Shadowland, an audio play by Erika Dickerson-Despenza, is a heartbreaking tale of Hurricane Katrina and its massive impact on a New Orleans family. The world premiere, produced by the Public Theatre, features original music by Delfeayo Marsalis, sound design by Palmer Hefferan, audio coordination and recording engineering by Will Pickens, and lead audio engineering by Black Rose Sound (Izumi Rosas and Chris Morocco), with audio engineer Twi McCallum. Listen Here. A perfect pandemic project to enjoy on Wednesday, April 14, 2021, while awaiting the day we can see theatre live once again.
Listen to the Shadowland trailer here.
Training & Webcasts:
• April 14 @ 11:30am Eastern: 3D and Motion Design Show: Learn Cinema 4D, Redshift and the Red Giant suite of products right from home with our talented featured artists. We'll showcase creative workflows with MoGraph and Xpresso, rendering tips in Redshift, and production techniques using Cinema 4D and Red Giant tools. Register Here.
• April 14 @ 11am Central: Harman Learning Sessions: Adapting Lighting Design For Live Streaming with Rob Sinclair. How do we create a compelling and well-paced show for a home audience? In this session, we’ll walk you through the lighting design process and lessons learned from Kylie Minogue’s successful and innovative Infinite Disco livestream. Register Here.
• April 14 @ 1pm Eastern: Lightshark Lighting Control: A look at Lightshark, a very capable, small controller that is suitable for houses of worship, community theaters, corporate functions, architectural installations and live performances, as well. Zoom link.
• April 14 @ 2:30pm Eastern: Chicago Flyhouse Training: Forces and Loads: This class is a review of some basic concepts from physics that affect rigging work. • Review Newton’s laws of motion and examine what they mean for rigging • Consider the types of forces that can be applied to a rig and what those situations look like • Learn how to visualize the forces in a system and then communicate that information to others • Calculate loads across a beam, such as a batten or a truss • Review mechanical advantage with pulleys Instructor: Ed Leahy. Register Here.
Looking Ahead, Register In Advance:
• April 15 @ 1pm Eastern: Ahead Of The Curve: Media servers have evolved and changed in so many ways over the past decade. They no longer simply playback video and imagery files, they are now the heart ofmany installations and live events, handling enormous amounts of data, tracking real life objects, rendering generative media and handling it all in real time. Join host Geoffrey Platt and Chet Miller from VYV in a discussion about the evolution of media servers, their current capabilities and what may lie ahead in the world of media server technologies. Watch Here.
• April 15 @ 2pm Eastern: Rosco on Clubhouse With Al Crawdford: Chad Tiller chats with award-winning lighting designer Al Crawford, resident LD at Alvin Ailey. Listen Here.
• April 21 @ 9am Eastern: Vectorworks Open House: To get the most out of your Vectorworks software, this interactive event features a wide range of topics, including 3D modeling and rendering, BIM, site design, and GIS workflows. Register today to talk with Vectorworks team members. Register Here.
• April 21 @ 2pm Eastern: Bill Sapsis Remote Seminar: Finding Work in Challenging Times: There are many people out of work and many others just entering the industry. We’d like to help out with some advice on finding a job. I’ve assembled some knowledgable folks to talk about their experiences this past year as well as their insight into what’s going on in the job market right now and what we think will be happening in the near future. Special guests Anne Valentino, senior project manager for entertainment controls at ETC (retired); Eddie Raymond IATSE Local 16, San Francisco, VP/training (retired); Jared Fortney, TAIT, Lititz, PA, systems integrator, worldwide; Kate Raymond, IATSE Local 16 San Francisco. touring show head electrician. Registration opens on Friday. April 16 @ 10am Eastern. Register Here.
• May 2 @ 3pm Eastern: Women In Entertainment: Rigging Roundtable: Explore the world of entertainment rigging from the perspective of accomplished women in the industry! Hosted by ETCP arena rigger, Siobhan Colleen, who is joined by Lauren Duffy Franzoso, Renee Munholand, Katrina Puleo, Sydney Rush, and Melissa Stinson. Free on Facebook. Watch Here.
New Webcasts & Podcasts:
• USITT: TECHnically Speaking: 2021 YDMT Series: Costume Designer Erin Barnett: Recipient of the 2021 Zelma H. Weisfeld Costume Design & Technology Award, Erin is currently a third-year MFA Costume Design student at Indiana University. She has worked as a costume designer and technician with Triad Stage, Jenny Wiley Theatre, GLOW Lyric Theatre, and Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre. On this episode, we chatted about her award win, favorite costume pieces she's created, and her passion for the industry and craft. Listen Here.
• GLP: 10 Out Of 10: Nick Whitehouse: Mark Ravenhill interviews co-founder of Nashville based Fireplay. Along with being a multiple Knight of Illumination winner, Nick has worked with an incredible list of artists including; Justin Timberlake, Thomas Rhett, Carrie Underwood, Kylie Minogue, The Killers, Lindsay Ell, Britney Spears, Coldplay and many more. Watch Below:
• Light Talk, Episode 210 The Lumen Brothers (and Sistah): "We're All Just Drummers in a Rock and Roll Band"... Our FOURTH ANNIVERSARY SHOW! In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers (and Sistah) talk about everything from New LDI Swag to Covid Smelling Beagles. Join Ellen, Steve, and David as they pontificate about: The "Light Talk Theme Song Tik-Tok Dance-Off" Winner; The Book Tour Scoop; Dead Pick-ups; Follow-spot practical jokes; Risks when we open up theaters; Getting sniffed by a Beagle; Vaccination Passports; The importance of education; Recognizing important career choices at the time; The "LD Paperwork Micro-chip"; "Waffles"; Chipping Children; Diversify for Survival; LDI Plans; Life Coaching for changing lives; Wandering Around the Garage at 4:00; and... Let the Dogs Out! Listen Here.
• ETC's New Product Presentation, Keynote by Justin Townsend:
• AVO and ROBE: The creative team at Robe has been using Avolites Titan to create their shows and videos for years; Avo spoke to Robe about the brand new Timeline feature. Watch Below:
Conferences & Special Events:
• USITT21 Virtual Conference: The 2021 USITT Virtually Anywhere Conference was presented live March 8-12, 2021. The conference can now be accessed from virtually anywhere on demand. Available thru September 8, 2021. On Demand
Webcasts & Podcasts On Demand:
• Light Talk: Episode 208: The Devil's Triad: The Lumen Brothers talk about everything from Dimmer Doubling to Dr. Strangelove. Join Steve, Stan, and David as they pontificate about: Letters to Light Talk Central; The Beaver Junction Iditarod; "POE Anon"; Stan and Steve fight over Tungsten; What happened to ETC's Dimmer-Doubling?; Hitching your wagon to proprietary technology; Getting into the Worship Lighting industry; The Crippled Dragon 660; Deciding on scripts for educational theatre classes and productions; "Not dead, and under 30"; and Why can't DMX use just one wire? Listen Here.
• Geezers Of Gear Podcast: The Covid Crew Anniversary... yup 1 year to the day since our first! In March of 2020, we put together this small group of visionary leaders from the industry - and at the time - had NO idea what it was for. We just knew that we needed to talk through this, and hopefully, provide some guidance or insight to folks who were pretty shocked, anxious and stressed. We made some bold predictions (mostly WAY wrong) but we also said some things that really ring true, still today. It's been a hell of a year... and the gang reflects, listens back to some of our predictions, and continues to positively point north through the darkness. Brought to you by GearSource. Listen Here.
• Live Design's Plot Lines With Jeff Croiter: Tony-Award winning lighting designer Jeff Croiter shares and discusses the plots for his award-winning work for Peter and The Starcatcher. Hosted by KOI Award-winning LD/projection designer Roma Flowers. Q&A via live Zoom. Register Here to watch on demand.
• Casting Light Podcast: Host Jason Marin chats with DP Bill Berner on the serious business of lighting comedy. Berner talks about how he creates lighting for television, how the TV business works, and the protocols he works under on set during the pandemic. His nearly 40 years of experience on camera, first as a lighting designer and then as a director of photography, gives him insight into and informed opinions about nearly every aspect of the job. Listen Here.
• Artistic Finance Podcast: Taxes With Cory Pattak: This new episode features lighting designers Cory Pattak and Ethan Steimel discuss how to organize and itemize receipts for tax time. They go line by line through the actual list of itemized categories on their taxes. Once they make it through the 25 items, you can see it isn't as complicated as it seems. Listen Here.
• in 1: the podcast episode #104 Quarantine Happy Hour #8-UK Edition: Hopping over the Atlantic to chat with some amazing designers based in the UK. Before that, however, Howell Binkley’s long-time associates Ryan O’Gara and Amanda Zieve join us to talk about the newly created fellowship in Howell’s name and the upcoming March 1 deadline to apply. Then it’s on to the roundtable with lighting designer Tim Deiling, scenic & costume designer David Farley, lighting designer Lucy Carter, scenic designer Chiara Stephenson, and scenic designer Andrew Edwards. Hosted by Cory Pattak. Listen Here.
• ETC Study Hall: Steve Terry chats with Dave Cunningham on the details of developing the ETC Source Four:
• USITT: No More 10 Out of 12's- Why It's Time for Change: A discussion about the move for changing the traditional rehearsal known as the 10 of 12. Sound designer Lindsay Jones, scenic designer Regina Garcia, actor Rachel Spencer Hewitt, and stage manager Lisa Dawn Cave participate in this discussion. Watch Here.
• Tony Award-winning lighting designer Ken Billington, guest on the Artistic Finance podcast, discusses how he has managed his personal finances during more than sixty years of designing on Broadway and running a design studio. With over 100 Broadway shows to his credit, not to mention a slew of other shows from Las Vegas to SeaWorld and beyond. He has been nominated for nine Tony Awards for Best Lighting Design, and won for the musical Chicago. Thanks to Ethan Steimel for this interview with one of my favorite LDs. Listen Here.
• Featured podcast: Changing The Landscape: In 2020, a group of theatre designers, directors, actors, managers, and technicians, produced an open letter titled ‘We See You White American Theatre," and laid it square in the public eye. The letter detailed the many transgressions accumulated toward theatre-makers identifying as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, by the predominantly white American theatre in the United States, and has reverberated through management structures, teaching institutions and theatre producing organizations at all levels prompting a new, thorough, unavoidable level of public conversation and accountability. Joining host Alan Edwards to discuss these topics: Award-winning scenic & costume designer and activist Clint Ramos; assistant dean and assistant professor adjunct in Theater Management for Yale School of Drama and general manager of Yale Repertory Theatre Kelvin Dinkins, Jr; and managing director of the Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts at Northwestern University Al Heartley. Listen Here.
