2023 Super Bowl Gospel Celebration

From superbowlgospel.com/history

Originating at Super Bowl XXXIII in 1999, the annual event joins together key NFL Players, top Gospel/Contemporary Christian and mainstream GRAMMY® Award-winning artists and special guests all on one stage to bring audiences an evening of uplifting music and inspirational messages.

Super Bowl Soulful Celebration (known as Super Bowl Gospel Celebration in previous years) is the First & Only inspirational concert and television special sanctioned by the NFL. For the past 24 years, only SBSC has created an inspirational Fusion of NFL Players with award-winning musical artists from the gospel and R&B Music Industry, along with key celebrities all on one stage to bring audiences an evening of uplifting music and messages of hope & faith at the Biggest Game On Earth!

Super Bowl Soulful Celebration returns during Super Bowl week with a live taping hosted by nationally syndicated radio host Willie Moore, Jr. on Wednesday, Feb. 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the Mesa Arts Center in Mesa, Arizona.

The only multicultural program and community event sanctioned by the NFL during Super Bowl weekend, the highly anticipated night of music, comedy, NFL Players, and soulful inspiration is themed “Unstoppable,” with featured performances from the legendary Patti LaBelleIsrael Houghton, Kierra Sheard-Kelly, Tye Tribbett, and The Players Choir.

Big thanks to Rick Pizante for bringing me aboard this season!

More images at AZ: 2023 Super Bowl Gospel Celebration Show- Getty Images

Liwa Village- Abu Dhabi

In late 2022 I joined the experimental marketing company Avantgarde as Head of Technical in charge of architectural and theatrical lighting, audio, video and IT for Liwa Village– a first time event created held in Liwa, south of Abu Dhabi, UAE.

The festival was conceived as cultural event and community gathering point for the nearby seasonal off road competition held at Moreeb Dune and featured live performances, an immersive dinner experience and F&B retail kiosks featuring the finest of local vendors.

The festival opened on 16 Dec 2022 and due to popular demand was extended till Sunday, 8th January 2023.

Shizuka

“Shizuka –静” – The Love Story in the Time of 12th Century Japanese Civil War

Produced by LoBeauH Entertainment and Alix Yumi Cho

“Shizuka”, written & directed by Tomoko Karina (“Camellia- Kerria- Pink” – Winner of the Best Foreign Mini-Movie at Brentwood and Pacific Palisades International Film Festival) will opens in Los Angeles, CA on Sep 16th, 2022, at the Zephyr Theatre


“Shizuka” is a drama based upon a true beloved historical tale in Japan. This tragic love story is both unapologetically romantic and epic. Introducing swirling flamy fate of bigger than life legendary historic characters in 12th century Japan to the audience in Los Angeles.


“Shizuka” will attract you with the aesthetic charm of traditional Japanese costumes, mannerisms, Japanese classical dance, and fierce combat scenes with innovative modern virtual reality theatrical design. It will be delivered with English dialogue by trained actors with diverse backgrounds in order for an American audience to feel the story viscerally. The perfect combination of glamorous exotism and emotionally heightened authentic storytelling. The origin of “Shizuka” was showcased in the summer of 2021 at the Hollywood Fringe Festival, earning the Best Play and Best Direction nomination at the Broadway World Regional Award. The play stars Yukari Black (“Letters from Iwo Jima”, “Flags of Our Fathers”), Alexander Collins, Tomoko Karina (“Cobra Kai”,” Hail, Caesar!” and “Balm in Gilead”), Tony Kim, and Jon Vasquez and others.


“Shizuka” takes you to the civil war era in 12th Century Japan. Shizuka-Gozen is the most popular Shirabyoshi dancer (entertainer who serves to the god.) in the capital of Japan, Kyoto, where the gorgeous court aristocratic culture is flourishing. Shizuka meets Yoshitsune of Minamoto, the younger brother of the supreme leader of Genji Samurai clan. Yoshitsune, a dashing war-hero who is taking Kyoto by storm. Shizuka, Kyoto’s No.1 dancer of reputed beauty. They fall fatally in love. Winter of 1185, their love story follows a tragic path.


Tickets are currently on sale available at Eventbrite
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/shizuka–tickets-390712992077

“Shizuka–静” (2 Hours with an Intermission)

Date: Sep 16th – Oct 9th, 2022
Fridays & Saturdays @ 8pm, Sundays 2:30pm & 7:30pm
Live Streaming: 10/1(Sat) @ 8pmPST, 11pmEST, (10/2, Sun)12pm Japan, 4:00am EU
Ticket: $20-80
Venue: The Zephyr Theatre 7456 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046

Sunday in the Park with Friends- Hollywood Central Park Gala 2019

Sundays in the Park w/ Friends- Hollywood Central Park Gala 2019

Deck over and build a park on the 101 Freeway?   Yes please!

So proud to join Martha Dempson and the Open Fist Theatre Company for the Sunday in the Park with Friends performance at this years Hollywood Central Park Gala.    Donate @ https://hollywoodcentralpark.org/get-involved/donate for a better vision of the future!

 

Hollywood Central Park

 

 

 

Benefit for the Equal Rights Amendment: Harold Pinter’s The Lover

As of May 30th of 2018, when Illinois became the 37th state to ratify, the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is only one state away from ratification!  The ERA would provide basic civil and human rights to all Americans equally under Federal law, regardless of sex.

Equal Means Equal & the Heroica Foundation present five performances of Harold Pinter’s one-act play “The Lover” starring Kamala Lopez and Joel Marshall. Directed by Martha Demson.

Equal Means Equal is the only national organization focused on completing ratification of the original Equal Rights Amendment.  Please join us and support our work at www.equalmeansequal.org

All proceeds from the play will go to support Equal Los Angeles, CA Means Equal’s programs and campaigns to ratify the ERA and are 100% tax deductible.  Suggested donation: $100/person

Rita House is a private club; seating is limited and by invitation only.  Refreshments will be served. Special guests to be announced…

Where: Rita House 5971 W 3rd St, 90036

CD+M Lighting Design Group at IMG World of Adventure Dubai

Once again Ted Ferreira and Bill Johnson at the CD+M Lighting Design Group presented me  with an amazing opportunity- this time to come and spend six months onsite as the lighting designer for rides and attractions at the “Worlds Largest Indoor Theme Park” in Dubai.   Lighting design and programming for attractions at  IMG Worlds of Adventure included Avengers Battle of Ultron, Hulk Epsilon Base 3D, Spider-Man Doc Ock’s Revenge, Thor Thunder Spin, The Velociraptor, Forbidden Territory, Adventure Time Ride of OOO w/ Finn and Jake, and the The Haunted Hotel.

 

 

 

 

Fullscreen Studios

 

 

FullscreenLighting Design included the broadcast lighting and studio grid design for Fullscreen studios in Playa Vista, and individual OTT podcast designs for Shane and Friends with Shane Dawson and Jessie Buttafuoco, Zall Good with Alexis G. Zall,  Apologies in Advance w/ Andrea Russett, Going Raw w/ Tim DeLaGhetto, and Psychobabble with Tyler Oakley and Korey Kuhl, Explain Things to Me, and Slumber Party.

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Going Raw w/ Tim DeLaGhetto

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Shane And Friends

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Psychobabble with Tyler

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Zall Good with Alexis G. Zall

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Kingdom Geek

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Explain Things to Me

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Apologies in Advance w/ Andrea Russett

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Slumber Party

Hat tip to Rick Pizante for bringing me in to outfit Fullscreen’s new studios on the Westside with an all LED studio package featuring LitePanels new Astra 1×1 LitePanels and Sola fresnel series and a wireless Chamsys control system.     A big thank you to Mario Angel at Versales.com for help with the pipe and rigging hardware, and to Chris Stockton,  Alpheus Underhill, Bryan Foley and Juston Wardell for the excellent install work.

The Pied Pipers of the Lower East Side

Thru May 24, 2015, Thurs- Sat 8pm, Sun 7PM @ the Matrix Theatre

7657 Melrose Ave. LA, CA 90046- tix at www.piedpipersla.com  

Reviews-

VICTORY HILL EXHIBITIONS- AVENGERS S.T.A.T.I.O.N.

Marvel’s AVENGERS S.T.A.T.I.O.N. (Scientific Training and Tactical Intelligence Operative Network)

The Marvel’s Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. (Scientific Training and Tactical Intelligence Operative Network) is a completely immersive experience that brings visitors into the world of The Avengers. Marvel’s Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. is an interactive exhibit experience that allows visitors to participate in a simulated recruitment as if they were being trained as agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Visitors of all ages are granted S.H.I.E.L.D. access to the official S.T.A.T.I.O.N. headquarters and taken deep into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Here they will have open access to a vast array of intelligence files, classified studies and experiments that explores the history and scientific origins of Marvel’s The Avengers. Visitors will also be given unprecedented access to some of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s most highly guarded artifacts such as Captain America’s Birth Pod, the Tesseract Portal Device, Loki’s Scepter, a hermetically sealed Chitauri and more, recovered after the Battle of New York.
NASA, the Science & Entertainment Exchange (a program of the National Academy of Sciences), Neuroverse, and Thwacke are all collaborating on the Marvel’s Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. Exhibition visitors will get the chance to map out the stars to find Asgard, learn to operate Iron Man’s suit, witness the neurological effects of Bruce Banner’s transformation into the Hulk, and physically test themselves against Captain America.

Overtone Industries ICELAND at the REDCAT New Original Works Festival

Overtone Industries presents the first half hour of ICELAND, an upcoming musical theatre work by Overtones’ artistic director/composer/actress O-Lan Jones and singer/songwriter Emmet Tinley, at REDCAT’s New Original Works Festival July 24-26, 2014.  ICELAND tells the story of Vaya (Cesili Williams – The Color Purple the Musical), a woman who plans an escape from her unfulfilling life by flying to northern Iceland, only to have her plane malfunction on the way. She escapes in a parachute, landing in a fanciful world full of “sea dragons, mermaids, monsters, fragments of life, and unfinished things.” Mundur (David O), the airline clerk who sent Vaya on her way, sets out to rescue her before the memories of her real life disappear. Featuring a twenty-person cast, including two soloists, a choir and chamber orchestra, ICELAND is “a modern love story, set in a mythical and timeless world, where elemental forces and ancient creatures challenge the hero and heroine on an archetypal journey.” The finished work is expected to premiere in 2016.This half hour preview of the multidisciplinary work will close each night of Program One of the NOW Festival, which includes the dance productions Saana/The Foreigner by Wilfried Souly and Still from Rosanna Gamson/Worldwide.

James Joyce’s The Dead- The Open Fist at the Greenway Court Theatre

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Lighting Design by Terry Enroth & Dan Reed
Limited Return Engagement! Six Weeks Only! Jan 18 – Feb 22 at the GREENWAY COURT THEATER 544 N Fairfax Hollywood, CA  (Just South of Melrose)  
CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS  $25 | $20 Students/Seniors (WITH ID ONLY)

 REVIEWS

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo at the San Francisco Playhouse

 

Photos by Jessica Palopoli

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo 

Regional Premiere

Written by Rajiv Joseph (Animals Out of Paper), Directed by Bill English

October 1th to November 16th, opens October 5th

In this Pulitzer Prize finalist, two US Marines and an Iraqi translator are thrust into a world of greed, mystery and betrayal after an encounter with a now-deceased but still very pissed-off tiger. The streets of war-torn Baghdad are filled with ghosts, riddles and wry humor in this groundbreaking play that explores the power and perils of human nature.

REVIEWS-

Abigail’s Party at the San Francisco Playhouse

By Mike LeighAbigal's Party at the SF Playhouse  Directed by Amy Glazer
May 21st to July 6th   Press Opening, May 25th
Tues/Wed/Thurs at 7pm Fri/Sat at 8pm, Sat Mat at 3pm

Momma told me not to come. This biting, hilarious, disco infused satire of British suburbia in the 70’s is a party only Mike Leigh could conceive. Stolen straight from real life, these friends test the strength of the ties that bind.

REVIEWS

 

Great Forest Challenge- VIRSIX at the Great Wolf Lodge

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Many thanks to Eric Gradman and Christian Chaudhari at VIRSIX for having me to up to light the new Great Forest Challenge at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound WA.   Its an innovative and immersive take on the themed attraction- a sort of walking dark ride crossed with a full scale life-sized video game that was great fun to do.    I hope it’s a much of a success as it appears to be!      Congrats, all!