Check out what's coming soon, and what's in development. Playbill will update these listings when new information is made available.
THE COLLABORATION at Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
The play tells a true story in New York. Fifty-six-year-old Warhol's star is falling. Jean is the new wonder-kid taking the art world by storm. When Jean agrees to work together with Warhol on a new exhibition, it soon becomes the talk of the city. The two artists set foot on a shared journey, both artistic and deeply personal, which redraws both their worlds.
ALMOST FAMOUS at Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre
Based on the 2,000 film of the same name, the musical features Pulitzer winner Kitt and a book by Crowe, who earned an Oscar award for penning the original film based on his own teenage experience. The coming-of-age story tracks a 15-year-old music fan named William who follows the emerging band Stillwater on tour.
THE PIANO LESSON at Ethel Barrymnore Theatre
The play is the fourth in Wilson's Century Cycle, which digs into the Black experience in every decade of the 20th century. Set in Pittsburgh's Hill District in 1936, it centers around a brother and a sister involved in a battle over a piano carved with the faces of their ancestors.
KIMBERLY AKIMBO at Booth Theatre
Kim is a bright and funny high school girl, who happens to look like a 72-year-old lady. And yet her aging disease may be the least of her problems. Forced to deal with family secrets, and possible crime charges, Kim is determined to explore happiness in a world where not even time is on her side.
For some people, October is October. On October 5, Katmai National Park and Preserve in southern Alaska kicked off Fat Bear Week, when fans compare before and after photos of bears to vote for the one they think has gained the most weight before they bed down for the long freezing winter. Bear 747, also known as "Bear Force One", took the first-place spot with 68,105 votes. It weighed around 1,400 pounds.
Fat Bear Week started in 2014. At first, it was just Fat Bear Tuesday. Mike Fitz, a former park keeper at Katmai, noticed that live webcams showing the bears generated a lot of online comments, so he let people vote for their favorite fat bear on the Internet. The one-day event attracted 1,700 votes. In 2015, it was extended to a week. Last year, nearly 800,000 people got involved, turning it into a global campaign.
The contest serves two main purposes. First, some of America's national parks are in remote and undeveloped areas, which are difficult or costly to reach. Fat Bear Week brings Alaska's wilderness to fans' computer screens." It's not limited to the fortunate few who can go to the river anymore." Fitz said.
Second, Fat Bear Week brings attention to the bears and the ecosystems they live in. The 2,200 bears of Katmai are strong for feeding on some of the healthiest salmon (三文鱼) in the world，said Sara Wolman, a former park keeper. Salmon in the Pacific Northwest are suffering from overfishing, dam construction and warming rivers due to climate change. Luckily, Brooks River, which Katmai's bears like to fish in, has been free from these threats so far.
Fat Bear Week has spread like viruses. Fans and creators say it's because it shows a conservation success story. For one week, people don't have to focus on climate change or habitat loss. "Maybe things aren't super great all the time in the world," said Felicia Jimenez, who is a current Katmai keeper. "But there are some really fat bears in Alaska."
A new study has found that a child's reading speed can be improved by simply increasing the space between letters within a piece of text. The research, led by Dr Steven Stagg of Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), examined the benefits of letter spacing and coloured overlays (颜色标注) among children.
Two groups of children, dyslexic (有阅读障碍的) and non-dyslexic children, were asked to read four texts with either standard or extra-large letter spacing, both with and without a coloured overlay. They were instructed to read the text out loud while being recorded. The recording was used to measure the number of errors they made — specifically missed words, added words, wrong words, and pronunciation — as well as the participants' reading time. The study discovered that text with increased space between letters provided a benefit for both groups. On average, the dyslexia group showed a 13% increase in reading speed, while the group of non-dyslexic children showed a 5% increase. In addition to improving reading speed, it also resulted in a significant decline in the number of words missed by the children with dyslexia. However, the study found that coloured overlays had no significant impact on reading speed or the reduction of errors for either group.
Dr Stagg, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at ARU, said:" We believe extra-large letter spacing works by reducing what is known as the ‘crowding effect', which can hamper the recognition of letters and reduce reading speed."
"Our findings strongly suggest that teachers can be confident that all children would be helped by increased letter spacing in reading materials."Dr Stagg added. "While we found that coloured overlays provided little benefit, we suggest children should be encouraged to use overlays if they find these help their reading. Coloured overlays may not increase reading speeds， but they may extend reading stamina(持久力). Previous research suggests their benefits may not become apparent if reading time is less than 10 minutes and the short reading duration of the tests in our study may have put coloured overlays at a disadvantage.
Like any doctor, Jacques Fellay wants to give his patients the best care. Hidden inside our bodies are genetic(基因的) markers that can tell him which patients could probably have diseases such as AIDS and provide early treatments. However, there are worries for Fellay: they contain sensitive details that could lead to embarrassment, discrimination or even worse.
A new kind of encryption, fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) (全同态加密), is making it possible for data users to run multiple operations on genetic data without seeing the contents. This can help end big data's privacy problem, and Fellay's patients can be some of the first to benefit.
In 1978, the concept of homomorphic encryption (HE) was firstly proposed. According to it, one could encrypt and share data with others, who could analyze and perform calculations on the data with no idea what it means. After getting the data back, the data user could simply arrive at the result using the secret key and it will make total sense.
In 2009, Craig Gentry firstly provided a workable FHE program. Like HE, it rests on a mathematical idea called a homomorphism, which mostly relies on using algebra(代数) to map data from one form to another without changing its underlying structure. However, it supports multiple operations on encrypted data, rather than only one calculation in HE.
Later, Gentry went on to work at IBM, which now has complicated FHE tools to run encrypted data. In the medical field, for example, it detected signs of COVID-19 infection by applying FHE to analyze the encrypted CT scans of more than 1, 500 people's lungs. In a paper published in October 2021, the team used FHE to collect data from multiple sources and predicted the effect of cancer treatments or the process of HIV infection, as in Fellay's case.
Workable, but still slow: calculations on the FHE-encrypted data could take millions of times longer than those on raw data. But, as Goldwasser says," If you believe that security is not a plus, but it's a must," she says, "then in some sense there is no overhead."
How Star Wars Changed Movie-making Forever
"May the force be with you!" If you are a Star Wars fan, then you have probably heard this phrase many times. So many characters, devices, and phrases from the movie have become well-known. But you might be surprised to find out how much this movie has changed how movies are made.
"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…"is how Star Wars begins. Its plot was not ground-breaking.
The story was typical science fiction with lots of drama, traditional characters and good battling evil, in space and in hand-to-hand fight.
It was the special effects that made Star Wars stand out from other movies. People still talk about the light swords (剑) that could cut, burn and melt through most substances. Spaceships sped through space and landed on huge, realistic-looking space stations. When Star Wars first came out in 1977, most movie theaters were stand- alone buildings, with just one movie screen. Using the money Star Wars had made for them, movie-theater owners built more theaters， leading to the multiplexes (多影厅影院) that are common today.
Theaters needed more movies to show on all the additional movie screens and in all the new multiplexes. So new movie companies sprang up, including small ones creating experimental movies. Some of the methods became popular and others failed. But, thanks to Star Wars, people got to see new types of movies.
There had been movie continuations previously, but they were often just poor imitations of the first movie. The Star Wars movies were all popular. There have been two trilogies (三部曲) so far, with more planned.
A. They tried out new techniques.
B. In fact, it was quite old-fashioned.
C. Moviegoers had never seen anything like it.
D. Thus, audience began to enjoy science fiction movies there.
E. Star Wars was the first really successful movie trilogy in history.
F. If you are not a fan, you are still likely familiar with these words.
G. If you are a movie maker, you may be inspired by this classic film.
In many ways, Gitanjali Rao is an ordinary 11-year-old, lively and chatty, yet her scientific spirit makes a huge difference. Last month, she 1 the top prize at the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge for her invention.
What 2 Gitanjali's work was that her city faced a water emergency with too much lead in its water. "The idea didn't 3 to me until I saw my parents try to do water tests. The test strips may show inaccurate results, which weren't very 4 ."
She recalls. She then searched for suitable materials with continued efforts and 5 found that carbon nanotube（纳米管） sensors can be used to sense chemicals. Gitanjali 6 to build a small blue housing using the 3-D printer at her school with computer chips and a battery inside. A free app, which Gitanjali designed under 7 from her computer science teacher, gives instant 8 and sends the data to a linked phone through an attached device.
The process of designing her project wasn't always 9 , though. Kathleen Shafer, a scientist paired with Gitanjali as her teacher in summer, 10 along the way. In the award ceremony, Gitanjali also 11 her parents with constant support and 12 to try "crazy ideas". Gitanjali received $25, 000 to further develop her program along with the great 13 of winning the contest. According to Shafer, who 14 Gitanjali, "she shows a lot of motivation to solve 15 issues through science".
During the summer holiday I had the chance to visit Pingtang County, Guizhou Province in southwest China. It's experience I will never forget.
Traveling to Guizhou by high-speed rail from Beijing, I (astonish) at the rapid change in scenery from skyscrapers to beautiful tree-filled mountains (rest) under a clear blue sky.
Upon arrival, I visited the Pingtang International Experience Planetarium, which displays China's (remark) achievements in science and space technology. The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) there is the largest one of its kind in the world. To visit FAST, visitors are not permitted (bring) any electronic devices due to security measures. So they must record this once-in-a-lifetime moment with their hearts and minds.
(truthful), my favorite part of the trip was my personal interaction with the local community. Following the instructions, I worked on two community farms, went hiking and swam a fresh community river alongside fish. I was educated on the regional history of the Miao people culture is rich in fashion, food, pottery and music.
After this adventure, my (appreciate) for Chinese culture has snowballed. While I am content living and working in Beijing, Pingtang County in Guizhou has opened my eyes to the endless positive (possibility) China has to offer.
1）表示感谢；
2）相关介绍；
3）对听众的要求。
注意：
1）词数80左右；
2）请在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Dear fellow students,
……
That's all, thank you.
Hector stood in the front of his fifth-grade classroom as one of the last two competitors in the Room Five Geography Bee. His opponent having missed the last question, it was Hector's turn. If he answered his question correctly, he would be the Room Five champion.
"Where did I put that second sheet of questions?" Mr. Adler whispered while searching through a thick pile of papers on his messy desk. Mr. Adler, though a great teacher, had a reputation of being disorganized with a long history of misplacing things.
"Oh well, I apologize for the delay." said Mr. Adler after what seemed like a long time. "Hector, please tell us the capital city of Brazil." Hearing the question, Hector smiled. Then, there was the answer.
Later that day in the courtyard, many classmates congratulated Hector. Wearing a proud smile, he greeted and thanked them all. Oh, the sweet taste of victory.
As it was getting late, the courtyard became deserted. But Hector still didn't want to leave. Then he saw Mr. Adler crossing the courtyard and holding a half-open bag full of papers. As he hurried past, an envelope dropped out but Mr. Adler was unaware, turned a corner and disappeared out of sight. Hector picked it up. On the envelope were the words "Fifth Grade Geography Bee Questions and Answers". Hector stared wide-eyed at the envelope. Before he even had time to reflect on the consequences, he opened it and read the questions.
As soon as Hector had done it, he knew it was the wrong choice. He'd cheated and whatever he did now, he couldn't change the fact. "What if Mr. Adler thought I stole this morning's questions too?" Hector thought. "He'd take away my Room Five victory for sure." Little did he know that one of the best days in his life would be turned into the worst so quickly. Torn by his conscience, Hector was totally at a loss what to do.
注意：
1）续写词数应为150左右；
2）请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Before he realized it, Hector found himself standing in Mr. Adler's room.
……
The next day the entire school came to watch the Fifth Grade Geography Bee.
