Friday, April 29, 2005

 
The Experience of Going to the Theatre is Bad: For both movie and stage theatres, the hastle of going out means people are chosing to stay home.
The most recent Global Home Entertainment Survey finds that increasing numbers of people are turning their backs on going out for entertainment. Depending on the country, anything from 68% to 90% of respondents prefer to watch a DVD at home. The main reasons cited in favour of living room entertainment are eminently reasonable. It's more comfortable, less expensive, you can fast-forward and wind back. And if there is an idiot sitting next to you it's likely you'll know them well enough to be able to tell them to shut up
(from Guardian Unlimited).
And more from the study:
Not only is staying at home to watch movies becoming more popular, but how people are watching the movies and on what home theater equipment is becoming serious business. When asked what they would give up for a month for the chance to get a new home theater system for free, Americans were most willing to give up leisure shopping (47%). Another 45 percent would give up chocolate, 39 percent would give up drinking and 32 percent would give up smoking. Sex was the last choice for Americans - only 21 percent said they'd be willing to give it up - but that was far more than Spain, where 2 percent said they would be willing to choose celibacy. Russians would give up chocolate (52%), drinking (48%) and sex (23%)
(from HiddenWires).

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

 
Joseph Jefferson Citation Nominations Announced:
The Citations Wing of The Joseph Jefferson Awards Committee announced 107 nominations in 23 categories for non-union productions in Chicago during the 2004-05 Citations season. Recipients will be unveiled at the 2005 Citations Awards ceremony June 13 at Park West
(from jeffawards.org). TimeLine Theatre Company and Circle Theatre lead with 14 nominations each.

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

 
Scott Rayburn writes about fear and nerves when public speaking, and some of it applies to acting.

Saturday, April 23, 2005

 

William Shakespeare's 441st birthday is today

William Shakespeare's 441st birthday is today (read his plays and sonnets). anagramgenius.com points out that rearranging the letters of 'William Shakespeare's birthday' gives: 'April's skies: we may hail the Bard.'

Friday, April 22, 2005

 
Product Placement on Stage:
In 1966, when the Neil Simon musical Sweet Charity opened on Broadway, a waiter in one scene asked a customer, A double Scotch, again, sir? In the revival, soon to open at the Al Hirschfeld Theater, the waiter asks, Gran Centenario, the tequila?
Madison Avenue has come to Broadway.
Product placement and endorsement deals have long been staples in television shows, movies and radio programs and even, more recently, on video games. But they have been rare on Broadway. Now, advertisers, casting about for new ways to attract increasingly distracted consumers, have turned their attention to the theater world. And producers, always looking for extra cash to offset rising costs, are receptive
(from The New York Times).

Thursday, April 21, 2005

 
Slightly industry-related short term job:
We posted a couple weeks ago, and we are again looking for an exit poller. Entertainment Works is doing a exit poll tomorrow evening (Friday 4/22/05) and we needed a couple people. Prefer people in Chicago. Also would like someone who has a car, because the actual exit poll will take place in WI. We will leave from the office around 4 p.m. and drive to the theatre (about 100 miles away.) You do get paid for driving! Pay is also $8/hr.
Job is real simple, hand out surveys as people are going into the theatre, and collect them as they exit the movie. Fast, easy, and easy money for you!
Contact with a phone number.
Again, this is for tomorrow night, and you will be able to do them in the future. We have them pretty regularly.
Email me with a phone number and any questions and I will get right back to you (kylewaddle@eworksinc.com).
This is all I know about this, caveat actor.

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

 
Actors search for rejection. If they don't get it they reject themselves.
-Charlie Chaplin

 
Theatre Tickets Cost Too Much:
Wishing to make theater accessible to all, he's the first internationally known director to lead the way by insisting that ticket prices must come down. Mr. [Peter] Brook is saying, in urgent effect, if so many people can no longer afford to go to the theater, what's the point of theater?
It's the most pressing question of all. The cost of tickets is killing the audience. They’re also killing the future. Kids can’t afford to go
(from New York Observer).

Saturday, April 09, 2005

 
Calo Theatre to get $1 million rehab:
The historic Calo Theatre in Andersonville will be renovated and expanded into a three-theater arts center available for use by a wide variety of local theater groups.
According to Brian Posen, a local improv director and teacher and the founder of the Chicago Sketchfest, the theater at 5404 N. Clark St. will undergo a roughly $1 million rehab. It will reopen in spring 2006 and be run by Lukaba Productions, a non-profit controlled by Posen.
The theater complex will operate primarily as a rental house, modeled on the Theatre Building, a longtime venue in Lakeview.
I see us having prime-time shows, late nights and children's theater, Posen said
(from The Chicago Tribune).

 
Mercury struggles on, but its battles aren't over yet:
Though the court-ordered auction of the Mercury Theater has been called off and the building's sparring co-owners have reached an out-of-court settlement, the Southport Avenue venue's legal troubles aren't over.
With the theater now hosting previews of the Chicago engagement of the Off-Broadway hit Jewtopia, which opens April 20, Mercury owner-operator Michael Cullen still faces a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed by Pegasus Players. A court hearing is scheduled for June 10
(from Chicago Sun-Times). Last year I posted about this.

 
Podcasting Comes to Theater:
Theaterpod introduces the newest application of rich media for arts marketing.
New York, April 5 - The first podcast for theater went online April 5, 2005. It was created by Theaterpod-a partnership of Jonathan Slaff and Marty Glynn-and produced for Kings County Shakespeare Company (KCSC), a Brooklyn-based nonprofit theater troupe.
The 15-minute podcast spotlights KCSC's upcoming production, Rappacini's Daughter and Bad Evidence, two plays by Terry Quinn, which will be presented in a two-part evening by KCSC April 14 to 17, 2005 at the Abingdon Theater Complex in Manhattan.
More information on Theaterpod is available at: http://www.jsnyc.com/podcasts.htm.
The full article can also be found here.

Thursday, April 07, 2005

 
Acting is not being emotional, but being able to express emotion.
-Kate Reid

Tuesday, April 05, 2005