#aea shows

[madmachaca]

¿Saben de que me da vibras la morra esta de la nueva caricatura de disney? (La que hizo su video de "Spanish is a conquistador language")

De whitexican.

Específicamente de los whitexican que se echaron encima a la comunidad gamer.

Exactamente las misma vibras.

Y ya no voy a hablar de esto. Nomás me acordé.

[cottagecore-moss-king]

Not so Artificial Intelligence Part 2

When Bruce finally managed to get the time to look at the file Danny had added to the bat computer, it was almost patrol, and the rest of the family was filling in to get ready to head out. Even Jason had shown up, but that was probably just because he was bribed by Alfred with leftovers from dinner. Bruce couldn’t really blame him, Alfred’s food was the best in the world, but he does wish that he would show up more often just to hang out with him and his siblings.

Bruce sat in the bat-chair, graciously labeled with a sticker from a recent prank by Stephanie. She had gone around and labeled everything in the bat cave, but added the bat suffix in front. It had taken forever to find most of them, but he allowed some of them to remain. 

Finding the new folder was easy, it was labeled FROM DANNY, and left in the middle of the screen. Clicking it open and sipping his fresh coffee he glanced at the first document. The folder was full of notes, pictures and videos, but all of the previews were white, green, or black. 

Bruce started to read through the document, and chocked on his coffee at the contents.

Hello Batman and family, I hope this reached you before they do. I didn’t bring this up just incase you knew and were supportive, but how you act and how contaminated you are I will assume you do not. There is a Government Law that declares any being that has come into contact with enough or creates ectoplasm as non-sentient and non-sapient, but at the same time malicious {Abbreviated the AEA}. We are to be turned over to the GIW to be experiment upon and exterminated. This is literal torture, and I have gathered as much evidence as me and my friends could without being caught. I beg you, please be careful if you decide to take these people down. From what is on here, I think that Lazarus Water is a form of corrupted ectoplasm. Also, anyone who has died and come back to life no matter what are counted, and anyone with godly blood within them. Please Please, save us. My parents are the leading “scientists” which is bullshit, and they’ve already tied me down once. I can’t go through that again. Please, Amity and the Infinite Realms need help. If you don’t help us, I’m scared we may be forced to go to war, and I don’t think you can win against the godly dead. 

Please, I’m begging you - Danny Fenton {King Phantom}

“You good B?” Nightwing asked strolling over casually. He didn’t know how to answer, how was he supposed to say ‘Oh yeah, just found out that the government calls us non-sentient\sapient, and we are to be experimented and slaughtered. Also if we don’t stop them our worlds probably going to fall and we’re all going to die a painful death.’ That’s a fun conversation to have.

Clearing his throat he finally spoke up. 

“Red Robin, Oracle, I need you to help me sort through these, Nightwing, get the Justice league ready for an emergency meeting, call the Dark too. Look at this.”

“Are we sure it’s real though? It could be a prank,” muttered Oracle, though even she doubted her words.

“Even so, the threat is there and we should certainly look through this, and that means the League needs to know.”

Batman carefully mourned the loss of a peaceful evening, and his coffee, he was going to need to leave that at the cave, he had an image to keep. 

Nightwing wasn’t smiling anymore, Robin looked concerned, and Red Hood was openly gawking at the screen.

“I’ve called the emergency meeting, you three sort these files out, I’m calling up the JLD now. Guess we should warn Constantine to bring a couple extra bottles huh.” His joke fell flat, but Bruce wonders if he should bring some alcohol and coffee with him, image be dammed. 

“Wait a second, godly blood included? They fuckn’ shittin’ on Diana!”

“That’s what your concerned about Todd? Not that the we both fall under these parameters, along with Father and the rest of the collection? I will go fetch Thomas from his chambers, he will need to suit up to follow us to the watchtower.”

“Good idea Damian, tell him to hurry up. Everyone else, in the Zeta Tube, Alfred, you can stay here if you want.” Bruce gathered his laptop and moved the file over, copying and sending it to Tims laptop as well. 

“Thank you master Bruce, I will wait for the younger masters then I will be up shortly. Run along now.” Alfred excused with a bow, but even his face was shadowed in worry and thinly veiled anger. 

“See you in a bit Alf.” Dick replied, inputting directions to the watchtower in and doing a quick headcount. 

With a flash, the dark gloomy cave was replaced by fluorescent lights and the steel infrastructure of the watchtower. Hopping off the platform another flash of light appeared, and Aquaman stepped out. The group filled out as Aquaman politely greeted them. Making their way to the nearest meeting room, Batman and Red Robin began to set things up as the gathered heroes began to sit. 

“Hey Nightwing, what’s with the meeting, you never call for an emergency meeting, Blüd rarely has big threats.” Flash mentioned as he zoomed into the meeting room, last as always, and began to dig into his waffle plate. Where he got waffles from, Bruce didn’t want to know, they weren’t serving waffles in the cafeteria today, or yesterday from leftovers. 

“This isn’t just Blüdhaven, it’s all of the united States.” He worried, checking over one final time to make sure everyone was here. A collection of the main heroes from the Justice League, they’d need to figure out who counted as ecto-contaminated before throwing people around, and Constantine, Zatanna, and Deadman were gathered to represent Justice League Dark. At least he assumed Deadman was there, as a chair was pulled out and labeled for him. At least they wouldn’t have to race to find him, they could tell him just to stay up in the watchtower if things got bad. Finally, Robin and Signal rushed in, signal tiredly rubbing his eyes and his helmet in Agent A’s hands. 

“As some of you know, a person got stuck in the batcomputer a couple months ago. And was only recently released.” Murmurs and imputed questions rose around, and Nightwing promptly ignored them. 

“They left behind a file for us, and we were looking through it and discovered many hidden crimes from the US government. They have taken and labeled a whole species and group of people as non-sentient and non-sapient, and have been experimenting and committing genocide on them.” Again, a chorus of questions and yelling went up, and Nightwing had to take a moment to pause. A glance at Martian Manhunter reviled a stone cold face, quietly waiting for more information. 

“Oh god… what is this?” 

[chewingbatmanlikeasqueakytoy]

Why doesn't the justice league know about Amity Park?

Okay so it's been a bit sonce I watched the show but one of the things in DpxDC is the anti-ecto acts, which I love, but correct me if I'm wrong, I THINK ??? they only show up in reality trip? SO: What if Danny, when using the gauntlet to undo everything, also got rid of the Anti-Ecto acts? but this is babys first time editing reality so he uh Fucks Up A Lil'. As a result when Danny used the reality gauntlet to wipe the AEA from existence he accidentally wiped Amity Park from perception. A big 'nothing matters over here' jedi mind trick, and now no ones looking at Amity. So, the Justice League actually WERE looking into and monitoring the situation in Amity, but when the perception filter closed them off, all of that suddenly went ignored.

This is noticed when someone (Alfred, Dick, Tim, literally anyone) realises theres just. A BIG dusty pile of case files semi abandoned somewhere in the cave when going through a (time period)ly cave cleaning.

They put it down because it's Not Important.

They come back to finish the cleaning the next day and do the exact same thing, but there's nothing to actually distract them this time and it pings as weird. Because why would case files be not important? They are by definition important, because only things flagged as important go into case files.

They try to get someone else to read it, because as long as they don't read the information in the file, they don't put it down.

That person goes to read it, gets a line in and then says something like 'that isn't important' and goes to leave. Person A pushes it and person B ALSO catches on.

Que the Batfam trying to figure out hey, what the fuck actually?

Meanwhile, how is Amity fairing? Canon compliant everything's going alright? Or have knock on effects to No One Look Here started to show?

[broadwaydivastournament]

Broadway Divas Tournament: Round 2A

Laura Linney (1964) "LAURA LINNEY (Diana) Broadway credits include My Name is Lucy Barton (Tony nom. dir. Richard Eyre): The Little Foxes (Tony nom.) Time Stands Still (Tony nom.) and Sight Unseen (Tony nom.) all directed by Daniel Sullivan at MTC. Other credits include Les Liaisons Dangereauses, The Crucible (Tony nom.), Uncle Vanya, Hedda Gabler, Honour, Holiday, The Seagull, Beggars in the House of Plenty, Six Degrees of Separation. Television credits: "Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City," "Ozark" (SAG, Emmy nom), "The Big C" (Emmy, Golden Globe Awards), "John Adams" (SAG, Golden Globe, Emmy Awards), "Frasier" (Emmy Award), "Wild Iris" (Emmy Award), "The Laramie Project," "Tales of the City" trilogy. Film: Falling, The Dinner, Nocturnal Animals, Sully, Sympathy for Delicious, Morning, The Details, The Savages (Oscar nom), Kinsey (Oscar nom), You Can Count on Me (Oscar nom), The Other Man, City of Your Final Destination, The Squid and the Whale, Jindabyne, Love Actually, Mystic River, The Nanny Diaries, Breach, Man of the Year, The Hottest State, Driving Lessons, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, P.S., The Life of David Gale, The Mothman Prophecies, Maze, The House of Mirth, The Truman Show, Absolute Power, Primal Fear, Congo, Lorenzo's Oil, Dave. Training: The Julliard School, Brown University. Member: AEA, SAG." - Playbill bio from Summer, 1976, June 2023.

Audra McDonald (1970) "AUDRA MCDONALD (Suzanne Alexander) is honored to take part in Adrienne Kennedy's historic and long overdue Broadway debut. A board member of Covenant House International and co-founder of Black Theatre United, McDonald is a singer, actor, and activist who lives in New York with her amazing husband and children." - Playbill bio from Ohio State Murders, December 2022.

NEW PROPAGANDA AND MEDIA UNDER CUT: ALL POLLS HERE

"Do you ever think Laura Linney reads her playbill bio and cries? Does she dream of the day when she too will hold a Tony Award aloft in triumph, or has she resigned herself to being one of four actresses with the biggest fail rate and will one day hold the record outright? (Given that Estelle Parsons is in her nineties, Dana Ivey is in her eighties, and Jan Maxwell, my beloved, is dead?) Anyway, the point of this isn't to rub salt in the wound. Love you, Laura Linney."

"It's too mean to title this poll Biggest Tony Winner vs. Biggest Tony Loser but it's pretty damn accurate, and given the overwhelming whiteness of award shows overall, it's damn satisfying that the Black woman is the one with a record-breaking Tonys on her shelf and the white blonde woman is not (no matter how talented she is). Audra McDonald, my beloved, you're going to sweep this entire tournament."

[ashleywool]

Something like butterflies: the grief nobody wants to talk about

There have been many unique flavors of grief washing over me this past week.

The most unexpected one is the grief that comes with knowing that no matter what I do or where I go, even if I leave the business entirely and never see the inside of another theater…my life is never going to be the same as it was before.

I’ve done a lot of shows in my day, and there is always a deep sense of grief when they close—even when I know the closing date when the rehearsals begin. But the grief was different. The grief was rooted in the banality-yet-relief-yet-restlessness of everything going “back to normal.” In my community theatre days, I would close a show on Sunday, and then wake up at 4am on Monday to go sling espresso at Starbucks, flipping through Backstage (yes, the paper version) on my breaks. On my days off, I’d park (sometimes illegally) by the nearest Metro-North station and make the familiar trek to Grand Central, then to Ripley-Grier or Pearl or Nola (RIP) or the old AEA offices where non-members weren’t allowed to use the bathrooms (today’s kids will never understand) and scurry between holding rooms where my name was on the non-union list for three different EPAs.

In later years, when I had my Equity card and the ability to use the temperamental online signup portal to secure an appointment, I would drive down so I could warm up in the car and search for free (or cheaply metered) parking…and then put my name on two different alternate lists while I waited for my appointment time. The last time I did that was May 2023—mere weeks before we knew for sure that Ohio was going to Broadway.

I don’t need to do that anymore. “In fact,” my agent said, “we’d strongly prefer that you didn’t. You originated a principal role on Broadway. You’re on a different level now.”

Of all the feelings that come with that statement—you’re on a different level now—I never would have expected grief to be one of them. It's not that I actively miss those things, per se. It's just weird to know that the version of me who did those things is gone.

Something like butterflies.

When I was a kid, my sister and I had a little bug house, and we would carefully capture bugs, observe them for a while, and then set them free. One time, we supplied the bug house with milkweed and a climbing stick and captured a monarch caterpillar—and the next thing we knew, it was hanging from the climbing stick as a chrysalis. After a few impatient weeks of eager checking, cracks finally appeared in the cocoon. We gently removed the stick from the bug house, placed it in the sun, and watched in awe as our butterfly hatched.

If you’ve ever seen a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, you know how awkward and vulnerable it is after it wrenches its new body and new unused modes of transportation out of the sack of goo that dissolved and then completely transformed its previous body. How must it feel? It's gotta be heckin' weird to unfurl those wet, wrinkled wings, realizing you can flap them, and eventually, when they are dry, realizing—holy poop, I can fly.

I don’t want to overly anthropomorphize a creature whose emotional capacity or long-term memory I can only guess at, but I would imagine that when a butterfly hatches from its cocoon, it probably doesn't miss being a caterpillar. By the same token, I doubt that butterflies look down disdainfully on the caterpillars whose time hasn't quite come yet, or whose time might never come. Perhaps they don’t even have an awareness that they were once caterpillars, or that they are now butterflies—they can’t even see their wings.

But what if they do know? What if they do remember? What if the butterfly remembers its caterpillar life, and recognizes its caterpillar friends, and tries to do all the things it used to do as a caterpillar, and then realizes that it’s never going to be able to relate to the other caterpillars the same way it did when it was one? I wonder if that feels lonely. Or if the butterfly is surprised that it feels lonely.

Unlike the butterfly, I don’t have an instinctual, automatic timeline for my life cycle that tells me when to mate, when to migrate, and when to die. Anything could happen next. I might book another Broadway show before the year is out, or I might not book anything else for years. I might get a different job in the industry, or I might get hired at a bakery as the night baker that nobody ever sees, or I might take my cats and go live in a little cottage off the grid, or I might get hit by a truck (which, come to think of it, does happen to butterflies too).

But no matter what I do or where I go, I’m never not going to be “Ashley Wool, one of Broadway’s original Faces of Autism™ in How to Dance in Ohio” again.

The caterpillar I was before this show came into my life no longer exists, no matter how hard I might try to fit back into the same caterpillar spaces. Like the last time I stayed over at my dad’s house and slept in the built-in twin bed that I claimed for myself at the age of three—before we’d even bought the house—situated romantically under a sloped ceiling that I once covered with stick-on glow-in-the-dark stars. I still love that bed; as long as my dad is alive and owns the house, it will still be there for me to sleep in if I need to. But I don’t quite fit in there anymore.

Of course, as an autistic person, I’m no stranger to not fitting in. But, like most people, I am a stranger to the unexpected grief that accompanies the realization of your wildest dreams. Our society is obsessed with celebrities, and the concept of becoming successful and well-known for doing what we love…and yet, when anyone who has ever been in the public eye doing exactly that, living what we think is our dream, dares to say “actually, this kind of sucks sometimes” we scoff at them.

When Britney Spears sang, "if there's nothing missing in my life, then why do these tears come at night?" we didn't want a real answer. Even 23 years later, after watching the trauma of her conservatorship play out on a worldwide stage and then voraciously devouring her memoir, many of us still say, "yeah, but so what? She's so lucky. She's a star."

Did I sign up for this? Yes, I did. Did I cognitively understand that with success also comes a great influx of people who desperately want to see me fail, or want others to believe that I’ve failed, or find some excuse to discredit my success even if it means inventing one? Also yes. But knowing it and living it are two different things.

I am deeply, gushingly, eternally grateful to everything and everyone that How to Dance in Ohio brought to my life. For as long as I live, I will projectile vomit my gratitude and love for this production and the people attached to it all over the place. Most of all, I will never stop fighting for an industry in which productions and work environments like ours are the rule, and not the once-in-a-generation exception.

But I ask as humbly as I can to please be gentle with me as I figure out how to navigate a future that will forever be shaped by an experience and an identity that only six other people in the history of the world can truly relate to.

All of us are building the planes as we fly them through a dismal, anti-artist late-stage capitalism hellscape over thousands of people who still can’t quite believe that we exist—or don't want us to exist.

We are grateful. But also neurotic. And nervous, excited and anxious. But also alive.

But also butterflies.

[six-costume-refs]

Why do North American actors have to have the costume but not the same hairstyle?

Well, the same costume design can be fit to different actors’ bodies without any design change. Actors’ natural hair will always have a lot more variance. The same hairstyles can’t be altered to different hair as easily, the hair colors that are flattering or look natural on one person won’t look the same way on another, etc etc. It just introduces far more questions about what should/shouldn’t be standardized than costumes do. And actors have broad diversity in hair color/texture/type, which stands to be erased by standardizing hairstyles/wig design in a way that body diversity can’t be erased by costumes.

Differences in costumes are also going to be more noticeable than differences in wigs/hair design, on average. Think about Laura Dawn Pyatt vs Ellie Jane Grant’s Boleyn costume - that difference is noticeable even to someone who has only ever seen marketing for the show. Meanwhile on Broadway Hailee Kaleem Wright and Kristina Leopold have very different wig designs for Aragon, but that’s not going to be noticeable to the average audience member (+ each design feels natural and flattering on them)

Ultimately it just comes to the core intent of that costume rule: not wanting understudies to be treated as “lesser than” any of the principals. Historically, shows haven't always treated their understudies equally, sometimes giving them noticeably significantly lower quality costumes or not even giving them costumes of their own (instead having them share with principals or other understudies). The whole intent of that rule is to require that shows can’t take those shortcuts and instead treat their understudies fairly. In Six’s alt costume system, the alts do get very cool costumes so fair treatment isn’t really the concern, but it’s still a general rule that has to be fairly applied equally across all Broadway shows.

But ultimately that concept of fair treatment doesn’t really apply to wig design. Historically (and even now) many shows have standardized wigs, in style/color/texture. But most of the time that intent hasn’t been about fairness; it’s been about making the differences in appearance between principal and understudy as subtle as possible so that the audience won’t realize an understudy is performing. As Broadway is learning to embrace both their understudies + more diversity in race/ethnicity/appearance more broadly, there’s less focus on making understudies conform to a standardized look (and wigs as a big part of this). Hamilton is really a gold standard example of this: they’ve embraced giving all their principals and understudies wigs that generally match their natural color/texture and even some individualized styles and design. North American Six is also slowly learning to do this, with the newer Cleves and Parr looks and Leandra Ellis-Gaston’s Boleyn braids. Ultimately most of these shows are still following some general guidelines on shape/style for different roles, but ultimately there’s still focus being put on giving each actor a wig that’s individually suited to them even within those guidelines.

Note: all of this is AEA rules (US) and rule specifics only apply to certain tiers of productions.

[selphieetheirys]

shadowbringers drabble ft. aea (@tenalac) “Correct me if I am wrong, but I seem to recall only inviting Selphie. I very much remember making that distinction, but then again, I suppose I am hardly surprised you would be inclined to be so rude as to show up uninvited and unannounced. Suppose better you than that white-haired dolt fawning over her.”

Aea stood there wordlessly, hands gripped into fists as she watched the man who spoke such disdainful words towards her walked up - looking at her as he might a pesky bug waiting to be stomped.

“Well then, dare I ask what possessed you to come wandering in?” Emet-Selch drawled, “Did you abandon Selphie then? Assume she will find some way to save the day as she always does, while you come and… what? Teach me a lesson? Why am I not surprised in the slightest.”

“Shut. Up.” Despite her best efforts to remain as cool-headed, to maintain her ever present collected, cold logical demeanor - the presence of the man before her ignited a deep hidden fury within her that Aea felt had been missing for much too long, “I'm not here for you. I'm here because Selphie ran off after YOU messed with her head. After you scared her, made her think she was going to hurt all of us. I'm here to knock the sense back into her. So get out of my way.”

For a split second, the lazy and disinterested gaze of Emet-Selch disappeared, replaced with shock before hiding it behind a sneer, “Is that so? Is that what you think? Well you're wrong. I merely stated the facts - the reality of her dire circumstances, and offered her the chance of a sweet and pleasant undoing by my hands. It is a fact. It is a reality. She cannot bear the burdens she has been given, and so I shall take them from her as my gift to her.”

A scoff escaped her lips- very nearly a full on laugh at his soliloquy before narrowing her eyes into a razor sharp glare, “You say it so nicely, you could almost convince someone you actually like her, instead of hating her. But I know better, you're just using he-”

“Don’t you dare to presume my feelings for her. Hate her? I hate what she is, the reminder of my own failings. But hate her? No. Never-” he paused, looking at Aea smugly - the corner of his lips turned up into a sneering smirk, “Why, your very existence is proof of how much I love her. For how could I have ever tried to bring back my beloved without her erstwhile friend, her most…faithful bosom companion?”

An unfamiliar feeling rose up inside her - genuine confusion and the inability to understand what he was speaking of, which only served to further ignite her tempest of anger. Anger, at least, she could understand still. 

“What are you talking about? If you have something to say, say it. Quit messing around.”

But Emet-Selch only sighed, full of disdain as he offered up a dismissive wave, “Stay alive, and perhaps you shall find out. Go on, go and find Selphie. She's here, wallowing as you idly chatter with me - should you not be with her in the final moments before this wretched half-existence draws to a close? It is the least you can do, after all.”

And before she could retort back in anger - he was gone, back into the blackened void that all Ascians retreated into.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

from carl swanson (seymour understudy, performed july 21)

Yesterday I made my Guthrie Debut as Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors! The day was such a blur and such a Joy!! So many people to thank!! Thank you to the wonderful cast that lifted me up and pushed/pulled me in the right direction! Thank you to the Crew and Staff at the Guthrie for making my backstage experience so easy and smooth! Couldn’t have done it without you! And last but no least thank you to all the Family and Friends who were able to come out and see the show! Having a little cheer section there meant a lot and I felt so loved from all of you! ❤️ I’m feeling so blessed today… and also so tired! 😴 Thank you everyone! @guthrietheater • #actorlife #understudy #understudylife #theatre #mntheatre #guthrie #twincitiestheatre #actorsequity #aea #equityactor

[leslieexplainsitall]

I really need to be better at asking about payment schedules.

Just started a contract for my next show today. I worked with the theatre last year before I joined AEA, so I assumed they had my direct deposit info. I was wrong. (I'm pretty sure it's because the last show I did with them I was on a 1099 and they used a different payment software)

So every Equity contract i've worked on (save for 1 LOA I signed that had a clear payment schedule in the contract). I got paid on the first day of my contract. I thought that was standard practice. So since the direct deposit didn't come in, I'm hoping to get a paper check today.

I'm just kind of annoyed that it took me until today to realize this because I budgeted my week around getting paid today. I sent an email asking if I was getting my check in person or if it's been mailed. I really hope it's not in the mail because I have most of my bills due this week. 😬 worst case scenario, I get paid next week.

Hopefully, I'll have answers before I arrive in the space today. The moral of the story is, to ask about the payment schedule when you sign your contracts.

[curatorsday]

Friday, December 8, 2023

The Silver Dart (1908-09), the fourth aerodrome designed by the Aerial Experiment Association, was originally built to carry two men. In the same seat. After AEA member Lt. Thomas Selfridge’s death in an airplane crash as a passenger with Orville Wright as pilot, Alexander Graham Bell essentially forbid his organization’s machines from carrying two people. The photo above shows Glenn Curtiss and Doug McCurdy in the Silver Dart.

[ahearthoficeandstone]

MCs Family!

Your mother Vasilisia is a cold and distant woman, but more importanly was the last ruler of H'afeara before the kingdom was annexed. She cares deeply for her nation, perhaps her husband as well but you aren't totally convinced. She has always warned you and your siblings of the Aea Empire since you could remember. You have not seen her in some years but you suspect she is more upset by the loss in the war than your capture. She has ice magic.

The father Lief is quiet different from your mother, he is calm and composed but there has always been a warmth to it. He loves you and your siblings more than anything, and loves to dote on you three despite your mother's demands he stop. You know he only wishes the best for you all, and likely the reason your mother did not push the war much longer after your capture. He has water magic.

Moira is your younger sister, she is not particularly close with you. You were when you were younger but it didn't last very long. She is closer to Eluin than she ever was with you. She is bookish and serious, and has an air of coolness that immediately melts in casual situations. Diplomacy, magic, battle, and academics she excels but simple talks seem to fluster her. She is gifted with ice magic.

Eluin is your youngest sibling. They are excitable and playful, and is a bit of a prankster who avoids their tutors with efficiency since day one. They also adore you and sticks to your side when they had the chance. They show affinity for both water and ice magic, though much prefer the blade.

[thekingofgear]

Jonny Greenwood’s Gear for The Smile’s NPR Tiny Desk Show

We’ve already posted a quick overview of The Smile’s gear for NPR’s Tiny Desk and a detailed description of Thom’s setup.

We’ll have an analysis of The Smile’s KEXP setup in the near future, but for now here’s the last post in our analysis of their Tiny Desk set:

Robert Stillman and Jonny during Panavision (youtube). Note the extra holes in the pickguard for a “tugbar” finger rest below the G string — that means the bass is from before 1974, since that’s the year Fender moved the finger rest to above the E-string to serve as a thumb rest.

For Tiny Desk, Jonny mostly used the same gear as at live shows this year, but stripped down to the essentials for guitar and bass. He played his his 1970s Fender Precision Bass on Panavision and We Don’t Know What Tomorrow Brings, and played his vintage Gibson Les Paul on The Smoke and  Skirting On The Surface. Jonny only used his Boss RE-202 Space Echo as a reverb on The Smoke. But on Skirting, he used his RE-202 as a delay, his Akai Headrush E2 as a looper, and his Electro-Harmonix Freeze during the solo. He brought several other pedals, but sounds like they weren’t used in the released tracks. Read on for a nice photo of Jonny’s pedal setup and lots more analysis (including an exact delay time for Thin Thing).

It’s a shame they decided not to share We Don’t Know What Tomorrow Brings, as it would be interesting to hear a stripped down version of the track. It looks like Jonny didn’t bring his Studiologic MIDI pedals, so they must’ve played it without his extra synth lines (and without Thom’s intro synth lines).

Jonny’s Instruments:

Gibson Les Paul in Natural finish (late-70s)

Fender Precision Bass in Natural finish (early-70s)

Jonny’s Amplifiers (shared with Thom):

Tiny Desk’s Fender ’68 Reissue Deluxe Reverb combo amplifier

Tiny Desk’s Ampeg RB-110 combo amplifier

Jonny’s Effects Pedals:


Guitar ->

Boss TU-2 tuner

Electro-Harmonix Freeze

Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive

Boss DD-200 delay

Akai Headrush E2 delay/looper


Boss RE-202 Space Echo

-> Amplifier

GigRig Generator and Distributor power supply.

A photo of Jonny’s 1970s Precision bass and the shared amps (joshrogosin). The mic on the Ampeg RB-110 bass amp is an AEA R84 ribbon microphone. The mic on the ‘68 Custom Deluxe Reverb is an AEA N22 ribbon microphone. The amps and mics belong to Tiny Desk, and the same ones can be seen in various performances on their channel.

The blue jewel lamp shows that the Deluxe Reverb is the ’68 Custom reissue, not a vintage silver-panel Deluxe (which had red jewel lamps). Jonny plugged into the Deluxe Reverb’s "vintage" channel, using input 1. On the ’68 reissue, the “vintage" channel is based on the original black-panel Deluxe Reverb (despite the silver design), but without the bright cap on the volume control. In contrast, the “custom” channel is based on a modified Bassman circuit.

A photo of Jonny’s guitar pedals for the Tiny Desk show (joshrogosin).

The Akai Headrush in this setup has a bunch of stickers indicating a multi-head delay setting, but it is set to "Looper" mode. It also has a piece of foam(?) to prevent the mode switch from being hit accidentally. The Headrush on Jonny's pedalboard doesn't have those stickers, so it seems likely that these pedals are the backups for Jonny's main board. Jonny might also use these pedals to play on the band's tour bus or at their hotels. That would explain the extra strikers.

Jonny's DD-200 has some tape listing his presets:

1 - Thin Thing

2 - Opposite

3 - Just Eyes and Mouth

5 - Pillows

Presets 4 and 6 are unreadable, but they are almost certainly for the unreleased songs Read the Room (previously called either “IT” or “Flangers”) and Bending Hectic. Jonny uses his long rhythmic delay technique on both tracks.

For more ambient delays on songs like Skirting On The Surface and Open The Floodgates, Jonny instead uses the Boss RE-202 Space Echo. That’s why the DD-200 has no presets for those tracks

In the image above, the DD-200 is set to preset number 1, and the digital display shows a delay time of 779ms. But if you’ve even tapped along to a live version of that song (on every fifth eighth note), you probably figured that out already.

For power, Jonny just has a GigRig Distributor without any Isolators for his high-draw digital effects. As usual, it seems Jonny isn’t too bothered about that kind of thing, at least for a one-off gig at low volume. GigRig power supplies come with long (1.5 meter) power cables so the user can cut them to size. Instead, it looks like Jonny (or his tech) left them uncut and simply wrapped up the extra length with some black zip ties.

[elfwreck]

U.S. District Judge Thomas Parker, an appointee of former Republican President Donald Trump, ruled late on Friday that the law was "both unconstitutionally vague and substantially overbroad." "Simply put, no majority of the Supreme Court has held that sexually explicit — but not obscene — speech receives less protection than political, artistic, or scientific speech," Parker said in the ruling.

The law:

The ruling:

"the Court finds that the legislative transcript strongly suggests that the AEA was passed for an impermissible purpose."

The AEA was passed for the impermissible purpose of chilling constitutionally-protected speech, and the secondary-effects doctrine does not save it from strict scrutiny review. The Court concludes that the AEA fails strict scrutiny review. Tennessee has a compelling state interest in protecting the physical and psychological well-being of minors, but Defendant has not met his burden of proving that the AEA is both narrowly tailored and the least restrictive means to advance Tennessee’s interest.

The AEA’s “harmful to minors” standard applies to minors of all ages, so it fails to provide fair notice of what is prohibited, and it encourages discriminatory enforcement. The AEA is substantially overbroad because it applies to public property or “anywhere” a minor could be present

Defendants tried to claim that the "harmful to minors" meant "harmful to 17 year olds" and therefore any teen-appropriate risque performance would be safe. Judge said no, the statute says "minors" not "17-year-olds," and therefore a cop who thinks "this show is inappropriate for 7-year-olds" could arrest people.

the Parties did not dispute that the AEA is content-based because it targets “speech based on its communicative content”—that is, content that is not obscene for adults but may be indecent and harmful to minors.

There is no question that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment. But there is a difference between material that is “obscene” in the vernacular, and material that is “obscene” under the law.

Whether some of us may like it or not, the Supreme Court has interpreted the First Amenment [sic] as protecting speech that is indecent but not obscene.

Judge goes on to discuss a long-standing law about stripper businesses - and notes that the phrase "male or female impersonator" in the types of performers regulated, may be in need of review.

The bill criminalizes, or at least chills, the expression of a class of performers, rather than the business operators, or even parents, who facilitate the exposure of adult cabaret entertainment to minors.

This District Court does not find that the Tennessee General Assembly’s predominate concerns were “increase in sexual exploitation.” Rather, the Corut [sic] finds that their predominate concerns involved the suppression of unpopular views of those who wish to impersonate a gender that is different from the one with which they were born.

The AEA inflicts no punishment to the parent who brings their minor child to view adult cabaret entertainment. If the AEA was truly designed to advance “the state’s interest in protecting children independent of the parents,” then its punitive scheme belies that design.

...and so on.

He very nicely said: Nope; no good; I am not buying any of your Your Honor THIS is what we really meant bullshit. If you meant that, it should've been put in the law. If you want to require adult ID for drag performances, you can say that; if you want to restrict them to locations not near schools or churches, you can say that; if you want limits for shows inappropriate for 6-year-olds but allow ones that are okay for 15-and-up, you can say that. I am not reinterpreting the text in the law for you (and then having you go enforce it by your original unconstitutional intentions).

Defense kept trying to say they were just establishing "adult-only" zones for drag performances. Judge pointed out that the statute doesn't say a damn thing about "adult-only" zones, just places where they "could be viewed" by anyone not an adult.

Not even, "could legally be viewed." Or, "could permissibly be viewed." If it is possible at all that a 17-year-old could see the performance, the performers can be charged with a crime.

Judge decided that's bogus, that the fact that a 15-year-old might potentially be able to sneak into a show does not make the actors criminals.

A law is unconstitutionally vague if it “fails to provide a person of ordinary intelligence fair notice of what is prohibited, or is so standardless that it authorizes or encourages seriously discriminatory enforcement.”

Tennesseans deserve to know that their State’s defense of the AEA primarily involved a request for the Court to alter the AEA by changing the meaning of “minors” to a “reasonable 17-year-old minor.” In other words, while its citizens believed this powerful law would protect all children, the State’s lawyers told the Court this law will only protect 17-year-olds. This is only one of several ways in which Tennessee asked this Court to rewrite the AEA.

Judge is not buying the idea that "we really meant late teenagers" and that no cop is going to bust a drag show for having performances that would be inappropriate for 7-year-olds.

DRAG IS NO LONGER BANNED IN TENNESSEE ✨✨

[johncon]

OOC. absolute Canon. I can't tell you much since you're probably watching the show but the AEA or Anti Ecto Acts is canon :^

- 👾

ooc- I've got to watch the LOTR extended editions first but Danny Phantom is planned to be after that (and then Red Dwarf after Danny lol, my partner and I decided to try and watch more various series together this year)

[yetisidelblog]

Trump intends to use the Alien Enemies Act (AEA), a centuries-old law from 1798, to escalate his war on immigrant communities.Under this archaic act, a president can detain and deport immigrants from countries deemed “enemies,” bypassing due process entirely. For Trump, this isn’t a hypothetical; it’s a roadmap.

During his presidency, he showed us exactly what his anti-immigrant agenda looks like: children ripped from their parents’ arms, families torn apart, and an unrelenting wave of fear targeting immigrants who make America stronger.

Now, he’s poised to go further, using the AEA to shatter millions of lives while sowing hatred and division.

But we have the power to stop him. Congress can pass the Neighbors Not Enemies Act, repealing the AEA and ensuring no president can weaponize it again. Immigrants are our neighbors, coworkers, and family members -- not enemies. They build our economy, strengthen our communities, and embody the values we cherish.

Every day we delay, we risk another executive attack on the principles of fairness and justice. Tell Congress to repeal the Alien Enemies Act before it’s too late.

Repealing the Alien Enemies Act isn’t just about rejecting Trump’s hatred, it’s about reaffirming who we are as a nation. This law was designed in a time of fear and xenophobia, and it has no place in the diverse and vibrant country we are today. By standing together, we can send a clear message to Congress: We won’t allow mass deportations under the guise of national security.

Immigrants are integral to our success, whether it’s the doctor saving lives, the farmer feeding families, or the small business owners creating jobs. The AEA doesn’t just hurt immigrant communities, it weakens us all.

If Congress repeals this law, they’ll be taking a bold stand for justice, fairness, and the dignity of every person who calls America home.

Make no mistake: Trump’s dangerous rhetoric is a rallying cry for hate. We must counter it with action. Let’s ensure the Neighbors Not Enemies Act becomes law so Trump and no future president can resurrect this harmful policy.

We cannot sit on the sidelines while Trump prepares to double down on his anti-immigrant agenda. Tell Congress to repeal the Alien Enemies Act now.

Together, we can build an America that values every person, regardless of where they were born.

@upontheshelfreviews

@greenwingspino

@one-time-i-dreamt

@tenaflyviper

@akron-squirrel

@ifihadaworldofmyown

@justice-for-jacob-marley

@voicetalentbrendan

@thebigdeepcheatsy

@what-is-my-aesthetic

@ravenlynclemens

@writerofweird

@bogleech

[six-costume-refs]

I noticed Hana now has a US agent. Is it possible she’s joining the Broadway cast permanently? I always thought it was suspicious they flew her out and she only did 2 shows, they didn’t really seem to need her as cover. Perhaps she was there for other reasons - meetings, fittings, chemistry test with other cast members etc.

This got stuck in draft hell so we at least know she’s not joining Broadway now. But...I had already written 90% of a response and I think you asked a few questions that are ones other people might have shared and that the answers could be useful for future reference, so here it is.

-----

I don't expect her to, or at least not long term. There’s a few elements to this:

Unions and international actors Even with a US agent she still has to go through the process of getting approval from UK Equity + US AEA/Equity to be able to perform in the US. That permission isn't usually given unless there's a very strong reason for it. That's mostly because each union doesn’t want the other country to take away too much of their talent, leaving them without as many performers and without their most well known. And conversely they don’t want too many performers from outside of the country coming in when they could instead be employing actors from their own country/community. So they have a series of safe guards and agreements to prevent that, as well as the stipulation that AEA + UK Equity have to both agree to every instance. First of all, there always has to be a roughly equal number of actors from each country performing in the other. So if five UK Equity actors are currently performing in the US, roughly five AEA actors have to be currently performing in the UK. Second of all, the unions don't necessarily want to give up their "star" or well-known performers to the other country's theatre industry. They want to keep them in their own so that they can increase audience numbers in their home country! If they do let their well known performers perform in the other country, it's usually because they've either originated the role or because they feel like it could significantly increase the popularity of that show and their home country could still benefit.

Hadestown is a good example of both scenarios. AEA agreed to let several of the original NYTW/Edmonton performers perform in the West End production. That was partially because they were originating the roles, but it was also partially because a West End production and eventual Broadway transfer with the same cast could drum up more popularity and hype for the Broadway transfer before it even opened (which it did do).

The AEA/UK Equity agreement process is also why Sam Pauly wasn't able to debut as Howard on the West End. While she had approval to perform in Evita, Six wasn't part of that agreement, so she wasn't approved by the unions to do so (and visa issues there as well). Andrea Macasaet, as a Canadian actor who is a member of Canadian Equity and not AEA, also has special permission to perform in Six - there’s a note in the program saying that she’s appearing by special permission of Actors’ Equity, and that’s why!

That doesn't mean Hana won't ever appear in a US production of Six again! Clearly she's open to working in the US, and both her and Six management have clearly been open to her joining temporarily. In a scenario where they need a temporary cover or vacation swing, they might have a strong enough argument for why she should be able to join that they could work it out: she knows the show, she knows the Broadway tracks, they know she can fit in at least a pre-existing Aragon costume, and all of that is cheaper and easier than casting and rehearsing someone totally new who might only be needed for a week or two. But as far as a long term swing or even principal goes, I don’t think it’s likely that that would be worked out.

(note here that I wrote this before we had Marilyn Caserta as a universal swing. That significantly decreases the chances of Hana coming back even temporarily.)

As for why they might have brought her over:

- It’s going to be fairly difficult to predict how many covers US Six might need at a given time. The UK has required alternate shows each week and different rules about vacations/time off, so the UK actors typically get significantly more pre-planned shows off or on. Add that to injuries and illness and there’s significantly more cover shows all around. There’s also quite a number of former actors, NCL or WE/UKT, who could be put in the UK productions as emergency covers if absolutely needed, and plenty of costumes (alt and principal) to accommodate those sorts of emergency covers. But in the US productions, they have very periodic vacations and they’re usually built in at specific times (either via layovers for tour casts or via scheduled vacation seasons for Broadway cast). The rest of the time most absences are purely based on injury or illness, which of course is nearly always impossible to predict in advance. US productions can go from having one scheduled absence to three or four (or more) in the space of a day or two. And because the show is newer here (and Broadway has different rules about emergency covers than the West End), we don’t have the same number of former Six actors who can jump in and emergency cover at the drop of a hat, nor enough costumes to accommodate that (Note from Nov 2022: Bway do have more now, but in Apr when Hana was joining they had very few potential emergency covers). All of that just makes it MUCH harder to predict when issues might occur and deal with them if/when they do. And again, it takes a while to negotiate all the specifics of a new contract and unions and visas, so they wouldn’t have been able to bring over Hana at the drop of a hat if they suddenly realized they needed her.

- The period when she was covering Broadway was during scheduled vacation season. For at least one week of that, they had an alternate (Mallory Maedke and later seemingly Keirsten Hodgens) on vacation. That would have left only one cover for three of their roles. If the cast gets hit with injuries or illness (which did wind up happening that week with Abby Mueller) they might not have enough covers. Broadway system helps with that, but it’s still not a guarantee and still leaves things more vulnerable. Bringing in Hana to cover 2/3 of each Mallory and Keirsten’s roles at least helped have a backup as needed.

- From what Hana said this had been a discussion since probably Dec 2021/Jan 2022 (note that this is also when they brought Cassie Silva in). The US was right at the peak of a huge Covid wave during that exact period. Shows were having to cancel performances right and left; Six was also affected, and had to cancel 14 performances in late December. Numbers were very high (infections were 4x higher than at any previous peak), shows were calling in every emergency cover they could to try and keep doors open (again, Six brought in Cassie), and there was pretty significant concern that Broadway might have to shut down again. There were a lot of questions about how long that peak would last and if Broadway could even be affected by it through the spring. And while they had Cassie then, they knew she would eventually need to leave to join ANAT a few weeks before Hana joined. Many of the actors also had scheduled vacations in the spring and there were very likely concern that some of them could potentially get Covid or another illness while traveling for that. It was a very scary time for the industry and everyone was making contingency plans, and from what Hana has said it seems like that’s around the time they started talking about her joining as well.

- As far as performing less, she seems to have been meant as more of a standby. Her contract did stipulate that she’d get to perform at least once, but beyond that there were no guarantees. She had her first show scheduled as Aragon, and we knew that one a while in advance. Otherwise other alts were nearly always available to cover, and she didn’t have costumes for S/P which meant she would have HAD to be last priority. But that brings me to her second show…

- She DID have to perform her second show. Mallory Maedke and Keirsten Hodgens were out that day and Courtney Mack was on for Howard and Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert was on for Cleves. Hana Stewart was the only other alt available, and she found out less than an hour before showtime that she had to go on for Parr. Obviously we don’t know all the bts details but from what we do know it is VERY unlikely that they would have been able to cover that show if they didn’t have her. If they couldn’t, they would have had to cancel. Might not sound like the biggest deal to cancel one show, but it’s still significant; at that time one performance would have brought in close to 170k of revenue. Either way, it sure seems to have meant the difference between being able to do the performance and having to cancel it, and that’s a pretty significant argument for needing her as a cover. And yes it’s still one performance out of a month and a halfs’ worth, but again that’s one last minute cover that would have been totally unpredictable in advance; similar situations could have arisen at many other times while she was there.

TL;DR: There’s no easy way to have known if they would have needed her to perform for sure, but given the context and the potential they had for issues to arise from Covid/vacations/otherwise unpredictable illness and injury, it seems like they decided it would be smart to have her as extra coverage in case they did need her.

As far as everything else…. - Hana may have wanted to come over here to start auditioning for other projects. That could have been other theatre, or it could have been film/TV which has rules that are generally much more accommodating of UK actors than Broadway (she’s done some film/TV in the UK and her US agency is heavily focused on it as well). Working for Six may have given her the opportunity and stability to start auditioning for projects even if there isn’t potential for her to join Six long term.

- You’re correct that chemistry readings/fittings would be a reason to bring someone in early if they’re in consideration for a longer contract! So much so that I’ve checked on those timelines for her, but in this case when she was here doesn’t line up with other Six cast’s timelines for auditions/costumes so I don’t think that was the case.

**Back then there were very few potential emergency covers: Anna Uzele had left but was on set for a show; Aragon Tour queens if needed, but ANAT + Broadway have different tracks and Cassie Silva was the only one who knew any Broadway tracks at the time (she knew Cleves and Howard); and the handful of Bliss 3.0/Breakaway 3.0 queens who had gotten AEA membership since leaving the ship but would have needed to learn Broadway tracks and potentially new costumes (and again, very few extra Bway costumes existed at the time). Now there’s way more depth: Marilyn has become a universal swing, between the ANAT alts there’s at least one person who has learned every Broadway track (Cassie Silva B/C/H, Kelly Denise Taylor A/S/C, Kelsee Kimmel S/P), a full casts’ worth of former Broadway cast members (including four alts) plus a few former replacements, and quite a number of former cruise actors who are AEA. Still don’t have the same depth of potential emergency covers as the UK, but they’ve been able to cover shows when needed and shouldn’t run into major issues like they could have last April.