Industry Theatre Newsroom Page 79

Parent Artist Advocacy League (PAAL) has awarded over $25,000 in grants to artists with families in 2020 alone.

Open Jar Studios today announced that industry veteran Rich Bittner will become their Chief Operating Officer. Bittner, who was previously the Director of Operations, brings more than 30 years of experience in the entertainment industry to Open Jar Studios.

As we find ourselves in the midst of the holiday calendar, a normally busy time for producing organizations across the world feels very different this year.

Robert Lynch, the chief executive of Americans for the Arts, has stepped aside after concerns were brought to light regarding the organization’s equity and diversity practices and workplace management.

Join 52 previous roundtable panelists for a quick check in and cheerful goodbye (or good riddance) to 2020!  Guests include designers of live entertainment and TV, producers, general managers production managers, stage managers, electricians, riggers, industry writers, podcast hosts and educators.

At the first Broadway & Beyond: Access for Stage Managers of Color event, Matthew Stern, BSMS founder announced a new scholarship specifically for BIPOC stage managers. ”We acknowledge that there is unintended, systemic racism in our industry. At the Symposium, we want to find a way to open the door for stage managers of color.”

The Sappho Project has announced the appointment of three founding members of its Board of Directors, making up the full slate of board members for 2020. Joining the Board of Directors is BRIAN LOWDERMILK (they/them or she/her), ANEESH SHETH (she/her), and REGINA VICTOR (they/them).

The Board of Directors of The Shubert Organization announced the appointment of Dr. Pamela Newkirk as a new member of the board, effective immediately. Dr. Newkirk will also serve on the board of The Shubert Foundation. 

Playwright Will Eno has signed with ICM Partners for representation in all areas. Eno's credits include Broadway’s The Realistic Joneses and the Pulitzer Prize finalist Thom Pain (Based on Nothing).

Esteemed American playwrights Ed Bullins, Constance Congdon, and Philip Kan Gotanda have been announced as the inaugural recipients of the Legacy Playwrights Initiative Award(s). The winners will be recognized by their friends and peers at the Dramatists Guild Foundation “Write in the Dark” virtual benefit on December 21, 2020.

The Broadway League has named Lauren Reid, of The John Gore Organization, as its next Chair. Reid will replace Thomas Schumacher of Disney on Broadway.

The International Committee of The League of Professional Theatre Women will present a week-long virtual presentation of the LPTW Gilder/Coigney International Theatre Award Program (February 16-22, 2021, all at 1:00pm EST) with a 24-hour Countdown beginning on February 15, 2021 at 1:00pm EST on the LPTW’s YouTube Channel. 

Roundabout Theatre Company has announced the second session of Roundabout TheatreLab, a program of interactive workshops designed to connect audiences interested in exploring the crafts of theatrical writing and directing, directly with Roundabout artists.  The first, sold-out, session of TheatreLab was completed this fall.

Episode 27 of the 4Wall Sunday Roundtable features designers who are currently working on holiday shows. Please join us to hear about how they managed to perform their job duties with the restrictions in place, what they have been up to during the shutdown, how they got started in the industry, and more.

GFour Productions and Surfcode Technologies have launched OVERTURE+, a streaming platform and content sharing network focused on collaborative content sharing between performing arts producers and presenters.

Damian Bazadona, the Co-Founder of TEDx Broadway, will be the featured guest lecturer at One Day University on Friday, December 11, 2020 beginning at 4:00pm EST.

Today, the American Federation of Musicians and Employers' Pension Fund (AFM-EPF) informed participants that, by the end of this year, it will be submitting a second application to the U.S. Treasury Department to prevent insolvency by reducing benefits under the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act (MPRA).

Sean Chandler host of the podcast 'Your Program Is Your Ticket', in association with the Broadway Podcast Network, has announced the latest episode of its 'Act II...Places' series featuring Las Vegas-based Professional Entertainer and Creator/Host/Producer of the 'Your Booked It' podcast.

Deadline has reported that playwright and performer Hannah Benitez has signed with Verve. Benitez's most recent play, GringoLandia, was included on the 2020 Kilroy List.

Rhinebeck Writers Retreat is presenting a streamed reading of the new musical TL;DR: THELMA LOUISE; DYKE REMIX, with book and lyrics by EllaRose Chary, music and lyrics by Brandon James Gwinn, and directed by Sherri Eden Barber.

New York Theatre Barn, Broadway on Demand, and  Broadway Virtual, have launched the Digital Hybrid Fund For New Musicals, an initiative to support new projects at the Intersection of theatre and film. 

Theater Resources Unlimited has announced their monthly panel Art and Activism: How Theater Can Open (and Change) Minds on Tuesday, December 22, 2020 at 6pm via Zoom. The Zoom session will open at 6pm for roundtable introductions of attendees, and the program will start at 6:30pm - come prepared with your best 20-second summary of who you are, and what you need.

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) announces their monthly panel Art and Activism: How Theater Can Open (and Change) Minds on Tuesday, December 22, 2020 at 6pm via Zoom.

The International Festival of Arts & Ideas (Festival) has selected Malakhi Eason as Director of Programming and Community Impact, following an international executive search process led by Arts Consulting Group (ACG). He began his tenure on November 16, 2020.

On February 6th and 7th, the American Alliance for Theatre & Education and the Dramatist Guild Foundation will be co-hosting 'Everyone's a Playwright: Writing as a Teaching Tool and Expressive Engine.'