Join the Desert State Regional Section as it celebrates its 10-year anniversary! There will be a special celebration at the annual meeting and mini-conference Monday, January 18. The keynote speaker will be Bruce Brockman, who is in his first year as department chair at the University of Arizona.

Seminars include How to Do Theatre on a Budget, Time Management: Cost vs. Time, Mic Placement, and Wig Styling.

This year, hands-on workshops have been added. To defray the cost, pre-registration is required, and there are fees for some programs. Among the workshops are Working with Fosshape, Green Theatre: How to Make Your Own Gel, How to Tape a Floor for Rehearsal, Bench Focusing, and Painting Techniques.

Visit www.desertstate.usitt.org to register for the meeting or workshops, or to renew a Section membership. Workshop participants should dress accordingly. Conference registration is $10 and includes breakfast and lunch. The event will be at Horizon High School, 5601 E. Greenway, Scottsdale, Arizona 85254. Breakfast and sign-in begin at 9 a.m., and the meeting commences at 10 a.m. The day will conclude by 4 p.m.

To Top

The Southern California Regional Section will presents its Third Annual Theatre Design and Production Job Fair Expo and Student Design Competition Saturday, January 16 at California State University - Fullerton Department of Theatre and Dance, 800 State College Blvd, Fullerton, California.

Design contest installation, portfolio review sign-ups, Job Fair Expo load in, and tour of the Joseph Clayes III Performing Arts Center will begin at 10 a.m. and conclude at 11:30 a.m. A design and production careers workshop will be held 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The Job Fair Expo, Master Classes, and portfolio review will run 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. with the Design Competition winners announced at 3:30 p.m.

There is no charge for job seekers, design contest entrants, or for portfolio reviews. Employers and vendors should contact Bill Meyer at 657-278-3179 or at scusittjobfair@gmail.com.

For more information visit www.socalusitt.org, or the Student Competition website, or e-mail scusittjobfair@gmail.com .

To Top

The Midwest Regional Section held a very successful event at University of Wisconsin Stevens Point on November 14 in the beautiful Noel Fine Arts Center. Host Gary Olsen, chair of the department of theatre and dance, led participants around the various spaces which make up the Center, including the second purple “Black Box” theatre section members have visited this year.

Workshops began with a presentation by Leonard Miller of VariLite of the various features of several of the company’s fixtures. He showed the group different uses including LED color correction to Tungsten temperatures, four blade shutter mechanism, and zoomable optics. The morning finished with some time programming and trying tricks as well as opening the fixtures to see what makes them tick, or rather tick quietly.

The first half of the OSHA doubleheader began with David Glowacki from Michigan, an Authorized OSHA Outreach Trainer, who shared with the group the latest information from OSHA for recordkeeping, inspections, and working with consultants. Also a production and building manager at Michigan Tech, Mr. Glowacki knows very well how to relate the OSHA information to everyday activities in a theatrical environment.

For the second half of the day, Richard Lentz and Dona Haag from WisCon and the occupational health and safety division at University of Wisconsin, brought the latest in fall protection information for everything from ladders to scaffolds to man lifts. It’s always good to start off the afternoon with a demonstration of what happens when a melon falls from a ladder. To put the regulations into reality, David Krajec from Mainstage Theatrical Supply brought a wide selection of fall protection harnesses and devices that many of the participants tried on for size.

In the afternoon, Eric Reese from Sennheiser USA presented a wide selection of microphones and demonstrated their uses in various theatrical applications. He moved the group through a discussion of the physics of sound and why it’s important to microphone selection. The group also discussed proper set-up, coordination, and optimization of wireless systems in the current radio frequency landscape in order to avoid wireless interference. Bryan Baumgardner from Clearwing Productions shared how he used a variety of microphone tricks to have an effective production of Rent at UW-SP.

The Midwest Section will convene again February 27 at The Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago. The membership will have the opportunity to work hands-on in a casting and mold making workshop using plaster, two-part urethane plastic, two-part silicone rubber and other materials. If someone is more inclined towards computers, they can partake in a workshop on CNC router software programming and operation. And for those looking for style, the curator of the Costume, Textiles and Personal Artifacts Collection at the Evanston History Center will walk the group through the current collection of clothing from 1900 to 1910. The afternoon will focus on a Chicago Playworks production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Historic Merle Reskin Theatre, which will be followed by a tour of the nearly 100-year-old building. The Midwest Section will celebrate USITT’s 50th Anniversary with cake and photos. For more information on this or the final event on March 6 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, visit www.usittmidwest.org.

To Top