Welcome to 2016 and to a special two-part interview. This week we sit down with four-time Tony Award winning lighting designer Kevin Adams! In this first part, Kevin discusses his unique route to becoming a lighting designer, which included working as a scenic designer on the West Coast, working on music videos and commercials, and even being a go-go dancer! He shares with us his thoughts on lighting education, why he loves gardening, whether we’re embracing LED technology too quickly, and what he thinks is one of his biggest weaknesses as a designer. He has great stories from the design processes of ‘American Idiot’, both the original and recent versions of ‘Hedwig’, and ‘Hands on a Hardbody.’ Come back next week to hear stories from ‘Next to Normal’, how he has freed himself from the tech table, and what happened when he met Peter Sellers!

We’re kicking off our next 50 episodes with the first in a (hopefully!) series of discipline specific panels…this week it’s Lighting Design with Scott Bolman, Burke Brown, and Ben Stanton. The three studio mates sat down with Cory in Brooklyn to talk about the highs and lows of being a working lighting designer in 2015. They cover a wide range of topics including making a living and keeping costs down while making small fees, how they find and utilize assistants, how they choose what projects to say yes to, and whether it’s a designer’s job to find a way “in” to every piece. Cory and the guys also chat about when it’s ok for the LD to also program, how much the inventory really matters, what parts of their job they wish they were better at, and how they incorporate new technology into their designs, such as Ben’s decision to include over 150 LED lekos in his Tony nominated design for ‘Fun Home.’ (hint..it worked!) The more the merrier this week, so pull up a chair and eavesdrop on our discussion.

It’s Episode #50!!! To mark this milestone, host Cory Pattak gets in the hot seat as this week’s guest. Former guest and girl-you-wish-was-your-best-friend Jen Schriever cracks open a bottle of bubbly and takes on the reigns of exposing the man behind the mic. Jen and Cory leap frog across a multitude of topics including the creation of the podcast, rejected title ideas, the reaction after nearly 40k downloads, and Cory’s hope for the future of the show. Cory chats about growing up an only child theatre kid which involved building elaborate scale model theatres, being a “moving light designer” in high school, a foray into film acting, and all manner of bizarre activities kids do to amuse themselves. They also chat about their current design processes, the moments that excite them the most and the ones that terrify them, and why cooking and design are two sides of the same coin. Enjoy this special episode and thanks to everyone who’s been listening. Here’s to 50 more!

If you’ve seen even a handful of Off-Broadway shows in the past 15 years…chances are you’ve seen the great work of this week’s guest, lighting designer Tyler Micoleau. Tyler has a ton of insight into the non-profit world having worked at essentially every major Off-Bway company and many of the regional theatres around the country. Cory and Tyler chat about his work in shows like ‘The Invisible Hand’ and ‘The Wayside Motor Inn’ and how he has become a master at lighting box sets with limited lighting positions. He also gives us a window into his process for ‘Be More Chill’ at Two River Theatre, how he uses limited resources to his advantage, and the kinds of conversations he has with directors and scenic designers. And finally the topic you’ve been waiting for…we do a deep dive into the world and usage of LED tape!

This week’s guest is one of the busiest designers on Broadway, it’s Lighting Designer Howell Binkley! Cory and Howell touch on many of his recent and past work including his award winning design for ‘Hamilton’, revisiting ‘How to Succeed…’ again 15 years later, and how his dance background informs his designs. He also discusses whether there is such a thing as a “Broadway lighting design”, how he interacts with his longtime Associates and Programmers, what his process is for laying out a new plot, and the emotional toll of creating art that can so easily be washed away in an instant, as was the case with his recent work on ‘Dr. Zhivago’. And learn how a different path nearly led Howell to become…wait for it…a mime!