The Week in Review

PLASA 2011 Awards Launched: Now is your chance to make nominations for the PLASA Awards for Innovation, which will include the Sustainability Award and the Gottelier Award for lifetime achievement. The awards will be given out at this year's PLASA Show, to be held at Earls Court, London September 11-14. The nomination period is now open, until Friday July 29 at noon UK time. Following this, the short list of nominees will be made available for voting. Voting in the Gottelier Award is restricted to the 1,100+ PLASA members, to PLASA Show exhibitors, and to pre-registered visitors for PLASA 2011. The winners of all the 2011 PLASA Awards will be announced at the presentation ceremony at 6pm on Monday, September 12 at the PLASA Central Bar. For more information, or to make a nomination for the PLASA Awards, go to www.plasashow.com/awards/gottelier.

Nevin Steinberg Exits Acme Sound Partners: One of Broadway's most successful design partnerships is undergoing changes. Nevin Steinberg is leaving Acme Sound Partners to pursue a solo sound design career. Acme will remain under the control of Tom Clark, Mark Menard, and associate Sten Severson and Steinberg will continue to work on Acme projects begun before his departure. Steinberg said in a statement, "I will always be proud of my time with Acme and our productive partnership over the last 11 years. Transitions are challenging, but I am excited to embark on this next phase of my career. I look forward to continuing my work with the great artists and professionals of this community with renewed dedication and vigor." Menard stated, "During this transition, Acme Sound Partners looks forward to a second decade of providing exceptional sound design work in all facets of the entertainment industry, and we wish Nevin well on his future projects."

New Protest Over New York City Opera: More trouble over City Opera's plans to exit Lincoln Center. Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Carlisle Floyd, Sherrill Milnes, Samuel Ramey, Hal Prince and Frederica von Stade were among more than 120 singers, directors, composers, and others who have agreed to have their names attached to an open letter criticizing the move, said Catherine Malfitano, the soprano and a former City Opera performer, who took the lead in writing, according to the New York Times. "To lose City Opera as a vital part of the Lincoln Center family would be felt as a personal loss to each and every one of us as well as to this great city," the letter says, "and we find it unnecessary and unacceptable...An opera company is a team, a cohesive family of soloists, chorus, orchestra and backstage and administrative personnel, which brings with it a shared point of view, a richness of context, ensemble values and a nest for nurturing young artists. If City Opera is transformed into a small ad hoc presenting organization forced to deploy pickup orchestras, choruses and soloists, it can never again achieve these things and therefore cannot retain its identity or its impact." No comment from the opera's management; the new season will be unveiled this week.