Here.
• October 15-25: Vangeline Theater/New York Butoh Institute, New York Butoh Institute Festival 2020: Butoh workshops and exclusive Zoom performances of works by Butoh dancers from Asia, Latin America, South Africa, New York, and the United States. Purchase tickets here.
• Falling & Loving: Siti Company and Streb Extreme Action: Costume design by James Schuette, Lighting design by Brian H Scott, Scenic design conceived by Elizabeth Streb, prototype by Matt McAdon, design and engineering by Peter Dean and Hudson Scenic Studios, original music and sound design by David Van Tieghem. Watch Here. Falling & Loving trailer: https://allarts.org/programs/peak-hd/peak-hd-preview-p0yfvg/
• As of Friday, October 9: Cirque du Soleil: Behind The Curtain of Mystère: This week on #CirqueConnect, enjoy watching our latest behind the curtain of Mystère by Cirque du Soleil. Be a witness to the backstage adventures and stories that make up the foundation of #CirqueduSoleil’s longest running #LasVegas resident show. Watch below:
#WeMakeEvents #RedAlertRESTART
• RedAlert LIVE The four-hour live stream of the #RedAlertRESTART event on Tuesday, September 1, 2020. Hosted by lighting designer Christian Jackson, with live feeds and video from across the country plus Trinidad & Tobago. Watch Here.
An Important Conversation:
• Live Design and USITT co-hosted "A Conversation On Diversity And Anti-Racism In Entertainment Design," moderated by David Stewart, production manager for Disney Parks Live Entertainment, and an important voice in the ongoing quest to increase diversity in our industry. The full panel for this important discussion includes lighting designers Rachael Blackwell, Porsche McGovern, and Xavier Pierce, lighting/projection designer Roma Flowers, lighting designer/event coordinator Ebony Madry, and production manager Lawrence Bennett. Watch Here.
Training & Webcasts When You Want:
• GLP 10 Out Of 10: This episode of 10 Out Of 10 features New York-based Lighting Design Group. Watch Here.
• Bill Sapsis Rigging Classes: Fall Arrest Harnesses: What you don’t know could kill you. There’s a lot more going on than just sticking your arms and legs in and tightening the straps. This session will help you harness up safely. Watch Here.
• Notch Showcast: Algorithm Studio use Notch and the Noitom V2 motion capture suit to create an intimate music video in the peak of social distancing. Creative director Kev Freeney and Notch designer Dillon O’Sullivan welcomed the challenge of creating The Blizzards ‘Pound The Pavement’ music video during a national lockdown. After initial plans for a live-action music video were put on hold, they began exploring the possibilities of using the Noitom V2 motion capture suit for an offline workflow. The Algorithm team developed a hybrid real-time/offline workflow to produce the video remotely and in a short amount of time. Using FBX mocap data recorded in the performers’ homes, Dillon created dynamic particle bodies in Notch. Kev used the flexibility of the workflow to apply creative camera moves he keyframed in C4D, and import them in Notch where they rendered the final scenes. The result of this experimental workflow is an enchanting video which brought The Blizzards together during a time of isolation. Watch Here.
• Strand and Vari-Lite: A series of online training videos on various aspects of lighting systems. Watch Here.
• History In The Making: Steve Terry In Conversation With Dave Cunningham and Gordon Pearlman... A time machine talk about the advent of computer-controlled lighting consoles. Watch Here.
• Elation Professional Online Learning Center: Provides lighting professionals with easy-to-access learning options, the new resource site is full of free educational and training material. Watch Here.
• The Elation Hour: A series of interviews with leading designers from film/TV, theatre, concerts, corporate events, festivals, and more... Watch here.
• Scott Parker: A lot of training videos to choose from, from his Stage Seminars to a book review of Richard Pilbrow's Stage Lighting Design. Watch Here and Here (Stage Seminars)
• Lighting designer Mike Woods: Online training videos. Watch Here.
• Ross Video: Ross Live | 2020: A weekly series of presentations, podcasts, and product launches designed to highlight best practices across a range of live production environments. Watch Here.
• frame.work videos are now online, a conference for video professionals. Watch Here.
• 4Wall Entertainment: Archives for Sunday Roundtables and Thursday Tales From The Road. Watch Here.
• ETC Story Q&A with Tom Littrell: thoughts from Outreach and Training Specialist Tom Littrell on LEDs. Read Here.
• Unreal Interactive Demo. Watch Here.
• Opera America – live streams.
• ETC On Headset: The Billington Files
• TDF Stages, list of streaming performances updated daily.
Podcasts:
• Light Talk With The Lumen Brothers (and Sistah!): This week, a conversation with BIPOC lighting designer Adam Honoré, an award-winner at age 26 and nominated for this year's Live Design Achievement Awards, now open for voting. Listen Here.
• Real Talk With Mason Brady: A talk with Brad Berridge is a sound artist at Feld Entertainment, which is the company that produces Disney ON ICE!, Marvel Experiences, and others. He has worked across the United States bringing his sound design and composition to tons of different theaters and auditoriums. Listen Here.
• USITT TECHnically Speaking: A COVID-19 Discussion With Kathy Perkins: The Summer 2020 edition of Theatre Design and Technology (TD&T) explores racism in the theatre in an important piece by Taylor Leigh Lamb. TECHnically Speaking talks with lighting designer Kathy Perkins, interviewed for the article, to discuss her 1995 TD&T article, how the conversation on racism in the industry has shifted, and if Black designers are finally getting the industry recognition they deserve. Listen Here.
Industry Resources:
• USITT Women In Theatre Network