ALLEN HAHN Lighting Designer
PROFESSIONAL CURRICULUM VITAE
Home Address 1101 South Henderson Bloomington, IN 47401
347-881-8872 mobile [email protected] allenhahn.com
PORTFOLIO of selected work available at allenhahn.com
ALLEN HAHN Curriculum Vitae
PROFESSIONAL DESIGN EXPERIENCE Chronological List of Past Productions All credits below are as Lighting Designer except where noted
Production Director/Choreographer/Artist Company,Venue-City
2016 The Exonerated Liam Castellan Indiana University Theatre & Drama Millennium Stages Elizabeth Shea Kennedy Center, Washington, DC Sense and Sensibility Dale McFadden Indiana University Summer Theater Bridge and Tunnel Richard Roberts Indiana Repertory Theater
2015 Die Fledermaus Robin Guarino Indiana University Opera Pagliacci Ned Canty Opera Memphis Émilie Marianne Weems Finnish National Opera (Helsinki)
2014 Die Fledermaus Chas Rader-Shieber Portland Opera M. Butterfly Murray McGibbon Indiana University Theatre & Drama Lizzie Borden Christopher Alden Tanglewood
2013 * Sideways Stories Whit McLaughlin Arden Theatre Company (Philadelphia) Lizzie Borden Christopher Alden Boston Lyric Opera Measure Back Christopher McElroen Pittsburgh Int’l Festival of Firsts Don Juan Comes back from the War Alan Stanford Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre Sunfish William Pomerantz Daegu International Musical Festival (Daegu, South Korea) [Radical] Signs of Life Pauline Jennings EMPAC Bluebeard’s Castle Andrew Eggert Opera Omaha Under the Whaleback Blanka Zizka The Wilma Theater (Philadelphia) The Rochester Plays Nigel Maister University of Rochester— International Theatre Program
* Sideways Stories nominated for Barrymore Award for Best Lighting Design—2014 † Under The Whaleback nominated for Phindie Critics’ Award for Best Lighting Design—2012/13 page 2 of 23 ALLEN HAHN Curriculum Vitae
Production Director/Choreographer/Artist Company,Venue-City
2012 Henry V Michael Sexton Two Rivers Theater Company (Red Bank, NJ) Ubu Roi Peter Karapetkov University of Rochester— International Theatre Program Riders to the Sea Gregory Lehane Microscopic Opera (Pittsburgh) Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre Ivanov Andrew Paul Three Sisters Harriet Power Afterplay & The Yalta Game Alan Stanford Chekhov shorts various directors Émilie Marianne Weems Lincoln Center Festival, (NYC) Oceanic Verses Kevin Newbury Kennedy Center (D.C.) River to River Festival (NYC) John Cage Songbooks Nigel Maister Holland Festival (Amsterdam) il Sogno di Scipione Christopher Alden Gotham Chamber Opera (NYC) Elegy for Young Lovers Chas Rader-Shieber Curtis Institute of Music (Philadelphia)
2011 Bust (lighting and scenery) Allison Narver Portland Center Stage Studio Theater (Washington, DC) Three Decembers Lisa-Ann Goldsmith Microscopic Opera (Pittsburgh) A View from the Bridge Vince Liotta Indiana University Opera Race Andrew Paul Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre Émilie Marianne Weems Spoleto USA Festival (Charleston)
2010 Three Tall Women* Allison Narver Seattle Repertory Theatre The Chocolate Soldier William Pomerantz Summerscape—Bard College Shooting Star Tracy Brigden City Theatre (Pittsburgh) When January Feels Like Summer Chuck Patterson City Theatre (Pittsburgh)
2009 Candide Karla Boos Quantum Theatre (Pittsburgh)
* nominated for Best Lighting Design by Broadwayworld-Seattle page 3 of 23 ALLEN HAHN Curriculum Vitae
Production Director/Choreographer/Artist Company,Venue-City
2008 The Lady With All the Answers Ted Pappas Pittsburgh Public Theatre L'incoronazione di Poppea Gregory Lehane CMU School of Music (Pittsburgh) Bust Allison Narver City Theatre (Pittsburgh) Miss Lonelyhearts Ken Cazan Cincinnati Conservatory of Music Flight Kristine MacIntyre Pittsburgh Opera Studio
2007 Miss Lonelyhearts Ken Cazan USC School of Music (L.A.)
2006 Miss Lonelyhearts Ken Cazan Juilliard (world premiere opera) Peter Jay Sharp Theater (NYC) Hansel and Gretel Kristine MacIntyre Skylight Opera (Milwaukee)
2005 The Bell Deep Tony Oursler ARoS Kunstmuseum (consultant for museum installation) (Aarhus, Denmark) Studio (lighting for museum installation) Tony Oursler Metropolitan Museum (NYC) The Front Page Gene Saks Playmakers Rep (Chapel Hill) David Byrne (concert lighting) David Byrne Central Park Summerstage (NYC) Super Vision* Marianne Weems The Builders Association (co-design w/ Jennifer Tipton) (International tour) Messalina David Levine SPF Summer Play Festival (NYC) How Love is Spelt Michael Sexton SPF Summer Play Festival (NYC) Arianna in Creta* Christopher Alden Gotham Chamber Opera (NYC) Kafka’s Trial (world premiere opera) Francisco Negrin Royal Danish Opera (Copenhagen)
2004 Santa Meets the Ice Dragon John MacInnis Beacon Theater (NYC) Death in Venice* Ken Cazan Chicago Opera Theater Il Viaggio a Reims Christopher Cowell Chicago Opera Theater Alladeen† Marianne Weems The Builders Association Associate designer (Jennifer Tipton) (US/International tour)
* selected for inclusion in the 2007 Prague Quadrennial International Design Exhibition
page 4 of 23 ALLEN HAHN Curriculum Vitae
Production Director/Choreographer/Artist Company,Venue-City
2003 The Coronation of Poppea Diane Paulus Chicago Opera Theater Don Giovanni Francisco Negrin Glimmerglass Opera (Cooperstown) Alladeen† Marianne Weems The Builders Association Associate designer to Jennifer Tipton (US/International tour) Les Liaisons Dangereuses Brian Feehan Yale University—University Theater (New Haven) Manfred Robin Guarino American Symphony Orchestra Avery Fisher Hall (NYC) Once Upon a Time in Chinese America Mira Kingsley Columbia Artists Management (US Tour) Rain Sam Helfrich Alice Tully Hall (NYC) The Blue Flower Jim Bauer HERE Arts Center (NYC) House of Blue Leaves William Pomerantz Bard College (Annandale, NY)
2002 Imperceptible Mutabilities Nigel Maister University of Rochester in the Third Kingdom International Theatre Program Olympus On My Mind Marcia Milgrom-Dodge Florida Studio Theater (Sarasota) Xerxes Paula Williams Wolf Trap Opera, (Vienna, VA) Ghosts Tim Ocel Geva Theater (Rochester) Giulio Cesare† Francisco Negrin Royal Danish Opera (Copenhagen) Les Malheurs d’orphee/ Dido & Aeneas Laurence Dale Henry Street Chamber Opera (NYC) Wenji Rinde Eckert Asia Society (NYC) Hong Kong Festival
2001 The Tempest Tim Vasen CCTC (Chautauqua, NY) Arms and the Man Rob Bundy CCTC (Chautauqua, NY) Extravaganza (lighting supervisor) The Builders Association Athenaeum (Chicago) Saint Ann’s Warehouse (Brooklyn) Warrior Sisters Mira Kingsley Arizona State University (Tempe) Once Upon a Time in Chinese America Mira Kingsley BAM Next Wave Festival Harvey Theater (Brooklyn) The Guggenheim Museum Peter B. Lewis Theater (NYC)
* selected for inclusion in the 2007 Prague Quadrennial International Design Exhibition † winner of the prestigious Danish Reumert award for Best Opera page 5 of 23 ALLEN HAHN Curriculum Vitae
Production Director/Choreographer/Artist Company,Venue-City
2000 Mitridate Re di Ponto Francisco Negrin Santa Fe Opera Exquisite Torture Nigel Maister University of Rochester International Theatre Program La Fanciulla del West Christopher Alden Opera Zuid, Stadschouwburg (Eindhoven, NL) Il Sogno di Scipione (US premiere) Christopher Alden Henry Street Chamber Opera Harry DuJur Playhouse (NYC) Der Freischutz Anthony Baker OLBE-ABAO (Bilbao) Rinaldo Francisco Negrin New York City Opera Luisa Miller Christopher Alden Spoleto USA Festival Gaillard Auditorium (Charleston) La Voix Humaine/Le Pauvre Matelau David Alden L'Opera Français (NYC) The Marriage of Figaro Tim Ocel Opera Pacific (Costa Mesa, CA) A Midsummer Night's Dream Chas Rader Shieber Curtis Institute of Music (lighting/co-design scenery) (Philadelphia) Warrior Sisters Mira Kingsley The Kitchen (NYC) The Iliad Nigel Maister University of Rochester— International Theatre Program
1999 The Secret Machine Sturgis Warner Soho Rep (NYC) John Giorno/ David Neumann David Neumann, chor. SummerStage, Central Park (NYC) Vortex du Plaisir Gordon Dahlquist Ice Factory Festival (NYC) La Grande Duchesse de Gerolstein Christopher Alden Opera Français (NYC) Once Upon a Time in Chinese America Mira Kingsley John Harms Center (Englewood, NJ) Il Trittico Keith Warner Spoleto USA Festival Gailliard Auditorium (Charleston) Bouncing Back John Margulis Trinity Theater Company (NYC) A Tale of Two Cities William Pomerantz The Culture Project (NYC) Exit Petter Jacobon, chor. Merce Cunningham Studio (NYC) Impressions de Pelleas Chas Rader Shieber Curtis Institute (Philadelphia) Duke Ellington: In a Different Light Donald Byrd, chor. Harkness Dance Project (NYC)
page 6 of 23 ALLEN HAHN Curriculum Vitae
Production Director/Choreographer/Artist Company,Venue-City
1998 Women of Orleans (lighting & scenery) Kristin Marting HERE Theater Company (NYC) Cry Pitch Carols (lighting & scenery) Tim Maner HERE Theater Company (NYC) Island of Dogs William Pomerantz Krane Theater (NYC) Jazz Train (lighting supervisor) Donald Byrd Brooklyn Academy of Music US tour 1997-99 Barbe-Bleue Christopher Alden Opera Français Alice Tully Hall Lincoln Center (NYC) La Jolie Fille de Perth James Robinson Opera Français Alice Tully Hall Lincoln Center (NYC) Seven Guitars Alley Theater (Houston) Associate designer (Chris Akerlind) Jump Cut—Faust (lighting supervisor) The Builders Association (European tour) Chautauqua Conservatory Theater Co. Resident designer (Chautauqua, NY) Romeo & Juliet Rob Bundy Antigone (lighting and scenery) Derek Anson Jones Bratton Theater You Can’t Take It With You Mark Ax Marvin’s Room Tim Vasen
page 7 of 23 ALLEN HAHN Curriculum Vitae
Production Director/Choreographer/Artist Company,Venue-City
1997 Sylvia unknown George Street Playhouse Associate designer (Chris Akerlind) (New Brunswick, NJ) Seven Guitars unknown Seattle Rep (Seattle, WA) Associate designer (Chris Akerlind) La Finta Giardiniera Keith Warner Opera Zuid (Maastricht, NL) Jump Cut (Faust) The Builders Association Associate designer (Jennifer Tipton) (Munich & NYC) Spring Awakening William Pomerantz The Culture Project (NYC) The Hidden Sky B.T. McNicholl The Director’s Company (NYC) Transformations Keith Warner Opera Theater of St. Louis Chautauqua Conservatory Theater Co. Resident designer Substance of Fire Rob Bundy As You Like It Ralph Zito Our Town Mark Ax Waiting for the Parade Rebecca Guy Juilliard School, Drama Division Resident designer-Room 301 Fuddy Meers Jessica Bauman Refuge Richard Feldman Find Some Planets Michael Sexton Four by Feydeau Chris Bayes Philoctetes Ian Belton Waiting for Godot Joanna Settle
page 8 of 23 ALLEN HAHN Curriculum Vitae
Production Director/Choreographer/Artist Company,Venue-City
1996 Radio Gals Marsha Milgrom-Dodge Harold Clurman Theater (NYC) Associate Designer (Josh Starbuck) Opera scenes Gordon Ostrowski Manhattan School of Music The Electra Fugues (lighting & scenery) Tim Maner Tiny Mythic Theater Company HERE Mainstage (NYC) Twelfth Night William Pomerantz Lightning Strikes Theater Co (NYC) Juilliard School, Drama Division Resident designer-Room 301 The Time of Your Life James Bundy In Perpetuity Throughout the Universe Michael Unger Native Speech Julian Webber Project Icon Joanna Settle The Next Life John Ruocco A Soldier’s Tale Ian Belton
1995 The White Album project Marianne Weems NYU Experimental Theater Wing Rich White Farmers Robert Cucuzza Hangdog Theater Company St. Marks Church (NYC) Unconscious Motives of the Robert Cucuzza Ontological-Hysteric Theater (NYC) Motion Picture Industry Juilliard School, Drama Division Resident designer-Room 301 (NYC) As You Like It John Rando Othello Derek Anson-Jones Iphigenia in Aulis/ Tauris Anne D’Zmura S & V Karin Coonrod Arden Party Ohio Theater (NYC) Lavender Light Gospel Choir Gregg Payne Tribeca Performing Arts (NYC)
page 9 of 23 ALLEN HAHN Curriculum Vitae
Production Director/Choreographer/Artist Company,Venue-City
1994 Catskill Actors Theater Resident designer (Highland Lake, NY) 1,000 Clowns Chris Hansen-Nelson The Diary of Anne Frank William Pomerantz The Third Violet Mitchell Uscher Delaware Valley Perf Arts Co. Lightdance (Performance) Seth Riskin unknown gallery Soho (NYC) The Fever Kristin Marting Tiny Mythic Theater Company HERE Mainstage (NYC) Master Builder (Installation) Marianne Weems Storefront for Art & Architecture (NYC) 7 (The House of the 7 Gables) Tim Maner Tiny Mythic Theater Company HERE Mainstage (NYC)
1993 Samovar Fears William Pomerantz HERE Arts Center (NYC) Luckies (Cut to Boxcar: Long Shot) William Pomerantz HERE Arts Center (NYC) Ohio Theater (NYC) Catskill Actors Theater Resident designer (Highland Lake, NY) Jumpin’ at the Oval Office William Pomerantz Blithe Spirit Chris Hansen-Nelson Instant Girl Ethan Silverman HERE Arts Center (NYC) Jacob’s Room Herbert Blau CIRM Festival (Nice, France) The Kitchen (NYC) Desert Rites William Pomerantz Theater Row Theater (NYC) Coyote Ugly Greg Havas Below the Belt Theater Co—NYC
1992 Exit the King Elfin Vogel Third Step Theater Company (NYC) Hot ‘n’ Throbbing Anne Bogart Circle Rep Lab (NYC) Gift of the Spice People Tee Scatourchio Circle Rep Lab NYC Michael Harney Showcase Michael Harney Theater Row Theater NYC White Days Caroline Kava Circle Rep Lab (NYC) The Flip Side Glenn Paris HB Playwrights Foundation NYC
page 10 of 23 ALLEN HAHN Curriculum Vitae
Production Director/Choreographer/Artist Company,Venue-City
1991 Joy Solution Seth Gordon Primary Stages (NYC) Primitech (design & staging for band) collaboration with band Limelight (NYC) The Rivers and Ravines Henry Fonte Village Theater Company (NYC)
1990 Heritage Repertory Theatre- (Charlottesville) Albemarle Chamber Music Series (resident designer) Road to Mecca Robert Chapel Dick’s Island Paul Benedict
page 11 of 23 ALLEN HAHN Curriculum Vitae
Production Lighting Designer Producer Year
ASSISTANT LIGHTING DESIGN CREDITS Barber of Seville Rick Martin Connecticut Grand Opera 1997 Resident Assistant Lighting Designer Chris Akerlind Opera Theater of St. Louis Resident Assistant Lighting Designer Chris Akerlind Opera Theater of St. Louis 1996 Skriker Chris Akerlind NYSF, Public Theater Kiss of the Spider Woman Peter West Networks (US tour) Glimmerglass Opera Robert Wierzel Glimmerglass Opera Seven Guitars Chris Akerlind Sageworks Walter Kerr Theater Ahmanson Theater Huntington Theater 1995 Silence, Cunning, Exile Chris Akerlind NYSF, Public Theater Broken Fall Peter West Juilliard Shenandoah Mary Jo Dondlinger Goodspeed Opera House 1994 Changes of Heart Chris Akerlind McCarter Theater Picnic Peter Kaczorowski Roundabout Theater The Day the Bronx Died Chris Akerlind American Jewish Theater The Master Builder Jennifer Tipton The Builders Association Showboat (2nd Assistant) Richard Pilbrow Gershwin Theater Fiery Furnace Debra Kletter Circle Repertory Company 1993 Resident Assistant Michael Baumgarten Opera Theater Wildwood Tango Pasion Richard Pilbrow Longacre Theater & Dawn Chiang Sight Unseen Don Holder Manhattan Theater Club 1992 The Nutcracker Ken Lapham Mid Atlantic Ballet 1991
page 12 of 23 ALLEN HAHN Curriculum Vitae
Production Lighting Designer Producer Year
CREDITS AS UNITED SCENIC ARTISTS LIGHTING DESIGN INTERN
Pelléas et Mélisande Duane Schuler Metropolitan Opera 1995 (2nd Assistant) Madama Butterfly Gil Wechsler Metropolitan Opera 1994 (2nd Assistant) Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk Nick Chelton Metropolitan Opera (2nd Assistant) Showboat Richard Pilbrow Broadway— (2nd Assistant) Gershwin Theater Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg Gil Wechsler Metropolitan Opera 1993 (2nd Assistant) Tango Pasion Richard Pilbrow Broadway— (2nd Assistant) Longacre Theatre The Cover of Life Kirk Bookman Hartford Stage
page 13 of 23 ALLEN HAHN Curriculum Vitae
ALLEN HAHN Lighting Designer
ACADEMIC CURRICULUM VITAE
Home Address 1411 East End Avenue Extension Pittsburgh, PA 15218 412-243-0687 home
347-881-8872 mobile [email protected] allenhahn.com
page 14 of 23 ALLEN HAHN Curriculum Vitae
TEACHING AND UNIVERSITY EXPERIENCE
Associate Professor and head of Lighting Design (tenure track) Indiana University August 2014 to present
• Teach undergraduate courses o T335 Stage Lighting Design (F-15-present, every semester) o T438 Advanced Stage Lighting Design o D441 Dance Production (team taught) (2014-2016 only) • Teach graduate courses o T546 Lighting Design o T646 Lighting Design Seminar o T650 Lighting Design in Production o T505/705 Design Research and Collaboration (team taught) o T538 Studies in Stage Lighting: Surface, Space and Volume (2018) o T538 European Design Aesthetics (2014) o T538 European Design Aesthetics (2014) o Independent Studies on multiple topics
• Advise student lighting designers for School of Drama productions. o Aaron Bowersox for The Mystery of Edwin Drood, In the Red and Brown Water, Sweet Charity o Carolyn Barton for Pride and Prejudice, Good Kids, Antigone o Aaron Bowersox for In the Red and Brown Water o Katie Gruenhagen for Romeo and Juliet, Into The Woods o Matthew Wofford for American Asteroid, Hedda Gabler o Bridget Williams for Sing to Me Now, Mr. Burns o Multiple students on multiple dance productions • Academic advisor to five graduate students with regularly scheduled weekly meetings with each. • Thesis committee chair and primary thesis advisor for Lighting Design MFA candidates for numerous productions since 2014. • Advise and supervise graduate student Katie Gruenhagen’s temporary position as lead instructor for undergraduate course T335 Introduction to Lighting Design for the Fall 2014 semester. Our work together included preparation of materials for course packet, review of syllabus, defining schedule and project submission materials and participating in critiques for light lab projects undertaken by students in the class twice during the semester.
Guest lecturer/juror Carnegie Mellon University August 2006 to 2010 various departments
I have participated in charettes and numerous critiques in the architecture department as well as advised an MFA candidate in the Art Department on her thesis. I have also done short-term collaborative projects with faculty members in Architecture, and with School of Drama faculty in acting and movement and participated in critiques and given presentations on light and lighting in the Entertainment Technology Center. page 15 of 23 ALLEN HAHN Curriculum Vitae
• Faculty with whom I worked: o Entertainment Technology Center § Drew Davidson § Jesse Schell § Ralph Vituccio § Brenda Harger o Architecture § Pablo Garcia § Mary Lou Arscott § Freddie Croce § Jason Morris o Drama § Matt Gray § Michael Chemers § Gregory Lehane § Catherine Moore § Narelle Sissons § Marianne Weems § Todd Brown
GRANTS/RESIDENCIES RECEIVED
New Frontiers Grant recipient, 2017 — Indiana University College of Arts and Humanities Co-Principal Investigator with Elizabeth Shea $87,369 New Frontiers Grant to support the making of Breath Light Stone, a 15-minute dance film shot in UltraHD 4K resolution in Bloomington, Indiana on the site of the derelict Woolery Stone Mill. The film is in the final stages of editing and scoring and will be submitted to film festivals beginning in October 2017. Berkman Faculty Development Grant, Fall 2007 Received $6,000 grant to support NE(s)T, an international, web-based collaboration among student designers in the US, UK, Finland, and New Zealand. Funds supported cost of materials for student projects and covered travel and related expenses incurred in bringing the project to Prague as part of Scenofest 2007, a quadrennial meeting of student designers from around the world held in conjunction with the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design. Old and New Media Residency, Spring 2008 Received three-month residency co-sponsored by Deeplocal (tech startup) and Encyclopedia Destructica (print media collective) which created to assist artists in producing, showing, and supporting new projects by working simultaneously with other artists and a local corporation. The resulting project, The Secret City, was staged numerous times between 2009 and 2011in Braddock, PA and New York City.
page 16 of 23 ALLEN HAHN Curriculum Vitae
Project advisor Carnegie Mellon University August 2008 to 2010 Entertainment Technology Center
Advise graduate student projects for a three ETC projects and consulted on numerous others, providing perspective on production issues and design related to live performance, user interface design and user experience, lighting design and equipment specification, visual storytelling, and a host of other topics.
• Project titles as advisor: o ARGo o Chautauqua Interactive o Get In Line • Projects as consultant for clients: o YouMedia @ Chicago Public Library o WMS Gaming o Playground of the Future o Command Bridge 2.0
Assistant Professor (tenure track) Carnegie Mellon University Design Option, Lighting Design Specialty School of Drama August 2006 to May 2009
• Teach undergraduate and graduate courses o Introduction to Lighting Design o Lighting Design I o Lighting Design II o Lighting Design Thesis o Lighting Design Skills • Advise student lighting designers for School of Drama productions. Primary advisor on eight productions in 2006-2007 season. • Academic advisor to freshmen 2006-2007 academic year • Advise Lighting Design Thesis candidates 2006-2007 academic year
Visiting Faculty Member Carnegie Mellon University Spring 2006 School of Drama
Taught two courses: Introduction to Lighting Design to undergraduates in the School of Drama and Lighting Design I to a mixed group of first year graduate students and sophomore undergraduates. Course descriptions follow below.
page 17 of 23 ALLEN HAHN Curriculum Vitae
LECTURE EXPERIENCE
Annual Guest Lecturer NYU Tisch School of the Arts 2002-2005 Karen Keagle, adj, faculty I was asked to speak to a class of undergraduate “tech track” students (designers, stage managers and production majors) on the business of establishing and managing a career as a freelance lighting designer for the performing arts. Central points included:
• Finding and courting collaborators; • Building and maintaining relationships with directors and other designers; • Communication skills; • The necessity of being part of a community of artists and fellow professionals; • The importance of keeping abreast of trends in theater, both aesthetically and technologically speaking; • The importance of good health, sustainable work habits and a personal life.
Guest Speaker Women’s Project and Productions Director’s Forum Fall 2004 Susanne Bennett, moderator
I was asked to speak to a group of early career directors as they prepared for the final phase in a collaborative project with a group of early career playwrights, bringing short pieces to the stage in front of an invited audience. Each piece was to have a very limited tech time, and I was asked to advise the directors how to make the best use of that time with the lighting designer. I suggested they be realistic about what was possible in this context and set their goals accordingly. I made an effort to convince them it was best to succeed at something simple than to have only limited success at something more complicated. I encouraged them to enter into whatever kind of pre-tech discussion they could with the designer, even if that only meant sending an e-mail with a concise and practical idea of what they thought the lighting should accomplish in relation to their piece. I urged them to think in bold strokes and address the structure of the script first to give their piece a beginning, a middle, and an end in visual terms.
Guest Lecturer NYU Tisch School of the Arts Spring 2003 Beverly Mitchell, adjunct faculty
I was asked to speak to a class of sophomore stage managers on the relationship of lighting designer to stage manager. I framed this in the context of the other members of the production staff and the relationship of that group to the artistic team. Based on my description of how I thought responsibilities should be allocated among this cast of characters, the discussion went on to include how to manage a successful series of technical rehearsals.
page 18 of 23 ALLEN HAHN Curriculum Vitae
LECTURE EXPERIENCE (CONTINUED)
Guest Lecturer NYU School of Continuing Education Spring 2001 Mario Mercado, adjunct faculty
I was asked to speak to a class of adults taking a two-day intensive course on “visual elements in the performing arts” as part of a curriculum in performing arts management. Each guest was asked to speak on the role of his design area in the overall production context. I presented a recently completed opera project as a case study in how a show is put together. I showed them a range of material including drawings of the theater, storyboards of the model in its various phases and costume sketches. I talked about how I listened to the recording of the opera and developed a sense of it in the context of the discussions with the director, and how I developed ideas about the lighting by weaving all of these elements together. I also showed them documents I generated prior to going into a very tight tech schedule that made the building of cues reasonably quick work.
Guest Lecturer Jefferson Mensa Society August 1990 Charlottesville, VA
I was asked to speak about “the art of stage lighting” to an audience of interested laypersons. In a 90- minute presentation I spoke to three main points: • The role of lighting in the stage environment. • The role of the lighting designer in working with the rest of the creative team to establish the world depicted on stage. • Methods for making design decisions.
The last portion of the session was devoted to an exercise designed to give a glimpse of the thinking that goes into design decisions. Using sides from scenes from two different scripts, each of which called for candlelight, I asked them to discuss what made the scenes different and then helped them extrapolate their analyses into ideas for lighting the stage.
page 19 of 23 ALLEN HAHN Curriculum Vitae
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS—Carnegie Mellon School of Drama Introduction to Lighting Design, the introductory level course in a three-year undergraduate lighting design curriculum. Student population made up of designers and directors in their second year of undergraduate study in the Drama Department. Objectives: • Developing an appreciation for lighting design and the ability to distinguish the merits of a lighting design through objective methods of criticism. • Exploring all aspects of light as a visual design and storytelling element. • Learning to “see” light by studying its properties and directly applying them in practicum lab exercises. • Understanding the stage space and its role in creating a visual language of light for a production. • Learning to analyze a script and develop visual images as the lighting designer. • Developing a solid working process that involves analysis of the script and performance space, research, exploration, problem solving, and implementation of a successful design product. The teaching method was a mixture of lecture, discussion, lab work, and critique.
Lighting Design I, the intermediate level design course. Student population made up of designers in their third year of undergraduate study and first year graduate lighting students. Also taught separate section of the course for graduate students from other design disciplines within the department. Objectives: • Establishing a comfort level with the design process including the generation and development of ideas. • Fostering greater facility in thinking, talking, and writing about light in an effort to successfully communicate design ideas to others. • Developing further the student’s ability to collaborate with other designers, directors and stage managers. • Developing an active design vocabulary suited to giving lighting a dynamic role in production. • Developing a skill set for creating the light plot, focusing, cue writing to successfully navigate through technical and dress rehearsals. • Continued exploration of light through practicum lab work. The teaching method was a mixture of lecture, discussion, lab work and critique.
Lighting Design II, the advanced level design course. Student population made up of designers in their final year of undergraduate study and second year graduate lighting students. Objectives: • Building more rigorous habits of analysis of text through discussion and critique. • Repeated exercise developing light plots that demonstrate understanding of and capitalize on the particular characteristics of a performance space for real and hypothetical projects. • Further developing more muscular vocabulary of design choices suited to a more dynamic role for lighting in the context of a production. • Understanding lighting in relation to projection, video and other mediated elements of design. page 20 of 23 ALLEN HAHN Curriculum Vitae
The teaching method was a mixture of discussion and lab work and critique.
Lighting Design Skills, taught to third-year undergraduates and first year graduate students. Objectives: Give students proficiency in skills applicable to lighting designers in order to minimize effort spent on the mechanical aspects of the job and increase creative problem solving on the fly in tech rehearsal. Areas of endeavor fell into two categories:
Theatre craft • Effective use of resources in the theatre o Personnel § Assistant, Electrician, Board-operator relationships and best practices o Time and task management in the theatre § Organizing information effectively for efficient use of time in the theater § Organizing and getting the most out of notes time § Running a focus call as designer § Focusing quickly and effectively § Advanced programming on School of Drama conventional consoles § Focus notation § Cue writing (organizational principles and best practices)
Studio craft • Understanding space in two and three dimensions • Defining strategies for success given production parameters • Sectioning technique and “worksheeting” • Software o Vectorworks, Lightwright
COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS COMMITTEES One-year appointment on College Council 2007-2008
SCHOOL OF DRAMA COMMITTEES Curricular review committee, 2007-2008 Scenographer search committee, 2006-2007
AWARDS, HONORS, PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS, ETC. • New York Innovative Theater Award nominee for Futuremate • Professional member USITT since 2009. page 21 of 23 ALLEN HAHN Curriculum Vitae
• Participant in The Performing Presence research project, an ongoing research project jointly conducted by researchers at Exeter University in Leeds, University College-London and Stanford University in California, as part of The Builders Association, a New York-based cross-media theater company. • United Scenic Artists Local 829 Lighting Design member since February 1995. • United Scenic Artists Local 829 Lighting Design Intern 1993-1995. • 1990 recipient of the Lloyd Wenninger Award for excellence in scenic & lighting design at Carnegie Mellon University
EXHIBITIONS Prague Quadrennial 2011—Lighting Design curator & exhibition lighting designer Working under the auspices of USITT, I was part of a five-member team of professional designers charged with soliciting submissions for the exhibition, and adjudicating more than 300 entries and selecting work to represent the United States at the 2011 Prague Quadrennial of stage design. I also designed the lighting for the exhibition space, specified components of the control system and worked to secure the donation of more than $70k in lighting equipment from US manufacturers for use in the exhibition.
Prague Quadrennial 2007—Four pieces selected for inclusion in the US exhibition: • Death in Venice, Lighting Design (Chicago Opera Theater, 2004) • Arianna in Cretan, Lighting Design (Gotham Chamber Opera, 2005) • Super_Vision (with Jennifer Tipton), Lighting Co-design (international tour, 2005) • Alladeen (with Jennifer Tipton), Lighting Co-design (international tour, 2004)
MEDIA COVERAGE
`
PUBLICATION Contributor to THE THOUGHT PROPELS THE SOUND, by Janet Feindel; Plural Publishing; Chapter 9, Special Issues [on the subject of noise related to lighting technology]
EDUCATION
Spring 1991 Bachelors of Fine Arts in Drama, Carnegie Mellon University, emphasis in scenic & lighting design, and a minor in Architecture. Summer 1987 IALD Intern employed by Gary Gordon, Architectural Lighting Designer
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT/ OUTSIDE INTERESTS
• Service in various capacities for the Waldorf School of Pittsburgh page 22 of 23 ALLEN HAHN Curriculum Vitae
• Regular charitable giving to local mission work for the poor and underserved via East Liberty Presbyterian Church—Pittsburgh, PA—2009 to present • Raised more than $10,000 for The National Multiple Sclerosis Society by participating in distance cycling events in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania from 2002-2010 and in the MS Walk in 1999. • Crewed on various sailboats in regattas in the Long Island Sound from 1992-2005.
OTHER ARTISTIC PRACTICE (See media coverage links above)
In 2009 with a project called The Secret City, I began developing what I would call para-theatrical work of my own. Set in the historic Braddock Carnegie Library, the work blurs distinctions between designed and found space, reality and narrative, audience and performer. Participants navigated through the byzantine layout of the building and its surprising variety of spaces by messages sent to their mobile phones.
To uncover the story, participants needed to employ their capacity for lateral thinking and collaborate with one other solving puzzles that made use of artifacts found in the library. As the building’s mysteries revealed themselves to the intrepid participant, the larger historical-fiction narrative of a somewhat twisted story from the library’s early days came into focus. Giving the audience agency to discover the story rather than receive it passively as in a theatrical presentation, provided participants a powerful collaborative experience akin to those of massively multiplayer online gaming communities. This meaningful and rare real-world experience tapped into basic human traits of curiosity, the transgressive thrill of exploring a forbidden space, to demonstrate the value of defining place in a deeply personal way.
The original piece was developed in multiple iterations over a two-year period in the original location with an evolving set of collaborators in the role of game co-designer, writers and artists. The core of the group went on to form Brightwork, an LLC that developed a second Secret City project for the adjudicated entry 2011 Come Out and Play Festival on Governor’s Island in New York City as well as The 412, set in Pittsburgh’s Strip District that same summer before the principals decided to disband in order to pursue individual projects.
page 23 of 23