At the LDI 2012 tradeshow, October 19-21, in Las Vegas, ETC will give another group of talented students a unique opportunity to help launch their lighting careers. In its lucky 13th year, the ETC LDI Student Sponsorship gives young people studying lighting design and stage technology the chance to go backstage with ETC at the LDI tradeshow, to experience the latest technology and meet other professionals. ETC also pairs the Sponsorship recipients with industry luminaries who help mentor the students as they move into the working world, offering advice and encouragement.
This year’s students are:
Timothy Hart
Currently a third-year graduate student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Timothy Hart earned a bachelor of fine arts in 2009 from Missouri State University in theatre, design and technology, with a minor in interior design. He has designed the lighting for The Little Prince, Fuddy Meers, Tartuffe, and The Marriage of Figaro at the University of Tennessee’s Clarence Brown Theatre, and Boeing-Boeing at the North Carolina Stage Company in Asheville. In summer 2012, Hart worked as a lighting designer at Stagedoor Manor in Sheldrake, New York. He has also garnered top awards at the Southeastern Theatre Conference in the category of graduate lighting design.
David Johnson
This year’s international LDI student sponsorship recipient is David Johnson from Lanchester County, Durham, UK. From 2008 to 2010, he studied chemistry at the University of Birmingham in Edgbaston, England, and is currently pursuing a bachelor of science in lighting design and live event technology from the University of Glamorgan in Wales. Johnson was a venue technician at The Pleasance Theatre for Scotland’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2012, a camera operator for a fashion show at the University of Glamorgan, a cable technician for PRG, and a board operator, lighting designer and technical assistant for various events at the University of Birmingham.
Jill Klecha
Jill Klecha is a senior undergraduate student at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, currently working toward a bachelor of fine arts in theater design and technology with a focus in lighting design, which she will receive in spring 2013. She is currently working as a production intern at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia, and also serves as a work-study electrician at The University of the Arts. Klecha recently served as stage manager for Ethereal: A Fairy Tale, lighting designer for Colorado, assistant lighting designer for The House of Bernarda Alba and Big River, and spotlight coordinator for Chicago.
Chazz Malott
In his final year at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Chazz Malott is pursuing a bachelor of science in engineering in the field of computer science. For three years, he has worked as an electrician both at his university and at Michigan’s Hartland Performing Arts Center. Malott has designed the lighting for shows such as Trumpets and Raspberries, The Rake’s Progress and Our Country's Good at the University of Michigan, and also Zombie Farm, Fat Men in Skirts, and The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe for Basement Arts, a nonprofit student theater group at his university.
Daphne Mir
Daphne Mir is studying at the California Institute of the Arts, and anticipates a bachelor of fine arts in lighting design at the end of the school year. Her lighting design for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead at California’s Hunger Artists Theater was nominated for a Broadway World Award in 2011. Mir’s other lighting design credits include the Daedalus Project and Songs of Shakespeare at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Scottish Ballet performances at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow, and ¡Viva la Tradición! at the Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood, California.
Greg Starbird
Greg Starbird is a second-year MFA lighting design student at the University of Houston, where he is a TA for lighting and sound technology and oversees the undergraduate lighting crew. He earned a bachelor of arts in philosophy and drama from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, in 2011. He has designed for shows at Trinity University (The Dumbwaiter) and University of Houston (The Cripple of Inishmann), as well as at professional theater companies in Houston and San Antonio, such as the Attic Rep (The Irish Curse), Proxy Theater Company (Red Light Winter), Mildred’s Umbrella (Large Animal Games), and Bayou City Concert Musicals (A Touch of Venus).