Jennifer Tipton (born September 11, 1937 Columbus, Ohio) is an award-winning lighting designer. She has designed for dance, ballets, and stage productions.
In 1958, she graduated from Cornell University.[1] While performing as a dancer and rehearsal mistress, she noticed the importance of lighting, and studied dance lighting with Thomas Skelton, becoming his assistant.[2]
Her first lighting design for Broadway was in 1969 for Our Town, and her most recent in 2000 for Wrong Mountain. Among her many awards and nominations, she won the 1977 Tony Award for Best Lighting Design for lighting Andrei Serban's production of The Cherry Orchard and the 1989 Tony Award for lighting Jerome Robbins' Broadway. She also has won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design twice.
She is known for her designs for dance and is the principal lighting designer for the Paul Taylor Dance Company. [2] Choreographers she has worked with include Mikhail Baryshnikov, Jiri Kylian, Dana Reitz, Jerome Robbins, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, and Dan Wagoner.
Tipton has designed lighting for the American Ballet Theatre since A Soldier’s Tale (1971). She designed the lighting for Baryshnikov's production of The Nutcracker, both for the stage and for television.[3]
In January 2008, Tipton designed a large lighting display for the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. It was her first non-theatrical installation.[4][5]
In September 2008, she won a MacArthur "Genius" Grant.[6]
She has served as Professor (Adjunct) of Design at the Yale School of Drama since 1981. Tipton trained many lighting designers, including Donald Holder, Christopher Akerlind, Michael Chybowski, M.L. Geiger and Robert Wierzel. 2006 Tony award winner Howell Binkley assisted her for many years.
A 1991 biographical article in The New York Times stated: "There are perhaps a dozen lighting designers in the country who work steadily enough to support themselves by their art, and maybe half a dozen who are acclaimed and in demand. Among these is Jennifer Tipton, characterized most often for the impeccability of her taste and a certain precision and cerebral quality to her work -- which have earned her two Tony awards, among other prizes during her 25 years in the theater."[7]
Stage work (selected)
- La Bete - 1991 - Tony Award Best Lighting Design nominee
- Jerome Robbins' Broadway - 1989 - Tony Award Best Lighting Design winner and Drama Desk Award Outstanding Lighting Design winner
- Long Day's Journey Into Night - 1989 - Drama Desk Award Outstanding Lighting Design winner
- Worstward Ho - 1987 - Drama Desk Award Outstanding Lighting Design nominee
- Hamlet - 1986 - Drama Desk Award Outstanding Lighting Design nominee
- Whoopi Goldberg - 1985 - Drama Desk Award Outstanding Lighting Design nominee
- Sophisticated Ladies - 1981 - Tony Award Best Lighting Design nominee
- Lunch Hour - 1981 - Drama Desk Award Outstanding Lighting Design nominee
- The Cherry Orchard - 1977 - Tony Award Best Lighting Design winner and Drama Desk Award Outstanding Lighting Design winner
- For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf 1977 - Tony Award Best Lighting Design winner
References
- ^ Tipton listingnews.cornell.edu
- ^ a b A Brief History of Stage lightingnorthern.edu, accessed May 26, 2009
- ^ CreditsAmerican Ballet Theatre.org, accessed May 26, 2009
- ^ Dalton, Joseph."NIght Light"Times-Union, empac.rpi.edu, January 13, 2008
- ^ Eventsempac.rpi.edu, accessed May 26, 2009
- ^ "Three Yale Affiliates Receive MacArthur ‘Genius’ Grants"opa.yale.edu, October 3, 2008
- ^ Stone, Elizabeth."THEATER; Through the Lens Brightly With Jennifer Tipton",The New York Times, April 14, 1991
External links
- Jennifer Tipton at the Internet Broadway Database
- NY Times article by Nan Robertson, February 11, 1984
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jules Fisher for Chicago |
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design 1976-1977 for The Cherry Orchard |
Succeeded by Jules Fisher for Dancin' |
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