Actors' Equity Offers L.A. Roundtable with Artistic Directors

Actors' Equity Offers L.A. Roundtable with Artistic Directors By Daniel Lehman February 27, 2012 The Actors' Equity Association is hosting a free educational event for its members on Tuesday, Feb. 28 in Hollywood. Artistic directors Michael Ritchie (Center Theatre Group), Marc Masterson (South Coast Rep), Sheldon Epps (Pasadena Playhouse), and Randall Arney (Geffen Playhouse) will participate in a discussion, moderated by actress Sharon Lawrence.This event will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 6:30-8:39 p.m. at the L.A. Equity Office, 6755 Hollywood Blvd., 5th floor, Hollywood. Check-in starts at 6 p.m. You do not need to RSVP in advance, but availability is limited to 60 seats. The event is open to all paid-up Equity members and membership candidates.For more information about this event, visit ActorsEquity.org or view the full notice on BackStage.com. (Subscription required.) Actors' Equity Offers L.A. Roundtable with Artistic Directors By Daniel Lehman February 27, 2012 The Actors' Equity Association is hosting a free educational event for its members on Tuesday, Feb. 28 in Hollywood. Artistic directors Michael Ritchie (Center Theatre Group), Marc Masterson (South Coast Rep), Sheldon Epps (Pasadena Playhouse), and Randall Arney (Geffen Playhouse) will participate in a discussion, moderated by actress Sharon Lawrence.This event will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 6:30-8:39 p.m. at the L.A. Equity Office, 6755 Hollywood Blvd., 5th floor, Hollywood. Check-in starts at 6 p.m. You do not need to RSVP in advance, but availability is limited to 60 seats. The event is open to all paid-up Equity members and membership candidates.For more information about this event, visit ActorsEquity.org or view the full notice on BackStage.com. (Subscription required.)

Spartacus, Episode 5: Things That Made Us Go "Ew!"

Dustin Clare On Friday's Spartacus: Vengeance, Gannicus is back! But what havoc does the former Champion of Capua wreak in his old gladiator stomping grounds? Don't look at Gannicus. Turns out that it's Spartacus' men who are behind the biggest, baddest arena bloodbath to date. Spartacus and Co. find new digs at an abandoned structure and learn that Rhaskos, Crixus and Oenomaus are to be executed. Spartacus can't resist trying to save them, even if this means sneaking into an arena full of Romans who have been hunting him. Meanwhile, Gannicus has returned to Capua and in his mind, acting as Oenomaus' executioner will give the former Doctore the glorious, noble gladiator's death he deserves. That will totally make up for sleeping with his wife before she died! Not an awkward reunion at all. From Game of Thrones to Spartacus: TV's unsexiest sex scenes Sparty and Agron disguise themselves as part of the Roman guard, while Mira leads a group of men to set fire to the arena infrastructure. At the height of the fighting, the stadium begins to collapse. Row upon row of spectators drop into the fiery death below. Mayhem! Panic! In the chaos, Spartacus accidentally spears Cossutius (he was aiming for Glaber) and Albinius dies in the rubble... by Glaber's scheming hand after he had uncovered his disloyal wife's plan to divorce him and marry Varinius. But her father Albinius can't grant the divorce now that he's dead! The rescue party leaves with Gannicus, an unconscious Oenomaus and injured Crixus, who finally will be reunited with Naevia. Aww! Enough story... on to the good stuff! The Bodies - Gannicus likes his wine and women, and this visit to a brothel is decidedly less bloody than that massacre from the premiere. And according to the prostitute, he's definitely a god in her womanly arena. That said, the episode was somewhat light on sex to make way for the slaughter. The Blood - Most of the death was implied since the spectators who perished were consumed by flames offscreen. But there's still plenty of gross onscreen bloodshed to relish. With so much to choose from, here are the standouts:1. One gladiator with the highest pain threshold ever is actually able to slowly remove a spear that impaled his torso, stand up and wield it. Wow.2. The new retiarus (net and trident guy) leaps on another victim and there's much distance covered by the blood spurting from the poor guy's neck3. Welcome to the Spoliarium, where we will take care of all your dead gladiator disposal needs. Just drag the unfortunate fellow in, chop up the limbs, pull out the entrails... and dump them in the underground water reservoir?!?4. At one point Spartacus slashes at one fighter's belly, and in the helpful overhead shot, we see part of the guy's innards peeking out. We think we could identify what he had for lunch (as we're losing ours)!5. Glaber killing Albinius wasn't an explicitly gory scene, but it was still disturbing to see the prater coldly pick up a heavy stone spar from the arena wreckage and then slam it down on his dear father-in-law's face. If Ilithiya knew what was good for her, she wouldn't mess with Glaber! Which scenes disturbed you most? Which were your favorite deaths? Spartacus: Vengeance airs on Fridays at 10/9c on Starz.

Fox Business' Lou Dobbs Blasts The Lorax for Pushing Left Wing Agenda and Creating 'Occu-Toddlers'

With Universal's colorful animated tale The Lorax, "the President's liberal pals in Hollywood [are] concentrating on a far more youthful demographic using animated movies to promote their agenda to children," mentioned an annoyed Lou Dobbs now on Fox Business Network. Animated movies! A liberal agenda! HOW DARE THEY. What's the reason behind enabling this "insidious nonsense" to the vulnerable minds within our nation's youth? Bad being a parent, clearly. As conservative radio host Matt Patrick bellowed within the commentator pit, "We are creating Occu-young children!Inch Inside the classic Seuss story -- modified in to a 3-D animated adventure which hits screens inside a couple of days -- an awesome creature referred to as Lorax attempts to intervene becoming an industrialist, driven by avarice, ravages an entire ecosystem. This might seem to produce the Lorax a lot more "dangerous" than previous Fox News focus on the Muppets, which needed becasue it is villain a considerably bigger and clearly unlikeable capitalist The Lorax is built to show audiences simply how much they potentially share while using unwitting forest-killer The Once-ler, which explains why it's so effective to begin with. The most popular factor relating to this madness occurs when Patrick advocates intentional littering in movie theaters as a means of protest in the Obama-introduced agenda espoused with the Lorax (as well as the Studio Ghibli animated pic The Important Thing Arena of Arriety, that may lead youngsters lower the slippery slope of talking about things). Throwing popcorn containers on the ground would fly when faced with everything else Dr. Seuss's anti-deforestation, professional-atmosphere tale means, nevertheless it would also lead you to look absurd before your individual children. In my opinion the Lorax's face above states everything. Make the Occu-young children! The Lorax hits theaters on March 2. [Media Matters with the Film Stage]

Vuguru president Larry Tanz to CEO

Tanz Vuguru president Larry Tanz has been upped to a newly created post as CEO.Tanz has served as president of the digital-minded independent studio, launched by Michael Eisner's Tornante Co. with financial backing from Rogers Media, for all three years of its existence. He's grown Vuguru into one of the biggest suppliers of cross-platform scripted content for the likes of AOL, Hulu and YouTube, in addition to numerous international buyers."Larry's exceptional leadership, ability to attract high-profile talent, identify outstanding material and produce content that consumers want is why we chose to promote him to the position of CEO," Eisner said.Among the Vuguru projects Tanz oversees is an upcoming YouTube channel in collaboration with Stan Lee's Pow! Entertainment and an entire slate of female-targeted programming for AOL. Vuguru's next scripted offerings will include thrillers "The Millionaire Tour," starring Dominic Monaghan, and "Crawlspace," with Steven Weber."I just take it as a vote of confidence from the board and Michael that I'm the person to lead this company forward," said Tanz.Prior to Vuguru, Tanz was founder of multiplatform studio Agility Studios. He's served in past stints as CEO of LivePlanet, the production company led by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon where he produced the Bravo/HBO series "Project Greenlight." Contact Andrew Wallenstein at andrew.wallenstein@variety.com

'In the Heights' Creator Lin-Manuel Miranda Touts Hospital Exchange Program

A hospital provides artists with the opportunity to practice their craft in return for treatment. The Lincoln subsequently Medical and Mental Health Center within the Bronx introduced in The month of january the launch of the initiative that enables artists of disciplines to do creative services to get healthcare. This program, Lincoln subsequently Art Exchange, was created to deal with the growing quantity of freelance and independent entertainers who don't have the funds to join medical health insurance plans. "Our goal would be to achieve individuals who may not need healthcare, especially individuals which have insufficient medical health insurance or none whatsoever," stated Colette M. Barrow, program coordinator for Lincoln subsequently Art Exchange.To become recognized towards the program, qualified artistsanyone earning money through creative means, including stars, music artists, ballroom dancers, poets, and writersmust undergo a screening procedure that involves a job interview portion. Barrow described what that will entail: "When individuals enter into my office, we discuss their background, their unique discipline, and also the encounters they've been on their craft."Throughout the job interview artists frequently show Barrow good examples of the creative services, like a video of the monologue from an actress or wall art online of the painter. Barrow remembered finding someone who had been a crochet artist and introduced in examples of her work. "The job interview process is usually the time that i can become familiar with people and consider ways in which we are able to rely on them within the hospital," she stated.If recognized within the program, artists will take part in various activities, for example carrying out at special occasions for that hospital, reading through to patients, and creating wall art, that could enhance the hospital atmosphere for that staff and patients. For each hour of creative activity, the artist makes 40 "health credits" (the same as $40) toward treatment. When enough credits are gathered, artists may receive a range of hospital services, for example laboratory tests, medical and surgical treatments, dental hygiene, and medications. Tony champion Lin-Manuel Miranda, amongst others, has decided to partner using the Bronx hospital and promote its program. Miranda's father was the previous mind from the board of NY City Health insurance and Hospitals Corporation, which Lincoln subsequently Hospital is really a part. Barrow stated Miranda was "willing to sign up within this project" due to his family's relationship with HHC and the efforts to assist artists in need of assistance.Inside a written statement Miranda stated, "It is really an exciting, potentially win-win venture for NY City Health insurance and Hospitals Corporation and also the artistic community. You will find many without insurance artists in NY City, and also to have the ability to lead their creativeness and skills at Lincoln subsequently Hospital while concurrently attaining use of health care, is ingenious."The Bronx health center may be the second HHC facility to implement a painter exchange program and the only person in Bronx County. The initiative was initially introduced at Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn in 2005. Barrow stated, "It's developed through the years, plus they really view it as something which has influenced the art community in Brooklyn. Once we progress within the program, we'll make changes as necessary.Inch Lincoln subsequently Hospital is following a same model for that program which was established at Woodhull. There's no limit to the amount of people recognized towards the program, but the amount of participation for every approved artist varies. Barrow stated, "For example, I've one individual who's thinking about arriving once per week and getting a continuing contribution on his part. I've someone else who would like to focus on one project at any given time.Inch Barrow and also the artist discuss ways to utilize the agendas from the artist and also the hospital, so both sides benefit. Barrow stated, "We would like to check this out occur at other HHC hospitals. Some are speaking about this and therefore are within the planning stages, therefore we anticipate seeing others perform the same."To learn more, call (855) 546-2787 or visit world wide web.new york city.gov/hhc/lincolnartexchange.