What a celebration! Industry notables gathered in New York City for the 10th edition of the Broadway Lighting Master Classes, the second annual Broadway Sound Master Classes, and the 12th EDDY Awards, all held at John Jay College Theatre from June 16-20, 2004. A highlight of the weekend was the EDDY Awards on Friday, June 20, with EDDYs presented by Richard Pilbrow to ESTA; by Marc Platt to Susan Hilferty and the costume team for Wicked (sponsored by USITT); by John Lee Beatty to set designer Paul Owen on behalf of the design and technical department of the Humana Festival (sponsored by Meyer Sound); by Bill Ballou to REDCAT's technical director Lorrie Snyder (sponsored by MICE Creative, Strand Lighting, L.A. Propoint, Proskenion); and by Bob and Colleen Bonniol and Elaine McCarthy to Peter Scharff and Josh Weisberg (sponsored by High End Systems). The show even had international attendance, albeit via video: in a presentation from London, Brian Croft presented an EDDY to Patrick Woodroffe and Dave Hill, as well as Adam Bassett (who was stuck in traffic) as a consummate lighting team (sponsored by PRG).
The BLMC and BSMC were equally as successful with eight-time Tony Award-winner Jules Fisher (who with partner Peggy Eisenhauer received the 2004 Tony for Best Lighting for Assassins) once again serving as creative consultant for the BLMC, and Abe Jacob back at the helm of the BSMC. The faculty for the classes was outstanding, with Fisher and Eisenhauer joined for the BLMC by Beverly Emmons, Wendall K. Harrington, Don Holder, Vivien Leone, Brian MacDevitt, and Clifton Taylor, along with Peter Wexler, who moderated a panel on the integration of lighting and projection. Panelists included Laura Frank, Peter Nigrini, and Harrington. On the sound side, John Kilgore hosted a sound effects session at Masque Sound, and sound designers Michael Bodeen, Jonathan Deans, Tony Meola, Rob Milburn, Dan Moses Schrier, and Jon Weston spoke at the BSMC. Attendees to the classes saw a performance of the Tony Kushner musical, Caroline, Or Change. The post-show discussion was led by associate LD Leone and master electrician, Greg Husinko, as well as sound engineer Patrick Pummill.