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Broadway Technical Theatre History Project
The Broadway Technical Theatre History Project creates a living history of the shops and technical personnel who have played a role in the realization of Broadway productions.
Website: https://www.purchase.edu/broadway-technical-theatre-history-project/
“Backstage Legends and Masters” -- founded by Dan Hanessian -- is an annual public presentation spotlighting individuals who have been central to the realization of Broadway productions for many years, but are not typically provided recognition through the Tony or Drama Desk awards.
Each year, an individual is selected by a panel of distinguished professionals who represent a variety of Broadway production specialties.
“The goal of the Broadway Technical Theatre History Project is to create a living history of the shops and technical personnel who have played a role in the realization of Broadway productions,” Hanessian explained.
2012: Artie Siccardi (1931-2020)
Started as a show carpenter on Gypsy. Established Arthur Siccardi Theatrical Services in 1975.
Worked as a production manager on a huge number of Broadway shows over five decades including Grease, A Chorus Line, Chicago, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, Sunday in the Park With George, Biloxi Blues, Fences, Lost in Yonkers, Annie Get Your Gun, Kiss Me, Kate, Dreamgirls, Mamma Mia!, Billy Elliot: The Musical, Annie, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Sweeney Todd, Children of a Lesser God, Cats, Brighton Beach Memoirs and The Color Purple.
Obituary: The Hollywood Reporter
2013: Arnold Abramson (1928 - 2020)
Legendary Scenic Artist.
Abramson was one of the past century’s most influential scenic artists, having painted more than 600 Broadway production sets, including the original The King and I, My Fair Lady, 42nd Street, Annie, Hello, Dolly, Sunday in the Park with George, Camelot, Sweeney Todd, The Sound of Music, Evita, Cats, and Bells Are Ringing. He worked with a Who’s Who of designers, including Oliver Smith, Jo Mielziner, Ben Edwards, David Hays, Robin Wagner, Raul Pene Du Bois, David Mitchell, Boris Aronson, Rouben Ter-Arutunian, and Tony Walton.
Abramson began his career in 1950, joining the United Scenic Artists union, Local 829, in 1951. He worked for several years at Triangle Studios, owned by the master scenic artist Joseph Urban before accepting a founding position with the most preeminent scene shop at the time, owned by Willie Nolan. Abramson joined Nolan and Charlie Bender as Nolan Scenery Studios moved from lower Manhattan to Brooklyn in 1961, and later became owner of the studio. After moving to Florida in 1991, Abramson continued his career with Studio South and Coconut Studios, before retiring in 2012.
2014: Fred Gallo
President of PRG Scenic Technologies
From PRG website:
Gallo grew up in a family of Broadway stagehands and began building scenery at the age of 10. After completing a degree in Architectural Engineering, Gallo worked as a Local One stagehand and production carpenter on many Broadway shows. Later, Gallo co-founded Scenic Technologies leading to the formation of PRG, which has become one of the world’s leading suppliers of scenery and automation for theatrical productions.
Gallo has supervised the build and engineering design for countless scenic projects as well as helped to develop Stage Command®, the company’s patented scenic automation system. Under Gallo's direction, Stage Command quickly revolutionized the way scenic effects are delivered in live performances, automating the scenic elements in such ground-breaking productions as Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Les Misérables, Beauty and the Beast and King Kong.
Over the past nearly 40 years, Gallo has been associated with such productions as Beatlemania, Frankenstein, Marilyn, Big Deal, Pygmalion, Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, The Who’s Tommy, Beauty and The Beast, An Inspector Calls, Victor Victoria, Titanic, Fosse, The Producers, Wicked, Little Shop of Horrors, Sweet Charity, Passion, Les Misérables, Pal Joey, Shrek, Promises, Promises, Lysistrata Jones, Follies, Beautiful, the Carole King Musical, Come from Away, King Kong (Australian and U.S. productions), Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark - of which Gallo was also Technical Director - Harry Potter, the Cursed Child, and world tour of Phantom of the Opera, Frozen, Wicked, Dear Evan Hansen and Moulin Rouge.
Fred holds patents for theatrical equipment he designed and frequently serves as a consultant on the engineering of theatrical rigging systems for theatres worldwide. Over the last decade, he has designed the renovation of over 135 theatres to enable them to present large and technically sophisticated productions.
2015: Gene O'Donovan
From LSI America:
Among the world's most distinguished theatre technicians, O'Donovan has been a leader on Broadway for more than 40 years. His technical expertise has directly enhanced a host of legendary Broadway productions, including The Wiz, 42nd Street, Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Cats, Phantom Of The Opera, The Who's Tommy, Master Class, Titanic, Spamalot, Frost Nixon, The Book Of Mormon, Matilda, Hedwig And The Angry Inch, and The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime. O'Donovan has collaborated with a "Who's Who" of designers, including Santo Loquasto, John Lee Beatty, Bob Crowley, Jules Fisher, Susan Hilferty, Don Holder, Natasha Katz, William Ivy Long, Anna Louizos, Brian MacDevitt, Jo Mielziner, Tharon Musser, Martin Pakledinaz, Kenneth Posner, Ann Roth, Robin Wagner, and Tony Walton.
Starting off his career in one of the preeminent scene shops of its time, Feller Scenery, O'Donovan moved on to become a stagehand, the founder of one of the most influential scene shops of the past 30+ years (Hudson Scenic Studio), and a production carpenter on many Broadway shows. Then he founded Aurora Productions, which has supervised a combined total of more than 200 Broadway shows and many Off Broadway shows, tours, and international productions in London's West End, Europe, and Australia and helped to reshape how production management for Broadway is done to this day.
2016: Pete Feller Sr.
A third generation theatre technician, Feller (1919-1998), was a Tony Award-winning set builder who collaborated with most of the leading scenic designers over the course of 50 years including Oliver Smith, Boris Aronson, Jo Mielziner, Ming Cho Lee, and John Lee Beatty. He began his career in the Army in World War II, when Irving Berlin chose him to build the scenery for his wartime musical This Is the Army. By 1952, Feller won a Tony for his work on Call Me Madam, starring Ethel Merman. In 1957, David Steinberg asked him to take over Imperial Scenic Studios where Feller supervised building many of the significant shows of the late 50s and early 60s. In 1962, he founded Feller Scenery Studios Sought out by producers including George Abbott, Hal Prince, and Cameron Mackintosh, Feller’s landmark shows included: Fiddler on the Roof, Follies, Company, and Sweeney Todd. In 1984, he received a Tony for lifetime achievement in the theater.
As the founder of one of the premier scenic construction shops of its time, Feller Scenery, Feller was not only responsible for building a host of Broadway productions, he also trained and inspired an entire generation of shop owners including Jere Harris, Fred Gallo, Bill Mensching, Gene O’Donovan, and Gary Raussenberger. Feller also significantly influenced the development and use of electronically controlled automation in productions and helped redefine how scene shops operate, ushering in a streamlined process which consolidates various trades under one roof.
2017: Joseph B Forbes
From SUNY Purchase:
Joseph B Forbes is one of the most prolific and influential scenic artists of all time.
His work is represented in the vast majority of Broadway productions mounted each year. Some of his most recent productions include Waitress, Beautiful, The Humans, and Shuffle Along. Theatre goers don’t have to wait long for his new productions, either. He’s currently working on Hello Dolly and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
“To say that Joseph Forbes is one of the all time greats is an understatement,” said associate professor Dan Hanessian, who launched the Broadway Technical Theatre History Project in 2011.
“Not only is he a master of scenic painting, he is dedicated to inspiring and influencing the next generation. We’re honored to have Joseph Forbes as a faculty member in our Design/Technology Program where he shares his superb knowledge and teaches scene painting and rendering.”
2018: Alyce Gilbert
Gilbert is currently the Production Wardrobe Supervisor for the Broadway production of Wicked, where she oversees more than 300 costumes, including their maintenance, repair, and cleaning. In her role, she assists in preserving the integrity of the costume design, a particular challenge in a long running production. She also works with the company's dressers to ensure that the complicated quick changes are made smoothly at each performance. Long interested in costumes, Gilbert's Broadway career began in 1975 as the Production Wardrobe Supervisor of A Chorus Line, having supervised it at The Public Theater prior to its historic run on Broadway. Since then, she has worked on a number of Broadway productions, including Dreamgirls, Grand Hotel, Will Rogers Follies, Passion, and the revivals of Kiss Me, Kate and Into The Woods.
She is the recipient of the 2007 Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre - the first wardrobe person honored.
2019: David Rosenberg
David Rosenberg spent the first 25 years of his career working in scenic shops, as an Off-Broadway electrician and as a touring stage manager and production manager. After he was ensconced in the business, Rosenberg invested his savings in the purchase of iWeiss, which offers draping and rigging solutions to the entertainment industry. During his tenure at iWeiss, he oversaw the company's growth from a struggling company with fewer than 5 employees to a thriving industry leader with 40 employees.
He has worked on such legendary Broadway and touring productions as The Phantom of the Opera, The Lion King, Hairspray, Angles in America, The Producers, Mamma Mia, and Kinky Boots, as well as some of the most prominent dance companies in the country including New York City Ballet, Alvin Ailey, American Ballet Theatre, and Twyla Tharp. He's worked with headliners such as Celine Dion and Bette Midler in Las Vegas, and on numerous television, theatrical, and film productions as well as on the construction and renovation of numerous theaters across the country.
2023: William M. (Bill) Mensching
Mensching started his Broadway career over five decades ago working at Feller Scenic Studios, located at the time in Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. He joins previous Backstage Legends and Masters honorees Artie Siccardi (2012), Arnold Abramson (2013), Fred Gallo (2014), Gene O'Donovan (2015), Pete Feller, Sr. (2016), Joseph B. Forbes (2017), Alyce Gilbert (2018), and David Rosenberg (2019). William M. (Bill) Mensching is the fourth generation of his family to work on Broadway and he has spent much of his life involved in technical theatre. As President of ShowMotion, Inc.-one of the foremost commercial scene shops in the industry for over the past 35 years- he has been responsible for a host of productions for Broadway, Las Vegas, tours, industrials/corporate events, and architectural theming for stadiums, hotels, casinos, and high end restaurants. His very impressive portfolio of work includes the groundbreaking 1987 production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Richard Stilgoe's Star Light Express with scenic design by John Napier which helped change the rules for theatrical scenery on Broadway and ushered in a new era in computer controlled automation and large scale, three dimensional scenery.
He has worked on such legendary Broadway and touring productions as To Kill a Mockingbird, West Side Story (2020), Company (2020), Beetlejuice, Tina, Lehman Trilogy, Hairspray, Tootsie, Pretty Woman, Kinky Boots, Jersey Boys, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, Hello Dolly (2017), Mean Girls, Legally Blonde, A Long Day's Journey Into Night (2016), School of Rock, Catch Me If You Can, Groundhog Day, Smokey Joe's Café, The Producers, among hundreds of other productions over his many years of building productions. In addition to his work with John Napier, Bill has worked with designers that include Tony Walton, Scott Pask, David Rockwell, Eugene Lee, Robin Wagner, Anna Louizos, Santo Loquasto, Andrew Jackness, Bunny Christie, John Lee Beatty, Michael Yeargan, Beowulf Borritt, Derek McLane, Bob Crowley, Christopher Oram, David Gallo, Alexander Dodge, Klara Zieglerova, Rob Howell, and many, many, more.
2024: Bill Gorlin
Gorlin started his Broadway career in the late 1980’s while working as a structural engineer at Thune Associates Consulting Engineers in New Canaan, CT. When a commercial scene shop called Showtech called looking for help on a project they were working on, he was given the assignment due to his interest in unusual projects. This chance encounter would turn into a robust career that includes well over 200 Broadway productions and structural work on Broadway theatres themselves. The list of Broadway productions Gorlin worked on includes Chicago, Will Rogers Follies, The Color Purple, Miss Saigon, King Kong, Merrily We Roll Along, A Bronx Tale, Tina the Musical, The Little Mermaid, A Strange Loop, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, The Lion King, and many more. In addition to productions, Bill has consulted on architectural work in all 41 Broadway theatres.
2025: Michael Wyatt
From Live Design article, January 2025:
After working on a range of non-Broadway productions in NYC, around the United States, and internationally, Wyatt started his Broadway career in 1978 as the assistant carpenter for automation on the musical production of Whoopee! and then spent the next four and a half decades helping to shape and support a host of Broadway productions.
With experience working at Hart Scenic Studios and the Radio City Music Hall scene shop, Wyatt was hired as the second employee at the newly formed Broadway scene shop Hudson Scenic Studios. After working at Hudson on several productions, he moved to the legendary Broadway scene shop Feller Precision. At the time, the use of computer-controlled automation on Broadway was unheard of, but Wyatt was directly involved in developing the first such system while at Feller. The Tap Dance Kid, which opened in December 1983, was the first Broadway production to use this new system and was a threshold moment for the use of computer-controlled automation. A few years later, Michael moved to Scenic Technologies and helped create the computer-controlled automation system for Phantom of the Opera which was used for the entire 35-year run.
The list of Broadway productions Wyatt worked on include Cats, Sunday in the Park with George, 42nd Street, Miss Saigon, Titanic, Ragtime, Fosse, Wicked, The Book of Mormon, Tommy, Pippin, Dear Evan Hansen, Waitress, Come From Away, King Kong, Bad Cinderella, Hell’s Kitchen, and many more. In addition to having worked on well over 100 productions, Wyatt is a co-holder of three patents related to automation.
2026: Bonnie L Becker
For over 30 years Bonnie L. Becker has been working on Broadway as a stage manager. The list of Broadway productions Bonnie has worked on include BOOP! The Musical; Bad Cinderella; Legally Blonde; On the Town; Billy Elliot: The Musical; School of Rock – The Musical; Bombay Dreams; Thoroughly Modern Millie; and the Scarlet Pimpernel, among many others.
