Michael Whitfeild
This time the final conversation from my trip in Vancouver at the end of 2018. Michael Whitfield was the head of lighting design at the Stratford Festival for over 25 years from the mid 1970’s through to the early 2000’s, so he is perfectly placed to round out our discussion about the history of the design of the festival stage. He also has designed opera across North America and we talk about his take on the important communication strategies when building your show in a team.
Links
The National Theater at the Old Vic Theatre
Traditional Broadway resistance control boards
Desmond Healy’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Gil Wechsler at the Metropolitan Opera in New York
Joe Melziner and the new kind of lens for a spot light and his book
A Chorus Line and the first elecronic lighting board PDF download
Barnard Hewitt, history of theatre at University of Illinois
Robin Philips (english background?) Two Genltlemen of Verona and Comedy of Errors 1974
The Opera School at the University of Toronto
Lotfi Mansouri at COC, directed Candide at Avon in 1978
Satyracon, Directed by John Hirsch at Stratford
Strand IDMQ dimmer, first memory board (Instant Dimmer Memory Cue)
Strand MMS modular memory system (playback,memory)
Virgina at Avon Theatre 1980 with Maggie Smith
Mikado at Stratford that toured to Old Vic after Ed Mirvish bought and refurbished
Who owns the Old Vic in London now after Mirvishes sold it
Canadian Staging Projects, founded by James Fuller
The McCandless Method of Lighting the Stage
Paul Gallo, the lighting designer for the Titanic
The Festival Stage at Stratford designed by Tanya Moiseovitch