The Siminovitch Prize in Theatre to be awarded October 21, 2013

TORONTO, July 24, 2013 - Today the Siminovitch Prize in Theatre announced new partnerships with the University of Toronto and the RBC Foundation to support Canada's largest theatre award, the 2013 Siminovitch Prize in Theatre. The Siminovitch Prize will be awarded October 21, 2013 at Hart House Theatre at the University of Toronto, organizers announced today.

"Over the last few months, many individuals and organizations have rallied together to support the Siminovitch Prize and help ensure that its legacy and impact on Canadian theatre continues," said Dr. Lou Siminovitch. "We are delighted to partner with University of Toronto and RBC Foundation and proud to announce that we are accepting nominations for this year's prize which will be awarded in the fall."

The deadline for nominations is Monday, September 16, 2013 at 5:00 p.m. EST. For nomination guidelines and to download the nomination form visit siminovitchprize.com.

Wired, By Liz Stinson, July 19, 2013
There’s a scene in the contemporary ballet Mr. & Mrs. Dream where the walls of the set appear to burst apart, transporting one of the principal dancers from an apartment living room to a sea of meteorites in outer space. The dancer, Julien Derouault from Paris’ Théâtre du Corps, begins to hop from meteorite to meteorite, and with each step, the space rocks appear to dip from the heft of the human body. Of course, Derouault isn’t actually bouncing on meteorites; in reality, he’s simply leaping on the floor of an almost empty stage. The scene is mesmerizing, and from the vantage point of the audience, it really does look like the dancer is jumping through outer space. But it’s all an illusion, created by an elaborately engineered virtual reality system that could begin to replace traditional sets with projectors, screens and computers.

Though the show was conceived and choreographed by Derouault and his partner Marie-Claude Pietragalla, the brains behind Mr. and Mrs. Dream’s high-tech set is Dassault Systèmes. The French software engineering company typically uses its virtual reality technology to test, model and simulate products for companies like Boeing, so it’s natural to think that this collaboration is a bit of an odd pairing. But, says Mehdi Tayoubi, vice president in charge of experiential strategy at Dassault, interdisciplinary collaboration is becoming more common and more imperative for high-tech companies.

Read more and watch a video

The Guardian, by Maev Kennedy, July 16,  2013 -  The Globe theatre is sending a production of Hamlet on the first genuine world tour in theatre history. Starting on 23 April 2014, the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth, the company will spend two years travelling by planes, trains, boats and buses to visit every nation on Earth – 205 countries in all.

"I think having a lunatic idea is a very good thing, it's a great way to keep everybody focused and dazzled and delighted by the ambition and energy of the company," said the artistic director, Dominic Dromgoole. "If we're going to do every country in the world it has to be every country, we're not going to leave anyone out. All the 'Stans, South and North Korea – we're very keen to get into North Korea. Antarctica? Fuck yes."

He said it had to be Hamlet for the project. "It is an iconic play, instantly recognisable anywhere. It has that capacity to question, to challenge, to inspire in any country in the world," he said.

The revered theatre director Peter Brook said it was "a bold and dynamic project", and agreed with the choice of play. "The six simplest words in the English language are 'to be or not to be'. There is hardly a corner of the planet where these words have not been translated. Even in English, those who can't speak the language will at once recognise the sound and exclaim 'Shakespeare!'"

The show will open at the Globe next April, and close there exactly two years later on 23 April 2016, which also happens to be Dromgoole's last day as artistic director. Read More

Mashable, By Amy-Mae Elliott
Here at Mashable, we live and breathe Twitter. However, sometimes we see a tweet containing an acronym or an abbreviation with which we're not very familiar.

If you find yourself in the same situation, then take a look through our handy list for a complete glossary of terms you may come across in tweets.

See also: 25 Clever Twitter Keyboard Shortcuts

While some abbreviations and acronyms may be common across all social media sites, others are unique to the microblogging platform. Browse our guide, and be sure to shout out any terms we've missed in the comments below.

@ The "at" sign is used to mention another Twitter account (e.g., @Mashable). Within a tweet, it becomes a link to that user's profile. You may see it used in a geographical sense, such as "I'm @ the office," but this is just text-speak and not Twitter-specific.

# The hash (or pound) symbol is used to highlight keywords, topics, events or even emotions in a tweet. Using a hashtag turns the word or phrase into a link that lets you see other tweets containing the same tag. Examples: "Loving the #weather," "Watching the #SuperBowl," "Headed to #SXSW," "Long day — feeling #tiredandemotional."

^ The caret, or hat sign, is used to denote a tweet composed and sent by an individual on behalf of a group account used by multiple people (often a company or organization) account. It usually appears at the end of a Tweet and precedes initials, to indicate which user sent the tweet (e.g., ^JS).$ The dollar sign is used on Twitter before a company's shortened stock market name/code as a kind of financial hashtag. For example, $AAPL (Apple), $GOOG (Google) and $MSFT (Microsoft). Within tweets, codes prefixed with the dollar sign will become links.

AFAIK "As far as I know."

CC CC's literal meaning is "carbon copy." As with memos and emails, CC is a way of ensuring a Twitter user sees certain content. Used with an @ mention — for example, "Interesting article - www.urlurl.com - cc @Bob" — it will help draw a Tweet to someone's attention.

CX "Correction."

Read More

Rick Lester | June 27, 2013
What in the heck do the words "audience engagement” mean?  

I recently attended the Theatre Communication Group (TCG) Annual Conference in Dallas, where a major focus of discussion was that very topic. For three days, I listened to panelists, questioned participants, and considered the discussions. I met many bright managers who passionately explained how they are trying to bridge the perceived gap separating potential audiences from their theater companies. I regret to report that no one could offer a concrete definition of the term “audience engagement”.  

It seems to me that two separate meanings and means of measuring success are intertwined in the use of the term:

• One meaning addresses an organizational need to sell more tickets, as measured by sales volume and earned revenues.  

• The other is code for addressing organizational or community dissatisfaction with the composition of the audience already in attendance.  Everyone knows we live in a multicultural world. If our audiences are measured as “highly educated, wealthy older white people,” organizational relevance becomes difficult to manage on any level. 

When pushed, not a single manager I encountered at TCG with “audience engagement” in their job title (or job description) could distinguish the difference between goals for audience growth and diversity.  This is worrisome.
Read more

Funding assistance applications are now available to arts and culture organizations for regional projects. The regional project grants will support research, creation, production, dissemination, audience development, project staff and/or administrative capacity building and cap the perproject grant awarded to a maximum of $10,000.

Completed applications must be submitted by 4 p.m. Wednesday, July 24, 2013 to:
Judy Robertson,
Cultural Grants,
Metro Vancouver
4330 Kingsway, Burnaby, B.C. V5H 4G8

Happy Birthday!  54 years old today!

On July 5, 1959 the Queen Elizabeth Theatre opened to the public.  The Montreal-based architecture firm Affleck, Desbarats, Dimakopoulos, Lebensold, Michaud, and Sise won the open competition put on by the city for a new theatre.   Visit website

Winnipeg Free Press, By: Aldo Santin, July 4, 2013
The former financial administrator of Manitoba Theatre for Young People was sentenced to nine months' house arrest this week for stealing more than $63,000 from the local troupe.

Kathleen Owen-Hunt, 39, pleaded guilty in March to the charges and was sentenced Wednesday by Provincial court Judge Dale Schille.

A tearful Owen-Hunt stood and apologized to a representative of the theatre group, adding she realized her thefts only worsened the group’s ongoing financial difficulties.

Owen-Hunt then broke down and cried openly as she apologized to her spouse sitting in the gallery.

"I put us in a horrible, horrible position," Owen-Hunt said. "I just want to be a better person."

Owen-Hunt began working at MTYP in March 2006 and began stealing from them in March 2008 until she left at the end of October 2011.

Defence counsel Timothy Valgardson said the thefts were an attempt by Owen-Hunt to get out from under $40,000 in credit card debt that she and her spouse had incurred.

Crown prosecutor Mandy Ambrose said that Owen-Hunt, whose duties included directing a third-party payroll firm, conducted an unsophisticated scam over a three-and-a-half-year period where she overpaid herself in overtime and vacation to which she was not entitled, and she set up payroll accounts in the name of three former employees and had the funds deposited into her own personal bank account, for a total of 114 separate transactions.

"It was planned and it was deliberate," Ambrose said of the scheme, adding it was only discovered after she left. Read more

Are you going to a ‎#fringe show this summer? For the chance to ‎#win a Flip Video Camera:

1) Print off this PGC poster

2) Have your friend or someone else take a picture of you holding the PGC sign at a fringe show, on the stage, with the ‎#playwright or ‎#actors, in front of the venue, or with the fringe signage

3) Share it on Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag ‎#PlaywrightsGuild

4) Win!

Winner will be announced September 15!
Visit Website