The Broadway Lighting Master Classes are underway, with a fantastic first day of sessions with Jules Fisher, Beverly Emmons, Clifton Taylor, and Don Holder. Attendees were treated to a manufacturers showcase during lunch and had the chance to get their hands on gear from sponsors.

Surprise visits today included Ken Billington, Kyle Chepulis, Kevin Adams (speaking Thursday), and Peggy Eisenhauer (speaking tomorrow and Thursday). Visits from mentoring companies who were not exhibiting included Patrick O’Rourke and Mike Cannon, both from 4Wall.

The Excellence Awards and Lighting Products of the Year ceremony starts, within the hour, so check back tomorrow for photos and more news.



Marian Sandberg and LD Brian MacDevitt, who spoke at both the PMCs and will speak tomorrow at the BLMC

Projection designer and PMC presenter Zak Borovay

From left to right: PMC speakers Sean Cagney, Peter Acken, Patrick Dierson, and Adam Dunaway.

Editor’s Note: Bruce Rodgers just finished his session at the Live Design Projection Master Classes this morning.

I just finished my sesssion at the Projection Master Classes alongside Patrick Dierson and David Taylor. We discussed the effective use of LEDs in production, which I think was incredibly useful for the attendees. Some great questions too. What I liked most was the various uses beyond live music production that were dicussed.

My favorite question was at which point is the technology chosen for a design, which came from my fellow panelist, David Taylor. To this, I can only say that in the design process, the choice of technology is born out of the essence. The essence and vibe of the production design must be the first consideration, and the use of LED must support the essence.

I would love to do this again next year again!!

In spite of a rainy New York Sunday, spirits were high at the second day of the BSMC. The morning sessions kicked off with Bob McCarthy, winner of one of this year’s Sound Products awards for his book, Sound Systems: Design and Optimization, who discussed the ins and outs of system design. In fact, a dozen lucky people won copies of his book, a “must-have” sound designer tool, in a drawing during the manufacturers showcase.

Bob McCarthy discusses System Design in his BSMC session.

The second session featured sound designer Dan Moses Schreier, who brought two very special guests, renowned Broadway orchestrator Jonathan Tunick and noted musical director Paul Gemignani. They entertained a lively discussion about the collaboration of the three disciplines as well as the size of the orchestra—well actually the diminishing size of the orchestra on Broadway in general (with exceptions such as the current Lincoln Center Theatre revival of South Pacific). It was quite something to see this triumvirate in conversation, discussing the challenges of sound for Broadway musicals, including the rehearsal process, who decides on the size and composition of the orchestra, the role of technology in how the orchestra sounds (the more natural the better…) and other challenges. It was an extremely interesting angle!

From left to right: Broadway orchestrator Jonathan Tunick, sound designer Dan Moses Schreier, and acclaimed music director Paul Gemignani, being introduced by Live Design’s David Johnson before the session “Sound Designers Collaborating With and Working with the Music Director and the Orchestrator.”

The day continued with sessions by Steve Sockey from SIA Acoustics and John Taylor of d+b, with the closing event a casual Q&A with Abe Jacob. As the sound manufacturers loaded out their gear, everyone promised to be back next year for the 2009 edition of the BSMC or to see one another later this week for the Projection Master Classes or the BLMC which continue through May 22.

My first year at CalArts is finally over now and I can relax for a few days. I had an extremely arduous last week of school. Not only did my show open and close, but I also had to prepare my portfolio for a school-wide review, finish my final paper project (Les Liaisons Dangereues) for Don’s class and prepare myself for my mid-residence review from my mentors.

Everything turned out for the best considering the time restraints I had. Teching the Opera in four days proved to be very daunting and stressful, especially working with the Grand MA for the first time ever. All in all, I was happy with where the design got too based on the time allotted. It was in no way a finished piece, or technically clean to the trained eye. However, I do think it supported the emotional moments of the show and helped in establishing the scenic setting of the LA river/marsh. But it is in the past now, and school is finished, so it is on to bigger and better things.

For starters, I flew back East this morning and I am excited to get into the NYC for BLMC later this week. I will hopefully have time to visit some of my fellow CalArts graduates at the infamous Clambake hosted by none other then Ming Cho Lee. For those unfamiliar to Clambake, it is a multi-school portfolio presentation between recent graduates to show everyone else your work. It is primarily focused on visual design (scenic, lighting, costumes and puppets) and you get to see how other students from top programs like Yale and NYU design.

I also had time on my flight to read the script for a new show I am assigned to next semester called BLU. The piece is written by one of the MFA 3 performance writers and will be performed in one of our smaller black box spaces. The play read very quickly the first time through and gave me a good sense of what the story is about. I’ll need to spend more time with the text to start dwelling on some potential ideas.

I also hope to have some time at the end of the week to go and see Les Liaisons Dangereues, as it picked up 5 Tony nominations, and I’m anxious to see what the actual production looks like, after working on a paper-project version of it for the past month.

And below are some of the production shots from Platee that I included at portfolio review:

Simon Matthews, Susan Stroman, Jonathan Deans, and Abe Jacob host a Q+A after Young Frankenstein.

The 2008 BSMC—this year’s version of the annual Broadway Sound Master Classes—kicked off on Friday evening, May 16, with a performance of Young Frankenstein at the Hilton Theatre. In spite of heavy rain and heavy traffic, a group of 120 people attended the show (which is totally hilarious). At the end of the show, the group remained in the theatre for a Q&A with Abe Jacob, creative consultant for the Classes, Simon Matthews, the highly-talented FOH board op, the equally talented sound designer Jonathan Deans, and surprise guest, director/choreographer Susan Stroman. “Stro,” as she is called by her friends, discussed her collaboration with Deans, whose sound design for the show includes 700 special effects.

Deans spoke more about the sound design for the show on Saturday morning, May 17, as one of the featured speakers at the BSMC…. referring to his three shows in the Hilton Theatre to date: Ragtime, Pirate Queen, and Young Frankenstein. In keeping with the broad comedy of a Mel Brooks musical, the sound for Young Frankenstein is bold and loud, complete with an opening thunder clap that Deans joked could deafen you for the rest of the show. As always, Deans was a knowledgeable, personable, and humorous speaker who is obviously passionate about what he does, including numerous productions for Cirque du Soleil, including the upcoming CRISS ANGEL Believe at the Luxor, the sixth resident show for Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas, which will be part of the 2008 Backstage Las Vegas during LDI2008 in October.