Lighting designer Ben Hagen has been busy since last year's LDI when he was named the winner of the Wally Russell 2009 Most Promising Newcomer Award. Since then he has been accepted in USA (United Scenic Artists) and will be sworn in at their March meeting. He also just returned from Boston, where he was working with Vivien Leone on the transfer of the Dirty Dancing tour from it's previous home in Chicago. Ben is also workig with Joshua White and Stan Pressner on an art project for a museum in Virginia, and is Pressner's associate for Sacred Ellington, a Carnegie Hall production taking place at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
"One of our interesting elements for this production will be parking trucks and generators on Morningside Drive to light the stained glass windows from the outside," says Hagen, who is also lighting a SoHo Penthouse. "The owner wants to turn one room into an event space, so I'm installing a system centered around the Leprecon ARIS. Sapsis Rigging is coming out to help install some lighting positions. The first event in that room would be a fundraiser for Project Y theatre company."