Kade Mendelowitz Lighting Designer
PO Box 81522
Fairbanks, AK
..... 99708 kade@ldi.nu
Lighting Our Lives
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Wednesday, November 24, 1999
Lighting our lives
William R. Wood
..... Sometimes, perhaps often, the success or failure of a stage dramatic production depends less on the actors than upon the technicians who design the stage setting, the lighting, the sound system, and the musical arrangement. The lighting of a single scene can enhance or destroy its effectiveness.
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In earlier times on an open or outdoor stage the action might be limited to and dependent upon natural illumination at the particular place and time of day- sunlight, moonlight, starlight, daybreak, sunset, dusk, fog, rain, snow, gloom, mist. Indoors, the only light might be torch , a flickering blaze form a grate or fireplace, a candle or two. With the harnessing of electricity and the emergence of modern electronic gadgets and techniques, the importance or stage lighting to on stage dramatic production increased a thousand-fold.
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Stage lighting design is now a mixture of advanced electronic technology and art. Fortunately, for Fairbanks and Alaska, the university has attracted one of the advanced guard of that profession, Kade Mendelowitz, lighting designer and scenic adviser for the UAF Lab Theater. He also serves as technical director and business manager for the theater department. He teaches lighting design at three levels, as well as stagecraft, drafting, theatrical design and sound design.
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He somehow finds time to help with designing the Main Stage season for the Salisbury Theater and acts as technical director as needed. He serves as an advisor for student designers for both main stage and student productions. As if all of this were not enough, he has also served as head of the theater department- remarkable talent, advanced technical skill, and professional zeal.
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Kade has recently designed and produced an interactive CD on lighting design. The CD contains color photographs and audio information and is much easier and far less expensive to update the textbooks.
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The "Light, Lenses, and Equipment" segment features animation, as well as video and color photographs, which demonstrate the internal and external working of lighting instruments.
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"This CD is a look a the future of textbooks," he says. "With the ability to use audio and moving visual graphics in addition to the text, I feel we can educate students more completely than ever before."
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Originally from New York City, Kade earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from the State University of New York at New Paltz and master of fine arts from Temple University, Philadelphia. He has been a guest lecturer and instructor in lighting design at top-ranked Smith College, Massachusetts.
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Locally, Kade has achieved acclaim and applause for his light design originality and technical skill in working with productions for the Fairbanks Drama Association, FLOT, Northstar Ballet Company, Ice Alaska, and Jo Scott's stellar Summer Fine Arts Festival. You have enjoyed some, perhaps every one of these performances: "Barking Sharks," directed by Barbara Pitsenberger; "Guys and Dolls," directed by Peggy MacDonald Ferguson; "The Nutcracker" and "Snow White," directed by Norman Shelburne; "The Secret Garden," directed by Theresa Reed. A very special occasion for Kade was the extraordinary American Olympic Ice Sculpture Competition organized and directed by Hoa Brickley of Ice Alaska.
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By example, Mendelowitz along with Lee Salisbury, Jo Scott and others have opened the prospect of professional as well as leisure time opportunities for youth, ancients, and all in between, who genuinely enjoy Fairbanks as their home place. Congratulations, Kade. Keep on lighting up the Alaska stage.
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William R. Wood is a retired president of the University of Alaska now volunteering his time as executive director of Festival Fairbanks.
