Stage Directions

Over the course of 75 years, as cueing technology was continuously updated, it drastically altered how a show was called and how the audience perceived the performance. As noted in my article on bells and whistles, the prompter performed an aural role in the production, one that was noticed and acknowledged by audience members. With the invention of the speaking tube, and cue lights, the prompter’s role became increasingly quieter and more remote, gradually disappearing from the audience’s experience. Once electricity was installed in theaters, the telephone system followed shortly behind.

UNCSA Professor Christal Schanes had the idea of combining teaching wig building with a cause. See how that idea enters its third year as a class with a heart as part of the UNCSA Wig and Makeup Program and see Schanes support and offer guidance to Wig and Makeup student Gnoli Raynor as she prepares a custom wig for a patient at Novant Health's Derrick L. Davis Cancer Center.

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Designer Fly Davis discusses some of the set and costume designs featured in the new production of Shakespeare's Pericles at the National Theatre. Pericles launches Public Acts, The National's new initiative to create extraordinary acts of theatre community. {youtube}v=g8NaWSu7M0A{/youtube}

Recently the PBS NewsHour featured a report from Jeffrey Brown looking at how the Oregon Shakespeare Festival has sparked a wave of creative and economic growth in rural Ashland, Oregon. One of the country’s most important regional theater companies, OSF is acclaimed for provocative show content, community engagement and unusually diverse casting.
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Roland Professional A/V announces two new appointments of key personnel: Lon Mass as Director of Pro A/V, and Alan Ruppert as National Sales Manager – Pro A/V. Both Mass and Ruppert will be based in New York. The announcement was made by Tony Price, Roland Corp. U.S. Vice President of Sales, and represents Roland’s continued expansion in the pro A/V market sector.

Stage Directions brings you classic Q2Q Comics from the Q2Q Archive. Here’s #454: Noble Moth of the Week from March 26, 2018.

My Name’s Not Indian Joe, by Elizabeth A. Davis, is a blues-tinged musical about the unlikely bond formed between a homeless Native American man and a young aspiring Texas beauty queen. Confronting societal issues, and fraught with deep and sometimes uncertain emotional currents, the story takes the two characters on an odyssey from Waco, TX to the streets of New York City. In the process, it reveals deep truths about human nature.

The Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF) has named Oskar Eustis as the first recipient of its new honor, The Gordon Davidson Award, which will be bestowed annually by SDCF to recognize a director or choreographer for lifetime achievement and distinguished service in the regional theater nationally. The presentation of the award will take place on Saturday, September 22, at the Center Theatre Group’s Annex/ Gordon Davidson Rehearsal Hall, in a by-invitation-only event.{youtube}v=5foou7mIA0w{/youtube}

Candidate registration has opened for the 2019 URTA Auditions & Interviews, widely known as “The URTAs”. The event, produced by the University Resident Theatre Association, allows MFA candidates in all areas of theatre a single place to audition and/or interview with recruiters from dozens of schools from across the U.S. and abroad.

RCF Group announced on Sept. 4, 2018 that it is acquiring Eastern Acoustics Works (EAW), headquartered in Whitinsville, MA, from LOUD Audio LLC, owned by Transom Capital Group. RCF noted that EAW will operate as an independent entity under its ownership, led by current EAW president TJ Smith, who welcomed the move.