Richard Pilbrow
Encyclopedia
Richard Pilbrow is an internationally renowned stage lighting designer
, author, theatre consultant, and theatrical producer
, film producer
and television producer
. He was the first British lighting designer
on the Broadway
stage in the musical Zorba
.
In the 1950s, Pilbrow entered the Central School of Speech and Drama
in London as a stage management student after serving two years in the Royal Air Force
.
In 1957, Pilbrow co-founded the lighting rental company Theatre Projects with Bryan Kendall, which expanded to include a production company in 1963 to produce and mount the London production of A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum
with set designer Tony Walton
and American Producer Hal Prince
. Now called Theatre Projects Consultants, which designs theaters and performing arts buildings, the company has gone on to design world renowned spaces such as the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago
, the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
in Philadelphia, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall
in Los Angeles
, onwhich he wrote a book. Pilbrow is now Chairman Emeritus of the firm.
Pilbrow worked on Broadway for the first time as the projection designer of Prince’s A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum
. A year later, his second projection assignment on Broadway with Golden Boy
allowed him to work with lighting designer Tharon Musser
. Also in 1964, Pilbrow and Robert Ornbo were the first English lighting designers to ever be invited to join the United Scenic Artists
. Pilbrow went on to light eleven Broadway shows—earning Tony
nominations for Four Baboons Adoring the Sun and The Life.
In 1970, he published the book Stage Lighting Design: The Art, The Craft, The Life which is still a standard textbook in lighting programs in both America and Britain. A new edition of the book was published in September 2008.
Pillbrow was the lighting designer for the 2008 Jill Santoriello
musical adaptation
of A Tale of Two Cities
at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre
on Broadway
. He won the 1995 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design
for Show Boat
and was nominated for the same award for A Tale of Two Cities in 2009.
Pilbrow is a joint founder in the Association of British Theatre Technicians
, Society of Theatre Consultants, The Society of British Theatre Designers, and the Association of Lighting Designers. Pilbrow served two terms on the United States Institute for Theatre Technology’s (USITT) Directors at Large and was also elected a Fellow of the Institute in 2001.
Lighting designer
The role of the lighting designer within theatre is to work with the director, choreographer, set designer, costume designer, and sound designer to create an overall 'look' for the show in response to the text, while keeping in mind issues of visibility, safety and cost...
, author, theatre consultant, and theatrical producer
Theatrical producer
A theatrical producer is the person ultimately responsible for overseeing all aspects of mounting a theatre production. The independent producer will usually be the originator and finder of the script and starts the whole process...
, film producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
and television producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
. He was the first British lighting designer
Lighting designer
The role of the lighting designer within theatre is to work with the director, choreographer, set designer, costume designer, and sound designer to create an overall 'look' for the show in response to the text, while keeping in mind issues of visibility, safety and cost...
on the Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
stage in the musical Zorba
Zorba
Zorba may refer to:*Zorba the Greek, a 1946 novel by the Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis**Zorba the Greek , a 1964 movie based on the novel**Zorba , a musical based on the novel and film...
.
In the 1950s, Pilbrow entered the Central School of Speech and Drama
Central School of Speech and Drama
The Central School of Speech and Drama was founded in London in 1906 by Elsie Fogerty to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students...
in London as a stage management student after serving two years in the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
.
In 1957, Pilbrow co-founded the lighting rental company Theatre Projects with Bryan Kendall, which expanded to include a production company in 1963 to produce and mount the London production of A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart....
with set designer Tony Walton
Tony Walton
Tony Walton is an English set and costume designer.Walton was born in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, United Kingdom. He began his career in 1957 with the stage design for Noel Coward's Broadway production of Conversation Piece. Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s he designed for the New...
and American Producer Hal Prince
Hal Prince
Harold Smith Prince is an American theatrical producer and director associated with many of the best-known Broadway musical productions of the past half-century...
. Now called Theatre Projects Consultants, which designs theaters and performing arts buildings, the company has gone on to design world renowned spaces such as the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts is a large performing arts venue located on Broad Street, along the stretch known as the "Avenue of the Arts", in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is owned and operated by Kimmel Center, Inc., an organization which also manages the Academy of Music in...
in Philadelphia, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall
Walt Disney Concert Hall
The Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, California is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Avenue, 1st and 2nd Streets, it seats 2,265 people and serves as the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra and the...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, onwhich he wrote a book. Pilbrow is now Chairman Emeritus of the firm.
Pilbrow worked on Broadway for the first time as the projection designer of Prince’s A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart....
. A year later, his second projection assignment on Broadway with Golden Boy
Golden Boy
Golden Boy is a drama by Clifford Odets. The play was initially produced on Broadway by The Group Theatre in 1937. Odets' biggest hit was made into a 1939 film of the same name, starring William Holden in his breakthrough role, and also served as the basis for a 1964 musical.-Plot:It focuses on Joe...
allowed him to work with lighting designer Tharon Musser
Tharon Musser
Tharon Musser was an American lighting designer who worked on more than 150 Broadway productions. She was termed the "Dean of American Lighting Designers" and is considered one of the pioneers in her field....
. Also in 1964, Pilbrow and Robert Ornbo were the first English lighting designers to ever be invited to join the United Scenic Artists
United Scenic Artists
United Scenic Artists local USA 829, is a United States labor union of designers and artists in the entertainment industry. It is a nationwide autonomous Local of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes...
. Pilbrow went on to light eleven Broadway shows—earning Tony
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nominations for Four Baboons Adoring the Sun and The Life.
In 1970, he published the book Stage Lighting Design: The Art, The Craft, The Life which is still a standard textbook in lighting programs in both America and Britain. A new edition of the book was published in September 2008.
Pillbrow was the lighting designer for the 2008 Jill Santoriello
Jill Santoriello
Jill Santoriello is an American musician, composer, lyricist, and author. She is a self-taught musician whose award winning first musical A Tale of Two Cities was an Outer Critics Circle Award nominee for Outstanding New Musical in 2009.Santoriello was born in Summit, New Jersey and grew up in...
musical adaptation
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
of A Tale of Two Cities
A Tale of Two Cities (musical)
A Tale of Two Cities is a musical with book, music and lyrics by Jill Santoriello based on the novel of the same name by Charles Dickens....
at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre
Al Hirschfeld Theatre
The Al Hirschfeld Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 302 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan.Designed by architect G. Albert Lansburgh for vaudeville promoter Martin Beck, the theatre opened as the Martin Beck Theatre with a production of Madame Pompadour on November 11, 1924. It...
on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
. He won the 1995 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design
The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design is presented by the Drama Desk, a committee of New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors...
for Show Boat
Show Boat
Show Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working...
and was nominated for the same award for A Tale of Two Cities in 2009.
Pilbrow is a joint founder in the Association of British Theatre Technicians
Association of British Theatre Technicians
The Association of British Theatre Technicians or ABTT is a British trade association representing technical staff working within theatre.-History:...
, Society of Theatre Consultants, The Society of British Theatre Designers, and the Association of Lighting Designers. Pilbrow served two terms on the United States Institute for Theatre Technology’s (USITT) Directors at Large and was also elected a Fellow of the Institute in 2001.
Awards
- Drama Desk AwardDrama Desk AwardThe Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
Show BoatShow BoatShow Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working...
(1997) - Outer Critics Award Show BoatShow BoatShow Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working...
(1997) - Dora Award Show BoatShow BoatShow Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working...
(1997) - NAACP Award for Lighting Show BoatShow BoatShow Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working...
(1997) - Theatre Crafts International Lighting Product of the Year (1998)
- Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award in Lighting Design from the United States Institute for Theatre TechnologyUnited States Institute for Theatre TechnologyThe United States Institute for Theatre Technology is a membership organization which aims to advance the skills and knowledge of theatre, entertainment and performing arts professionals involved in the areas of design, production and technology, and to generally promote their interests...
(1999) - Association of British Theatre TechniciansAssociation of British Theatre TechniciansThe Association of British Theatre Technicians or ABTT is a British trade association representing technical staff working within theatre.-History:...
Technician of the Year (2000) - Lighting Designer of the Year by Lighting Dimensions Magazine (2005)
- The Wally Russell Foundation Wally Russell Lifetime Achievement Award (2008)
Publications
- Stage Lighting (1970)
- Walt Disney Concert Hall: The Backstage Story (2003)
- Stage Lighting Design: The Art, The Craft, The Life (1997 & 2008)
Broadway Lighting Design Credits
- A Tale of Two Cities (2008)
- Our Town (2002)
- The Life (1997)
- Show Boat (1994)
- Tango Pasión (1993)
- Four Baboons Adoring the Sun (1992)
- Shelter (1973)
- The Rothschilds (1970)
- Zorba (1968)
- Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1967)
- Golden Boy (1964)
Theatre Projects Consultants: theatre design consulting projects of note
Partial list of projects.- Kauffman Performing Arts Center, Kansas City, MissouriKansas City, MissouriKansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
http://www.kauffmancenter.org - Dallas Center for the Performing Arts, Dallas, TexasDallas, TexasDallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
- Walt Disney Concert HallWalt Disney Concert HallThe Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, California is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Avenue, 1st and 2nd Streets, it seats 2,265 people and serves as the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra and the...
, Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California... - Richard B. Fisher Center for the Arts, Bard College Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
- New Amsterdam Theater renovation, New York, New York
- Kimmel Center for the Performing ArtsKimmel Center for the Performing ArtsThe Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts is a large performing arts venue located on Broad Street, along the stretch known as the "Avenue of the Arts", in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is owned and operated by Kimmel Center, Inc., an organization which also manages the Academy of Music in...
, Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,... - Geary Theater renovation, San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
- Seiji Ozawa Hall, Tanglewood Lenox, Massachusetts
- Cerritos Center for the Performing ArtsCerritos Center for the Performing ArtsThe Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts is a entertainment and music venue located in the Cerritos Towne Center of Cerritos, California. It is owned and operated by the City of Cerritos and it opened its doors to the public on January 9, 1993 and hosts opera, cabaret, jazz, dance, magic,...
, Cerritos, CaliforniaCerritos, CaliforniaCerritos is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, and is one of several cities that constitute the Gateway Cities of southeast Los Angeles County. It was incorporated on April 24, 1956... - San Jose Repertory TheatreSan Jose Repertory TheatreThe San Jose Repertory Theatre was founded in 1980 by James P. Reber as the first resident professional theatre company in San Jose, California, and is currently the largest non-profit, professional theatre company in the South Bay...
, San Jose, CaliforniaSan Jose, CaliforniaSan Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay... - Epcor Centre for the Performing ArtsEPCOR Centre for the Performing ArtsThe EPCOR CENTRE for the Performing Arts is a multi-venue arts centre in downtown Calgary, Alberta, Canada, located in the Olympic Plaza Cultural District.-History:...
, Calgary, Alberta, Canada - Portland Center for the Performing ArtsPortland Center for the Performing ArtsThe Portland Center for the Performing Arts is an organization within Metro that runs venues for live theatre, concerts, cinema, small conferences, and similar events in Portland, Oregon, United States....
, Portland, OregonPortland, OregonPortland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States... - North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts CenterNorth Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts CenterThe North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center is located in Charlotte, North Carolina. It opened in 1992 and is named in honor of the people of the state of North Carolina and the Blumenthal Foundation established by I.D. Blumenthal who founded RSC Brands, the largest private donor to the...
, Charlotte, North CarolinaCharlotte, North CarolinaCharlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009... - Steppenwolf TheaterSteppenwolf Theatre CompanySteppenwolf Theatre Company is a Tony Award-winning Chicago theatre company founded in 1974 by Gary Sinise, Terry Kinney and Jeff Perry in the basement of a church in Highland Park, Illinois. It has since relocated to Chicago's Halsted Street, in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Its name comes from...
, Chicago, Illinois - Chicago Shakespeare TheaterChicago Shakespeare TheaterChicago Shakespeare Theater is a non-profit, professional theater company located at Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois. Its more than six hundred annual performances performed 48 weeks of the year include its critically acclaimed Shakespeare series, its World's Stage touring productions, and youth...
, Chicago, Illinois - The Goodman Theatre, Chicago, Illinois