Theater News

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

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

Taking place September 5-7, 2021 at Olympia London, the PLASA show looks to meet the needs of the industry by delivering future-facing technology and essential industry content. And for one year only, the ABTT Theatre Show is co-locating with PLASA Show, bringing the two industry shows under the same roof.Read More »PLASA + ABTT Theatre Show Returns September 2021

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

Littlite® has appointed Randy Robertson as Sales Manager for the Littlite brand of gooseneck task lights and accessories. Robertson spent 10 years in the Littlite… Read More »Littlite® Appoints New Sales Team Members

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

June 21, 2021—Timeless Communications, publisher of Projection, Lights and Staging News (PLSN); Front of House (FOH); and Stage Directions (SD) magazines, is looking beyond the pandemic to a strong future for the industry and its publications. To that end, they today announced that Stage Directions magazine will merge into PLSN magazine. This will both expand the comprehensive coverage offered by PLSN, the industry’s indisputable leading publication and will better reflect today’s entertainment technology business sector.Read More »Stage Directions to Merge into PLSN Magazine

We at Stage Directions send our sincere congratulations to Playwright, Katori Hall for her being awarded the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for her play The Hot Wing King. The play is a funny, deeply felt consideration of Black masculinity and how it is perceived, filtered through the experiences of a loving gay couple and their extended family as they prepare for a culinary competition. From the Pulitzer Prize announcement – For a distinguished play by an American author, preferably original in its source and dealing with American life, Fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000). Here’s a trailer of The Hot Wing King from NY’s Signature Theatre:

Read More »The Hot Wing King, by Katori Hall Honored with 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Drama

The gift will establish the Harvey Fierstein Theatre Lab for students and teachers

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts announced today that it will establish the Harvey Fierstein Theatre Lab, creating a new dedicated educational space in the building, thanks to a $2.5 million donation from theatre legend Harvey Fierstein. Fierstein has also named the Library for the Performing Arts as a beneficiary of the Harvey Fierstein Trust, securing his legacy as a major supporter of the library’s ongoing efforts in documenting, collecting, and preserving the performing arts, and inspiring the next generation of artists.Read More »Harvey Fierstein Donates $2.5 Million to New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

SETC is pleased to announce that effective July 1st, Elizabeth Theodora (she/her) will be SETC’s new Professional Services Manager. Theodora has been with SETC since the Fall of 2019 as its Membership & Technology Manager. She managed possibly the best, most efficient, no-wait convention registration in Louisville 2020. Since, she has been instrumental in navigating the transition of our database and application system to Neon and OpenWater, completing the transition in record time and overhauling SETC’s registration system for 2021 which was a resounding success per post-Convention surveys. In addition, she paved the way for virtual auditions and callbacks so SETC could continue our services during the worst months of the pandemic. Most importantly, Theodora served on SETC’s Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Task Force, bringing her insightful personal experience and enduring commitment to creating many of SETC’s EDIA initiatives. She will play a pivotal role in making our auditions and job fair more inclusive and accessible.Read More »Elizabeth Theodora is SETC’s New Professional Services Manager