At left Tan Huaiziang, author of Costume Craftwork on a Budget signs a copy of her book at the promotional event as part of the 2008 Annual Conference & Stage Expo in Houston, Texas. Those with books published in 2008 are being sought for the 2009 Member Author book promotion.

Photo/R. Finkelstein

David Rodger
Editor, TD&T

USITT members are experts in their fields and many share their expertise by writing books. The fine books written by USITT members will again be acknowledged and promoted at the Cincinnati 2009 Conference & Stage Expo. Members who published a book about some aspect of theatre design or technology in 2008 may participate. To qualify, books must be available for sale in the United States now or by December 31.

The first step to participate in Cincinnati is to contact David Rodger as soon as possible at tdt@broadwaypress.com or 502-426-1211. USITT will make arrangements to buy copies of the books to have on hand at the book signing event outside the USITT Boutique tentatively scheduled for Thursday, March 19. The deadline for submitting a request to participate is December 15.

This is the seventh year USITT has held "book parties" for its authors. So far, over 40 members have participated.

In Houston (2008), eight books were honored: John Huntington’s Control Systems for Live Entertainment, third edition; Clare Rowe’s Drawing and Rendering for Theatre; Jay Glerum’s Stage Rigging Handbook, 3rd ed., Tan Huaixiang’s Costume Craftwork on a Budget, Alan Hendrickson’s Mechanical Design for the Stage; Bill Sapsis’s Heads! & Tales; Rosalie Contino’s Born to Create; and a new volume in the Performing Arts Resources series published by the Theatre Library Association, Documenting: Lighting Design. USITT contributors to the various chapters include Linda Essig, Mary Tarantino, Karl Ruling, Jennifer Tipton, and Bill Warfel.

The first year, in Minneapolis (2003), there were 10 books: Bill Byrnes's Management and the Arts, Ben Sammler's Technical Briefs Collections, Craig Wolf and Dick Block's Scene Design and Stage Lighting, Patrick Finelli's Sound for the Stage, Linda Essig's Speed of Light, John Holloway's Illustrated Theatre Production Guide, Harry Donovan's Arena Rigging, Jim Moody's The Business of Theatrical Design, Michael Farewell's FFMG Stages, and Bert Morris's Followspot Operators Handbook.

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