Beyond the Lights: A Conversation with Theater Professionals – Details, episodes & analysis

On today's show, I speak with Tom Ontiveros, a lighting and projection designer as well as a professor and chair of the theater department at the University of La Verne. Tom has such an interesting and unexpected from starting college as a biology major, to working at the Museum of Natural History in LA, to finding himself as an emergency professor for one semester in Pennsylvania and falling in love with teaching. While I could keep going about Tom's journey, I feel it's better to let the rest of it unwind on its own in this conversation.

For a full transcript of this episode visit beyondthelightspodcast.com.

Mentioned in this Episode
[00:04:18] Siti Company
[00:07:03] Museum of Natural History
[00:09:47] Intersection for the Arts
[00:10:08] Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
[00:10:31] Campo Santo
[00:11:12] The Culture Project
[00:11:24] The Exonerated
[00:40:18] University of La Verne
[00:47:14] Norco 80

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Andrea Grody is a music director and music supervisor, primarily working in new musicals. Now, if you've been listening for a while you know that one of my specialties and loves is new plays, so it was such a pleasure to discuss what that looks like from a musical director's perspective. Andrea has been on two of the bigger Broadway shows over the last few years, The Band's Visit and Tootsie—two pretty different shows. She walks me through a little of what those processes looked like and the different challenges they each presented.

For a full transcript of this episode visit beyondthelightspodcast.com.

Mentioned in this Episode
[00:04:33] The Civilians
[00:05:53] The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
[00:05:57] Music Directing at Penn State
[00:13:40] The Band’s Visit
[00:17:36] MTI
[00:25:09] Tootsie
[00:40:43] Maestra
[00:49:02] Suffs

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Hello friends! I'm coming to you in a bit of a different format today. I will be taking a break for the next weeks and instead of not showing up in your feed every Monday I've decided to re-share some earlier episodes that you may have missed if you are a new listener or perhaps you just want to revisit. This week is the VERY first episode I released with my dear friend and incredible artist Tai Verley the artistic director of Revolution Shakespeare. Enjoy!

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Today's guest is Tai Verley, a freelance actor and the Artistic Director of Revolution Shakespeare in Philadelphia, PA. We discuss how she went from Psychology major to actor, from being told she would never understand Shakespeare to running a Shakespeare Company, how she is continuing to foster artistic creation through her company during Covid-19, and so much more. For a full transcript of today's episode visit beyondthelightspodcast.com.

Links Mentioned During this Episode
[22:30] The Shakespeare Forum
[26:24] Revolution Shakespeare
[42:04] At Home with the Macbeths
[59:16] My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
[1:00:14] Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
[1:00:39] Artists Against Abernathy
[1:07:51] Mister Rogers appears in front of Congress

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On today's show, I speak with Cándido Tirado a playwright, teacher, and chess master. Cándido and I discuss his time at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, why there is a rumor that he punched a critic after a bad review (spoiler, he didn't punch a critic), his status as a chess master, and how that informs his approach to theater.

For a full transcript of this episode visit beyondthelightspodcast.com.

Mentioned in this Episode
[00:05:12] Míriam Colón
[00:05:14] Puerto Rican Traveling Theater
[00:12:20] INTAR
[00:13:24] Maria Irene Fornes
[00:31:17] Bobby Fischer and the Game of the Century
[00:36:03] Play Chess Online

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On today's episode, I speak with Dawn Chiang. Dawn is a lighting designer that has worked on Broadway, in opera, regional theater, dance, live events, I could keep going, truly.  

I first met Dawn a few months ago as a part of the Actor's Fund LinkedIn Challenge, which we talk about extensively during this conversation. Dawn is the first lighting designer to come on the show and I'm so excited for you to listen.

For a full transcript of this episode visit beyondthelightspodcast.com.

Mentioned in this Episode
[00:07:57] New York City Opera
[00:16:57] Oregon Shakespeare Festival 
[00:28:38] Jennifer Tipton
[00:34:16] The Actors Fund
[00:34:36] The Career Center
[00:46:49] Broadway Bound Theater Festival
[00:47:15] The New School for Drama

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Cara Reichel is a co-founder and artistic director of Prospect Theater Company in New York City. If you've been listening to this show from the beginning, you may know of my history with Prospect--but if not, well...you're in for a treat. I worked with Prospect back in 2008 as an Assistant Director to Cara and have been a fan ever since. We talk about everything from her early years in NYC, Prospect's origins and ultimate growth, and some of the barriers to entry for early career directors.

For a full transcript of this episode visit beyondthelightspodcast.com.

Mentioned in this Episode
[00:04:50] Princeton Chapel Choir
[00:13:12] Drama League
[00:14:18] SDC
[00:33:15] 59E59
[00:35:24] Primary Stages
[00:46:06] The Wolves
[00:46:33] A Strange Loop
[00:51:01] The Masters by Ursula K. Leguin
[00:52:25] The Hello Girls Cast Recording
[00:52:59] Golden Boy of the Blue Ridge

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On today's show, I speak with Kristi Ross-Clausen, a self-proclaimed eclectic theater practitioner. Kristi has been in the industry for 30+ years and has done everything from working in a large theater in Appleton, WI where she calls home to going on tour with Broadway shows War Horse, Mamma Mia!, and Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

For a full transcript of this episode visit beyondthelightspodcast.com.

Mentioned in this Episode
[00:14:07] The Spotlight Operator’s Handbook
[00:14:38] Drama Bookshop
[00:17:17] Handspring Puppet Company
[00:41:43] Sing Faster

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On today's show, I speak with David R. Molina a musician, composer, and sound designer. I have a not-so-secret love of sound design, and quite frankly I can't believe it's taken me THIRTY-NINE EPISODES to have a sound designer on, but here we are.  David has so much insight to share about composing for theater, film, radio plays, podcasts, you name it. This conversation was a lot of fun for me and gave me an even deeper appreciation of just what sound designers in the theatre space accomplish.

For a full transcript of this episode visit beyondthelightspodcast.com.

Mentioned in this Episode
[00:25:01] Play On Shakespeare and Next Chapter 
[00:33:32] Dallas Theater Center
[00:34:07] Round House Theater
[00:34:31] Emilio Delgado
[00:35:55] San Francisco Arts Commission
[00:44:00] It Was Always Here
[00:46:34] Teatro Campesino
[00:46:40] La Peña

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On today's show, I speak with Liza Luxenberg, the Senior Vice President of Aurora Productions. Aurora is a production management and technical supervision company that specializes in Broadway, Off-Broadway, and touring theater productions. Liza walks me through her journey from college stage manager, to intern, to her Senior Vice President role at Aurora. She is the first Broadway person I've interviewed since the announcement of Broadway's return and we discuss a bit about what that MAY look like. Things are moving fast toward re-opening and as you'll hear, we're very excited for that to happen.

For a full transcript of this episode visit beyondthelightspodcast.com.

Mentioned in this Episode
[00:06:01] Bay Street Theater
[00:07:11] Aurora Productions
[00:16:17] Intern at Aurora Productions
[00:17:24] Work at Aurora Productions
[00:28:44] Michael Kors Fashion Show

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Arianna Gass is a theater-maker who primarily occupies the multimedia theater space. They are a worker-owner of Obvious Agency, an artist cooperative in Philadelphia known for creating interactive live performance. They are also currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Chicago which we talk extensively about. This was an enlightening conversation for me and really exposed me to areas of theatre and performance theory that I did not know much about before today. 

For a full transcript of this episode visit beyondthelightspodcast.com

Mentioned in this Episode
[00::02:20] Stella Adler Teen Conservatory
[00:04:56] Vasser College Experimental Theater
[00:05:55] Barnes Foundation
[00:10:15] Obvious Agency and Creative Cooperative Futures
[00:11:53] Applied Mechanics
[00:11:54] Headlong Dance Theater
[00:09:55] Ninth Planet
[00:13:15] New York Theater Workshop
[00:14:11] Ivo Van Hove
[00:16:17] Barnes Jawnt
[00:18:50] Bicycle Coalition
[00:18:53] Black and Brown Workers Cooperative
[00:19:11] US Federation of Worker Cooperatives
[00:19:17] Girls Rock Philly
[00:28:21] Hamletmachine
[00:29:13] The Wooster Group
[00:29:14] The Wooster Group’s Hamlet

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