Live Event Pioneer, Parnelli Visionary Honoree
On July 24, the live event industry lost one of its greatest innovators, Eric Pearce, owner of SGPS/ShowRig. This 2013 Parnelli Visionary Honoree not only was on the forefront of tour-worthy innovations in the world of trussing, cabling, staging, and control systems, but his businesses through the years became known as “Eric University” as so many of today’s greatest came out of his organization.
“I worked directly with Eric Pearce starting from 1975 to 1991; and after that, in many others ways, and I can say Eric was talented and had great ideas. He was always able to see what the lighting industry needed. As a person, he was a nice and decent man. He only really got upset when things went wrong, and even then, he would say ‘no point in crying over spilt milk.’ But then he would be meticulous about making sure it didn’t go wrong again. And he was kind of like Rasputin, in that no matter what the setback, he would always get up and come back again! He was bullet-proof, so when I heard he got taken out by a shop accident, I was stunned. It is a real shame, a tragedy for all his friends and close ones, as well as for the industry.”
— Clive Forrester, Co-Founder of All Access Staging and Productions
“Eric was fearless; there was no project that he wouldn’t take on. He was a natural, self-trained engineer who always thought outside the box. There were two huge changes in the lighting industry in the 1980s: one was the Vari*Lite, and the other was Eric’s Aluminum Truss, 6 lamp bars, and Socapex. Both were game changers. We have lost a great talent.”
— Kieran Healy, Lighting Designer
“Eric’s reputation as a madman was legendary in the business, but the term ‘Mad Genius’ is more accurate. He could always come through with turning any of our cockamamie ideas into reality and deliver a great production—even though it meant he was often still building bits of it as we were loading the trucks to go to the first show. This business is poorer without him. Hell, the world is poorer without more mad geniuses like him.”
— Jim Lenahan, Production Designer
“He was the one superhuman that could take my ideas and turn them into reality, and he did it with elegance, eccentricity, and exceptionalism. You’re one of a kind, Eric Pearce, and the world is a lesser place without you.”
— Marc Brickman, Lighting Designer
“I went to work for him after college working in the shop and touring, for about four years. After I left and was working tours, I would turn to his company [to be a vendor] and he was always business-savvy. He had a lot of products that were originally off the shelf, but then he would customize them, making improvements. He was equally crazy and a genius. He walked that line pretty good!”
— Mark Spring, Production Manager
“Eric has been a friend since his early days in London theatre and he was one of TMB’s first customers. His innovative ideas and products created the framework for today’s mega shows. He could take a design from a napkin to a load-in faster than anyone. The industry owes him a huge thank you for his amazing body of work.”
—Marshall Bissett, Co-Founder of TMB
“Eric was an innovator, a risk taker, an empowerer, a mentor, a genius, and a lovely man who cast a big shadow in our industry and in my life. I didn’t see you as much as I wished Eric, and now you’ll be missed by me and many, many more. Per aspera ad astra, you crazy genius.”
—John Featherstone, Principal at Lightswitch
A complete spotlight of his remarkable life and career is found in a PLSN feature at www.plsn.me/pearce.
