One way ETC (Electronic Theatre Controls, Inc.) maintains their commitment to mentoring students who have an interest in lighting design and entertainment technology is through their annual LDI Student Sponsorship, an all-expense-paid trip to the LDI tradeshow, where six university students have the opportunity to experience the behind-the-scenes goings-on in the Electronic Theatre Controls booth, learn about the latest technologies, and network with some of the industry’s key figures.
ETC is proud to announce the winners of the 8th annual LDI Student Sponsorship, 2007:
Gustav Barnard
Gustav Barnard, from South Africa, is in his final year at the University of Derby in the United Kingdom, studying towards a Bachelor of Science degree in Sound, Light, & Live Event Technology. He is working on his honors dissertation about conventional-fixture design and technology. Barnard has done technical support for venues like the South African National Arts Festival and Splash!, a workshop on lighting and projection. He has also designed concert lighting for musicians, such as the Joyous Celebration gospel choir and has been involved with educational initiatives in South Africa, including teaching entertainment-technology fundamentals to high school students at the country’s National Schools Festival.
Lois Catanzaro
Lois Catanzaro is in her second year of graduate studies in stage design at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Design and Production from Ohio’s Cincinnati Conservatory of Music (CCM). She has designed lighting for the Cincinnati Fringe Festival; Skin, Cement, Ink, Noise at SMU, as well as the Glory of Living and A Pair of Duels: The Bear and the Boor at CCM. Catanzaro also assisted in the lighting design for the Dallas Opera; the Pacific Conservatory of Performing Arts’ Theatrefest in Santa Maria, California; Hamlet at SMU; and the off-Broadway production of Blind Lemon Blues.
Jen Goldstein
Jen Goldstein is a graduate student in lighting design at the University of California, Irvine. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies and Business Management, with a minor in Theatre, at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Goldstein has designed for theatre and dance companies in the St. Louis and Los Angeles areas. Recent credits include Urinetown: The Musical and The Tempest at UC Irvine, as well as work with choreographer Donald McKayle, Benita Bike’s DanceArts company, Boogiezone, Dances of India, The St. Louis Ballet, the New Line Theatre, and the Washington University Performing Arts department.
Marihan Mehelba
Marihan Mehelba, from Egypt, is a Fulbright Arts Grant recipient, studying Lighting Design for one academic year at Indiana University, Bloomington. For five years, Marihan has been the head lighting designer at Bibliotheca Alexandrina Theatre in Alexandria, Egypt, working on dance performances, operas, music concerts, and drama productions. Recently, Mehelba designed the lighting for Miramar, The Memory of Water, TheThreepenny Opera, and Souad Massi’s live concert in Egypt. Mehelba has a bachelor of fine arts in Decoration through the Expressive Arts department at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Alexandria University in Egypt.
Charles Perry
Charles Perry is a graduate student at the University of Florida, pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Lighting Design. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Theatre Design from the University of Evansville, Indiana, in 1993. His recent lighting design credits include productions of The Cherry Orchard, Our Town, and The Man of Mode at the Constans Theatre at the University of Florida, and the opening of the Randy Parton Theatre in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. In 2006, he was the moving light programmer for the WWE’s Wrestlemania 22 at the All State Arena. Perry has also done sound design on shows like Waiting for Godot at the McGuire Black Box at the University of Florida, and Wizzer Pizzer at Seven Stages in Atlanta, Georgia.
Jason Read
Jason Read is pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Lighting Design from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated from New York’s Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatrical Design Technology, as well as a minor in psychology. Read served as a lighting intern for the 61st Annual Tony Awards® at Radio City Music Hall. He was also a resident lighting designer for Theatre at St. Michael’s, a summer camp put on by St. Michael’s Country Day School in Newport, Rhode Island, as well as at the Cortland Repertory Theatre in Cortland, New York. Read was the moving light programmer for Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and lighting designer for Lost in Yonkers for Syracuse Stage in New York.