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In December 2023, a report came out that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was building a sprawling underground bunker on a secluded stretch of ranch land on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. The project is shrouded in layers of NDAs, but it’s supposedly 5,000 square feet and will have its own energy and food supplies. When the end of civilization comes, Zuckerberg, like many billionaires, will be sheltered from impact.

It’s hard not to think about Zuckerberg, isolating in his bastion of uberwealth, while watching Joshua Oppenheimer’s post-apocalyptic musical The End. The film, which premiered at Telluride, is a fascinating and demanding intellectual exercise about what happens to a family who, after contributing to the world’s demise, shields themselves from the effects of disaster. Do they grieve or regret? Do they reflect on their actions? Or do they simply march forward, lulled into complacency by the avoidant and revisionist stories they tell themselves?...

Moses Ingram and Michael Shannon have joined Tilda Swinton and George MacKay in Joshua Oppenheimer’s musical The End for Neon.

The latest additions to the ensemble cast include Bronagh Gallagher, Tim McInnerny, and Lennie James. Ingram has credits that includes Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit, playing Inquisitor Reva on Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi and she starred in Apple’s Lady in the Lake with Natalie Portman.

Shannon recently starred opposite Jessica Chastain in Paramount Network’s limited series George and Tammy, and he recently wrapped his directorial debut Eric Larue, a film based on the Brett Neveu play of the same name.

Oppenheimer’s golden-age musical about the last human family is currently in production in Ireland, with Neon co-financing the international co-production. Additional production is set for Italy and Germany later this year.

Swinton and MacKay were previously announced to star in the musical.

“I am thrilled to...

First announced back in the fall of 2021, one of our most-anticipated films in development is The End, a narrative feature from The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence director Joshua Oppenheimer. Starring Tilda Swinton and George MacKay, it’s described as a “Golden Age musical about the last human family,” and now with production getting underway in Ireland, we have more new details about the project.

“I’m the mother in basically the richest family on the planet. The father has been at the forefront of engineering the destruction of the biosphere, and they’ve lived for the last 20-something years in a bunker underneath Middle America, which is like Versailles,” Swinton told W Magazine, while also revealing at her SXSW keynote last weekend she’s headed from Austin to Dublin to begin production.

Courtesy of the production company’s site, it’s also been revealed that cinematographer...

Signature Theatre presents theworld premiere production of Midwestern Gothic. Directed and choreographed by Signature Theatre Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner Jelly's Last Jam, West Side Story, this new musical thriller features music, lyrics and orchestrations by Josh Schmidt Off-Broadway's Adding Machine and book and lyrics by Royce Vavrek Dog Days, 27. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below...

Continuing its ongoing efforts of supporting new musical theatre, Signature Theatre in Arlington, Va held invitation only readings of two world premiere musicals, Midwestern Gothic by composer Josh Schmidt Adding Machine, A Minister's Wife and librettist Royce Vavrek Dog Days, Twenty-Seven and Silver Belles by composerlyricist Matt Conner Nevermore, Crossing and book writer Ally Currin Caesar and Dada, Benched, on November 6 and November 8, 2014.

A second series of ABC sitcom Twentysomething has received funding from Screen Australia as part of the agency’s Multi-Platform Production Program.

Created and written by Jess Harris, Twentysomething episodes will be directed by Harris and Mika Tran and is produced by Lowdown’s Nicole Minchin of High Wire Films.

The first season aired last year on ABC2. This season will pick up with friends Jess, played by Harris, and Josh, played by Josh Schmidt, returning from abroad as thirtysomething looms.

Twentysomething is among four projects to receive the funding. Included also is an interactive animation for tablets called A Cautionary Tail, an interactive documentary called Ringbalin: River Stories and a serious game called The Voyage.

Screen Australia’ CEO Ruth Harley said: “These four titles join a growing list of dynamic, original Screen Australia–supported projects that capitalise on the changing landscape for content creation. We have both established players...

ABC2 multi-platform comedy twentysomething has been commissioned for a second series while short animated film A Cautionary Tail will be made into an interactive app for tablets.

They are two of four projects to receive funding through Screen Australia's latest Multi-platform Production Program funding round. The other two are: The Voyage, a serious game for the Australian National Maritime Museum, which will give players the chance to captain a convict ship to Van Diemen.s Land in the early 1800s; and Ringbalin, an interactive documentary which will take users on a virtual pilgrimage along the Murray, telling the river.s history through Indigenous eyes.

Screen Australia chief executive Ruth Harley said: .These four titles join a growing list of dynamic, original Screen Australia-supported projects that capitalise on the changing landscape for content creation. We have both established players and new talent collaborating and telling stories through interactive documentary,...

For: Jess Harris, co-creator, writer and star of ABC2’s comedy series Twentysomething

Josh Schmidt (Twentysomething co-creator) and I wanted to get into the industry but we didn’t really know the gap between having an idea and making it a job. We knew about community station Channel 31 because our friend, Ryan Shelton, had done a show on 31 called Radio Karate. We decided to make a series about being in your twenties, struggling and not really knowing what you’re doing with your life.

It took us about two years to finish the six episodes and we didn’t get in contact with Channel 31 until the very end. We called them up and said, “we’ve got six episodes here of a show we would love to air on your channel”. We had to pay an airing fee so we got Rmitv, Rmit University’s media production group, to help...

Seven artists will get the chance of a lifetime: to relax, recharge, create new material, and have it critiqued in its early stages—at a cattle ranch on the outskirts of Sheridan, Wyo. Yes, a cattle ranch. The Sundance Institute Theatre Program announced today the seven artists selected for its 2012 Playwrights Retreat at Ucross Foundation. Five writers and two composers were chosen for this year's program, which takes place in February. They are Bruce Norris, Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, Nathan Louis Jackson, Brett Neveu, Joshua Schmidt, Heidi Schreck, and Georgia Stitt."Ucross provides a spectacular environment and support, which is critically important in allowing artists inspiration and community," Philip Himberg, producing artistic director of the theater program, said in a written statement.Added Ucross Foundation president Sharon Dynak, "We trust that this year's selection of exceptional writers and composers will find as much creative inspiration in our surroundings as the artists that precede.