My Takeaways from the 2019 Toronto Machine Learning Society (TMLS) Annual Conference

11/24/2019

My month culminated with the TMLS (Toronto Machine Learning Society) Annual Conference, a 2 day event where industry leaders came together to discuss their research, innovations, and challenges.

Here are my takeaways:

Toronto as a Center for AI

The Canadian government is successfully positioning Toronto as global center for state of the art machine learning + AI innovation and adoption. A few reasons how and why:

The University of Toronto has a legacy of producing top scientists, most notably Geoffrey Hinton who is a professor there. (If you want to be the best, learn from the best.)
A shift in immigration policy in the US and UK have made it more difficult for masters and phd students to get visas after their schooling – Canada is now foreign talents' top choice.
Availability of entry level data science jobs as propulsion for "4th wave" data scientists to become leaders in applied machine learning.
College education is not cost prohibitive – think of the number of smart financially constrained young people (in the US) whose grades suffer because of stress and limited time due to financial aid / working to pay for their schooling. Canada is allowing those students to succeed.

AI in Business

Many businesses which have relied on consulting firms for their AI until now are building (or acqui-hiring) their own Data Science teams. (Nike and Zodiac in 2018 as an example.)
As these businesses scale their AI production, they become more cognizant of data governance and ethical use of AI – consumer trust & transparency is top of mind.

Applied AI

A "fourth wave" of Data Scientists are entering the field from non-software fields, bringing with them vast domain knowledge + skills centered on business integrated.
- An informal and totally subjective summary of the history of DS progression:
- Wave 1 (90's – 05') are the early pioneers, with backgrounds in systems and engineering.
- Wave 2 (05'–15') come from applied mathematics.
- Wave 3 (15'–18') come from core sciences and academic research.
Many of the tools “1st and 2nd wave generation” Data Scientists have been hardcoding are being automated.
AutoML in the role of feature engineering is becoming more commonplace, especially for teams not sufficiently supported by data engineers.
Interactive visualization libraries and web-dashboards are being simplified and made 100% python executable. (Ex: plotly, periscope, tableau)
Facebook’s PyTorch and Google’s Tensorflow continue to be the two dominant open source libraries for deep learning.

State of the Art AI

Natural Language Processing (NLP), Voice, and Image / Video Recognition are the most effective use cases of massive (computationally demanding) Neural Networks.
Computational demands of these massive networks are the rate limiting step of productionizing
AI. Cloud computing is seen as a solution for this because of the massive parallelizability.
Google is trying (way too hard) to position Google Cloud as the #1 tool for deploying neural networks. (We get it… you’re not Amazon and you have a friendly interface. But stop pushing us… remember what happened with Google Plus?)
Quantum computing is too far of a possibility to have relevance yet.

What to expect in 2020

Data regulation will become an increasingly important aspect of politics.
A terrible data breach will occur (perhaps from an overseas attack).
When this breach occurs, companies will announce that they’re taking steps to becoming more “privacy focused” (kind of how we see “environmentally friendly”), meaning they’ll track and store less consumer data.
- The New York Times has taken the lead, announcing that they’re dropping most social trackers from their site. (Always a step ahead…)
Less data will make deployment of massive neural networks more difficult and less effective.

What to expect in 2021

Assuming the above...

A demand for talent that can achieve results with less data will skyrocket. (People with these skills are in quantitative & applied mathematics.)
Subsequently, data science will become more centered on quantitative mathematics and experimental design.
- Data Scientists using this methodology might choose to call their field something else. (Quantitative Science? Computational Deduction? Applied Mathematics Engineer?)
Further, alternative data will become more commonplace, since it may be considered “safer.” (Arguably it is not.)

That's it for now!

Kathryn Hume on how AI can be used to determine intent.

"How Canada Wins" – a talk on policies encouraging innovation.

Chris Wiggins on how data science is used at the New York Times

A joke in one of the presenter's talks – one of very few □. Here, the presenter commented that a after publishing his research, a slew of articles followed (by other scientists). The basic science is compelling. It's applied use (and thus fancier titles) is not.

A talk on latent stochastic differential equations. Essentially, how do you fill in data for missing time?

JUNG & CRAZY at the 2019 Edmonton Fringe

9/2/2019

You may have heard of Edmonton. It’s the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is North America's northernmost metropolitan area with a population of over one million. It's also home to one of the largest fringe festivals in the world, second only to Edinburgh.

This past August I traveled to Edmonton with a team of talented collaborators to put on a new play I’ve co-written, JUNG & CRAZY.

Some quick facts about the 2019 Edmonton Fringe Festival:

248 shows were featured in Fringe this year
Over the 11 days of the festival, a total of 147,358 tickets were sold (avg. 594 tix per show) – for a total of $1.72 M (CAD)
Aside from a service fee and sales tax, 100% of ticket sales go to respective artists.
The festival provides artists a place to stay for the duration of the festival, if they request it.
Shows are selected through a lottery system, with more spots given to local performers.
Selected shows get 7 performances at a fringe run venue, with a full tech staff and front of house.
Those who don't win the lottery can elect to bring their own venue (BYOV).
Benefits of BYOV are extra performances (you can have more than 7 performances) and extra tech time. Downsides are higher upfront costs as well as needing to organize a tech staff + front of house.

Some quick facts about our journey to the Edmonton Fringe Festival:

Our team arrived in Edmonton a week before the festival opened to prepare our marketing + rehearse, but also as a buffer in case of travel issues.
Our venue was a lovely 99 seat blackbox theater located right near the action of the festival.
Our show sold out 3 of its 7 performances!
Audiences connected with our content which translated to excellent word of mouth.
In fact, our show was strongly recommended by “the beer tent reviewers” – a group of independent reviewers who share their thoughts through physical paper handouts in the fringe’s beer tents.
Robert Keller and I were interviewed on CBC radio on our journey of creating this show. Listen to the full interview here.
The majority of our team stayed for a few days after the fringe to unwind and enjoy the city of Edmonton! We visited the beautiful Saskatchewan river valley which runs through the center of the city as well as the indoor waterpark and theme park at the massive Edmonton mall.

Our team shares their thoughts of their experience.

Click on a person's name to read what they have to say.

Yaakov Bressler, Co-Playwright

Insta: @boss_yaakov
Website: www.yaakovbressler.com

I. How did it go?
Three years ago, I fell in love with theater at the Edmonton Fringe. Revisiting that environment was a powerful experience and refueled my already burning passion for theater. From a production standpoint, our show did exceedingly well and was met by enthusiastic audiences. As a co-writer, it was amazing to see our words turned into a living breathing world.

II. What was your artistic goal?
My goals were to: 1) to experience the Fringe and reinvigorate myself with the art of theater 2) put on this show for the first time to see how it lives in front of an audience. Robert and I had a lot of questions about the work, and we needed to put it on its feet to them answered.

III. What was your greatest challenge?
Keeping kosher while immersed in the frenzy of the Fringe was difficult. Edmonton is not like NYC where there are numerous kosher restaurants. All the food I ate had to be planned and prepared which takes some foresight and creates opportunities for error.

IV. What was it like working with this team?
Awesome! Our team was extremely effective since everyone knew the vision and how to accomplish it. Everyone was experts in their own right. Powerhouse level achieved!

V. What impact do you think you had on people?
People had an opportunity to laugh – which leads to conversations – about something that is difficult to talk about. I imagine our audience carried forward our show’s message of self acceptance and what it means to be the driver of your own destiny, rather than allowing life to happen to you.

Robert Keller, Co-Playwright & Actor

Insta: @therobertkeller
Website: www.roberthkeller.com

I. How did it go?
The production was, overall, a great success and surpassed my expectations. Our ticket sales were phenomenal – we had a few sold out performances and houses never less than 50% full. Based on anecdotal evidence, I estimate we were in the top 20% of shows at this year's Edmonton Fringe--no small feat for a tiny crew from out of town. It was also a very rewarding experience for me, as both an actor and writer.

II. What was your artistic goal?
My goal was to see how my script would hold up in front of a real, paying audience. Would the jokes get laughs? Would the dramatic moments capture people's attention? And for the most part, the answer was a resounding "Yes!" And that was very gratifying.

III. What was your greatest challenge?
My greatest challenge was keeping a cool head under pressure. As I gain experience as a producer, I am learning that ALL productions feel like they are falling apart at some point, especially the closer one gets to opening night; that's just part of the process. The difficulty is learning to accept that and rolling with the punches – unexpected costs, setbacks, disagreements, etc. – of which there were a few on this production, as is normal. Learning to deal with those issues – and still remain open-minded, creative, and focused on getting things done--was sometimes challenging.

IV. What was it like working with this team?
Working with this team was pure joy. It really felt like I was living my dream throughout most of the rehearsal process, as well as during performances. And it almost always felt like we were all rowing the boat in the same direction, which was a gift. Communication styles did differ between us, and that was sometimes challenging, but in most cases, I think we complemented each other really well and found a very productive and satisfying team rhythm.

V. What impact do you think you had on people?
I believe audiences left our show uplifted and thoroughly entertained. We may also have encouraged people to question some of the big life decisions they have made, and perhaps inspired them to be more courageous and to take a step towards being their most authentic selves, whatever that means to them. And for those who had no previous familiarity with Carl Jung, we introduced a few intriguing ideas, like synchronicity and the collective unconscious.

Christopher Erlendson, Director

Insta: @this_is_chris24
Website: www.christophererlendson.com

I. How did it go?
My fringe experience has been an incredible adventure. I’ve been with the show in LA and NYC and putting it up on its feet internationally has been challenging but deeply rewarding

II. What was your artistic goal?
To make a show that facilitates audiences to introspect about mental wellness through a story that makes you laugh, think, and cry.

III. What was your greatest challenge?
Directing new work with a small budget and tight schedule. As a director, I like to balance exploration with effective execution of the script. This approach was difficult, given our limited time and resources, but despite this, we were able to accomplish a lot. I’m still shocked with how much we did with so little.

IV. What was it like working with this team?
Professional. Even though we were a scrappy new team coming out of New York to do a Fringe show, everyone was organized, creative, and involved – both within and without the rehearsal room.

V. What impact do you think you had on people?
Audiences were clearly engaged – our show had them laughing out loud or silent on the edge of their seats. After the show, I overheard people conversing about their own anxieties and sexuality, which is an example of living the story we were telling.

Julia Peterson, Actor

Insta: @juliamariepeterson
Website: www.juliamariepeterson.com

I. How did it go?
I greatly enjoyed being part of this artistically driven pursuit and focused adventure. In all stages of development, we hit our marks and created space to discover, take risks, and be vulnerable.

II. What was your artistic goal?
To create a character who the audience can see as a reflection of themselves so that they can see themselves and hear themselves without fear and judgement.

III. What was your greatest challenge?
In the process of creating a character, there’s a delicate line where you as a person stops and where the character as a person begins. Discovering (and exploring) that boundary requires extreme vulnerability and a safe space – applying self care and finding empathy for myself for this process to occur is always a challenge.

IV. What was it like working with this team?
Our team had a single sense of purpose which is really special and allowed us to focus, discover, and flourish. Each person held their own and supported each other. Our producers were especially resourceful and used all tools possible to the fringe festival and Edmonton itself which earned us a lot of respect and made me feel like they were the Kings of the Fringe.

V. What impact do you think you had on people?
By seeing our show, people had the opportunity to witness themselves in new ways such that they’ll be present in their own lives and make new choices and discover new possibilities.

Adam Schroeder, Actor

Insta: @adamschroeder

I. How did it go?
The Festival was great! Audiences loved what we had to show them which corresponded to full houses and and great sales. Edmonton is a great place to spend time. I found the community there to be super welcoming.

II. What was your artistic goal?
To have the experience of putting on a play I was proud of.

III. What was your greatest challenge?
Commuting. Our billet was 5 miles south of the Fringe grounds and commuting should have been a breeze, especially since there are 2 bus routes that travel directly between these locations. This was not the case! Busses would drive past me all the time as I stood waiting at the actual bus stop. Busses sometimes changed routes without telling me (or anyone). Eventually, I got a bike to avoid the whole mess. Then my bike seat got stolen! FML!

IV. What was it like working with this team?
Pleasant. We genuinely cared about the story we were telling and the artists we had in the room genuinely care about collaboration. That’s a perfect combination.

V. What impact do you think you had on people?
People were excited to see a story that was important without feeling beat over the head and have an agenda thrown at them. This play has a specific agenda and doesn’t get preachy – audiences noticed this and was appreciative.

Stephanie Curran, Marketing Director

Insta: steph_pirouette

I. What was it like marketing a Fringe show?
An awesome juxtaposition: I was simultaneously taking a marketing exam as part of my MBA while experiencing the customer journey in person at the Fringe when handbilling and talking to potential audiences.

Agile: We could adapt to what we see on the ground. We would look at box office sales and figure out how to fill seats for specific times, in real time. We would talk to people and see how they responded to marketing angles and adapt instantly, which was wild and fun!

Enlightening: The IRL awareness strategies allowed us to literally watch conversion. Additionally, the digital strategies were also a huge part of name recognition, especially when talking to other artists. Both were definitely necessary for building our audience.

II. What was your goal?
To be helpful to a theater project I believe in, while developing relevant producing and marketing skills.

III. What was your greatest challenge?
Understanding a customer I did not meet (until I was on the ground in Edmonton). Sure, we had demographic data and a basic breakdown, but that wasn’t sufficient enough for me to fully shape my strategy.

IV. What was it like working with this team?
Fun! The creative team really gave me free reign to try different strategies. Everyone was really eager to participate in the marketing efforts by learning, sharing, and executing, which I really appreciated.

V. What impact do you think you had on people?
People would walk out from our theater feeling okay not to be okay. The experiences that our characters go through, though extremely taxing, are survivable and escapable. Audiences will be able to relate to similar struggles and leave hopeful.

A special thank you to:
Jenna Schlags (Dramaturg), Chelsea Davis (NYC Assistant Director), Kathryn Bailey (Costume Consultant), Sarah Brown (Assistant Stage Manager), Dustin Neiderman (Graphic Designer)

For more information about Jung & Crazy visit www.jungandcrazy.com

Tall blonde street performer doing hula hoop tricks at the 2019 Edmonton Fringe.

The fringe in full swing!

Edmonton's beautiful river valley (which runs through the center of the city, like Central Park, but more beautiful).

The team of Jung & Crazy at the 2019 Edmonton Fringe Theater Festival.

Our team at the fringe grounds a day before the action begins.

Yaakov Bressler and Robert Keller at a CBC radio interview

Yaakov and Robert at their CBC radio interview! (Click on the photo to listen)

Street performer breathes fire at the 2019 Edmonton Fringe at night.

The fun continues until midnight each night!

Team poses proudly after their first performance next to a wall of posters.

Our team after our first performance!

A dark theater during a performance at the 2019 Edmonton Fringe Theater festival.

Our quant theater! (During a show)

Team jumps with comical expressions on their faces.

We're jumping out of joy. (Or is there fear in any of our eyes?)

Christopher Erlendson (director) in the lighting booth of a theater at the 2019 Edmonton Fringe Festival

Chris in the lighting booth, ready to cue our show!

Team poses next to a large indoor roller coast with loops in the West Edmonton Mall!

After the festival, we took some time to visit the world's largest triple loop indoor roller coast at the West Edmonton Mall!

Three actors pose with fun comical expressions.

Our cast warms up their facial muscles in the green room before a performance.

Adam Schroeder (actor) poses proudly in the breathtaking view of Edmonton's river valley.

Adam in the beautiful river valley (which runs through the center of the city, like Central Park, only more "naturey")

A wall of posters at the 2019 Edmonton Fringe Theater Festival

The fringe designates several walls for which they hang posters for the shows.

Stephanie Curran (marketing director) crafts a sign out of wood with carpenter glue on a street at the 2019 Edmonton Fringe Theater Festival

Stephanie + carpentry = next level marketing for our show.

Posters clutter the street at the 2019 Edmonton Fringe Theater Festival

The streets are a wild free-for-all for posters!

July Update

7/1/2019

I'm going to keep it brief this month, for the sake of "good" not "perfect."

Tech Stuff:

Startup

The past 6 months at Marpipe have been an incredible opportunity and I'm grateful for having been able to build core machine learning technologies.
With that said, I've moved on from Marpipe.
My work in the AI/ML marketing space will certainly continue, more on that when things progress.

Leadership:

In addition to being a mentor at Open Python NYC meetup @ Microsoft, I've joined the leadership team of the Data Visualization Society, NYC Branch.
More events + resources available at www.Dramatic.Solutions
I co-wrote an in depth article about dynamic pricing in Broadway. Check it out: Statistics for Dynamic Pricing of Theatre

Producing:

Jung & Crazy

Things are gearing up for our production at the Edmonton Fringe! (Mid August)
Our team – Robert Keller (co-writer, producer), Christopher Erlendson (director, producer) – is happy to welcome the following:
- Joe Rubino as Technical Director, Scenic + Lighting Designer (he can do anything!)
- Stephanie Curran as Marketing Manager
- Adam Schroeder to the cast! (as Ghost of Carl Jung)
Next month, I'll have a ton to share on this!

Upcoming Events:

Laptop Day For Theater Professionals
Tuesday, July 16th 4:00PM – 9:30PM
Eventbrite Link
⚡️ Reserve a one-on-one session with tech experts who can help you with anything related to experimentation and statistics.

Automating with Mailchimp
Thursday, August 1st 6:30PM – 9:45PM
Eventbrite Link | Proficiency in Mailchimp Required
⚡️Communicate with your audiences more efficiently using Mailchimp's built-in tools.

Check out all upcoming events here.

The relationship between time and capacity are shown in respect to demand in my recent medium article.

Results of a pricing simulation for theater tickets – proves that discounting tickets ahead of a performance results in better revenue.

Next level stuff.

I've been running again! Training to break 4:45 min/mile!

April 2019 – Recap

5/5/2019

Tech Stuff:

Things are progressing nicely at Marpipe, the marketing-tech startup I work at.

We released a super cool new explainer video about what we do. Check it out!
I've been asked (and agreed) to become a mentor at the Open Python NYC meetup @ Microsoft (of which I'm a regular attendee).
Random: I attended an event hosted by Keboola and won a massive growler for asking the best question.

In other news:

We've revamped the Dramatic Solutions website. Check it out! www.Dramatic.Solutions
Also, the Dramatic Solutions team just launched a whole bunch of events, check them out on the Eventbrite page. (Consider attending if you need help with something technologically related.)
Also, I co-wrote an article about the work Dramatic Solutions has been up to. Check it out: Reflecting on 6 Months of Leveraging Tech & Data in Theater

Producing:

An industry table reading of Jung & Crazy went extremely well! Robert Keller and I will be using the feedback and suggestions we received to revise our script in our coming writing week.

? A writing week is what it sounds like – and is amongst the most motivating, exciting, and awful things a writer will do in their career. Here goes nothing!
Not much on Magic the Play. But, Chris and I are meeting this week to kick things back up.
Also, we're revising the title for [Magic the Play] and are looking for ideas! Share them with us?

Upcoming Events:

Join me at one of these events, over the next few weeks?

Statistics for Dynamic Pricing ?
Thursday, May 9, 6:30PM – 9:30PM
⚡️ Leverage mathematical patterns to increase customer satisfaction while maximizing profit.
The Entertainment Collective – Bi-Monthly Meeting ?
Monday, May 13, 6:00PM–7:00PM
? A well structured & high yield networking event for entertainment professionals.
Laptop Day – Websites, User Flow, SEO ?
Tuesday, May 14, 5:00PM – 9:00PM
? Ask tech experts anything about Websites, User Flow, and SEO during this 4 hour open meetup.
Automating Communication 2.0 ☎️
Thursday, June 14, 6:30PM – 9:30PM
? Automate the most important and effective business tool in the theatre industry.

The newest explainer video of Marpipe!

One of our workshops in action. And me in the middle of it... (the action.)

Opening night at Tootsie!

□ My trophy for asking about integratable pipelines in the scope of testing machine learning algorithms on "live" data.

MARCH 2019 – RECAP

4/3/2019

TECH:

Some exciting news!

I've started as a Data Scientist at Marpipe – a marketing-tech startup building software to prescribe and predict ads as fast as you can think!
My role is in writing algorithms that'll optimize predictions. Essentially, I'll be using advanced mathematics to connect audiences with content they like.
In respect to this, a friend brought up an interesting point: Is predicting someone's behavior's or interest a violation of their privacy? My response is: perhaps, but not necessarily. To demonstrate, if I told you about a really cozy bookstore with a coffee shop inside which was in your neighborhood, you'd probably be really happy I did. Successful and ethical predictive algorithms are helpful and declutter our lives instead of filling it with noise. Moreover, many companies use poor algorithms paired with tracking methods to recommend based on your behavior across the web. It's only fair that "the good guys" get a chance at beating them back.
On that note, I'm super excited to be working with the team at Marpipe – a ridiculously creative, humblingly intelligent, crazy fast paced, and ethically focused cohort.

In other happenings:

I've published an article about an interesting Data Science collaboration formed at a tech meetup: Optimizing a Sort & Match Method in Pandas — Why Data Scientists should Attend Meetups
I've created another github repository (so many, I know) with some statistics for dynamic pricing. As of now, there is only one notebook – I'll get to adding more soon.
Also! Dramatic Solutions is powering along soon. We've launched our next Leveraging Tech & Data event: WEBSITES & USER FLOW. (Happening April 11, more details below.)

What is Marpipe?

A recent panel I put together on marketing like a startup – for theatre professionals.

PRODUCING:

Jung & Crazy is coming along nicely. Robert Keller and I have officially brought Christopher Erlendson on as the director for our coming Fringe production! Chris has been busy with casting the show, which is nearly complete.
Our first table read for the production is coming up in late April. More to follow thereafter!
Magic the Play is still progressing, though at a slightly slower pace given my above mentioned transition. More to share next month.

Schmoozing at Sardis at a recent cocktail event with The Entertainment Collective.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Join me at one of these events, over the next few weeks?

The Entertainment Collective – Bi-Monthly Meeting. Monday, April 8, 6:00PM–7:00PM
A well structured & high yield networking event for entertainment professionals.
Websites & User Flow. Thursday, April 11, 6:30PM – 9:30PM
Learn to build a website optimized for user engagement.

Sara Jacobi and me setting the stage for the recent Leveraging Tech & Data workshop.

February 2019

3/4/2019

Tech Stuff:

A boiled down version of what I’ve been up to:

My consulting work with Data Science has been progressing nicely. Relatedly. there's some big news I'll be sharing very soon, keep an eye out for it.
I've been adding some super easy to learn (and use) python in the following repo: https://github.com/ybressler/easy-learning More to come soon. Prowl around and let me know what you think.)
Dramatic Solutions has launched a weekly work-session where fellow data science focused theatre professionals meet up to discuss and tackle tech solutions in the theatre space. (Bonus, we use a complex point system to track participation.) Our membership is hovering at 6 for now, which is an exciting start. The goal with this group is to establish a community of doers who can support each other, answer questions, debug, and get more done.

Data Scientist giving a presentation in a board meeting room. Contains 3 people facing a presenter wearing a tie.

Me, leading a presentation on "What I do" at the Entertainment Collective (a bi-weekly networking event for theatre professionals)

Producing-wise:

Consulting for Rags the Musical was an incredible experience. As mentioned, the show is particularly special to me because of its emphasis on heritage, ancestry, and the struggle we all have in pushing forward.
My friend Moshe Lobel invited me to the opening night of Fiddler Ayfn Dach where I was blown away once again by the emotional power of that show. And in Yiddish no less! Extra coolness for the afterparty at Sardi's!
Christopher Erlendson and I have been focusing on creating an abstracted symbolic immersive performance of Magic the Play (title in revision) as a means of representing magic from cultures across the globe. Our collaborator Sita Chay is heavily involved in this endeavor too. We're thinking something with music and dance! More news to come!
Robert Keller and I have been picking up on our coming production of Jung & Crazy – a wild psychological farce about coming to terms with your true spirits in the face of the ghost of Carl Jung. We'll be producing the show in the Edmonton Fringe Festival in Alberta in mid August! Here we come!

Cast of Rags taking their bows at the end of a performance. Contains 15+ people dressed in 1920's outfits from NYC.

Curtain call at the closing night of Rags

Curtain call of Fidler Ayfn Dach (Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish)

Upcoming Events:

Join me at one of these events, over the next few weeks?

Marketing like a Startup: How to Elevate Your Theater Career, Thursday, March 7th 7:00PM – 9:30PM
What do NYC startups and theatre have in common? Come and find out...
Dashboarding in Google Sheets, Thursday, March 14th 6:30PM – 9:45PM
Learn how to manage your "stuff" automatically with easily deployable dashboards at this hands-on workshop.

Guests smiling at the Soon By You premiere party.

Hanging out at the Soon by You premiere!

Also! I saw an awesome play in the East Village about space travel titled Spaceman! Check out this review I wrote about it: SPACEMAN: TETHERED TO A DREAM

Yaakov Bressler pretending to float in space inside a capsule on the set of the new play

Floating in space in the set of Spaceman

January 2019

1/28/2019

The Important Stuff:

A boiled down version of what I’ve been up to:

I started a GitHub repo with the python code I’m writing to scrape the web for Broadway data. Feel free to follow it, fork, or contribute: https://github.com/ybressler/broadway_scraping
This data will be used to feed the API Yacin and I are building. Follow that project here: https://github.com/ytmimi/Broadway-Data-API
The most recent workshop on Automating Communication (part of Leveraging Tech and Data in Theater series, hosted by The Artist Co-Op ) was a large success. Thank you Yacin and Victoria for helping lead it!
You can view the slides (from Automating Communication) on the RESOURCES page. Be sure to check out the helpful links and key terms therein.
The next workshop is at 6:00PM, March 14, content to be determined .
I wrote an article on Sarah Teed’s blog on how to get started with building a website. Read it here: An Actor’s Guide to Building a Website.
Was amazing to speak at BroadwayCon the panel “God of Theatre Smile on Us: Working in the Theatre While Keeping a Religious Lifestyle.” I’m so grateful for having the opportunity to share my experience of being an orthodox Jew in the industry.
Co-panelists included Yoni Oppenheimer (24/6 Theater), Yocheved Joy Rosenthal (BroadwayWiz), Elli (The King of Broadway). Moderator was Rikki Jacobson. A major shout-out to Rikki for putting together this panel! Also, thanks for inviting me to participate!
You can watch a snippet from the panel below:

Producing-wise, not a ton to share about my current projects. The news nonetheless:

I was invited to consult the production of RAGS (the musical), which is being revised and produced by NYU. The show is super meaningful to me because it accurately depicts my Jewish ancestors in their journey emigrating to the states. Bonus points to the team of RAGS for starting a conversation about heritage and inclusivity.

I’ve mostly been involved in the show’s portrayals of Jewish themes by providing insight to key religious moments. Some of those include the reciting of Kadesh, wearing a tallit, and why Jews from the alteh velt (old world) might talk really expressively with their hands.)
Performances are from Feb 7 – Feb 11. Tickets are $5–$20, available here.

Upcoming Events:

Join me at one of these events, over the next few weeks?

Leveraging Tech and Data in Theater, Next Event. 6:00PM Thursday, March 14th.
Rags (the musical). Feb 7 – Feb 11, $5–$20, available here.

p.s. I went on vacation to Miami! Check out this adorable video I took:

I discovered a treasure island in #Miami where raccoons feast on @Tostitos pic.twitter.com/OlrlMIqiRt
— Yaakov Bressler (@YaakovBressler) January 23, 2019

BroadwayCon 2019 in action!

Yaakov Bressler and Clifford Hopkins at The Prom (the musical) on Broadway.

All smiles at THE PROM on Broadway!

Yaakov Bressler and Eric Dietz at the Off Broadway performance of The Girl with the Alkaline Eyes – The Chase Brock Experience.

Eric and I smiling because his show THE GIRL WITH THE ALKALINE EYES was a success. Also, because Chase Brock is taking the photo!

Me wearing a gritty face. Photo by Nick Ribbeck.

Yaakov Bressler in blue jeans and sweater smiling and pointing to wall art at Wynwood Walls.

Me in Miami taking a photo of me in New York. (At Wynwood Walls)

December 2018

12/28/2018

The Important Stuff:

It's been a while since my last post. Just saying hi. I'm alive and well! Here's what I've been up to:

I’ve become more deeply involved with the (Python) developer community and have become a regular attendee at Python NYC, a meetup at Microsoft.
Yacin Tmimi and I are building a “Broadway-API” which will provide massive data sets from pre-scraped data upon call. Development of this API will enable anyone to answer questions about the industry without ambiguity or proprietorship of data sets.
My curiosity with marketing and technology led me to an opportunity with Pantelo Group, an innovate marketing tech startup focused on enabling consumers and businesses with data-driven services.
My focus within Pantelo Group was on Marpipe, their audience identification product. My work is summarized in the medium article, Redefining Audience Targeting in the Digital Age with Predictive Analytics.
The article, published in the journal Towards Data Science, has reached over 2,000 people!
Interacting with so many marketing people (and attending a number of lectures) gave me a free and solid education in advanced marketing practices. I’ve begun sharing some of them on a new page on my site, my RESOURCES page.
The first few pieces of content on this page are about creating and optimizing a website. Check it out and let me know what you think?
Additionally, my deeper involvement with tech and data has led me to identify a massive gap in the utilization of technology in the theater industry. Thus, I’ve put together a monthly workshop in partnership with The Artist Co-Op titled Leveraging Tech and Data in Theater.
The next workshop is about automating communication and is at 6:00PM, Thursday January 24. Free to Artist Co-Op Members, admission is $10 (free tickets have just sold out).

As far as producing, it’s been difficult splitting my time and I’ve been dedicating less than I would have liked. Nonetheless:

Magic the Play is coming along excellently. Chris and I are deep in our next wave of revisions and are having a great time in doing so, thanks to our collaboration with an enthusiastic and talented group of actors. Additionally, we’ve welcomed composer Sita Chay to our creative team, an exciting collaborator who’ll be writing music for the show in parallel with Kelly Catlin.
Some Lovers – the new Burt Bacharach and Steven Sater musical, led by Cody Lassen – is coming along well too. After an exciting run upstate New York at the Adirondack Theatre Festival, the team has been focused on recording a cast album with Broadway Records. The talent for the recording include some major names – of which I cannot share just yet! But when I do, you'll be wowed.
Jung & Crazy has been accepted to the Edmonton International Fringe Festival! Robert Keller and I are super excited to present and share this show to, who we consider, one of the most exuberant and participative theatre audience in the world! Also, Edmonton is where I fell in love with theater! So returning will be a fulfilling experience.

Upcoming Events:

Join me at one of these events, over the next few weeks?

Leveraging Tech and Data in Theater: Automating Communication. 6:00PM Thursday, January 24th. Free to Artist Co-Op Members, admission is $10 (free tickets have just sold out). FB event here.
I’ll be seeing Meta-Phys Ed.’s experimental play, The Talmud – a dance + musical exploration based on 5th century Rabbinic text and Kung-Fu films – with a whole bunch of friends at 7:30PM on Thursday January 10. Want to join? Tickets will be between $15 and $20. If yes, drop me a line.
Also, BroadwayCon Industry Day is coming up on Friday, January 11. This is one of the most premiere events in the Broadway industry, I highly recommend attending.
Also! I’ll be speaking on a panel with fellow Orthodox Jews at BroadwayCon on Sunday, January 13 at 3:00 PM! The discussion is titled Gods of the Theatre Smile on Us: Working in the Theatre while keeping a Religious Lifestyle.

gif of 3D outcome of principle component analysis, PCA

A visual demonstration of my data science work with MarPipe. Here, I reduced a dataset from 14 columns to 4, allowing me to sort out "winners" (in yellow).

Jewish millennial talks marketing at a volunteer education event.

Me, sharing marketing resources at a volunteer education event, hosted by Ziina.

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ACADEMY

Magic the Play team Christopher Erlendson, Yaakov Bressler, Chaski Naor, Erin Wagner-Brooks visit the History of Magic exhibit.

The Magic the Play team took a purposeful trip to the HARRY POTTER – A HISTORY OF MAGIC exhibit where we saw J. K. Rowling's handwritten outlines and napkin sketches. Inspiring!

Stern College Dramatics Society SCDS closing curtain bow production of THE GAME'S AFOOT, December 2019.

I was pleased to help out the women of Stern College's Dramatic Society (SCDS) with their production THE GAME'S AFOOT which was met with enthusiastic audiences.

Young jewish men in blue and black suits, smiling. Yaakov Bressler, Zachary Adler, Chaski Naor, Avidan Brown and Ari Shane Weitz

Celebrating Brad's 50th Birthday in style! Thank you Brad for the full kosher menu!

I'm Devoting my Summer to Data Science.

6/18/2018

Tableau representation of median ticket price versus capacity in an interactive scatterplot, categorized by volume of appeal per show. Study by Jimmy Steinmetz, citation below.

One of the biggest challenges in producing theater on any scale is to fill a house with people paying the "right" price. Producers want to maximize revenue. Audiences want to be entertained for a price that keeps the entertainment enjoyable.

Over the summer, I aim on developing the skillset to determine the perfect price point for shows so that houses are at 100% capacity with audiences that are paying prices they are most comfortable with. Revenue is maximized, producers can make more shows, actors + creative team have more jobs, and the industry grows!

R output for model predictions of Broadway gross versus actual total weekly Broadway grosses since 2004. Study by Boneysteel et al., citation below.

Financial services already use these technologies. So do airlines, hotels, Facebook, Google, and Amazon. Let's use data science in Broadway!

I am most enthused by Kevin R. Williams's study from Yale: "Dynamic Airline Pricing and Seat Availability." Similarly Ian Boneysteele, Konstantine Buhler, James Kernochan, Mike Mester, and Soren Sudhof study at Stanford: "Forecasting Broadway Show Gross Revenue."

Wish me luck as I begin this next stage of my journey!

References:

Boneysteele I., Buhler K., Kernochan, J., Mester M., Sudhof S. (2016). Forecasting Broadway Show Gross Revenue. [online] Stanford School of Business. Available at http://zoo.cs.yale.edu/classes/cs458/lectures/old/Broadway/Final%20report%20vF.pdf [Accessed 18 Jun. 2018].

Steinmetz, J. (2016). Exploring Broadway Data in Tableau | InterWorks. [online] InterWorks. Available at: https://interworks.com/blog/jsteinmetz/2016/08/03/exploring-broadway-data-tableau/ [Accessed 18 Jun. 2018].

Williams, K. R. (2017). Dynamic airline pricing and seat availability. Yale School of Management; Yale University - Cowles Foundation

June + July Update

6/17/2018

IN SUMMARY:

I attended the TONY awards!
I also attended the post TONY gala (mentioned in vogue) and whole bunch of after-parties, including the one described as “the party you didn’t get invited to” by the New York Times.
It was an incredibly fun and wild experience! I’m encouraged by the joy and positivity that surrounds the culmination of the Broadway season.

Christopher Erlendson and I are revising Magic the Play with full efforts.
Every 3 weeks, we present the revised content to a knowledgeable and discerning audience which helps us make better creative decisions. (If you want to attend one of these intimate workshops, drop me a line.)
As lead producer of Magic the Play, I’ve hired Aaron Pratt and Erin Wagner-Brooks from Good People Management Group to general manage the company

I’ve also hired Lee Feldshon as attorney for the company.
Aaron and Erin from GPMG and Lee are the best at what they do. Their involvement with Magic is encouraging! (If you are excited by this and want to get involved in the producing side of this show, let me know.)

Some Lovers – the new musical which I’m working under Cody Lassen for – by Burt Bacharach (Promises Promises) and Steven Sater (Spring Awakening) opened to an enthusiastic audience in Glens Falls at the Adirondack Theater Festival.
Directed by Josh Rhodes (Brightstar) Some Lovers blends time, love, and regrets shadowed by the ghosts of our past in a soaring and poetic musical that tugs at your heart. I’m excited to see where the show goes next!
Jung & Crazy, a new comedy which Robert Keller and I co-wrote had an industry staged reading late May! Directed by Christopher Erlendson, the reading was an overall success with some great feedback and interest!
In fact, Jung & Crazy is having another presentation in LA later this month! Let's hope the show resonated with the people who can move it forward

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Cold Reading Series at the Artist Co-Op. 7:30PM Tuesday July 11th. FB event here.
I’ll be seeing the Play that Goes Wrong with a whole bunch of friends at 7:00PM on July 3rd! Want to join? Tickets will be about $40. If yes, drop me a line.

Congratulations Kelly on graduating with your Masters degree in Flute Performance from Manhattan School of Music!

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Some quick facts about the 2019 Edmonton Fringe Festival:

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Yaakov Bressler, Co-Playwright

Robert Keller, Co-Playwright & Actor

Christopher Erlendson, Director

Julia Peterson, Actor

Adam Schroeder, Actor

Stephanie Curran, Marketing Director

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