In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers discuss everything from Surviving LDI to MFA Programs to Avoid. Join David, Stan, and Steve as they pontificate about: The LDI Awards; Our LDI most interesting products reports; Vari*Lite's hidden booth with "The Hive"; How to budget resources for a production; Wearing multiple hats at a lighting production company; How to handle work that you might not be qualified to do; "Las Vegas LDI Convention Mites"; How American MFA lighting programs are f...
Dec 21, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 8Ep. 403
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, Lumen Brother David welcomes Opera Resident Lighting Designers Michael Clark, John Froelich, Chris Maravich, and Justin Partier to the show. Join Chris, John, Justin, Michael, and David as they pontificate about: How do lighting designers meet; Followspots anyone?; The responsibilities inherent in being a Resident Lighting Designer; Discussions with visiting guest designers; The time contraints of lighting opera; Organizing the lighting tech time; Ballet companies ...
Dec 14, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 8Ep. 402
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers (and Sisters) present their 7th Annual LIGHT TALK LIVE show from LDI! The Lumen Family talks about everything from AI Madness to Our Favorite Sandwiches. Join Anne, Steve, Brackley, Zak, Stan, Snoot, and David as they pontificate about: The future of AI in our industry; What will be the relationshop of lighting and video sources in the future regarding output and control; Chapter 7 of "Bobby Danger... The Lighting Guy"; Our favorite lighting fixt...
Dec 09, 2024•53 min•Season 8Ep. 400
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers discuss everything from Time Warps to Bette Midler. Join David, Stan, and Steve as they pontificate about: Our big Light Talk celebration at LDI; Does it make sense to retrofit old Source 4's with Source 4WRD's?; Using AI and Chat GPT in Projects; When is a design finished; Freezing a show; "The Perfectionism Trap"; Bad Hombre Productions' "The Mist Liquid Hydrogen Fogger"; Our Dream products for LDI; What to do with a professor who is a Jerk; an...
Nov 30, 2024•41 min•Season 8Ep. 401
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers discuss everything from Horrible Programmers, to "Mr. Midnight". Join David, Stan, and Steve as they pontificate about: What to do when your show sucks; Scar Tissue; "The Endpoint Effect"; Respecting and researching other cultures when you design a show; "Blue Hawaii"; What to do when your programmer disappears; Stan becoming "Tom from CarTalk"; "Evil Kitten Clothing for Stagehands"; Stan's collection of Bowties; Escaping the madness; Standing yo...
Nov 23, 2024•49 min•Season 8Ep. 399
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers and Sister welcome lighting designer Christina Watanabe to the show. Join Christina, Ellen, Stan, and Brackley as they pontificate about: Early days of discovering lighting design; Hitting the pavement in NYC; The "Christina Questions"; Christina's Knights of Illumination Award project; Most challenging productions; The issues with Zactrack; Losing the human element; Taking over from Brackley at UNLV; Teaching Graduate and Undergraduate lighting ...
Nov 16, 2024•48 min•Season 8Ep. 398
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers discuss everything from Having Nothing to Say, to The Musical Box. Join David, Stan, and Steve as they pontificate about: Election night plans; The "Lumen Family Zoom Spin Room"; Sustaining a converstion in design meetings; Picking the perfect frontlight; Getting a quick and unified blackout from a variety of sources; "The Musical Box"; The Cheeky Rigger of Sheffield's "Chatterbox 3000"; Pedegrees vs. People; and Lighting for Arena and Thrust the...
Nov 09, 2024•49 min•Season 8Ep. 397
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers and Sister welcome lighting designer Manny Treeson to the show. Join Manny, Ellen, Stan, Brackley, and David as they pontificate about: The ongoing search for LDI Swag; Episode 1 of "Great Failures of Artificial Intelligence"; Manny's journey as a lighting designer; Grad school at Carnegie Mellon; NYX Design; Disney Days; Designing with Generative Content; Working with Notch; More thoughts on The Sphere; The challenges of designing large-scale co...
Nov 02, 2024•56 min•Season 8Ep. 396
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers and Sister welcome lighting designer Michael Stiller to the show. Join Michael, Ellen, David, and Steve as they pontificate about: Becoming a lighting designer without any formal training in the field; Bard College; Finding gigs in New York City; Media and generative driven lighting; Experiential lighting; How disruptive will AI be to the architectural lighting world; Where design ideas come from; Combining pixels with lumens; Element Labs; "A ge...
Oct 26, 2024•38 min•Season 8Ep. 395
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers and Sister discuss everything from Color Pickers to Las Vegas Implosions. Join Ellen, Stan, and Steve as they pontificate about: The changing face of Vegas; RIP Gel... again!; How to meet directors and designers if you don't go to graduate school; Using the gel color picker on a console; Hoarding Gelatran; Tesla Trucks; "Tech Table Etiquette"; How to balance your academic and working careers; Using Zoom for your lighting classes; and "Pool", "Pud...
Oct 19, 2024•36 min•Season 8Ep. 394
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers and Sister discuss everything from Cheese Curds to Stan's "Secret Announcement". Join Ellen, Stan, and Steve as they pontificate about: Live Nation's new Seasonal Stadium in Toronto; Stan's LDI Business decisions; Focus priorities; Matching colors among different moving lights; LLC, S-Corporation, or a Collective?; "Puff... The Magic Dragon Fogger"; Succession planning; Is Tungsten officially dead?; and Free LDI Passes at lighttalk@www.ldishow.co...
Oct 12, 2024•43 min•Season 8Ep. 393
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers (and Sister!) discuss everything from Ellen's Mother-in Law's Personal Power Station, to Stan's "Table of Curiosities". Join Ellen, Stan, and David as they pontificate about: Remembering Catalyst; Who gets paid for revisions of drawings; How clean is the energy in clean energy festival stages… and how safe are the batteries?; "Sleep Fast, Sleep Deep, Lighting Slumber Device"; How "UL" affects our lives and the lighting profession; and Designing y...
Oct 05, 2024•49 min•Season 8Ep. 392
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers (and SISTER!) welcome acclaimed lighting designer Rick Fisher to the show. Join Rick, Ellen, Stan, and David as they pontificate about: Billy Elliot; Rick's amazing work at Santa fe Opera; Watching the sunset, and other things in the glorius vista behind the stage; Santa Fe's wonderful apprentice program; Rick's incredible journey into lighting design; Not a 'Small Print Person'Doing a bit of everything; You want to be noticed; Moving fluidly bet...
Sep 28, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Season 8Ep. 391
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers (and SISTER!) welcome Honorary Lumen Brother Dennis Size to the show to discuss his lighting for the historic Harris/Trump Debate. Join Dennis, Ellen, Steve, Stan, and David as they pontificate about: Steve's vacation at "The Dairy Queen Nudist Colony"; Dennis rebutting David's AI Programmer comments; The history of how the debate was designed and produced; The lighting mission of a debate; Set and Video Wall decisions; "The Sea of Blue"; Interes...
Sep 21, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Season 8Ep. 390
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers (and Sister!) discuss everything from AI in your iPhone to "Light Talk: The Book!" Join Ellen, Stan, and David as they pontificate about: Steve on the beach; Lighting report from The Nudist Colony; Apple Airpod Pro 2 hearing software and possible theatre use; New iPhones with Apple Intelligence; Getting a job with a lighting maunfacturer at LDI; Which software tools should you learn before you graduate; Being a "Software Hound"; LDI Video and Med...
Sep 14, 2024•38 min•Season 8Ep. 389
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers (and Sister!) discuss everything from "The Lumen Brothers' Institute of Stress-Free Living" to Keith Richards on the Shuffleboard Court. Join Ellen, Stan, and David as they pontificate about: A new floating arena idea for green performances; The good old days of touring in a van; Waiting to get paid and How to ask for your money; Architectural design cash flow; Avoiding trouble with the IRS when working overseas; The Accounting Firm of Jacques an...
Sep 07, 2024•39 min•Season 8Ep. 388
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers (and Sister!) discuss everything from Conflict Resolution to Creative Chain Saw Techiques. Join Ellen, Brackley, Stan, and David as they pontificate about: LDI News; "Stage Managers Academy"; Time boundaries when off work; Is it wise to buy used automated lighting fixtures?; Manufacturers honoring warranties; Buying "The Latest and Greatest"; Getting a good deal; Where to find parts for old equipment; Road-Kill Laboratories' "Creative Light Worm"...
Aug 31, 2024•37 min•Season 8Ep. 387
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers discuss everything from Timing Cues, to Monkeys in Stan's Bidet. Join Stan, David, and Steve as they pontificate about: Stan's Greek Cruise; Lox, Bagels, and Avocado Toast; USITT coming to Long Beach; David' Pre-tech at the San Francisco Opera; The best team ever!; Educating yourself in architectural control systems; Assigning timing to your cues; Following the music; Better Than Nothing Industies' "Easy Mop and Sweep"; Starting on the right foot...
Aug 24, 2024•56 min•Season 8Ep. 386
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers and Sister discuss everything from Lasers on Sharks, to Steve Trying to Drive to Dairy Queen. Join Ellen, Stan, David, and Steve as they pontificate about: New lighting books; What to do when your budget is cut by 50%; How many lights do you really need?; Lili's at LDI; Incorporating AI into lighting controllers; Apple Vision Pro and how it may change the lighting design process; Illegitimate Panda's new solar-powered moving lights; Good short-th...
Aug 17, 2024•50 min•Season 8Ep. 385
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers and Sister interview Tony Award Winner Lighting Designer, Jane Cox. Join Jane, Ellen, Stan, and David as they pontificate about: Winning the Tony for "Appropriate"; Getting light into difficult spaces; Your career is a series of relationships; Working with John Doyle; How to Play in the theater; The fun and pleasure of creating lighting cues, transitions, and atmospheres; Co-designing "Teeth"; Teaching and developing a curriculum for non-majors a...
Aug 10, 2024•56 min•Season 8Ep. 384
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers and Sister discuss their reviews of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris Opening Ceremony. Join Ellen, Stan, Steve, and David as they pontificate about: The boldnesss and brilliant audacity of the French show creators; Rain, rain, rain; Celine Dion's unbelievable performance; The Eiffel Tower as you have never seen it before; Rehearsing in secret; The beauty of French puppetry; Snoop Dog, Kelly Clarkson, and Peyton Manning; The horse, the torch, and...
Aug 03, 2024•38 min•Season 8Ep. 383
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers and Sister interview Broadway lighting designer Brandon Stirling Baker. Join Brandon, Ellen, Stan, and David as they pontificate about: Brandon’s journey to Dance Lighting; The life and journey of “Illinoise”; The lighting and camera process of preparing your show for the Tony broadcast; The Journey of collaboration; Working with animators at CalArts; The beauty of collaborating artistically with your spouse; Dance stage managers; Being open and ...
Jul 27, 2024•44 min•Season 8Ep. 382
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brother and Sister interview Broadway designers Brian MacDevitt and Nick Solyom. Join Brian, Nick, Ellen, and David as they pontificate about: Bryan and Nick's working process; Lighting "The Outsiders"; People vs. scenery vs. effects... Finding the correct color temperature; Getting lighting notes from Ray Charles; Lighting "Utopia"; Nick's academic journey from Long Beach State to NYU, and from school to Broadway; The difference between being an Assistan...
Jul 20, 2024•57 min•Season 8Ep. 381
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers (and Sister!), along with designers John Gresch, Jeff Ravitz, and Dennis Size, pay tribute to Broadcast Lighting Legend Bill Klages. Join Ellen, John, Jeff, Dennis, Brackley, and Steve as they discuss the amazing career of Bill Klages. From his early career as a lighting technician to his many television designs that earned him industry acclaim, Bill created some of the most inspirational designs in the history of broadcast television. John Gresc...
Jul 13, 2024•51 min
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers (and Sister!) discuss everything from Building and Destroying Your Reputation, to "You Can Take That Sock to the Grave With You". Join Ellen, Stan, and Steve as they pontificate about: Latest Carribean hurricane news; SGM egress protective fixtures; "My feet are killing me!"; Darn Tuff; Replacing incandescent house lights with LED; Canto USA; How to deal with a team member who over-promissed and under-delivered on a project; Being honest about yo...
Jul 06, 2024•39 min•Season 8Ep. 379
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers discuss everything from Finding Qualified Technology Teachers to Sipping Buffalo Milk on the Bay. Join Steve, Stan, and David as they pontificate about: How to critique lighting designs; Controlling lighting systems remotely; How to integrate lights that can't be dimmed into a lighting design; Ken Billington's prodigy moment; Legal help to protect your AI designs; Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks; The days of pontification are over; Faculty directors...
Jun 29, 2024•47 min•Season 8Ep. 378
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers (and Sister!) meet for a roundtable discussion on this year's Tony Awards and Design Software Subscriptions. Join Ellen, Zak, Stan, and David as they pontificate about: Happy Birthday, Stan!; So much video during this year's Tony Awards show... so where are the Projection and Video categories?; Sports vs. The Arts; Carbonelli's Pizza; Acknowledging all the artists and craftspeople; Is there a Metric?; "What is the problem here?"; The function and...
Jun 22, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 8Ep. 377
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers talk about everything from IOS 18 to "Stable Confusion". Join Steve, Stan, and David as they pontificate about: How to get started with Artificial Intelligence; Bob Boniol's AI Generative Art Webinar; Midjourney, DALI, Sora, and all the toys; It's all about the prompt; The evolution of us; Our unfulfilled design fantasies; Lava lamps and Holiday Inns; Releasing the Iguanas; The Cotton Club in Gainesville; Apple's IOS 18; AI Bots in Facebook; The ...
Jun 15, 2024•46 min•Season 8Ep. 376
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers (and SISTER!) interview Projections and Video Designer David Bengali. Join David, Ellen, Steve, and Zak as they pontificate about: David's journey from Lighting Designer to Projections Designer; Should projections and video designers have their own Tony nominations category?; The baggage that comes along with compoetitive awards; The lighting and projections process for "Water For Elephants"; "Analogue imaginitive theatre"; Experimenting with LED...
Jun 08, 2024•49 min•Season 8Ep. 375
In this episode of LIGHT TALK, The Lumen Brothers talk about everything from Disasterous Wedding Lighting to Rock Lobsters. Join Steve, Stan, and David as they pontificate about: "Please... someone turn on the Lights!"; Non-performers' aversion to stage lighting; "State of the Art Technology" ideas for new magnate high schools; Digital scenery vs. flats; Mini-Spheres; Being in two places at the same time; Sharing Elon's brain; Dead Teslas; How to make our theatres safer; Catwalks vs. automated r...
Jun 01, 2024•43 min•Season 8Ep. 374
