Many of our readers may well remember the EDDY Awards or even the TCI awards, presented respectively by Entertainment Design and Theatre Crafts International, two of the esteemed predecessor publications to Live Design. Those awards honored the work of exceptional design teams or individuals who made us sit up and take notice.
Live Design has revived that tradition with the inaugural Live Design Awards for Design Achievement to be presented in conjunction with our New York Master Classes on Wednesday evening, June 4, at the Jerry H. Labowitz Theatre for the Performing Arts at NYU’s Gallatin School. Also presented that evening will be the Products of the Year and Excellence in Live Design Awards.
Here is a quick look at the Awards For Design Achievement, to be followed by a Q&A with each one.
The Design Team For Hamilton
(L to R) Howell Binkley, David Korins, Nevin Steinberg. Not pictured: Paul Tazewell.
Lighting designer Howell Binkley, scenic designer David Korins, sound designer Nevin Steinberg, and costume designer Paul Tazewell are honored for their work on Hamilton. An interesting figure in American history, Alexander Hamilton may be an unlikely candidate to be the toast of the town, but Hamilton, the hip-hop musical about his life, written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, premiered at The Public Theatre last January and became the hottest ticket, must-see show within minutes, it seems. Garnering nominations and winning awards right and left this spring—taking home ten Lortels, including Best Musical as well as awards for Binkley, Steinberg, and Tazewell—the show is headed to Broadway in July and is a top Tony contender for next year.
Hamilton. Photo by Joan Marcus.
“Hamilton is a story of building, of beginning, of establishing the permanence of a newborn country in the wake of turmoil and displacement,” says Korins. “Like the characters in Hamilton, architects and carpenters at the dawn of our nation’s history were building the scaffolding from which the rest of the nation would rise. These themes of construction and creation catalyzed the design process. Faced with the challenge of designing a set to accommodate this sprawling, epic story that takes place over the first several decades of our nation’s history, I wanted to create an environment both historically precise and malleable, a tapestry of recognizable early American architecture able to instantaneously change and morph from town square to battlefield to Congress to front lines.”
“I approached Hamilton with the intention to be as direct and forthright as Lin’s writing,” says sound designer Nevin Steinberg. “There isn’t anything particularly technical or complex to describe about the sound design concept. Achieving communication as clear and powerful as can be—matching the energy of the cast and the band—and drawing a straight line between Lin’s words and the audience’s heart and minds was the goal.”
Achievement In Lighting And Projection Design
Steve Cohen
Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden. Photo by Steven Battaglia
Steve Cohen is honored for sustained achievement in lighting and production design for Billy Joel, culminating in the Madison Square Garden residency. Designing for Joel and going on the road with the ultimate Piano Man for the past 40 years, Cohen started out as lighting designer and eventually took on the scenic and video design, becoming the overall creative director for the tours.
Steve Cohen
When interviewed by Steven Battaglia for Live Design about the 360° look for the Madison Square Garden shows, Cohen explains, “The stage itself is a simple, clean platform. Billy’s piano is on a turntable so he can face different parts of the audience throughout the night, which is kind of a challenge for lighting because you focus a song with him facing one way, and all of a sudden, you’re lighting the tip of the piano instead of him.” Add in video content of the city: “There’s nothing better than images of New York, whether they’re architectural, helicopter footage, or aged and distressed photographs; it’s so rich,” says Cohen, who has also designed for the likes of Blake Shelton, Reba McEntire, Lenny Kravitz, Sugarland, Elton John, Linkin Park, and was the director/designer of Star Wars: In Concert.
Lüz Studio
Fascinoscope by Luz Studio. Photo by Cindy Boyce.
The team at Lüz Studio is lauded for the creativity of their concepts in visual imagery and projection design. Visual designer Matthieu Larivée represents Lüz Studio, a Montreal-based firm that provides integrated services in lighting, set design, and video content for clients worldwide. “I always try to define space with any given area,” says Larivée. “My tools are lights, video screens, and set pieces, and my first inspiration for images is often buildings or physical art installations.”
Matthieu Larivée
A recent example of their creativity was Fascinoscope, an eight-part interactive video installation designed and realized by Lüz Studio, as part of the fifth annual Luminothérapie (Light Therapy) public art competition in Montreal this past winter. “All of the custom content was drawn by hand,” adds Larivée. “We wanted to be true to the period of the early 20th century. That way, these images contrast to what we are seeing on a day-to-day basis: advertising, LED screens, store signs, etcetera. I like to be part of the project early in the process and try to achieve this 360° feeling. The fact that Lüz Studio is designing lights, video, and scenic makes this process easier because depending on the project, we decide to proceed with the element that the show needs. For example, if no video is needed, we will use lights and scenic elements to enhance the show look. Sometimes, video is the key element. So we always start with a blank canvas.”
Achievement In Set And Sound Design
Derek Mclane
Gigi. Photo by Derek McLane.
Derek McLane is recognized for excellence in set design, from Broadway to the Academy Awards. Tony Award and Drama Desk Award winner (a Tony win for 33 Variations in 2009, nominations for Ragtime in 2010 and Anything Goes in 2011, for which he won a Drama Desk Award), McLane began his Broadway career two decades ago with What’s Wrong With This Picture in 1994, which he calls “a certified flop,” and more than 30 shows later, he is currently represented on Broadway with his sets for Gigi, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, and Living On Love.
Derek McLane
For the Tony-winning musical, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, which opened on Broadway in January 2014, McLane designed a set that was “tricky from a design point of view,” he admits. “It quickly moves from offices to studios to performance numbers, with lots of quick transitions.” Some of the challenges McLane faced with this one were the large number of scenes: “Effortless getting from one scene to another is the most important thing. Cumbersome or long transitions would slow things down.”
He has also designed several iterations of the Academy Awards, sliding seamlessly from the stage to Hollywood. “Every project is completely different,” he notes. “Some start with research, in search of an idea. Some start with an idea that needs to be followed up with research, but ultimately, I am looking for an idea—a big idea, or several ideas—to propel a project. That may come from a conversation with the director, or it may come directly from the text, but that is what I am always looking for, and once I find that idea, and once it feels right, I let it guide me through the entire production.”
Peter And The Starcatchers. Photo courtesy of O
Darron L West and Charles Coes
Darron L West and Charles Coes are toasted for their spirit of collaboration and excellence in the art of sound design. “Listening is really the key to any collaboration,” says West, who has collaborated with Coes on a variety of productions, including Peter And The Starcatcher, The Velocity Of Autumn, Grace, and Chinglish, as well as The Roundabout’s revival of Into The Woods. “It’s fundamental. I’ll upload all the information I know about the piece and where I’m feeling the sound design may go, and Charles will come back to me with ideas about the system design—along with many others—and we’ll start from there,” says West. “I spend so much time in the rehearsal hall on projects that I’m his conduit to what’s happening in the room, and he’s my conduit to what’s happening at the shop and at the theatre. We’ve done so many shows together that he’s become a valuable mind reader at this point.” Coes adds, “You have to be really open to the way the conversation develops and how you can offer input in a productive way to keep the show true to a design and make it better. I often say that the important thing to remember is that you’re in the theatre to do the job you were hired for, not the job you want it to be. I love solving problems, and design presents new ones every show and different ones. It’s nearly impossible to fall into a routine of just rehashing the same content or system. Different shows need different hats— dramaturgy, engineering, composition, consigliere to the director. It never gets stale.”
Darron L West
West feels his greatest achievement is “surviving this long. I just opened my 568th show—the theatre is a blank page, with Anne Bogart and Ann Hamilton at the Wexner Center in Ohio—and I still get excited with every first day of rehearsal and every tech of every show. I do feel really honored to be allowed to be doing this work. Of course, the Tony was a huge honor as well, not only for me but the entire company of that show, which was something very special,” says West, who won the Tony for his sound design of Peter And The Starcatcher. “It’s a real shame that they chose to take the award away from sound designers this year, but I have great hopes they’ll realize the mistake, and it’ll not only be reinstated next season but the categories will open up for music direction and projection design as well.”
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