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Stage Directions

Staging Concepts Sets the Stage for the Opening of “The Shell” in San Diego

The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park is the San Diego Symphony’s brand new venue

The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park (a.k.a. “The Shell”), the San Diego Symphony’s brand new, cutting-edge venue will be the first permanent, year-round waterfront concert and events venue in the nation operated by a symphony orchestra. As concertgoers eagerly return to live events, the facility anticipates swaths of people flocking to attend the array of events scheduled to take place along San Diego Bay in Embarcadero Marina Park South.Read More »Staging Concepts Sets the Stage for the Opening of “The Shell” in San Diego

Robert Juliat SpotMe for Czech Republic’s Brno City Theatre

Pretty Woman – hard-edge beams and strong backlight are the order of the day for this upbeat production. Photo Credit: ©Tino Kratochvil

The largest performance space of Brno City Theatre (Městské divadlo Brno), The Music Theatre, is a 680-seat venue that hosts a program of current musicals and large-scale drama. It was built in 2004 as the best technically equipped theatre in Europe. To maintain these modern standards, technical manager, David Kachlíř, recently added a Robert Juliat SpotMe tracking device to the venue’s lighting inventory, thereby increasing its existing complement of Robert Juliat products of three RJ Ginger followspots, Dalis 864 colored footlights and a number of RJ 600 and 700 series profiles. The RJ SpotMe device was supplied by Prague-based Prolight s.r.o., Robert Juliat’s exclusive distributor for the Czech Republic, as part of an improvement initiative to future-proof the theatre.

SpotMe is Robert Juliat’s award-winning server that produces real-time tracking information with no emitters or cameras on stage or performers. It uses feedback from sensors mounted on a tripod and followspot to coordinate moving lights with the movement initiated by a followspot and its operator – a perfect combination of high technology and human control in lighting design and operation.Read More »Robert Juliat SpotMe for Czech Republic’s Brno City Theatre

Opera America Webinar Replay | Taking Care: Mental Health Care for Creators and Artists

Opera America has created a special webinar series, Taking Care, that’s dedicated to the mental health of opera professionals. The first of these webinars aired on June 24 with practitioner: Beth Clayton, MA, CMHC and moderator: Jessica Jahn, costume designer. A large proportion of opera artists are currently under- or unemployed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many have worked to create their own opportunities, taking on the burden of being both a company and a collaborator by themselves. Still others are without work, trying to balance pursuing a career with other obligations to their families and communities. How can artists retain their sense of identity when unable to practice their profession? What are the best ways to cope with the additional burdens during this period? Will having a creative outlet beyond existing professional skills revive a sense of purpose?

In case you missed it, or would like to rewatch it, here is a video of that webinar:

Read More »Opera America Webinar Replay | Taking Care: Mental Health Care for Creators and Artists

NEA Offers Relief Funds to Help Arts and Culture Sector Recover from Pandemic

NEA Opens Doors to Applications for American Rescue Plan Funding

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is announcing two programs to distribute American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds. These programs are open to nonprofit arts and culture organizations and local arts agencies, regardless of whether they have received NEA funding in the past. This is a change from previous emergency funding requirements at the NEA and significantly expands access to federal funds for the arts and culture sector. The NEA encourages applications from first-time applicants, and will offer workshops, question-and-answer sessions, and other resources for those new to federal funding.Read More »NEA Offers Relief Funds to Help Arts and Culture Sector Recover from Pandemic

Costume Industry Coalition (CIC) Marks its One Year Anniversary

One year ago today, Costume Industry Coalition was launched to advocate for the survival of the custom costume industry in New York City. They can’t thank you enough for sharing in our journey. Here’s a video from the CIC looking back at the year.

You can also read and learn more about the CIC in this article from the June 2021 issue of Stage Directions, Industry Advocates, the Costume Industry Coalition.

Read More »Costume Industry Coalition (CIC) Marks its One Year Anniversary

Cory Pattak and CHAUVET Professional Ovation Fixtures Light Tuacahn Amphitheatre

Like anyone who enters Tuacahn Amphitheatre for the first time, Cory Pattak was awed by the surroundings when he arrived there in 2017 to light a production of Newsies. Located at the mouth of Padre Canyon in southwestern Utah, with its towering sandstone cliffs dotted with sage brush and yuca trees, the setting offers a quintessential image of the American West in all its rugged, untamed beauty.Read More »Cory Pattak and CHAUVET Professional Ovation Fixtures Light Tuacahn Amphitheatre

Shure and Sensaphonics Promote Hearing Safety as Theater, Live Music, and Events Return

Musicians Can Protect Their Hearing by Embracing a “New Normal” for Return to Live Events Stage Monitoring

The first hearing test establishes a baseline that all future hearing exams are compared against to determine if any loss has occurred.

As theater and live music returns, Shure and Sensaphonics and Shure offer tips for musicians to “retrain the brain” after time away. As performers and audio engineers at theaters, concert halls, and live event venues worldwide start the ‘check one… check one-two…’ — they are finding some significant changes and opportunities in post-hiatus live music.Read More »Shure and Sensaphonics Promote Hearing Safety as Theater, Live Music, and Events Return

Broadway Stage Management Symposium’s Free SM Tech Friday Program | Roam

Coming this Friday, June 25, 2021 at 4:00 p.m. EDT from the Broadway Stage Management Symposium is another in their great, Free series, SM Tech Friday with exploration of organizational tool Roam. Join BSMS Founder, Matthew Stern and R.J. Nestor, business coach, musician, and writer as they take a deep dive into this organizational tool. Roam is a powerful organizational and note-taking program with numerous possibilities to transform the way we take notes & communicate as a team. You’ll learn more about Roam as Nestor demos the many ways Roam can help stage managers and everyone in our theater industry: designers, technicians, production managers, directors, etc…Read More »Broadway Stage Management Symposium’s Free SM Tech Friday Program | Roam

The 15th Edition of the Prague Quadrennial Will Take Place June 8–18, 2023

The 15th edition of the Prague Quadrennial will take place June 8 to 18, 2023 and the main venue is the Pražská Tržnice. Here’s a video from PQ with the announcement of the theme, which took place on Tuesday, June 23, 2021. The theme for the 15th PQ is RARE: art springing out of ideas, materials, artistic approaches, and design practices that connect to the human level from within your environment, with its genius loci and unique situation. By this theme, the PQ responds to the changes in all areas of human life that the pandemic situation has accelerated and the physical experience has become rare. They call on performance designers, scenographers, and performance practitioners to use their RARE imagination and creativity to help them envision what the world and theatre could look like in the post-pandemic future.

Read More »The 15th Edition of the Prague Quadrennial Will Take Place June 8–18, 2023