Stage Directions

As a part of the UK program Into Opera, which has a mission to get more people into opera, they have a children’s opera and education project that offers children a unique introduction to the art form of opera and all that encompasses. As a part of this project, A King's Ransom, was performed at Open Norwich. It's a children's opera written by classical composer Patrick Hawes that is a reimagined tale of Robin Hood and features a subtle, yet powerful, lighting design by Johanna Town. 

The new Broadway musical Mean Girls, based on the film, premiered at the August Wilson Theatre on Broadway this month. Responsible for the production's video sets is British video design team FRAY Studio, who worked closely with director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw and set designer Scott Pask to create the sophisticated, fast-paced, and at times, surreal worlds of North Shore High's famous students.

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The UK public broadcaster, BBC is making over 16,000 sound effects files available for public use. They have gone into their massive archives and are making these files free to download for “personal, educational, and research purposes”. The sound effects can be downloaded in WAV format free of charge.

Listen Technologies, a provider of assistive listening and personal listening products for 20 years, recently held a groundbreaking ceremony at the site where it will construct a new building next to its headquarters on Heritage Crest Way. The new building is expected to be completed in fall 2018 and will double Listen Technologies’ corporate campus.

4Wall Entertainment has reached an agreement to acquire the assets of Boston based stage and theatrical lighting services provider Advanced Lighting & Production Services (ALPS).

The UK’s Association of Lighting Designers (ALD), as part of its Save Stage Lighting Campaign that is warning of the devastating effects the proposed EU 2020 Lighting regulations would have on production lighting, has released a clear, concise guide to those regulations.

USITT's Rigging Safety Initiative (RSI) is now accepting applications until April 20 for its spring funding cycle. The RSI offers free stage rigging inspections and safety training for secondary schools nationally. All secondary schools nationwide are eligible.

USITT’s Jay O. Glerum Rigging Masterclasses returns this summer. Entry, advanced, and new intermediate level tracks will be available this summer. The Masterclasses honor the memory of one of our industry's great advocates for safety and training, Jay O. Glerum. Taught annually beginning in 2016, these masterclasses now have three tracks of learning, advanced, intermediate, and entry level.

Million Dollar Quartet, part theatre, part rock-and-roll concert, tells an amazing story of a day in 1956 when Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Elvis Presley performed together at Sam Phillips’ Sun Records studio. An Allen & Heath dLive S Class S5000 with DM64 MixRack played a leading role on the show’s current North American tour.

We are sad at Stage Directions to have to post the news of the passing of John S. Hyatt after a brief illness on the morning of Saturday, April 7^th. John S. Hyatt and Associates, Inc. released the following statement at this difficult time.