As a Lighting Design major at the University of Michigan I took a variety of Theatre Design classes but I also had to take a few non-Theatre courses.
I took two classes from the English Department, Modern and Contemporary Drama and one from the Psychology Department, Perception.
Modern and Contemporary Drama: neither class dealt with present-day plays as the first plays we read were written in the 1880’s; the newest was from the 1950’s.
But they were both good classes and I got to read many classic plays, at least 35 each semester, and I think I read everything from Ibsen, Chekov, Shaw, Strindberg, Beckett plus many others.
The teacher, the same for both courses, was a scholar of the works of Samuel Beckett.
The teacher was so proud when he got a return letter from Beckett after sending him a copy his latest book.
The teacher went on and on about how great the letter was and how Beckett was so “avant-garde” and that he was such a new post-modern minimalist, blah, blah, blah.
The letter was a blank piece of paper.
I am thinking “Hey, this guy just Shit on you, and doesn’t care what you think about his plays”, but I did not say a thing.
He was a good teacher, I learned a lot from him and he is still teaching at Michigan and writing books on Beckett, Arthur Miller and others.
Unlike most MFA programs which are three years, at the time Michigan’s was only two years, but we also had to take classes over the summer which made up the normal number of credit hours.
As part of my fellowship I had to work for the Department and my first year I was assigned to the scene shop where I would work with students from the basic stagecraft classes who had to do shop hours each week.
My second year I served as the department electrician and sound designer.
In the summers we worked on four summer repertory plays and took a few special topic courses from guest lecturers.
As a graduate assistant we all worked on many shows, designing for some and just helping out on many others.
Some of the classes required that we would work on specific crews such as sewing in the costume shop or working the wardrobe run crew for the costume design class.
Of course I enjoyed it when I got to design the lighting for shows but I really enjoyed all of the different crews I got to work on.
Because there were at least eight to ten major productions a year, numerous one act lab shows plus four more in the summer, there was always something that needed to be done on one show or another.
It is hard to remember every show I have worked on because my involvement might be limited to just helping out for a few hours one day in order to get a show finished or to fix a problem that may have come up.
Just so we would not get bored we also worked with the Dance and Music Departments and a number of events and I got to work with the local stagehands union when several turning plays and rock shows came through town.
Stories to follow soon.
Of course with all of this work to be done I quickly learned that no work was scheduled on Saturdays in the fall as everyone took off to watch the most important event in the world:
MICHIGAN FOOTBALL!
It is hard to tell from the efforts of the last few seasons, but back then it was all about BO and Football.
I was so busy trying to get into school that I did not even think about getting tickets for the game and although as a student I could have bought season tickets, that first year I would have gotten the worst seats in the end zone.
It takes many years of buying tickets before you slowly move around to the side of the stadium and many more before you are near the 50 yard line.
I knew some students who would buy the season tickets just to sell off the Ohio State game ticket to pay for the rest and even more if they were lucky.
I was so busy with classes and designing lights for the first play of the year that I did not even pay too much about football and thought that there would be plenty of time to catch a game next year.
Things change and I only got busier as time went on, and as you can guess I never got to a game, but it did not seem important to me at the time.
I did get close to a game one week, but that is another story (there may be a waterbed in the story...).
Monday, June 7, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Blood Wedding, October 1978
There were many things to do as I started Grad School; getting used to a new school and town, buying text books and art supplies plus I was designing the lighting for the first department production of the year and had no time to relax.
The play was Blood Wedding and was written in 1932 by Federico García Lorca.
The play deals with the usual tragic themes: love, lust, betrayal, life and death.
Although not ideal, lighting designers are often brought late into the design process after the basic design concepts and stage layout have already been worked out and this was the case with Blood Wedding.
The set design was a unit set with many areas and platform levels with an erosion cloth backdrop.
I remember that the director had a clear vision for what she wanted to see on the erosion cloth backdrop.
She wanted the colors projected on the cloth to progress during the play progressed in the same way as the color of stars change as they get hotter: Red, Orange, Yellow, Yellow-White, White, Blue-White, and Blue.
For the most part the colors seemed to match the action of the play as the passions of the characters grew during the play and I was able to make it work.
The play was Blood Wedding and was written in 1932 by Federico García Lorca.
The play deals with the usual tragic themes: love, lust, betrayal, life and death.
Although not ideal, lighting designers are often brought late into the design process after the basic design concepts and stage layout have already been worked out and this was the case with Blood Wedding.
The set design was a unit set with many areas and platform levels with an erosion cloth backdrop.
I remember that the director had a clear vision for what she wanted to see on the erosion cloth backdrop.
She wanted the colors projected on the cloth to progress during the play progressed in the same way as the color of stars change as they get hotter: Red, Orange, Yellow, Yellow-White, White, Blue-White, and Blue.
For the most part the colors seemed to match the action of the play as the passions of the characters grew during the play and I was able to make it work.
Blood Wedding, Lighting Design, 1978
A year a so later I was working with a chorographer on his dance piece when he asked for the same color blending on the cyclorama during his dance.
I laughed a bit to myself and told him I understood completely and gave him just what he wanted.At an early rehearsal for Blood Wedding, with the ground plan taped on the floor, I saw the set was not going to work as planned because the acting areas were too small for the numbers of actors in the scenes.
I brought it up at the next meeting but was told not to worry about it as everything would be fine.Later after the set was built actors indeed do not fit in the spaces provided and they were having a hard time moving up and down the levels.
More than one person mentioned that at times the actors seemed like a family of goats going up and down a hillside.
The Moon
Some of my housemates came to see the show and I got them into the balcony of the theatre which was normally closed to the general public.
The play may have had some issues, but the critic for the local paper clearly did not understand the play and the concept of an allegorical character was beyond his comprehension.
I think my housemates got more enjoyment ripping apart the review of the play and how poorly it was written then from the play itself.
After the play there was a session in the theatre with the faculty and other design students where I had to explain my design concepts and methods and answer their questions.
Of course the other students have to try to show that they are smarter, question all of your choices and tell how they could have done it better.
It was a bit tough but I survived.
I felt that I had done a good job with the lighting and was happy with the results, but the end of each semester there was a portfolio review when each student had to show all of their class and design work to the faculty and I would have to wait to see what they thought of what I had done.
After the review the faculty would meet with the students to discuss any concerns that they had with their work and twice while I was there students were thrown out of the design program after one of the reviews.
As it turned out the student who designed the set Blood Wedding was thrown out of the program after the next review.
I felt bad, hoping my lighting did not make his set look bad, but I was assured that it was for the total poor quality of his class and design work and not just this one production.
Through a recent “Google” search I know that the student who was kicked out of the program has been working backstage in Atlantic City Casinos and Resort Hotels.
The small world of Theatre continues as the director of Blood Wedding has been coming to Brockport in recent years to adjudicate our plays for the American College Theatre Festival.
Monday, May 31, 2010
University of Michigan, Fall 1978
So the end of summer came and my job at Lycian was over, I packed up I flew to Ann Arbor to start Graduate School.
Many details are lost to time, but I took a cab from the airport into town, somehow got my things from my friends place and moved into my new house.
The renovations were almost done, with just a few small things yet to be done, but the house looked nice and looking back I had a good time and enjoyed the guys who I lived with.
The first “Official” event of the school year was a BBQ and softball game with all the grad students and teachers.
There were a few new faces but I had already knew most of the people from my two previous visits.
At Michigan they followed the long Theatre ritual of work hard/play hard and there would be many more parties, poker nights and softball games ahead, but so was a great deal of hard work in the classrooms and Theatres.
When I started college I felt a bit unsure of myself and now I wondered if I was ready for Graduate School and would I be able to do the work?
I was eager to do well in all of my classes but Costume History and Design was new to me and I was not sure how well I would do, but I jumped right in, worked hard and tried not to get behind.
Non-Costume Design students were not expected to do the same level of work as Costume Design majors.
Lighting Designers, Directors and Actors could take the class as “Sketchers” and just do simple costumes design plates, but that was not good enough for me.
I have always tried my best at everything I have done, but my first Costume Plates were just plain bad.
It was easy to see how bad my first few projects were and I knew I had to get better.
Each week I got a little bit better and once I reached a certain level the teacher would not let me go back and would push me to do better.
I always appreciated the teachers who gave that extra push and have tried to do that with my students when I began to teach.
Having students who want to learn is always a joy and I have always gone out of my way to help them if I could.
Painting the costume plates were at first hard for me, but I enjoyed the challenge of learning how to research, adapt the design and paint the plates.
There were many nights I was up late working on my projects to get them just right.
I am very happy when I look at the progression of my designs from my first projects through my Thesis designs and I will have to scan some of them and post them here.
Unlike some my fellow students, my drafting skills were already very good when I got to Ann Arbor but I still had to learn a few new lighting design conventions.
Sometimes I miss hand drafting, but I do not miss long hours of working late into the light to get something done.
I can now do a basic light plot or set of working drawing in one tenth of the time it used to take, plus they are done more accurately, but there is still something about using your own hands to draw and paint your ideas.
There would be plenty of assignments to draw, paint and draft while at Michigan and I enjoyed the challenges of each project given to me.
I have kept most of the work I did at both UB and Michigan and often use them as examples in the classes I teach.
In addition to class work there was always design work on the stage and the first play of the year, and my first design in grad school was quickly coming up.
Many details are lost to time, but I took a cab from the airport into town, somehow got my things from my friends place and moved into my new house.
The renovations were almost done, with just a few small things yet to be done, but the house looked nice and looking back I had a good time and enjoyed the guys who I lived with.
The first “Official” event of the school year was a BBQ and softball game with all the grad students and teachers.
There were a few new faces but I had already knew most of the people from my two previous visits.
At Michigan they followed the long Theatre ritual of work hard/play hard and there would be many more parties, poker nights and softball games ahead, but so was a great deal of hard work in the classrooms and Theatres.
When I started college I felt a bit unsure of myself and now I wondered if I was ready for Graduate School and would I be able to do the work?
I was eager to do well in all of my classes but Costume History and Design was new to me and I was not sure how well I would do, but I jumped right in, worked hard and tried not to get behind.
Non-Costume Design students were not expected to do the same level of work as Costume Design majors.
Lighting Designers, Directors and Actors could take the class as “Sketchers” and just do simple costumes design plates, but that was not good enough for me.
I have always tried my best at everything I have done, but my first Costume Plates were just plain bad.
It was easy to see how bad my first few projects were and I knew I had to get better.
Each week I got a little bit better and once I reached a certain level the teacher would not let me go back and would push me to do better.
The Jew of Malta, Costume Designs, 1980
I always appreciated the teachers who gave that extra push and have tried to do that with my students when I began to teach.
Having students who want to learn is always a joy and I have always gone out of my way to help them if I could.
Painting the costume plates were at first hard for me, but I enjoyed the challenge of learning how to research, adapt the design and paint the plates.
There were many nights I was up late working on my projects to get them just right.
I am very happy when I look at the progression of my designs from my first projects through my Thesis designs and I will have to scan some of them and post them here.
Unlike some my fellow students, my drafting skills were already very good when I got to Ann Arbor but I still had to learn a few new lighting design conventions.
Sometimes I miss hand drafting, but I do not miss long hours of working late into the light to get something done.
I can now do a basic light plot or set of working drawing in one tenth of the time it used to take, plus they are done more accurately, but there is still something about using your own hands to draw and paint your ideas.
There would be plenty of assignments to draw, paint and draft while at Michigan and I enjoyed the challenges of each project given to me.
I have kept most of the work I did at both UB and Michigan and often use them as examples in the classes I teach.
In addition to class work there was always design work on the stage and the first play of the year, and my first design in grad school was quickly coming up.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
House Hunting in Michigan
In the middle of the summer I took a week or so off to drive to Ann Arbor to find a place to live in the fall.
On the way to and from Michigan I stopped in Buffalo and got to see some of my friends.
I drove through Canada to Detroit and then on to Ann Arbor.
I had never driven so far alone before and had a scare when one of the tires on the car started to come apart sending bits of rubber slamming into to wheel well.
It was “Fun” changing a tire on the side of the road in Canada with little shoulder space and cars zipping by at 80 miles an hour.
I stayed with a friend from Buffalo that had gone to Michigan and was getting ready to graduate.
While I was there I got to see all four shows in their summer repertory plus a dance concert.
Madonna was still a dance student at Michigan at the time but I have no way of knowing if she was in the concert or was at home packing and getting ready to take the bus to NYC and on to fame and fortune, but I like to think that I saw her last dance concert in college.
There was a party one night when I got to meet some of the students who would be back in the fall as well as those who were getting ready to graduate.
I am always telling my students my Theatre “War” stories, many of which make up this blog, and bits of sage-like advice.
I tell them about the old adage of Theatre being a small world and that you will never know who knows who and that you will always keep running into people that you already know.
I also tell them to look around the room as they may be working with some of their classmates when they graduate and go out into the “Real” world and I have talked about this in some of my earlier blogs.
One of those who I meet that summer and who was getting graduate was C. T. Oakes and although we did not take classes at the same time at Michigan, I would run into him many times over the years.
C. T. was teaching at SUNY Geneseo when I started at SUNY Brockport in 1982 and I worked with him several times when he came to Brockport to design the lighting for Garth Fagan Dance.
http://garthfagandance.org/
C. T. left Educational Theatre and entered the business end of lighting but I would run into him many times at the USITT conferences and other trade shows.
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/c-t-oakes/14/40b/8aa
(I just found out that C. T. now lives here in Brockport, just a few blocks away, again a small world)
After a few days of looking I found a place to live but I was taking a chance as it was old house that was still under major renovations.
I saw an ad on campus and met several guys who had found the house and needed a few more roommates.
We met in a local bar and found that we were a mixed bag of students; both graduate and undergraduate students, majors from English to Theatre to History and even Chinese.
A couple of us were from Long Island, a farm boy from Illinois, a pot head, a book worm and the son of a Venezuelan Diplomat.
I returned in the fall and moved in with the six other guys to the upper two floors of a nice old house just a few blocks from campus, we all got along well and had a good time that year.
Before I left Ann Arbor I met with the Lighting Design Teacher and was told that they were short a designer and he asked me if I would design lights for a play that fall.
Normally they would not have new students design their first semester but I jumped at the chance, not really thinking too clearly as it was the first show I the year and my design skills would be given a big test.
So before I even took one class at Michigan I had seen 5 department plays, a dance concert, a rehearsal for an Opera, attended several parties and attended my first production meeting for a play I was about to design.
I was excited and could not wait for the summer to be over and to start on my newest adventure.
On the way to and from Michigan I stopped in Buffalo and got to see some of my friends.
I drove through Canada to Detroit and then on to Ann Arbor.
I had never driven so far alone before and had a scare when one of the tires on the car started to come apart sending bits of rubber slamming into to wheel well.
It was “Fun” changing a tire on the side of the road in Canada with little shoulder space and cars zipping by at 80 miles an hour.
I stayed with a friend from Buffalo that had gone to Michigan and was getting ready to graduate.
While I was there I got to see all four shows in their summer repertory plus a dance concert.
Madonna was still a dance student at Michigan at the time but I have no way of knowing if she was in the concert or was at home packing and getting ready to take the bus to NYC and on to fame and fortune, but I like to think that I saw her last dance concert in college.
There was a party one night when I got to meet some of the students who would be back in the fall as well as those who were getting ready to graduate.
I am always telling my students my Theatre “War” stories, many of which make up this blog, and bits of sage-like advice.
I tell them about the old adage of Theatre being a small world and that you will never know who knows who and that you will always keep running into people that you already know.
I also tell them to look around the room as they may be working with some of their classmates when they graduate and go out into the “Real” world and I have talked about this in some of my earlier blogs.
One of those who I meet that summer and who was getting graduate was C. T. Oakes and although we did not take classes at the same time at Michigan, I would run into him many times over the years.
C. T. was teaching at SUNY Geneseo when I started at SUNY Brockport in 1982 and I worked with him several times when he came to Brockport to design the lighting for Garth Fagan Dance.
http://garthfagandance.org/
C. T. left Educational Theatre and entered the business end of lighting but I would run into him many times at the USITT conferences and other trade shows.
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/c-t-oakes/14/40b/8aa
(I just found out that C. T. now lives here in Brockport, just a few blocks away, again a small world)
After a few days of looking I found a place to live but I was taking a chance as it was old house that was still under major renovations.
I saw an ad on campus and met several guys who had found the house and needed a few more roommates.
We met in a local bar and found that we were a mixed bag of students; both graduate and undergraduate students, majors from English to Theatre to History and even Chinese.
A couple of us were from Long Island, a farm boy from Illinois, a pot head, a book worm and the son of a Venezuelan Diplomat.
I returned in the fall and moved in with the six other guys to the upper two floors of a nice old house just a few blocks from campus, we all got along well and had a good time that year.
Before I left Ann Arbor I met with the Lighting Design Teacher and was told that they were short a designer and he asked me if I would design lights for a play that fall.
Normally they would not have new students design their first semester but I jumped at the chance, not really thinking too clearly as it was the first show I the year and my design skills would be given a big test.
So before I even took one class at Michigan I had seen 5 department plays, a dance concert, a rehearsal for an Opera, attended several parties and attended my first production meeting for a play I was about to design.
I was excited and could not wait for the summer to be over and to start on my newest adventure.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
More Summer of 1978
I greatly enjoyed working at Lycian that summer in 1978.
The owner Richard was a good story teller, who liked to talk and I was eager to hear his “War Stories”.
It seems that all us who work backstage in Theatre like to tell tales, like fishermen who tell of “The Big One That Got Away”.
Richard talked about people, theatres and the various shows that he worked on in the New York City area as well as Rock and Roll concerts.
He supplied some of the equipment for the Grateful Dead Europe ’72 tour and to this now aging Dead Head who was only 22 at the time that was very cool.
When I started working I was the only one there besides Richard and his wife.
He took pride in his products and really took the time to show me the right way to build the different units.
I quickly learned what to do and did not have too rejected parts.
In addition to the PAR Cans and Color Wheels I also had to refurbish lighting equipment that was part of his rental stock.
I would clean-up, paint and re-wire lights and cables as they came back into the shop before they would go back out on the next rental.
Near the end of the summer another guy was brought in to help after I would leave for Grad School in Michigan.
A rental order came in for some follow spots for a benefit gig for the local Democratic Party out in the Hamptons.
The singer Harry Chapin and his band were playing in some rich lady’s back yard I was put on the comp list.
I drove out to the Hamptons and saw a great concert in somebody’s big back yard.
It was very cool to be on the guest list and get waved in and Harry gave a great concert and played all of his hits.
Working in the shop was very cool that summer with little to complain about except that I did get lots of little cuts and burns all summer long plus a big cut when I almost cut my thumb off .
I got lazy and sloppy trying to rush a job as I was de-burring some holes in sheet metal using the drill press just holding the piece with my hand and not with a pair of pliers.
The drill bit caught on an oval shaped double-punched hole and spun around cutting my thumb.
Ouch!
Nice big cut, I swear I saw bone, but I did not need stitches and it healed fine, although I have a nice little scar right next to the dog bite scar I got when I was about 8.
At some point a fluorescent lamp salesmen stopped in the shop and tried to sell Richard some lamps.
He told some big story about how bright they were and of their color temperature.
Richard said “Really, let’s try them out”
So he brought the guy into the shop and put the lights in and brought out his various meters and tested the results.
“Wrong, these do not test to what you said” and the guy was soon sent packing.
I thought it was very funny and I am sure the salesman never knew what kind of business he had walked into until it was too late.
I was happy to run into Richard at the USITT conference in Texas in 1996 and sat with him at the closing banquet.
I asked how things were going and if he still got to do any live Theatre.
He asked “Don’t you know? I built my own Theatre”.
When I later visited his nice new big shop and the Theatres that he built across the road he gave me the full tour.
Again I was glad that I got to work in the shop that summer and I have been happy when I have gotten to run into him at the various trade shows over the years.
The owner Richard was a good story teller, who liked to talk and I was eager to hear his “War Stories”.
It seems that all us who work backstage in Theatre like to tell tales, like fishermen who tell of “The Big One That Got Away”.
Richard talked about people, theatres and the various shows that he worked on in the New York City area as well as Rock and Roll concerts.
He supplied some of the equipment for the Grateful Dead Europe ’72 tour and to this now aging Dead Head who was only 22 at the time that was very cool.
When I started working I was the only one there besides Richard and his wife.
He took pride in his products and really took the time to show me the right way to build the different units.
I quickly learned what to do and did not have too rejected parts.
In addition to the PAR Cans and Color Wheels I also had to refurbish lighting equipment that was part of his rental stock.
I would clean-up, paint and re-wire lights and cables as they came back into the shop before they would go back out on the next rental.
Near the end of the summer another guy was brought in to help after I would leave for Grad School in Michigan.
A rental order came in for some follow spots for a benefit gig for the local Democratic Party out in the Hamptons.
The singer Harry Chapin and his band were playing in some rich lady’s back yard I was put on the comp list.
I drove out to the Hamptons and saw a great concert in somebody’s big back yard.
It was very cool to be on the guest list and get waved in and Harry gave a great concert and played all of his hits.
Working in the shop was very cool that summer with little to complain about except that I did get lots of little cuts and burns all summer long plus a big cut when I almost cut my thumb off .
I got lazy and sloppy trying to rush a job as I was de-burring some holes in sheet metal using the drill press just holding the piece with my hand and not with a pair of pliers.
The drill bit caught on an oval shaped double-punched hole and spun around cutting my thumb.
Ouch!
Nice big cut, I swear I saw bone, but I did not need stitches and it healed fine, although I have a nice little scar right next to the dog bite scar I got when I was about 8.
At some point a fluorescent lamp salesmen stopped in the shop and tried to sell Richard some lamps.
He told some big story about how bright they were and of their color temperature.
Richard said “Really, let’s try them out”
So he brought the guy into the shop and put the lights in and brought out his various meters and tested the results.
“Wrong, these do not test to what you said” and the guy was soon sent packing.
I thought it was very funny and I am sure the salesman never knew what kind of business he had walked into until it was too late.
I was happy to run into Richard at the USITT conference in Texas in 1996 and sat with him at the closing banquet.
I asked how things were going and if he still got to do any live Theatre.
He asked “Don’t you know? I built my own Theatre”.
When I later visited his nice new big shop and the Theatres that he built across the road he gave me the full tour.
Again I was glad that I got to work in the shop that summer and I have been happy when I have gotten to run into him at the various trade shows over the years.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Summer of 1978
In the summer of 1978 after graduating from SUNY Buffalo I soon started my first real job, and it was even in my field.
I was working at Lycian Stage Lighting as a general shop worker and would learn several new skills by summer’s end.
I had met the owner, Richard Logothetis, the previous summer when his shop was still on Long Island but has since moved to a new and bigger shop in upstate Sugar Loaf, NY
http://www.lycian.com/
I worked mainly on two different things that summer, PAR Can lighting instruments and Indexing Color Wheels.
There was a lot of basic sheet metal work in making both units; layout, cutting, bending and welding.
I used a spot welder to make the PAR Cans and it took about 45 welds to finish one unit.
It is wise to use gloves when you are welding or working with sheet metal but I found it easier not to wear them most of the time.
I quickly learned where the hot spots where as I moved the units around in the welder.
Ouch!
The PAR Cans were a basic part of most rock shows at that time; a simple metal shell that held the PAR64 lamps that looked like old car headlights.
I always thought that the ones we made were better and stronger than others I had seen and whenever I come across them today I look to see if they are ones that I made.
The other big project was making the new Indexing Color Wheels which allowed a designer to have five different colors in one light.
Compared with today’s equipment these seem like nothing special, but back in 1978 they were cutting edge.
They looked like regular Color Wheels that would simply spin in circles, but what made these different is that they could be set to stop at any of the colors the designer wanted.
One order was sent out with Blackstone the Magician and other was used by Tharon Musser on Broadway in the Musical Ballroom.
Some of the parts came in already punched out from another shop but the outside edge of the bigger size frames had to be cut manually with a Foot Shear.
It would take about 100 cuts to make the square frame round and I would go into some Zen moment as I turned the frame a little after each cut.
Crunch, crunch, crunch . . .
There was also some wiring to do on the control boxes and everything had to get painted.
I visited Richard’s new shop several years ago and there is a special paint area that had with a negative air suit and the powered paint sprayed on to the electrically charged units which are then put in an oven to bake the paint on.
Back in 1978 I had a little spray booth with a small turntable that was out the back door of the shop and lots of cans of spray paint.
Today Lycian makes only follow spots which are very popular and widely used, but at the time I worked for him he was just starting to design his first units.
I learned a great deal that summer and enjoyed my time working there.
There was even time for a few fun adventures both in and outside the shop.
I was working at Lycian Stage Lighting as a general shop worker and would learn several new skills by summer’s end.
I had met the owner, Richard Logothetis, the previous summer when his shop was still on Long Island but has since moved to a new and bigger shop in upstate Sugar Loaf, NY
http://www.lycian.com/
I worked mainly on two different things that summer, PAR Can lighting instruments and Indexing Color Wheels.
There was a lot of basic sheet metal work in making both units; layout, cutting, bending and welding.
I used a spot welder to make the PAR Cans and it took about 45 welds to finish one unit.
It is wise to use gloves when you are welding or working with sheet metal but I found it easier not to wear them most of the time.
I quickly learned where the hot spots where as I moved the units around in the welder.
Ouch!
The PAR Cans were a basic part of most rock shows at that time; a simple metal shell that held the PAR64 lamps that looked like old car headlights.
A PAR Can, but not a Lycian
The other big project was making the new Indexing Color Wheels which allowed a designer to have five different colors in one light.
Compared with today’s equipment these seem like nothing special, but back in 1978 they were cutting edge.
They looked like regular Color Wheels that would simply spin in circles, but what made these different is that they could be set to stop at any of the colors the designer wanted.
One order was sent out with Blackstone the Magician and other was used by Tharon Musser on Broadway in the Musical Ballroom.
Some of the parts came in already punched out from another shop but the outside edge of the bigger size frames had to be cut manually with a Foot Shear.
It would take about 100 cuts to make the square frame round and I would go into some Zen moment as I turned the frame a little after each cut.
Crunch, crunch, crunch . . .
There was also some wiring to do on the control boxes and everything had to get painted.
I visited Richard’s new shop several years ago and there is a special paint area that had with a negative air suit and the powered paint sprayed on to the electrically charged units which are then put in an oven to bake the paint on.
Back in 1978 I had a little spray booth with a small turntable that was out the back door of the shop and lots of cans of spray paint.
Today Lycian makes only follow spots which are very popular and widely used, but at the time I worked for him he was just starting to design his first units.
I learned a great deal that summer and enjoyed my time working there.
There was even time for a few fun adventures both in and outside the shop.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Finally Graduation from SUNY Buffalo
Since my last blog entry our current production of “The Story” had a four show run at Geva Theatre Center in Rochester and now we have brought it back to Brockport for a two week run.
Trucking the set to and from Geva was lots “Fun” and went better than I had hoped, or is that feared.
Back to 1978 . . .
The last month or so for me in college at Buffalo was a wild, crazy and a lot of fun.
I only had one real class, Art History II on Tuesdays and Thursdays, plus an independent study in Theatre so I had plenty of time to work on my last production for the Theatre Department, the outside theatre design job, and one last big music concert.
For the production of “The Merry Wives of Windsor” I was designed both the scenery and lighting and was able to bring in one of my friends to help.
Barry helped me put up the temporary lighting trees and wire in the portable dimmers into the church hall we were using.
There was also a shop teacher who also helped me build the set, but I was very surprised when we went to his shop to do some work.
It turned out that he was an elementary school shop teacher, something I never heard of before.
The shop was cute, with small work benches; I thought this must be what Santa’s work shop looked like, but there were no elves to be found.
When the building of a set gets behind I often look but never find any of the magic shop elves who build stage sets.
Often I think many of my students really believe that shop elves build the sets and seem so surprised when they are required to do the work.
Ahh, they might get their wittle hands dirty.
We have soap.
There were still many parties go to and one host.
I used part of my pay from the outside design gig to have a big graduation party.
The party must have been good but for some reason I do not remember it.
I started to sample the drinks a little too early and a little too much and missed most of the party, but from what I found left behind on a table the next day it must of been a good time for all.
There was a baggie with over a half once of really good . . . . . What? No, my housemates and I found nothing, nothing at all.
There were so many things were happening all at once, it seemed that there was too much to do with the end of College and getting ready for Grad School.
Of course it was during this big whirl of events that I picked this time to develop a crush on someone and then found out later that someone else had a crush on me, but I was too busy flirting, too blind or just too stupid to see it.
Well this blog is about my life in Theatre and not my wild love life.
For those stories you will have to read elsewhere:
Dear Penthouse,
After working all day in the Theatre, listening to a friend’s band play all night, I hosted an afterhour’s party for the musicians and a few friends.
What happened later you would not believe . . .
Hey!, Back to Theatre.
As school came to an end I was surprised to find out that some of my friends who were the biggest partiers not only graduated but got into Grad school, some even went to Law School.
One of the last things I did in Buffalo before I left was help a friend move a safe out of his house on the day of graduation.
What a wild way to end four years at UB.
Summer was straight ahead along with some new adventures; working for a stage lighting manufacturing company, going out to Michigan to find a place to live for the fall and a stopover back in Buffalo.
Stories to follow.
Trucking the set to and from Geva was lots “Fun” and went better than I had hoped, or is that feared.
"The Story" 2010
Back to 1978 . . .
The last month or so for me in college at Buffalo was a wild, crazy and a lot of fun.
I only had one real class, Art History II on Tuesdays and Thursdays, plus an independent study in Theatre so I had plenty of time to work on my last production for the Theatre Department, the outside theatre design job, and one last big music concert.
For the production of “The Merry Wives of Windsor” I was designed both the scenery and lighting and was able to bring in one of my friends to help.
Barry helped me put up the temporary lighting trees and wire in the portable dimmers into the church hall we were using.
There was also a shop teacher who also helped me build the set, but I was very surprised when we went to his shop to do some work.
It turned out that he was an elementary school shop teacher, something I never heard of before.
The shop was cute, with small work benches; I thought this must be what Santa’s work shop looked like, but there were no elves to be found.
When the building of a set gets behind I often look but never find any of the magic shop elves who build stage sets.
Often I think many of my students really believe that shop elves build the sets and seem so surprised when they are required to do the work.
Ahh, they might get their wittle hands dirty.
We have soap.
There were still many parties go to and one host.
I used part of my pay from the outside design gig to have a big graduation party.
The party must have been good but for some reason I do not remember it.
I started to sample the drinks a little too early and a little too much and missed most of the party, but from what I found left behind on a table the next day it must of been a good time for all.
There was a baggie with over a half once of really good . . . . . What? No, my housemates and I found nothing, nothing at all.
There were so many things were happening all at once, it seemed that there was too much to do with the end of College and getting ready for Grad School.
Of course it was during this big whirl of events that I picked this time to develop a crush on someone and then found out later that someone else had a crush on me, but I was too busy flirting, too blind or just too stupid to see it.
Well this blog is about my life in Theatre and not my wild love life.
For those stories you will have to read elsewhere:
Dear Penthouse,
After working all day in the Theatre, listening to a friend’s band play all night, I hosted an afterhour’s party for the musicians and a few friends.
What happened later you would not believe . . .
Hey!, Back to Theatre.
As school came to an end I was surprised to find out that some of my friends who were the biggest partiers not only graduated but got into Grad school, some even went to Law School.
One of the last things I did in Buffalo before I left was help a friend move a safe out of his house on the day of graduation.
What a wild way to end four years at UB.
Summer was straight ahead along with some new adventures; working for a stage lighting manufacturing company, going out to Michigan to find a place to live for the fall and a stopover back in Buffalo.
Stories to follow.
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