 |
|
|
|||||
“Shhhh,” Helena Bonham Carter is whispering in my ear. “Let me tell you a story, from long, long ago.” I am lying on a mattress in a wallpapered bedroom that seems plucked from the 1990s. There are Keith Haring drawings, Tori Amos posters, and a shelf-full of teddy bears. Bonham Carter’s voice, coming in through a headset, is talking about a princess named Viola. Her voicespectral, beguilingis about to guide me through a dizzying dreamscape of mazes and dark corridors, and its all part of a spectacular new show by Punchdrunk. Until now, the British theater company has been known for its highly immersive productions like Sleep No More and The Burnt City. A Punchdrunk performance typically encourages spectators to roam freely and interact with masked actors who might whisk you into a cupboard or slip a note into your hand. But Violas Room, staged inside The Shed in New York City, marks a departure from this model: There is only one prescribed path. And instead of interacting with masked actors, you are the actor. “What Punchdrunk is all about is a physical activation of the body. Its about putting the audience at the center,” Punchdrunks founder, Felix Barrett, told me. “If you’re stood up, and you are having to make decisions, or you’re having to deal with a perceived threat, suddenly the flood of adrenaline sends all your blood to your skin.” [Photo: Marc J. Franklin] “Follow the light” Violas Room was adapted from a 1901 gothic mystery story by the English horror writer Barry Pain. The Punchdrunk version was written by Booker Prize short-listed author Daisy Johnson, and it follows the story of Princess Viola, who leaves the safety of her home and ventures into a shadowy dream world where her sense of self begins to dissolve. Of all the stories Punchdrunk has crafted, this one is Barretts favorite. There’s something about it, where the atmosphere is so thick, and its because it’s so controlled, he says. [Photo: Marc J. Franklin] Barrett staged an early version of Violas Room back in 2000. Then called The Moon Slave, it took place inside a 13-acre walled garden, where spectators were guided by staff holding burning torches. When the team revived the show (it first ran in London in 2024), they had to rethink how to replicate the concept indoors. Barrett wanted something ephemeral, like the ghost of Helena taking you by the hand, he says, and he eventually landed on fiber-optic lights the size of a grain of barley. (Standard LEDs were too bright.) Spectators are now guided through the space by a synchronized mix of Bonham Carters voice and more than 1,500 individual light fixtures concealed inside woolly gray clusters designed to resemble tiny, stormy clouds. Every light is an invitation to move forward through the sinuous set: If a lamp lights up, you walk toward it. If it doesnt, you stay put. At times, I found myself in complete darkness, without so much as an exit sign lurking in a corner. Barrett says enough visitors in London got spooked that they decided to assure people at The Shed that there are no jump scares. To further amp the senses, visitors are invited to experience the show barefoot, and every room is bathed in a custom scent. When youre light-deprived, all other senses kick in, says Alex Poots, the artistic director and CEO of The Shed. These moments of pitch black called for special permission from local authorities, as total darkness goes against U.S. fire codes. Poots says Violas Room is one of a few shows in America that’s gotten permission to go complete black, and he notes that a team backstage monitors spectators via a bevy of infrared cameras and can intervene within a minute of a fire alarm sounding. [Photo: Marc J. Franklin] A fairytale in Manhattan Violas Room is an intimate affair designed for a maximum of six people. (People with wheelchairs can book private visits to experience the show, which is fully ADA accessible.) I visited on a clammy Tuesday evening. Outside, Manhattan was gearing up for happy hour. People were sipping Aperol spritzes, and tourists were traipsing up and down the High Line. Inside, I felt like Id stepped into a fairytale gone wrong. The set design, by Barrett and Casey Jay Andrews, contributed to the realism. Barrett started by drawing the “shape of the show” on a piece of papera line, a square, a line, a squarebefore adding layers of texture, a bit like a painting. To visualize the whole thing, he then worked with a team f model makers who spent months making copies of each room, then lighting them from within. [Photo: Marc J. Franklin] For Viola’s teenage bedroom, Barrett drew inspiration from his younger brother’s bedroom and stuffed it with ’90s ephemera he sourced from vintage shops and markets around London. Elsewhere, corridors narrowed under flickering lights. Closets opened into secret rooms. A miniature tree encased in jelly later came back as a giant tree towering over an entire room. [Photo: Marc J. Franklin] We wanted that sense of scale to shift and grow and grow and grow, says Barrett, who drew inspiration from Maurice Sendaks Where the Wild Things Are, where the mundane becomes otherworldly. In Sendaks story, Maxs bedroom transforms into a forest. In Barretts story, things take a slightly darker turn. With nowhere else to go but straight, the experience doesnt allow for any meandering, but the curious mind will be rewarded with treats or easter eggs the team peppered throughout the show. (The jelly-encased tree is one of them). Im a real believer that as long as one person finds it, its absolutely valid, Barrett says. In fact, if one person finds something that no one else does, then its their gift. Its their discovery. The show is on view through October 19.
Category:
E-Commerce
We know artificial intelligence can replace some person-to-person interactions, but can it also create opportunities for us to connect? Building personal connections through networking is becoming an even more pivotal part of the job search. As of last year, an estimated 84% of companies use an employee referral program while recruiting and 30% of referred candidates get hiredcompared to 7% of general applicants, according to research from Erin Technologies, an employee referral-based recruitment platform. In todays difficult job market, where over 7 million people are currently unemployed, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, networking experts say using AI tools to draft emails and LinkedIn messages can help you get a referral that brings your application to the next levelas long as you use them the right way. Networking isnt just about who you know. Its about who knows you, says Jan Tegze, author of the book Job Search Guide: Be Your Own Career Coach. In a crowded job market, that makes a huge difference, he says. If you want to use AI to step up your networking, experts have some tips. Use AI to find people to add to your network Finding a company that you want to work for or a job listing that seems like a good fit is half the battle. But when it comes to getting the job, making connections with a broad range of people who can give advice and refer you for a job is key. Still, it can be difficult to know who to reach out to. The mistake that a lot of people make is they reach out to the recruiter, says Matt Landau, CEO of AI job search site Swooped. Recruiters are inundated with those types of messages, and they often dont have any type of hiring sway, he says. One solution is to use AI tools that search for people working in roles similar to the ones you are interested in or at companies you are applying to. Some AI networking tools even find peoples LinkedIn profiles and business emails for you, making connecting with new people a much speedier process. However, Landau notes the importance of respecting the privacy of people you are reaching out toeven if their contact information is public. Sticking with career-focused social media sites such as LinkedIn and avoiding personal emails or phone numbers is a much better way to make a first impression. Ive gotten Instagram DMs, and Twitter, things of that sort, Landau adds. I think thats a little bit of an invasion of privacy and might rub people the wrong way. Delegate repetitive and time-consuming tasks to AI AIs power is in its ability to sort through information and generate outputs quickly, freeing up time for other work. In fact, 89% of employees said using AI leads to fewer repetitive tasks, according to a Morning Consult survey commissioned by Zoom in 2023. Networking experts suggest leveraging these benefits of AI by using it to create custom resources for your job search, such as organized lists of people to reach out to and templates or drafts for emails and LinkedIn messages. I encourage my clients to use AI in their job search like a PA for their job search process, says Sarah Felice, executive and career coach at Prima Careers. Felice emphasizes, though, that AI is better as a personal assistant rather than a director. It can augment everything you do but should never replace your style of writing or your research, she adds. Personalize AI-generated messages before you send them out Once AI helps get the networking process started with an organized list of people to connect with and drafted messages or templates, its important to take a step back and add personal touches before hitting send. A lot of times we’ll find people writing very generic [messages], like Hey, Im interested in this role. I’d love for you to take a look at my resume, Landau says. That often is not going to spark interest. Instead, networking experts say you should add information about yourself that will interest potential connections. This could be information emphasizing why you would be a good fit for an open role, relevant accomplishments, or just things you have in common with the person. I think whats very important is to embrace your background, says Jonathan Javier, CEO of AI job search site Wonsulting. People who come from the same background as you understand your story. For AI tools specifically created to help job seekers network, Javier says a good test of quality is seeing if the tool prompts users to add relevant information like this and edit drafts as part of the process. If you send the same AI-written note to 10 people, theyll notice and probably wont reply, Tegze adds. The point of networking is to build trust. AI can help you get started, but it cant build real relationships for you. AI helps most when you understand its limits AI has drastically changed the job-seeking process in recent years, but its not the first major technological change. Networking experts suggest learning from past shifts to understand how to alter your networking process. I like to remind my clients that I remember life before LinkedIn, when the sort of information it provides so easily was not available, Felice says. AI is clearly the next evolution in technology that we are only just seeing the beginning of today. When using this emergent technology, remembering the meaning behind the tasks you do is critical. And for networking, the name of the game is connecting on a person-to-person basisnot crafting perfect networking requests. Once AI has helped you connect with someone, let your own words shine in further communications, such as during informational calls. Asking questions about the persons role and getting advice on how to look for a job in their field or at their company can build a relationship that is both personally and professionally valuable. When someone helps you, its not because your message was perfectly written, Tegze adds. Its because they believed you were genuine and worth helping. And no AI can fake that for you.
Category:
E-Commerce
On June 2, AT&T launched a day summer camp at its Dallas headquarters for employees whose school-aged children are free for the summer. The initiative, done in partnership with Bright Horizons, a company that helps employers provide childcare for their employees, followed feedback from workers about how the summer months are difficult. Work doesnt take a pause but school does, leaving many parents with gaps in childcare. People dont necessarily think of elementary school, for example, as a form of care, but the reality is that when children go to school, parents can go to work, and when schools are closed over the summer, they need to find coverage, says Stephen Kramer, CEO of Bright Horizons. AT&Ts summer camp is for children ages 4 to 12 and offers rotating activities for kids, including coding, culinary arts, sports, and crafting. Theres a weekly off-site trip to a nearby archery and low-ropes course as well as museum pop-ups and animal visits. The camp, located in the companys downtown Discovery District campus, is open weekdays through August 8 from 7:45 a.m. to 5:45 p.m, and parents are free to stop by and visit their children during their workdays. Matt Phillips, assistant vice president of benefits at AT&T, said the camp has been hugely popular among employees. Were hearing, Its really great to bring my son to work and let them experience what its like for me to work downtown, he says. And to know that (their kids) are safe and cared for well. [Photo: AT&T] Through their Bright Horizons benefits, AT&T employees get 10 back-up care days per yeartypically used when parents regular childcare isnt available; for a $15 copay, or $25 for two children, they can send their child to one of Bright Horizons childcare centers. AT&T employees can use their back-up care days to send their kids to the new summer camp, though once theyve exhausted their allotted back-up care days, the price goes up to $99. Summer camp costs vary widely. A study from Summer Camp Hub, a digital guide to summer camps, reports parents pay between $70 and $120 a day for day camps. Steve and Kates Camp, which was acquired by Bright Horizons in 2021 and operates AT&Ts day camp, charges $114 a day at another Dallas location. Phillips said there hasnt been any pushback about the full price of the day camp from employees, though most seem to be using it more for drop-ins as opposed to consistent care. On average, each child who has attended is there for a little more than 3 days, not necessarily consecutive. Phillips’s own 11-year-old son has attended the camp once and will probably go again before summer ends. Over 380 AT&T employees have used the camp so far, representing 560 unique campers. The camp averages 52 campers per day. For parents, finding childcare during the summer months is notoriously difficultin addition to being expensive, summer camps often have long waitlists and require sign-ups several months before summer starts. Kramer said theres growing desireand expectationthat employers provide more support to help working parents find care for their children during the summer. He noticed that parents were leaning more on back-up care benefits in the summer, and last year tested an on-site summer camp at Bright Horizons own headquarters in Newton, Massachusetts. Seeing the huge demand and incredible appreciation for the camp encouraged the company to bring the idea to its clients. Bright Horizons is now working with several other employers to plan on-site summer camps for 2026. AT&Ts summer camp comes months after it ditched its hybrid work policy and required employees to return to the office full-time. The success of the summer camp has inspired the company to consider how it could help fill other gaps in childcare parents might struggle withspring break, for example. And while making the on-site summer camp a permanent fixture isnt official yet, Phillips said that based on the feedback, theres definitely inertia to do it again. On-site childcare, including summer camp, is just one part of a growing trend of companies searching for ways to better support and retain working parents, though critics question the sustainability of people relying on their employers for childcare. Some schools have begun to offer on-site daycare as a way to retain teachers. Along with flexible work arrangements that make parents lives easier, childcare subsidies are another perk thats becoming more common. In May, Cakes Body announced it would pay up to $36,000 in yearly childcare costs for employees.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||