When I’m in LA, I pretty much live out of my car–It’s like a walk in closet and storage locker rolled into one. I have a great group of friends who are very accommodating of my frequent couch surfing, so its simply a matter of driving my “closet” up to whatever neighborhood I feel like waking up in the next morning and moving in for a few nights.  Home base usually depends on proximity to the given theatre or three that I’m working in at the time, but I’m equally at home whether staying downtown above the Edison or in Santa Monica with a morning view of the pacific.

New York is home on so many levels, there’s not much more to be said.  In addition to my work in theatre as a lighting designer, I’m also a magician and small business owner.  I own and operate Tannen’s Magic, one of the oldest magic shops,in business since 1925!  If Im not sitting in a dark theatre, you can find me behind the counter at Tannen’s located in a commercial office building in midtown across from the Empire State Building.  Between magic and my design work, I rarely have a day off, but am certainly never bored!

At this point in my life, I’m equally at home in both cities, but the biggest challenge is in juggling design projects on both coasts and operating a small business remotely when I find myself in LA.  In theatre, I’m rarely ever working on only one project at a time.  I’ll never get used to juggling more than one LA gig at a time when on any given day I may need to be in theaters downtown, on the west side and in Burbank.  In New York, juggling three shows and a check in at the shop means nothing more than a brisk walk or a quick trip on a city bike.  I’ll take that over a full day in a car in LA any day.

In my world, I find a real lack of engagement between NYC and LA. LA has a great theatre scene, but it doesn’t really support commercially viable projects.  The LA theatre scene is exciting and vibrant but dominated by low budget ninety nine seat venues or the not for profit world often catering to an older audience.  New York of course has a booming theatre scene, but often turns to the same old boys club to develop new work. I’d like to see more of the exciting projects I work on in LA have a chance to transfer to NY so that they can meet with a wider audience and hopefully some commercial success.

Currently I’m working on a great project in New York that combines my passions for both theatre and Magic.  Its a show called Nothing To Hide starring two award winning magicians from the Magic Castle and directed by Neal Patrick Harris. I did the lighting design for the initial run last year at the Geffen Playhouse in LA where we ran extended for nineteen weeks and broke all kinds of box office records.  We’ve jumped the pond, or really the cornfields, and brought the show to the Signature Theatre Center on 42nd street where we open next week.  I couldn’t have asked for a better New York / LA engagement!