News From
Regional Sections
Ohio Valley: Offers OSHA Training in May
The Ohio Valley Regional Section will host an OSHA 10-hour Voluntary Compliance Training May 18 and 19 at Kent State Tuscarawas Performing Arts Center, New Philadelphia, Ohio. The Friday session will start around 5 p.m. The Saturday session will finish around 7 p.m. Space is limited, so register by May 4. The registration form will be posted on the website soon. Checks should be sent to John Seaman.
The Section will need people who are interested in coordinating, promoting, planning, and working on the Annual Conference & Stage Expo in Cincinnati in 2015. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the regional and national organization of USITT. Anyone interested can send an e-mail to usittohiovalley@gmail.com. Activities in the planning process will begin in late 2012 or early 2013.
Midwest: Announce Founders Award Winners, Detail Tour of Center
From left, Founder Bernhard Works, Steve Jacobs, and previous recipient Ellen White.
From left, Founder Bernhard Works and award winner April Townsend.
Photos/Mick Alderson
The Midwest Regional Section announced its Founders Awards winners.
The member winner was Steve Jacobs for his service to the Section. He is an Executive Board member; he has been instrumental in promoting the Section with secondary education institutions and students of theatre both through his work as an educator and his involvement with the Illinois High School Theatre Association. He is a prime mover for the Section's sponsorship of Tech Olympics at all four of the regional HS Theatre Festivals.
The college student winner is April Townsend, a BFA student in theatre costume design at Michigan State University. The high school winner was Nicole Rooney, a student at Glenbard North High School, in Carol Stream, Illinois. She plans to study scene design and production at Carthage College. She was not present when the award was given.
All three awards were announced at the Midwest Regional Section meeting March 29 at the USITT Annual Conference & Stage Expo in Long Beach, California.
Detail Tour of Center
For the Section’s February event, the newly-opened Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, Indiana welcomed 15 members into the three-venue performing arts complex near Indianapolis. Kyle Lemoi, director of production, showed the nooks, crannies, tricks and quirks of this cornerstone of Carmel City Center, a $300 million mixed-use redevelopment project.
The Palladium's Ceiling
The Center for the Performing Arts is not one building but rather a complex of buildings. Although the 200-seat Studio Theatre and 500-seat Tarkington Theatre appear to be contained within building, they are actually each a building connected to two others — a parking garage and office building. The Studio Theatre was not a part of the original complex design, but the resulting flexible seating configurations have created an intimate performance space perfect for two local companies — Actors Theatre of Indiana and Carmel Repertory Theater.
The Tarkington Theatre serves as the primary home of the Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre company. The tour’s final stop was the crown jewel of The Center: the 1,600 seat, 151,000 square foot concert hall, The Palladium. Inspired by Andrea Palladio’s Villa Capra, La Rotonda, the building is a traditional shoebox-shaped concert hall with high ceilings, state of the art acoustics, and center rotunda and skylight. The group had the opportunity to sit in on the rehearsal for that evening’s performance.
The acoustic canopies’ tempered glass panels are attached to steel trusses that are rigged with hoists. The 15 hoists lift the speakers, lighting battens, trusses, and acoustic canopies into the upper and lower attic of the Palladium, which for many was the highlight of the day’s tour.
The afternoon included a discussion of the design, construction, and use of The Center with representatives from the companies that contributed to its creation.
This included Chris Darland and Andrew Morgan from the theatrical and acoustical consultants Artec Consultants; Steve Sturtz and Laurence Armstrong from Pedcor Design Group the design architects for the Studio and Tarkington; Mike Anderson the project manager from Shiel-Sexton Co.; Brandon Bogan from CSO Architects, the Palladium architect of record; Michael Lasley from Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre, Bridget Cox from J. R. Clancy, and Randy Riggs from Indianapolis Stage Sales & Rentals, the lighting system vendor who had the distinction of being the only company to work on all three performance spaces.
This panel of experts gave an amazing insight into the design, planning, construction, and opening of The Center in a very fun and relaxed conversation. Kyle Lemoi and his colleagues at The Center for the Performing Arts hosted a truly world-class tour of their world-class facility
The Palladium
Photos/Shane Kelly
Rocky Mountain: Revitalizing Rocky Mountain Section
On the heels of another great Annual Conference, the Rocky Mountain Regional Section is planning to revamp and revitalize its membership. In an effort to start anew with a clean slate, all current officers have resigned, and the Section is nominations for Section Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, and Vice Chair for Publications.
The Section has been largely inactive (other than three very active student chapters) and has not recruited members or collected dues for a number of years. As a result, current members in good standing of USITT who reside in Colorado or Wyoming are eligible to both vote and run for these elections.
Contact any members of the 2012 Nominating Committee: Laura Love (Chair), llove9@mscd.edu; Sean McIntosh, smcintosh@caspercollege.edu; Chantelle Gray, cgray@cwc.edu; or Ron Gloekler, rgloekler@msn.com
The slate will be announced the first week of May. A tentative live and virtual meeting is planned for Monday, June 4.
