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WEEK of December 17, 2007
@BFS! archives

Let There Be Light! Alum Donates Professional Services to Transform the School Meetinghouse

by Jeffrey Stanley

“This is where I’m going to hold, right here! Got it?” BFS alum and professional lighting designer Michael Sorce ’87 was speaking to Tyler, his assistant, on a high scaffold backstage at the Pearl Street Meetinghouse/Theater one morning this fall. He then ran for a sandbag to hang on the end of a heavy winch wire as a temporary counterbalance while he took a measurement. “I’m going to cut probably five lengths of trim chain!” he told Tyler, again darting off. Michael and his crew were repairing the backstage winch system, which is used to raise and lower the stage lights, one of several improvements to the lighting renovations happening in the Meeting House this semester.

Through his Vermont-based company, Dark Star Lighting & Production, Michael was able to get the school a terrific deal on its new stage lighting system. He said he felt very strongly that donating his services to the recent Meetinghouse renovation and technical improvements was an ideal way for him to give back to BFS, the place that started him on his career in technical theater. After his graduation from BFS, Michael headed south to North Carolina School of the Arts. where he obtained a BFA in Lighting Design, graduating at the head of his class. He later spent five years in California freelancing as a lighting designer, including a tour with dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov.

For the past ten years, Michael’s personal and professional home has been in Bristol, Vermont. Why Vermont? “When I was living here in New York City I used to go up there to ski,” he said. “In college one of my good friends wound up being from Vermont, so it was kind of a natural place to go.” As he grew tired from the itinerant lifestyle of a freelance lighting designer, “I realized I wanted to settle down and I wanted a beautiful place to live.” Vermont seemed like the natural choice. “I started a production company to suit my own needs.”

Catherine Clark, BFS Technical Director, worked closely with Michael throughout the summer and fall on the technical transformation of the meetinghouse/theater. “Michael played an integral role in this project,” she said. “His contributions to the Meeting House/Theater renovations and improvements enabled the school to obtain all of the technical equipment needed without compromising. He gave freely of his expertise, time and resources.” Michael Nill, Head of School agreed and added, “We’re so glad to have worked with Michael and that he chose to give to BFS in a manner so meaningful to him and us.”

Michael said that his love for the performing arts began in the Meetinghouse at BFS. “You could always find Michael in the Meeting House in the 1980s. Even then, technical theater was his life,” recalls Susan Price ’86, Director of Alumni/ae. “He joined the ‘tech crew’ in Middle School and, by the time he was a senior, Michael was not only handling all aspects of technical theater at BFS, but he had begun a professional career as well.”

After more than ten years of operation, Dark Star Lighting & Production is a full-service lighting and production company and serves the entire Northeast. Michael said theatrical lighting is now one-third of his business. As his equipment stockpile grew, he began moving into the rental business for special events such as weddings and black tie parties. He also resurrects old lighting systems in theaters. “I ended up sometimes setting up lights in theaters in Vermont that were in bad shape. And I started getting questions from customers like, can you fix this?” We at BFS can honestly say, “Michael Sorce can and does.”

For more information about Dark Star Lighting, please visit www.darkstarlighting.com