Forecast For November 26-29, 2020

Enjoy the holiday weekend, reach out to a friend if you are home alone! Create a watch party or a zoom potluck supper and catch up on all the podcasts and webcasts our industry continues to produce so prolifically. A new one just posted today is part of the Changing The Landscape podcast series, featuring costume designer Toni-Leslie James (details below). So check out all the options online, relax for the next few days, and I'll be back on Monday, November 30, 2020 to see what next week has to offer. It may be an odd one for a lot of us, but Happy Thanksgiving to all...

New Webcasts and Podcasts:

• In 1 Podcast: Changing the Landscape – Episode 5: Barrier to Entry Part 2: An interview with Toni-Leslie James. Barriers to entry are everywhere, from grade school, to college, and beyond. How can we change that? What we’ve been told is that hard work and elbow grease are all you need, but the actual fact is that it takes much more than that to reach “success”. With this in mind, it was a privilege this past summer to have a candid conversation with three-time Tony-nominated costume designer Toni-Leslie James. With credits ranging from Footloose to Come From Away, Jelly’s Last Jam to Bernhardt/Hamlet, and The Wild Party to The Scottsboro Boys, hear about her decades-long journey from young, bright-eyed student at Ohio State in the late seventies, to multi-award nominated costume designer. Get your notebooks ready… class is in session. Listen Here.

November 27 @ 12pm Eastern: Theatre Artists Conversations: Featuring Carlton Turner:

David Diamond chats with Carlton Turner, former executive director of Alternate ROOTS and current director and lead artist at The Mississippi Center for Cultural Production (Sipp Culture). Register Here.

• GLP 10 Out Of 10 TGLP is joined by Tony Award-winning theatrical lighting designer Tyler Micoleau, on 10 Out Of 10. Tyler is best known for his work on the Broadway productions of The Bands Visit, Be More Chill, as well as Hercules (Central Park NYC) and Socrates (Public Theatre NYC). Mark Ravelhill of GLP does the interview. Watch Here.

 Looking Ahead, Register In Advance:

December 1 @ 11am Central: Harman Learning Sessions: How Technology Drives the Art of Audio with Robert Margouleff: This presentation will feature the technology and philosophy of the modern use of headphones in changing the way we compose and experience music in the age of personal listening. Register Here.

December 2 @ 2pm Eastern: Sapsis Rigging: Uncle Bill’s Remote Seminars: Performer Flying Winches: Special guest Paul Sapsis will talk about the equipment he uses to fly Pink, Lady Gaga and other big shot performers. Registration now open (and these sessions fill up fast!). Register Here.

• December 3 @ 1pm Eastern: Ahead Of The Curve: Geoffrey Platt chats with Ray Eddy, stuntman/actor/professor of theme park and entertainment management at the UCF Rosen College for Hospitality Management in an engaging conversation about living a life filled with elements of surprise, action, suspense and danger. Watch Here.

December 4/5; 11/12: frame:work festival 2020: International speakers representing all facets of how pixels are used in live events, installations, and virtual production. If you engineer for pixel delivery or display, design moving pixels for computer screens, scenic screens or massive LED volumes, or negotiate the production environments where it all comes together, this event is for you. Register Here.

Let's Go Shopping:

Self-Stimulus Silent Art Auction: A silent auction featuring visual art created by theater designers, technicians and performers. Take a look, get some holiday shopping done and support these incredibly talented and versatile artists. Browse Here.

Recent Webcasts and Podcasts:

Artistic Finance Podcast:  Grammy-winning sound engineer Denise Barbarita joins Ethan Steimel to discuss finances as a sound engineer and recording studio owner in New York City. She is the head engineer and owner of MONOLisa recording studio in Queens, NYC. Her studio work spans albums, scores, and audio post-production for film, TV, and podcasts. As an engineer and producer, she has worked with hip hop, rock, and punk artists, as well as those in the theater, jazz, and classical genres. Listen Here.

Geezers Of Gear:  #123 - The Bridge... A Pivot to Remote Shows: With Patrick Dierson (The Activity / The Farm) and Matt Geasey (Just Networking / The Bridge) brought to you by www.GearSource.comListen Here. 

• Introduction to Show Networking with John Huntington: On PST #084, John Huntington introduced us to show networking. We covered the basics of how ethernet networks provide a platform for entertainment control and audio/video media distribution. For applications in concerts, theatre productions, corporate and special events, cruise ship revues, wrestling shows, houses of worship, museum presentations, fountain spectaculars—any show presented live for an audience. Watch Here.

Live Design Master Classes: Watch On Demand:

•  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 hosted by Vickie Claiborne, disguise Training Manager in Americas, and additional industry experts. Sponsored by disguise. Free. Available On Demand. 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.

For Your Viewing Enjoyment:

 The Metropolitan Opera: Week #37 of nightly streams from the opera archives. A week of Family Drama. Watch Here.

New York Is Burning: Les Ballet Afrik with Omari Wiles: In homage to the 30th anniversary of "Paris Is Burning," the documentary about voguing and drag balls, and the powerful expression of personal pride they represent in the face of racism, homophobia, and stigma of the AIDS crisis, Works & Process commissioned Omari Wiles, founding father of the House of Oricci and a legend within the ballroom community, to produce "New York Is Burning." Watch Below:

• Thru November 29: Lou Reed's Berlin: Directed and designed by Julian Schnabel. A fully staged version of the album by the same name. Recorded at St. Anne's Warehouse in Brooklyn (2007). Watch Here.

Thru December 2: Emilia: A play by Morgan Lloyd Maclom, inspired by the life of 17th-century poet and feminist Emilia Bassano, who may have been Shakespeare's "Dark Lady." Watch Here.

Emilia trailer: 

• The Royal Shakespeare Festival Online: More Info Here.

  • Macbeth (2018), directed by Polly Findlay with Christopher Eccleston and Niamh Cusack
  • Hamlet (2016), directed by Simon Godwin with Paapa Essiedu
  • Romeo and Juliet(2018), directed by our Deputy Artistic Director Erica Whyman
  • Much Ado About Nothing (2014), directed by Christopher Luscombe
  • Othello (2015), directed by Iqbal Khan with Hugh Quarshie and Lucian Msamati
  • The Merchant of Venice (2015), directed by Polly Findlay

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 BlackwellPorsche 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:

• Marsha Stern on The History of Nightclubs and Architainment: Lighting expert Marsha Stern covers the evolution of analog to automated lighting systems and how that revolutionized our industry, providing the bridge for entertainment technology to be included in the architectural lighting design environment. Watch Here.

• Anne Valentino: A Life 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? A delightful celebration of Anne’s work.Watch Here.

• CI To Eye With Joshua Dachs: Jokes Land Better In Tight Spaces and Other Theatre Design Trade Secrets: In this episode, Joshua Dachs and Erik Gensler lift the curtain on the mysteries of theater design. They discuss how seat layout impacts the way comedy is received, why some roadhouses have "absurd capacities," and why Broadway theaters are so uncomfortable. Listen 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. One of "uncle Bill's" free remote training sessions. 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. 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 DesignWatch 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:

• Artistic Finance: Ebony Madry Podcast: Lighting designer and project manager Ebony Madry talks about generational wealth, stocks versus franchising, and the importance of saving for retirement. Listen Here.

The Lumen Brothers, Light Talk: In this episode of Light Talk, The Lumen Brothers celebrate the life and legacy of "The Dean of American Stage Design", and a true Mensch, Ming Cho Lee. Steve, Stan, and David welcome special guests Ann Sheffield and Chris Barreca to LIGHT TALK, as they discuss: Their relationships with Ming; the amazing partnership of Ming and Betsy; Ming's studio hijinks; The Clambake; Ming's devastating critiques of David's set designs; Ann and Betsy's CVS trips; Arguing about politics; Wrangling Ming; What Ming meant to education; Ming the mensch; and Ming's amazing theatrical legacy. Listen Here.

• Surroundscapes Podcast Series 2, with host Graeme Harrison, VP and GM of Bluesound Professional: A focus on the “Future of the Workplace” theme, exploring current trends, how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected things and what the workplace might be like as we look to the future. Episode One: Josef Hargrave, Associate Director and Global Foresight Leader of Arup. 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:

Live Events Coalition  

Event Safety Alliance

 • USITT Women In Theatre Network

 LDI on demand videos and webcasts

 Magnum’s complete list of free training and resources