The world-renowned Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, plans to renovate 10,000 square feet of premier event space by converting a previous jazz club on the venue’s northwest corner into a premium guest lounge. It is set to open in late 2017.

“We saw an opportunity to enhance our offerings and create the most memorable experience possible for our guests,” said Fox Theatre President and CEO Allan C. Vella in a statement. “Atlanta’s entertainment landscape is ever-changing, and we are in a unique position to further the Fox’s physical and cultural footprint with this exciting addition.”

Guests in the exclusive event space will experience enhanced food and beverage service, two rooftop bars, private restrooms, concierge guest services, and parking. The Moroccan-style lounge will be members-only with general admission ticketing upgrade options. Details about membership and ticket upgrades will be available starting in January 2017.

“This is an undertaking we have not taken lightly,” said Fox Theatre Vice President and COO Adina Erwin, CFE, in a statement. “We found a great partnership with Lord Aeck Sargent, a local architectural firm specializing in conservation and preservation of historic venues. We are taking every precaution to keep adjustments minimal and have every confidence that their vision and experience will allow us to create an innovative space that is loyal to the legacy of the Fox Theatre.”

(Image: Fox Theatre/Sara Foltz)

We like to highlight it whenever an IAVM member is featured in a news story or an article. The latest is Billy Langenstein, director of events services for U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, who Athletic Business magazine will publish a profile of in its upcoming October issue.

“On Vikings’ gamedays, he’s ultimately responsible for everything from transportation and emergency response to the actions of thousands of security and guest-services personnel,” the magazine wrote. “AB senior editor Paul Steinbach caught up with Langenstein the morning after the Vikings had played their second home preseason game in four days.”

Congratulations Billy! To read more, please visit Athletic Business for the full story. And if you’ve made the news recently, please send it to me at editor@iavm.org. Thank you.

(Image: Athletic Business)

Melbourne, Australia’s Rod Laver Arena is set to undergo a redevelopment that will include four “pods” (also known as annexes) and upgrades to food and beverage stations and restrooms. The facade will be re-skinned, and disability access will be increased. All of this will happen as the venue stays open.

“It’s a bit like performing heart surgery while the patient’s still awake,” Patrick Ness, a principal director at Cox Architecture, who designed the redevelopment, told ArchitectureAU.com. “We’ve got this venue working and we have to do all this work around it.”

Ness said that each pod was designed depending on available space.

“What we’ve done, in a way, is create a series of mini town squares in each of those locations,” Ness said. “Then above that is the new architecture, which is in keeping with the original building but also unashamedly forward looking. [There are] new skins on the building, there’s lots of glass, very open structures, but they don’t compete with the original building.”

The redevelopment is set for completion by the end of 2019. Check out some images below of the design and visit ArchitectureAU.com for more on the story.

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Disgraced performed at the Guthrie Theater.

Ah, the last quarter of the year. A time for reflection and list making, and one of my favorite lists is American Theatre‘s 10 most produced plays of the season. I suspect a few employees at performing art centers may be interested in this list, too.

“This year, we received a total of 411 season submissions from member theatres of Theatre Communications Group,” wrote Diep Tran, the magazine’s associate editor. “From there, we gathered all of the full-length productions scheduled between Sept. 1, 2016, and Aug. 31, 2017, running for at least a week’s worth of performances. Those productions numbered 1,946. To calculate our most-produced lists, it is our policy to exclude plays by Shakespeare and two perennial holiday shows (A Christmas Carol and The Santaland Diaries).”

The list actually includes 12 plays due to ties. Here’s the list, along with the number of productions scheduled:

Hand to God by Robert Askins (13)
Constellations by Nick Payne (10)
Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar (10)
Million Dollar Quartet by Floyd Mutrux and Colin Escott (10)
The Christians by Lucas Hnath (8)
Peter and the Starcatcher, adapted by Rick Elice from Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson (8)
The Legend of Georgia McBride by Matthew Lopez (7)
Sex With Strangers by Laura Eason (7)
Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage (6)
King Charles III by Mike Bartlett (6)
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (6)
Sister Act, with book by Bill and Cheri Steinkellner, music by Alan Menken, and lyrics by Glenn Slater (6)

Speaking from experience, the production of Disgraced that I saw at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during VenueConnect was excellent. It’s a powerful play that warrants a lengthy post-production discussion with friends. Try to see it if you can.

Registration for the 2017 Performing Arts Managers Conference will open soon. It takes place February 27 to March 1 in Chicago, a city renowned for its great theatre scene.

(Image: Dan Norman)

Like Google Glass, Snapchat’s Spectacles records videos from the wearer’s point of view. And like Google Glass (and phones and cameras and other recording devices), it’ll be another item that venue managers may have to police or ban.

The camera in the glasses uses a 115-degree-angle lens, and the recorded video is circular. A light turns on to let people know you’re recording. The glasses will cost $129.99 and will be available on a limited basis this fall. Considering how popular Snapchat is—users send more than one billion Snaps and watch more than 10 billion videos a day—I expect “limited” to be “wide” in a matter of weeks.

The company’s CEO, Evan Spiegel, thinks of the device as a fun toy for the moment.

“We’re going to take a slow approach to rolling them out,” Spiegel to the Wall Street Journal. “It’s about us figuring out if it fits into people’s lives and seeing how they like it.”

As I mentioned, this is another item to police in your venues. However, this is just the beginning. What happens when people can wear recordable contacts (not too far off, in fact)?

(Image: Snap Inc.)