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Stage Directions

Actors’ Equity Association Announces ‘Open Access,’ Expanding Eligibility for Union Membership

As the live arts industry begins to restart, and work increases as the pandemic diminishes, Actors’ Equity Association, the national union representing more than 51,000 professional stage managers and actors in live theatre, has announced a new Open Access membership policy, allowing any theatre worker who can demonstrate they have worked professionally as an actor or stage manager within Equity’s geographical jurisdiction to join the union. Read More »Actors’ Equity Association Announces ‘Open Access,’ Expanding Eligibility for Union Membership

The Historic Cherry Lane Theatre Sold to the Lucille Lortel Theatre Foundation

NEW YORK – Off-Broadway’s Cherry Lane Theatre, one of the oldest continuously running theaters in New York City, has been sold for $11 million. The Lucille Lortel Theatre Foundation purchased the Greenwich Village building. Lortel’s executive director, George Forbes, is also set to succeed Angelina Fiordellisi. The Lortel Foundation had been managing the Cherry Lane Theatre for the past 10 years.

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Perchance to Dream…How CCM Professors Used an Obstacle as the Way to Profit Their Program

 

Following the COVID-19 emergency shift to online teaching, The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) professors Stirling Shelton, Professor of Technical Direction and Steve Miller, Associate Director of Theater Operations knew they didn’t want a repeat of the spring 2020 going into the fall of the 2020-2021 academic year. Their plan? To find a way to work around the obstacles and provide their students with the best learning options imaginable. Joined by fellow faculty, Mark A. Halpin, Associate Professor of Scenic Design and Kathryn M. Miller, Technical Theatre Specialist, the group found a way to offer all their technical classes in-person lab work and skills-building projects.Read More »Perchance to Dream…How CCM Professors Used an Obstacle as the Way to Profit Their Program

Matthew Gardiner Appointed Artistic Director, Co-Leading Signature Theatre Alongside Managing Director Maggie Boland

Maggie Boland and Matthew Gardiner will be leading Washington DC’s Signature Theatre

Signature Theatre’s Board of Directors voted to accept the recommendation from the Artistic Director Search Committee to appoint Matthew Gardiner Signature Theatre’s new Artistic Director. The Artistic Director Search committee, comprised of artists, Signature staff, and Board members, voted unanimously to appoint Gardiner after an exhaustive nationwide search facilitated by AlbertHall&Associates that began in November 2020.Read More »Matthew Gardiner Appointed Artistic Director, Co-Leading Signature Theatre Alongside Managing Director Maggie Boland

Broadway Stage Management Symposium’s SM Tech Friday | SHOFLO, Friday July 16

Coming up on the next SM Tech Friday, which is free for everyone, from the Broadway Stage Management Symposium, is a deep dive into SHOFLO paperwork creation tool on Friday, July 16, 2021, at 4:00 p.m. EDT. SHOFLO’s John Alexander joins BSMS host, Matt Stern to go over SHOFLO, the standard for creating and managing rundowns in the event industry. You’ll learn how to use this software and how we can apply it to theater and make our workflow easier. SHOFLO is a must know for stage managers.Read More »Broadway Stage Management Symposium’s SM Tech Friday | SHOFLO, Friday July 16

In Memoriam: Paul Huntley, Wig Designer

Broadway wig designer Paul Huntley died on July 9, 2021, at the age of 88. He passed peacefully in London after a short illness. We at Stage Directions send our sincere condolences to Huntley’s colleagues, friends, and family. Earlier this year, The New York Times reported that Huntley made the decision to retire after working on hundreds of Broadway projects since coming to New York in 1972. His final project was Diana, which had begun previews before the pandemic forced its opening to be delayed. Here’s a video from the American Theatre Wing’s Working in the Theatre series on Huntley:

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