#79 Jeff Croiter

It’s Episode #79 and we are seizing the day and sitting down with Tony Award winning Lighting Designer Jeff Croiter. Jeff has a wide ranging career and we’re talking about all sorts of projects. Cory and Jeff discuss his recent design of the Big Apple Circus and how one goes about lighting jugglers, horses and the Flying Wallendas as well as his new relationship with Penn & Teller and what goes into lighting two of the most famous magicians in the world. He also discusses the prominent role lighting played in “Bandstand” and how he got 75 old fresnels to change color all night long and of course we’re talking about the genesis of his design for “Peter and the Starcatcher” and how it has become a genre of design in itself. Other topics include how smaller gigs led to his Broadway career, how he cues quickly and efficiently in the theatre, and we get a surprise appearance from Willa the dog and the lovely and talented Kate Wetherhead!

Jeff Croiter is a New York based lighting designer with over 25-years of experience working on Broadway, off-Broadway, dance, opera, special event, regional theatre and touring productions.  Jeff has received Tony, Hewes, and Bass awards and has been nominated for Drama Desk, Outer Critics, Lortel, Ovation, Irne, and Audelco awards. Broadway credits include Bandstand, Falsettos, Something Rotten, Holiday Inn, Newsies, Peter and the Starcatcher, Penn & Teller, Disaster, Next Fall, Mothers and Sons, The Pee-wee Herman Show, Kiki and Herb, A Time to Kill, Soul Doctor, Jekyll and Hyde, The Performers, and The Anarchist.

He designed the lighting for Penn & Teller at the Rio in Las Vegas and The Big Apple Circus at Lincoln Center.   His work has been seen at New York theatres including The Roundabout, Manhattan Theatre Club, Shakespeare in the Park, Signature Theatre, Second Stage, The Public Theatre, The New Group, Playwrights Horizons, The Atlantic, The Vineyard, Primary Stages, Ars Nova, MCC, Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, New World Stages, The Westside Theatre, and The Joyce Theatre. Notable Off-Broadway credits include The Last 5 Years, Love Loss and What I Wore, Drumstruck, Jerry Springer the Opera, Family Guy Sings!, Sweet Charity, Fly by Night, Silence! the musical, and Almost Maine.

Regional theatre credits include The Guthrie Theatre,The Shakespeare Theatre, Dallas Theatre Center, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Barrington Stage, McCarter Theatre, Kennedy Center, The Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, Center Theatre Group, The Huntington, The Alliance Theatre, Geffen Playhouse, George Street Playhouse, Trinity Rep, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Cincinnati Playhouse, Ford’s Theatre, Goodspeed Opera House, and NY Stage and Film.  Jeff has been the lighting designer for Jennifer Muller The Works since 1996 and is a producer of the hit web comedy Submissions Only.

jeffcroiter.com