Consider signing up for the 2006 Conference, or one of the many Professional Development Workshops, such as as the one at left on SFX held in Toronto, Canada. PDWs can enhance the total Conference experience.

Photo/Casey Kearns

John S. Uthoff
USITT President

By the time this appears, the EARLY deadline for USITT's Annual Conference registration, February 23, 2006 will be less than one month away. Just a month left to save money with this break on pricing for registration. The Conference starts on Wednesday every year, but for those who have the time to come early, there are a number of really special events on Monday and Tuesday, prior to the conference. These fall into two categories: Special Regional Attractions and Professional Development Workshops. These are all extra cost events, but the greater time allow for a more intensive exploration of the subject.

The Conference Committee, through its Regional members, has made it possible to enjoy a unique facilitiy near our conference site. No trip to Louisville in March would be complete without visiting the Humana Festival at The Actor's Theatre of Louisville. There is a three-show special package of new plays available to Conference attendees. Six Years, Hotel Cassiopeia, and Natural Selection have been chosen by ATL for our enjoyment. ATL added an extra matinee on Tuesday just for Conference attendees.

The Commissions have done their usual wonderful job of making unique workshops available to all of us. These include well-known workshops at discounted prices, such as Stage Rigging with Jay Glerum; the Synergetic Audio Concepts Workshop - Sound Reinforcement for Technicians; the wonderful Creating Performer Flying Effects; and experts from Le Maitre on Indoor Pyrotechnics.

There are also workshops presented by expert members such as Ron Gloekler and Herbert Camburn's Costume Drawing & Rendering Techniques: Basic & Beyond; Lance Brockman and Rachel Keebler's Light and Shadow: Reaching an Understanding of Ornamental Detail Through Drawing; Michael Gros, David Will, and Jack Feviou's Just Do It - Leadership Trends and Tools for the 21 st Century; Joel Ebarb's Hat's Entertainment: Simple-to-sew Millinery; and the use of LD Assistant for AutoCAD.

There is also a very special PDW this year. For the first time, there is a workshop designed specifically by students for student members of USITT. Color Rendering 101 - a Hands-on Workshop for Student Designers features participating professionals Noel Henke, Richard Block, and Immediate Past President Bruce Brockman and is available at a steeply discounted price.

I encourage all of you to take advantage of these special opportunities. There are a limited number of slots available for each PDW or Regional Attraction. Please take the opportunity to delve deeper into some of the areas that help us create live theatre and help us maintain such member opportunities in the future.

To Top