Tour: “Gimme Love” U.S. and Canada tour
Dates: Feb. 12-April 5, 2016
The Design: “I’ve been with Carly for three years now. She trusts me to develop the visual aspects of the show. To come up with the design, management told me the sizes of the venues and the budget. They wanted easy-to-find fixtures we could carry that we could also easily replicate around the world. Carly likes the diamond shapes, so I’ve got three diamond-shaped lighting trusses with LED pars and cyc effects for color.”
BACKSTORY
Home Base: Chicago
Career Spark: “At age three, I drew pictures of concert lighting I saw on TV. An early 1990s concert with NSync was the first time I saw moving lights done well as a kid.”
First Industry Gig: “As an intern at age 12 in a Cincinnati theatre. I got hired at age 13-14 as a board op for theatre company Jersey Productions, which produced Broadway shows.”
First Pro LD Gig: “After high school at 19, I worked corporate events and was the in-house LD for the Madison Theater, a concert venue in Covington, KY.”
Heroes/Mentors: “LeRoy Bennett; Beyonce’s HBO show was well done. Also Daunte Kenner of DK Productions, with whom I had the pleasure of working alongside for four years.”
Past Shows: “Trey Songz, the last two years with Prince. Also Chris Brown, Mary J Blige, Jill Scott, Hot Chelle Rae, Hoodie Allen, CeeLo Green.”
Best Advice: “Everybody has a different way of doing anything. Keep an open mind to listen to what the other person offers.”
Define a Great Lighting Design: “If you get stuck in a room with almost nothing, if you can show intensity and color, you can make it work with a flashlight.”
