Changing the Landscape – Episode 4: Barrier To Entry

The podcast is back this week with Changing the Landscape-Episode 4: Barrier to Entry. There’s a lot of discussion about barriers to entry later in the journey toward success as a designer, but really, the most basic entry point, grade school, has some pretty high barricades of its own. In this episode, Alan Edwards speaks with three high school arts teachers in Rochester, New York: Christine Sargent, Trish Annese and Marcy Gamzon. These educators share what they’ve seen in their decades of experience, what they know now that they didn’t know then, and what we can do to make this career more available to people of color, and young people in general.

Alan C. Edwards (Lighting Designer). Credits include: Off-Broadway: Harry Clarke (The Vineyard, Lucille Lortel Award); Kill Move Paradise (National Black Theatre, Drama Desk Nomination); Fires in the Mirror (Signature Theatre, Lucille Lortel Nomination); The Hot Wing King (Signature Theatre); The New Englanders (MTC); American Moor (Red Bull); Native Son, Measure for Measure (The Acting Company); Dutchman, AntigoneMacbeth (Classical Theatre of Harlem); The First Noel (CTH & The Apollo); Regional credits include: Lights Out: Nat King Cole (Geffen Playhouse, People’s Light);  Pipeline, Skeleton Crew, Once On This Island (Actors Theatre of Louisville); Detroit ’67 (Chautauqua Theatre Co.); The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Asolo Rep, Miami New Drama); Twisted Melodies (Center Stage Baltimore); Henry IV Part 2Fingersmith (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); The Mountaintop, The Royale, Sweat (Cleveland Playhouse); Stagger Lee, Penny Candy (Dallas Theatre Center);  Man of La Mancha (Westport Playhouse); Sweeney Todd (Connecticut Repertory Theatre); We Are Proud To Present (The Guthrie) and Jeremy McQueen’s Madiba (The Kennedy Center). Broadway: Associate to Jennifer Tipton on The Testament of Mary. He received his M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama. For more information, please visit www.alancedwards.com.