Richard “Nook” Schoenfeld, noted Lighting Designer, Writer, and Editor Emeritus of Projection, Lights & Staging News (PLSN) magazine, died on the morning of Dec. 14, 2022. He was 65. Though he had beaten pancreatic cancer this past year and was cancer-free, complications from that fight resulted in liver failure.
Nook had an indomitable spirit, and when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2021, he vowed to beat it—which he did—rightfully proud of his cancer-free status. Throughout his illness, Nook never lost his trademark humor, openness, and unshakeable optimism that he carried with him his entire life. In fact, unsurprisingly for anyone who knew him, Nook became a bit of a legend at the Mayo Clinic Hospital, Saint Mary’s Campus in Rochester, MN where he was being treated. The doctors and nurses of his care team were all impressed with Nook’s fighting spirit, his mental toughness and his wonderful heart. His wife, Mary Lou, noting that, “His legendary status went on, extending even to his final moments.”
Always fast with a smile and one to relish the chance of seizing an opportunity, Nook was indeed a legend among his colleagues in the live entertainment industry, though his early aspiration was to cover the Yankees.
Schoenfeld’s father, Leonard, had a career in the Coast Guard, and Nook was born in Hawaii, growing up between California and New York, with most of his high school years spent on Long Island NY. As a teenager he did his first gig, working as a stagehand for a one-off Jefferson Starship show at the Commack Arena on Long Island. Graduating high school, a year early, he spent a year as a ski bum in Colorado, before returning to New York and attending SUNY New Paltz.
His initial college ambition was to become a sportswriter, but an opening for a concert stagehand on campus changed his path. While working backstage for the school concerts he also wrote show reviews for the college paper. Increasingly doing audio work, Nook turned to wanting to be a recording engineer, and went to the College for Recording Arts in San Francisco. The now-defunct school was then part of University of San Francisco, so it enabled him to finish with an English Literature major and a minor in audio arts. He returned to New York doing mostly grunt work for touring legend Michael Ahern. Working a show for The Who led to a full-time job at See Factor.
Working at the shop at the same time was future legendary production manager Mikie Weiss, who mentored the kid—that Bob See always called “College Boy”—in the basics of lighting. While at See Factor, Nook worked the show he would come to refer to as his favorite gig of his career. In 1983, he worked as an electrician on The Talking Heads’ Speaking in Tongues tour and the subsequent film Stop Making Sense. Thirty-seven years later he stated, “I’ll forever tell anyone who will listen that it’s still the best band I ever worked with. More fun than any 25-year-old kid could ever ask for.”
In 1986 he headed back to the West Coast, planning to work at Showlites in Los Angeles, but sensing L.A. wasn’t for him, he instead went to Morpheus Lights in San Jose. Shop manager Dan English hired him on the spot as a shop foreman. While there it was once again a Jefferson Starship gig that turned Nook’s career path. Morpheus sent him out to address issues with moving lights that the band’s Lighting Designer Skip Johnson was having on the tour. Having sorted the problems, Johnson requested that Nook stay out with the tour. Nook was now a Lighting Crew Chief on his first tour. Next, he was sent out with Lionel Richie’s Dancing on the Ceiling tour in 1986-87. That tour also had future Parnelli Lifetime Honorees, Production Manager Chris Lamb, and LD Peter Morse, forging a relationship that lasted with Nook throughout his career.
Nook learned his craft working with people such as Morse and Michael Keller and as the 1990s rounded the bend, he was getting more calls to design. His first “soup to nuts” designing gig came in 1994 working on the Eagles’ Hell Freezes Over tour. In 1998 he designed 311, which led to work with Sugar Ray and No Doubt, among others. Pushing him into the next phase of his career, Nook soon was designing up to eight acts a year.
Throughout his career Nook never gave up writing. While staying on the road, he wrote a bimonthly column for the short-lived Light and Stage Concepts. In 2006, Projection, Lights & Staging News (PLSN) publisher Terry Lowe offered Nook a monthly column, LD-at-Large, which he would go on to write over an eight-year span. The PLSN contributor would also attend Parnelli Awards ceremonies, and in 2011, he took home a Parnelli for Lighting Designer of the Year. Then in 2014, Lowe asked Nook to take PLSN editor’s chair, a role he accepted and excelled at until leaving in 2021. And yet, even when he got the cancer diagnosis, Nook wasn’t ready to throw in the towel. While he stepped down as editor of PLSN, he did continue writing. Working with friend Joe Fucini, who acted as editor, Nook compiled and expanded upon his beloved “Old Man’s Musings” industry stories, publishing a book of road stories, The Old Man’s Musings—45 Years of Gigs. True to his character, Nook generously donated the profits to educational institutions and charities that are important to him and his family, including The Anderson Center for Autism in Staatsburg, NY, and The Arete Academy for twice exceptional kids in Minneapolis, MN.
During his tenure at PLSN, in addition to his writing, editing, and designing, Nook also joined the board of directors of the Parnelli Awards, where he created the NextGen category to highlight the work of up-and-coming people in the business. His career—both as a designer and an editor—was marked by his generosity and mentoring. He always looked to shine the spotlight on someone newer to the industry, helping their career take off. As a result, Nook’s true impact on the entertainment lighting field was not limited to his own accomplishments but can also be seen today in the work of the many designers he influenced and nurtured in their careers. While many saw Nook’s full-time magazine gig as an exit ramp from a life on the road, he continued his freelance lighting gigs for top artists and bands including his work as an LD for Kid Rock, John Legend, Imagine Dragons, and others, often finishing articles on his laptop during rehearsal breaks in darkened arenas or while waiting on a flight back to his home and family in the Minneapolis area.
Throughout it all, he always credited his wife, Mary Lou, as being a stabilizing force. This business is known to be tough on marriages, and though his first one didn’t survive; his love of his family never wavered. Nook was first and foremost a loving and caring family man. He was deeply devoted to Mary Lou and his sons. Many in the industry have heard him speak with pride about his two wonderful boys, Lenny and Hunter. He also leaves behind his father Len Schoenfeld, his stepmother Julie Hill, his brothers Norm and Jeff Schoenfeld, his sister Laurie Hart, along with many nieces and nephews. Nook was preceded in death by his mother, Joan Schoenfeld. All who knew him are deeply saddened by his passing but should also take solace in the warmth and joy of the memories they shared with him.
Mary Lou and the family also wish to extend their immense gratitude to Dr. Mark J. Truty and his team of talented surgeons, as well as all the nurses on Mary Brigh ICU 7 D&E and Francis 5 at the Mayo Clinic’s Saint Mary’s Campus, for all of Nook’s extraordinary care. “They embraced him, and they embraced all of us, and we can’t thank them enough.”
Nook started every job with a smile, ended every gig with a laugh and in-between worked hard at being excellent at his craft, while always having fun doing it. Mary Lou offers that to honor him, “be more like Nook. Teach others and share your knowledge, support each other. In the end, just be nice.”
There will be a celebration of Richard ”Nook” Schoenfeld’s life in the coming months of 2023. More details will be shared at a later date. If you would like to make a donation in Nook’s memory, there are three charities that were connected to Schoenfeld’s two boys—and close to his heart: The Anderson Center for Autism in Staatsburg, NY; Gateway of Hudson Valley, Kingston, NY; and The Arete Academy for twice exceptional kids in Minneapolis, MN. You can also buy his book of wildly amusing road stories, The Old Man’s Musings—45 Years of Gigs on Amazon [ www.plsn.me/OldManMusingAmazon ]. The proceeds from the book sale benefit these charities. Also to read the numerous remembrance of Nook from throughout the industry and to leave one of your own on Nook’s Facebook page go to: www.plsn.me/NookFB
