Wow – what a ride!
Can’t believe its been 50 years….so looking forward to catching up with all of you along with a big THANK YOU to the committee for “herding us” back together I’m one of the lucky ones. I found my passion early and was able to make a career out of it.
Getting an apprenticeship at the Tappan Zee Playhouse in Nyack our freshman year @ TZ led to my involvement in the Theatre and Music departments which sent me to SUNY StonyBrook where I got a degree in Technical Theatre and Stage Management. My Set Design Professor happened to be the Associate Set Designer for Saturday Night Live (with the original Not Ready For Primetime Players), as well as a Set Designer for the Metropolitan Opera, along with multiple on and off Broadway Theatres. A lot of my classes were in the city.
Post college was a blur of “gigs” that began at the Coachlight Dinner Theatre and included being a roadie for Billy Joel and the Allman Brothers, 4 years of living in Florida as a union stagehand, house sound engineer and lighting director for the production company that did all the festival and concert work in South Florida, Jamaica and Key West (it didn’t suck).
Fairly quickly I determined that I did not like living in tour buses and took my talents to the world of Corporate Audio Visual where I successfully married my theatre background with the presentation needs of the C-Suite. This led to me being given the opportunity to start a new business in Cleveland, Ohio which I built into a regional force and put me behind the scenes at a lot of important events. I have staged multiple Presidential speeches and rallys, was the Producer for the Grand opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1983 and was the primary AV contractor for the 2002 SLC winter Olympics. I speak the languages of Javitz, Moscone and McCormick.
My clients have taken me around the world multiple times where I have been fortunate enough to work and vacation on 6 of the 7 continents. Today I am semi retired (1 business sold to my staff – 1 to go).
After 33 years of marriage my wife and I separated (its complicated) and I followed our kids to Colorado. I live in the mountains where I ski over 50 days a year and my kids come to visit me instead of the other way around. When I’m not skiing, I have 2 dogs that I live for and spend a lot of my time volunteering.