Expert Details
Entertainment & Theatrical Safety; Expert Safety Witness (Stage/Performance Accidents); Lighting Design; Production & Stage Management; Live Event Production
ID: 735194
California, USA
Expert built an extensive academic career, culminating in a tenured full-time professorship at a nationally accredited university theatre department, and previously led a graduate stage management program at a major public university to national prominence, in addition to teaching and production management roles at other academic institutions. In parallel with academia, Expert built a substantial career in professional live event production, lighting design, and special effects design, including work on presidential events, Olympic ceremonies, a Super Bowl halftime show, theme park attractions, and long-running theatrical productions.
Since the late 1990s, Expert has served as an Expert Safety Witness in litigation involving accidents in the entertainment industry, conducting investigations, authoring expert reports, and providing deposition and trial testimony in cases involving injuries to performers, technicians, and audience members in theatrical and live event settings. Expert has authored a white paper on entertainment safety and contributed as a consultant to an industry event safety guide. Expert is also a co-founder of an initiative supporting student success in higher education and co-author of an associated guide for college faculty.
Education
| Year | Degree | Subject | Institution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year: 1980 | Degree: M.F.A. | Subject: Theatre Design and Technology | Institution: Temple University |
| Year: 1977 | Degree: B.A. | Subject: Theatre Design and Technology | Institution: California State University, Fullerton |
| Year: 1975 | Degree: A.A. | Subject: Theatre Design and Technology | Institution: Fullerton College |
Work History
| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
|---|---|---|---|
| Years: 2021 to Present | Employer: Undisclosed | Title: Entertainment Safety Expert Witness | Department: |
Responsibilities:Researches, interviews, inspects, writes reports, attends depositions and mediations, and testifies in litigation involving accidents in the entertainment business; authored a white paper on safety in entertainment environments; served as a consultant on an industry-wide event safety guide. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2004 to 2021 | Employer: Vanguard Universtiy | Title: Professor | Department: Theatre |
Responsibilities:Taught a course portfolio spanning introduction to theatre and the arts, lighting design, stage management, theory and criticism, producing and management, and career development; served as resident production manager and lighting designer; served on faculty development, academic structure, and student success committees.Committees: Faculty Development | Academic Structure | Student Success |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 1997 to 2004 | Employer: University of California, Irvine | Title: Faculty Head of Graduate Stage Management and Production Manager | Department: Drama |
Responsibilities:Responsible for admissions to the graduate stage management program; wrote curriculum and taught all program courses, building the program to national prominence; mentored graduate scenic, costume, lighting, and audio designers and stage managers; served as production manager responsible for administration of all activities supporting 250 public performances annually across the drama, dance, and music departments; supervised a full-time production team of 12; managed an annual production budget of $2,000,000; designed and implemented computerized production operations systems; responsible for safety and training of all production personnel across support shops, rehearsal studios, and six performance venues. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 1980 to 1977 | Employer: Saddleback College | Title: Production Manager & Adjunct Faculty | Department: Theatre |
Responsibilities:Taught lighting design, advanced lighting design, stage management, and theater production courses; served as resident production manager and lighting designer; mentored design, technology, and management students; planned and executed over 75 events annually, including plays, musicals, concerts, and touring companies. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 1976 to 1980 | Employer: Temple University | Title: Graduate Teaching Instructor | Department: Theatre |
Responsibilities:Taught theater production; designed, built, and managed productions for the university's main campus and affiliated downtown theatres. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 1974 to 1976 | Employer: Fullerton Civic Light Opera Company | Title: Technical Director & Resident Stage Manager | Department: |
Responsibilities:Hired and supervised scene shop and show operations crew personnel; stage managed all musical theatre productions for a six-production season; managed the rental department. |
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Additional Experience
| Expert Witness Experience |
|---|
| Expert has served as an Expert Safety Witness in the entertainment industry since at least the late 1990s, engaged to research, inspect, and write reports, and to attend depositions, mediations, and trial testimony in litigation involving accidents in theatrical, live event, and performance settings. Representative matters (2021 back to 1999) have involved: an audience member injured during a theatrical production; a performer's career-ending injury during a stunt; an actress injured during a technical rehearsal; a student injured during a rehearsal; a pageant contestant's fall into an orchestra pit; a conference attendee's injury and a separate backstage injury to an actress; a stage technician's fall from a stage; a cruise ship performer's injury; a performer's injury during a televised awards show performance; and an actor's fall from a stage. Expert has also served as a consultant contributing to an industry-wide event safety guide published by a national event safety organization. The résumé does not specify a total count of depositions versus trial testimonies. |
Career Accomplishments
| Associations / Societies |
|---|
| • National Association for Schools of Theatre • Association for Theatre in Higher Education • University / Regional Theatre Association • Theatre Communications Group • Stage Managers' Association |
| Licenses / Certifications |
|---|
| • Lifetime Instructor Credential, California Community Colleges — 1980 • Mediator Certification Course, State of California — 1999 • Regulating Proximate Fireworks Course, Los Angeles Fire Authority — 2001 • The Art and Craft of Discussion Leadership Course, Harvard University — 2003 • Active Shooter Training, FBI–Los Angeles — 2020 • Theater Safety Course, National Federation of State High School Associations — 2021 • Security clearance for presidential events, cleared by the United States Secret Service |
| Awards / Recognition |
|---|
| Best International Special Event award (production of a civic grand opening and gala fundraiser) |
| Publications and Patents Summary |
|---|
| • 1 white paper: "Safety in Entertainment Environments" • 1 book: co-authored guide on effective, rewarding, and rigorous college teaching • 1 magazine article on special-effects design technique, published in a theatre crafts trade magazine (1980) • 1 graduate thesis on lighting design with high-intensity xenon equipment (Temple University, 1980) • Ongoing blog on student mentorship and teaching, published since 2011 |
Fields of Expertise
slip fall accident, entertainment industry, light safety, event safety, Entertainment Safety, Theatrical Accident Litigation, Stage Management, Special Effects Design, Live Event Production, Theme Park Entertainment, Fireworks and Pyrotechnics Safety, Theatre Education, Higher Education Theatre Administration, Special Event Production, Forensic Safety Consulting, Rigging and Stage Safety, lighting design, production management