BEDA 20: A Sad Day For Theatre
Last night, Tharon Musser passed away.
By my junior year of college, I felt like I was hitting a brick wall as far as learning things I wanted to know. It was not that I thought there was nothing left. I just didn't know what it was that I needed.
I talked to my Lighting Design professor (also probably the closest thing to a mentor that I have had) and we decided that I needed to read - A LOT. We started talking about the people I needed to research and the names I needed to know. Then he gave me two sets of initials - JR and TM. I can't remember if he told me anything else.
At this point, you need to understand that I have the ability to find just about anything on the internet. And if you tell me something that I don't know, chances are if there's a computer around, I'm going to start looking it up.
I got home that night and started doing my research. I was so excited to have something to dig for and start learning about.
I found JR first - Jean Rosenthal. I believe my LD later called her "The great-grandma" of lighting. She was a pretty extraordinary woman. I can't really explain it all here, but she made so much forward progress in the way that lighting was percieved. Really, she turned it into an art as opposed to a necessity. She was also Martha Graham's primary lighting designer.
TM took a little bit more time. Tharon Musser however proved to be quite amazing as well. (LD: "Grandma lighting") I honestly have not followed her life as much as I should have, and think that now would be a good time to read up on her more. She was the lighting designer for A Chorus Line when it was originally on Broadway - which was a HUGE step in lighting history as it was the first to utilize a computerized lighting board as opposed to one you had to maually do your lighting changes.
It was after I researched these two (and fell completely in love with Jean as a person) that I think I got part of my fire back for the profession I had gotten myself invested in.
There are times that I feel like I am and will always be fighting the 'boy's club' that is the lighting profession. However, two of the most prominent, profession-morphing designers were WOMEN. And they did spectacular things. And I hope that I can somehow follow in their footsteps.
By my junior year of college, I felt like I was hitting a brick wall as far as learning things I wanted to know. It was not that I thought there was nothing left. I just didn't know what it was that I needed.
I talked to my Lighting Design professor (also probably the closest thing to a mentor that I have had) and we decided that I needed to read - A LOT. We started talking about the people I needed to research and the names I needed to know. Then he gave me two sets of initials - JR and TM. I can't remember if he told me anything else.
At this point, you need to understand that I have the ability to find just about anything on the internet. And if you tell me something that I don't know, chances are if there's a computer around, I'm going to start looking it up.
I got home that night and started doing my research. I was so excited to have something to dig for and start learning about.
I found JR first - Jean Rosenthal. I believe my LD later called her "The great-grandma" of lighting. She was a pretty extraordinary woman. I can't really explain it all here, but she made so much forward progress in the way that lighting was percieved. Really, she turned it into an art as opposed to a necessity. She was also Martha Graham's primary lighting designer.
TM took a little bit more time. Tharon Musser however proved to be quite amazing as well. (LD: "Grandma lighting") I honestly have not followed her life as much as I should have, and think that now would be a good time to read up on her more. She was the lighting designer for A Chorus Line when it was originally on Broadway - which was a HUGE step in lighting history as it was the first to utilize a computerized lighting board as opposed to one you had to maually do your lighting changes.
It was after I researched these two (and fell completely in love with Jean as a person) that I think I got part of my fire back for the profession I had gotten myself invested in.
There are times that I feel like I am and will always be fighting the 'boy's club' that is the lighting profession. However, two of the most prominent, profession-morphing designers were WOMEN. And they did spectacular things. And I hope that I can somehow follow in their footsteps.