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If you find yourself passing through the DC area this January, I highly recommend checking out MAGFest: Music and Gaming Festival. Best described on their website, “MAGFest is a four day long party dedicated to the appreciation of video game music, gaming of all types, and the gaming community. The festival runs 24 hours a day, and offers consoles, arcades, tabletop, LAN, live video game cover bands, chiptunes, vendors, guest speakers, and much much more.” Highlights from past MAGfests I have attended include; Jon St. John (voice of “Duke Nukem“) flipping a table for charity, Ellen Mclain (voice of Portal‘s “Glados”) at voice actor improv, InversePhase‘s chiptune history panel, and The Protomen performing their Act 1 and Act 2 albums live.

This week I had the pleasure of attending both GameSoundCon and GDC Next in Los Angeles. GameSounCon, which I had heard of through the GDC Audio Track this past spring, was everything I hoped it would be; presentations by renowned video game composers and sound designers, informative panels on the latest audio implementation software, and lots of great networking opportunities with members of GANG, IASIG, and newcomers to the industry. My GameSoundCon registration came with a free GDCNext Expo badge (yay for early registration perks!) which was happening next door.  GDCNext was smaller than GDC “prime” and more focused on portable and social media gaming and applications with panels ranging from app support to theme park interaction design (the Disney Imagineers one was amazing).  Both conferences were definitely worth the trip out west. Now… jet lag!

Happy Halloween, Pittsburgh Zombies!!!!! Three years ago this month (October 15th, 2010)  Liz Rishel and I premiered our original music/multimedia hybrid work Evenings in Quarantine: The Zombie Opera at the Greybox Theatre. Was quite a ride and we’re so thankful to all the amazing people who worked on the project with us, and who have continued to explore the Pittsburgh film and theater scene afterwards through the many awesome companies, festivals, and musical opportunities in town! Yinz all have and continue to rock! Never saw the Zombie Opera? Believe it or not we made two audio albums and a dvd with commentary track. Check them out sometime if you’re feeling ‘undead’, and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

To promote Pittsburgh Savoyard‘s upcoming production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Princess Ida (October 17th-20th), the cast will be performing highlights live on the Saturday Light Brigade radio program tomorrow morning at 11:05am. The recording will be broadcast realtime, and posted for later viewing on NeighborhoodVoices.org.  This is my first time singing live on the radio, should be exciting!

UPDATE: Archive now available! Listen to the recorded Broadcast here.

Reminder: Princess Ida opens next weekend. The show is doublecast, I am playing the role of “Lady Psyche” on 10/12, 10/18 and 10/20, the fabulous Liz Rishel of Zombie Opera on alternate nights. Tickets on sale now!

The Pittsburgh Day of Giving is next week, Oct 3rd! If you normally donate to certain nonprofits in the city, I recommend doing so on the Day of Giving! You can donate to more than one nonprofit at the same time, a portion of the proceeds will be matched by Pittsburgh Gives (so more bang for your buck), AND, as always, your donations to these non-profits are tax deductible. I highly recommend supporting Pittsburgh Savoyards, New Sun Rising, The Sprout Fund, Western Pennsylvania Humane Society, Renaissance City Choirs and Edgewood Symphony Orchestra.. to name a few:)

Lots of great news coming down the Schell Games pipeline this year. Our colorful puzzle game, “Innercube” is now available on the OUYA console (in addition to still being available on the Kindle, Chrome, and Android stores).  Lionel’s “Battle Train” is now available through the iTunes store.  Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood has an  adorable new game on the PBSOnline site, “My Tea Party”. We have been recently nominated for “Application Developer of the Year” by the Pittsburgh Tech50 (winners to be announced on October 10th) and Schell Games also took a Gold (PlayForward) and Silver Award (Tunnel Tail) at the International Serious Play Awards!

Busy summer on the recreational game side of things. I had the pleasure of attending both Origins Game Fair and the World Boardgaming Championships.  Origins was a joy as always, especially after taking last year off it was nice to return to the expo/demo hall, guided RPG sessions, open gaming room, and close access to the deliciousness that is the North Market.  This was my first year at WBC, and I was not disappointed. Very impressed by the immense size and diversity of the attendees and the competition categories in general.  I was a newbie to the competition itself, but still had a really fun time testing my skills against other enthusiasts.  I will return, oh yes, and next time better prepared:) Again, always a fan of nearby eateries, if you make it out to WBC I recommend visiting the Lancaster Brewing Company. Delicious nachos, sandwiches, pizzas, and a delightful array of beers made on site (the Milk Stout is wonderful).

I am super excited to publicly announce that I have been cast the role of Lady Psyche in Pittsburgh Savoyards production of Princess Ida in October, 2013. I am also delighted to have been double cast with the fabulous Elizabeth Rishel (my writing partner and co-star from The Zombie Opera).   Gilbert and Sullivan’s Princess Ida is a fun show, and Psyche loves to lecture, frown upon mankind, and sing about Darwin…and monkeys. This will be super fun. Stay tuned for more info as the show approaches!

Undercroft Opera’s production of Carmen, by George Bizet, opens this week at the Antonian Theater, Carlow University. I’m having a blast with the show, singing alongside many other gypsy women in the chorus, plus I get some ‘cat-fight’ time in during the big factory fight scene. Carmen is a classic, the music is super catchy (“Habanera”, anyone?), the leads are amazing, and if you normally stay away from operas due to the language barrier, never fear; we’re singing in ENGLISH:) Carmen runs Thurs June 20th-Sunday June 23rd. The show is double-cast, full cast breakdown available on the Facebook Event Page. Tickets are available online or at the door www.undercroftopera.org

USA Today did a writeup about one of the awesome projects we’ve been working on at Schell Games. Check out the world of Lexica! “Can a video game encourage kids to read the classics?”