I had an absolutely wonderful time! I am a costume and set design student, and these classes were a great opportunity for me to learn about the needs and capabilities of lighting designers on whom I rely to amplify the effect of clothes and spaces I create. This experience fostered an understanding between the different design disciplines and reaffirmed my faith in the theatre as a truly collaborative arena. My only wish is that Live Design would consider supporting similar Master classes with a focus on set and costume design!

Anya Klepikov

MFA candidate in Theatre Design

Yale School of Drama

Here’s Gary Fails from City Theatrical on his experience at the BLMC:

City Theatrical has participated in every BLMC since the beginning. In my opinion, this was one of the best ever, largely due to the venue. The NYU area, adjacent to Washington Square Park, is lovely and convenient. BLMC is something that everyone, no matter what area of lighting they participate in, whether designer, electrician, TD, touring, regional theatre, etc., etc., should attend, at least once. Why? Well, from personal experience, I always am inspired by the speakers. They are professionals, and they sometimes seem to take the coolness of what they do for granted, but they are pros at the top of the lighting food chain and even other pros will find it interesting to hear them. Jules Fisher is an interesting person besides being a well known designer, and his interest in art, optics, magic, and loads of other areas make his presentation one that I try to watch every year.

Besides the classes, New York is a great place to visit in May. The weather was superb for the BLMC, and I always envy the attendees who get to make full use of the city while we lowly manufacturers are hustling back and forth from work to the classes and showcases. BTW, the manufacturers‘ showcases (CTI showed all of its WDS gear and LED power supplies) were vastly improved this year since they served food during the showcases. Good strategy!

Overall, I would say the biggest benefit of attending is the chance to meet and shake hands with some of our most interesting designers. The chance to meet and speak with Jules, Peggy Eisenhauer, Brian MacDevitt, Clifton Taylor, Bev Emmons, Chris Akerlind, Howell Binkley, and Philip Rosenberg, as well as meeting many of the top manufacturers in the industry and playing with the new gear in the span of three days is pretty unique.

BLMC is really one of our industry‘s best events.

On Tuesday evening, May 23, the BLMC group of 175 people attended a performance of The Light In The Piazza, the Tony Award-winning musical at Lincoln Center Theatre. It was the perfect show for the BLMC, with LD Chris Akerlind’s Tony Award-winning lighting displaying a subtle yet beautiful design scheme, with a very careful use of moving lights. Since the action is set in the 1950s in Italy, it would be inappropriate to see the automated fixtures move, so of course you don’t. Akerlind used them for their power and color temperature, although when the hot Italian sun does flood the piazza with light, the sources are incandescent (large Fresnels) as the LD felt they were closer in color temperature to bright sunlight. The lighting moves from night scenes with performers moving in and out of the shadows on the piazza to a hotel room, and daylight scenes that range from the interior of a church to an apartment and a men’s clothing store. The lighting is elegant: delicate at times and certainly never overblown. After the performance, Akerlind (with his production electrician as well as his programmer) was on hand to answer questions. Then the crowd was allowed on stage to see how the rig was hung and ask additional questions to the lighting team as well as some stagehands who were generous enough to stay and chat with everyone. At 11:30pm I called it a night and left a handful of BLMC attendees on stage (thanks to everyone at Lincoln Center Theatre for making the post-show discussion possible!). This is the kind of experience that makes the BLMC such a great experience. The icing on the cake was the next day when Akerlind made his debut appearance as a faculty member for the BLMC, offering an in-depth analysis of his lighting for The Light In The Piazza, and participating in a panel about lighting and projection, moderated by Wendall K. Harrington. Akerlind proved to be a wonderful speaker (he has experience from his years as a professor at CalArts) and I hope he‘ll be back next year, along with Jules Fisher and the entire BLMC faculty who really topped themselves this year!

Let’s hear from one of our students from NYU who attended both our BSMC and the BLMC. Vadim Ledvin, take it away…

Attending the BLMC was a great experience for me that went far beyond my expectations. The lectures were all great, and all very diverse - varying based on the designer’s background and their viewpoint on their art; from Beverly emmons and her intuitive approach to color, to Brian MacDevitt and his class on looking to the outside world and the fine arts for inspiration in our design. Most impressive so far was Jules Fisher’s lecture on Lighting design theory detailing his craft, his approach and his observations on our world and the light in it. A great highlight was the benefit session for ESTA on the design Aesthetic of Shakespear in the Park which was graced by several generations of designers from the Delacore Theatre who had a hand in creating one of New York City’s greatest Legacy’s - Josep Papp’s free theatre. The design, color, inspiration and theory sessions were very well complimented by the flashy manufacturer’s showcase featuring the great majority of the big names and all their new toys that will make the ideas that are to be born from the intermingling and mentouring of talent to talent possible. - - ETC finally made the 90! I am looking forward to next year’s session because for me , as a student of design to intermingle and have a chance to learn directly from the nearly complete array of the top working professionals in my field and be surrounded by the fellows in my craft is a truly warm and inspiring experience. It is more than just the basics of color, intensity, shape and movement, it is about the art of it, of creating, advising and becoming a community - working together to imagine and make possible the magic of thatre. Thanks Live Design and come back to NYU.

As a mentored attendee of the Broadway Sound Master Class, I was able to learn about the latest techniques and technologies sound designers are using in Broadway theatrical productions. As an audio technician and IATSE stagehand, I found this information was very valuable to me. I am very grateful to everyone at d&b Audiotechnik for their participation in sponsoring my attendence at the Master Class. I must add that it was an amazing experience to meet and listen to Abe Jacobs. He is a living legend in the world of sound design and possess a wonderful sense of humor. I am indebted to all the sound designers for sharing their insights and experiences with me during the class sessions. The only other thing that would have added additional value for me would have been to receive a certificate of completion for the course. It would be a positive addition to my personnel file at the union hall.

Marc Schwartz

Vice-President

JG Sound & Stage Productions, Inc.

Member, IATSE Local 631, Orlando, FL