Ellen Sorrin, President

Ellen Sorrin is Director of the George Balanchine Trust as well as Managing Director of the New York Choreographic Institute (an affiliate of New York City Ballet). In addition, she is a member of the advisory committee of The Jerome Robbins Trust. She was, until June of 2004, the Director of Education at New York City Ballet. As Director of Special Projects from 1988-1996, she produced, on behalf of the Company, The American Music Festival (a 3 week festival of new ballets) in 1988; Ray Charles in Concert with New York City Ballet, a 1989 broadcast on Live from Lincoln Center; Balanchine in America (Serenade and Western Symphony) broadcast on Great Performances in 1989 and 1990; A Festival of Jerome Robbins’ Ballets in 1990; Accent on the Offbeat (documentary) filmed in 1993, and released on video by Sony Classical and broadcast on PBS in 1994; The Balanchine Celebration videotaped in June, 1993 and broadcast the same year on PBS; George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, a feature film released by Warner Bros. in 1994 and on home video in 1995; and The Diamond Project, a festival of world premieres featuring emerging and established choreographers, in 1992 and 1994. From 1981-84, she worked at Alan Wasser Associates, a Broadway general management firm. She has free-lanced as a producer of special events, including Dancing for Life, a 1987 benefit for AIDS care, education and research, which combined the efforts of the New York dance community, directed by Jerome Robbins. In 1996, she produced and directed Barbara Matera: Costume Maker for City Arts on WNET/Thirteen in New York.

Mark Stanley, Vice President

Mark Stanley, Resident Lighting Designer for New York City Ballet, has designed over 200 premieres for their repertoire including Paul McCartney’s Ocean’s Kingdom. He has worked with choreographers around the world including Peter Martins, Susan Stroman, Christopher Wheeldon, Alexei Ratmansky, Justin Peck, William Forsythe, Kevin O’Day, Susan Marshall and Christopher d’Amboise, and many others. His designs are in the repertoire of The Royal Danish Ballet, Royal Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Het Nationale Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Kevin O’Day-Ballett Nationaltheatre Mannheim, La Scala Ballet, Mariinsky Ballet, Norwegian National Opera & Ballet, Boston Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Pilobolus Dance Theatre, Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, The Joffrey Ballet, and other ballet and dance companies in North American and Europe. Mr. Stanley previously served as Resident Designer for the New York City Opera. His theatre work includes the Kennedy Center, Long Wharf Theater, Goodspeed Opera House, Ordway Music Theater, Paper Mill Playhouse, Maurice Sendak’s Night Kitchen children’s theatre and off-Broadway. His designs for George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker and Peter Martins’ Romeo and Juliet, among others, have been seen on Live from Lincoln Center and Great Performances. Mr. Stanley heads the MFA Design and Production Programs as well as the Lighting Design Program at Boston University.

Alan Adelman, Secretary

Alan Adelman has been lighting designer and consultant for theater, television, live events, film and lighting facility installations since graduating Gilbert’s MFA program in Madison in 1978. He has designed over 100 shows for Great Performances on PBS (since 1984), including the Dance in America, American Playhouse, Theater Closeup and In Performance At The White House series. He has lit or consulted on the majority of all Broadway digital cinema and HD live captures starting with the first live Broadway simulcast of Sophisticated Ladies in 1982 and includes Purlie!, Pippin, The Will Rogers Follies, Fosse, Piaf, Victor Victoria, Crazy For You, Contact, Cyrano, Death of A Salesman, The Light In The Piazza, Putting It Together and Smokey Joe’s Cafe on through to Memphis, South Pacific, The Nance, Holiday Inn, She Loves Me, 700 Sundays and What the Constitution Means To Me.  He has been lighting designer for Live From Lincoln Center since 1998 on all series productions and has been the resident designer for Carnegie Hall staged musical and opera presentations since Carnegie Hall: The Grand Reopening in 1986.  His feature film work includes the lighting design for The Balanchine Nutcracker for Elektra Nonesuch, the club scenes in Brian DePalma’s Carlito’s Way and production numbers for Elmo In Grouchland. Alan has designed concerts for Paul Simon, Josh Groban, Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett, Audra McDonald, Leslie Odam Jr., Brian Wilson, Cynthia Erivo, Sutton Foster, the semi-annual Rainforest Benefit Concert with Sting, Elton John, James Taylor, Ashfod and Simpson among many others. Network series include Back On The Record with Bob Costas, Late Show with David Letterman, Saturday Night Live, Chappelle’s Show, The Chris Rock Show, DEF Poets, The DEF Comedy Jam and Its Showtime At The Apollo. TV specials include Christmas in Rockefeller Center, Macy’s July 4th Fireworks Spectacular, The Mark Twain Prize, BET Honors, The Gershwin Prize, 911 Concert For America, U-2 At Redrocks, The Video Music Awards, The Tony Awards and a long list of comedy specials for artists including Dave Chappelle, Jerry Seinfeld, Lliza Schlesinger, Chris Rock, Wanda Sykes, George Lopez, Ricky Gervais and Brian Regan.  He co-founded the Hemsley Lighting Programs with Mark and Ellen in 1983.

Ken Tabachnick, Treasurer

Ken Tabachnick is the executive director of the Merce Cunningham Trust. Previously, he oversaw higher education training programs as the Deputy Dean at the Tisch School of the Arts, NYU and as Dean of the School of the Arts, Purchase College, SUNY. Before turning to academia, Ken was the general manager for the New York City Ballet (NYCB), which he joined after heading his own legal practice focusing on intellectual property, licensing, and corporate matters for artists and arts related organizations. He began his career as a lighting designer working with clients such as the Bolshoi Ballet, Kirov Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, Robert Wilson, Trisha Brown Company, Live from Lincoln Center, Robert Wilson, Karol Armitage, and Stephen Petronio, whose work he has been lighting for over 30 years. Tabachnick was also the resident lighting director at New York City Opera from 1986 to 1990. In past lives, he has also served as general counsel for Rising Tide Studios, was the corporate relations director and Gotham Awards producer for the Independent Feature Project, served as executive director of the Hamptons International Film Festival, and was the managing member of indieWIRE LLC, a news publisher focused on the independent film sector. In addition to serving as treasurer of the Hemsley Lighting Programs, Ken is a director of the Stephen Petronio Company and the Studio School of Design.

Ken Billington - LIGHTING DESIGNER / PRINCIPAL, KEN BILLINGTON ASSOCIATES

Ken Billington is an international lighting designer working in theatre, television and architecture.  Over 100 Broadway designs include the original production of Sweeney Todd and the current Chicago, which is the longest running American musical in history.  Chicago has been seen in over 20 countries all with the original lighting.  Other Broadway productions include Waitress, Act One, Hugh Jackman Back on Broadway, Chaplin, The Scottsboro Boys, White Christmas, Title of Show, Lily Tomlin in The Search for Signs..., Footloose plus revivals of My Fair Lady (1981), Hello Dolly! (1995),  Sunday in the Park with George ( 2008, 2017 ), Annie ( 1997, 2006 ), Fiddler on the Roof ( 1976, 1981, 1990),  West End productions include such shows as Sleepless, Waitress, Chicago, Sweeney Todd, The Drowsy Chaperone, What the Butler Saw, White Christmas, The Scottsboro Boys, Disney's High School Musical and High School Musical 2. Spectaculars include The Radio City Music Hall Christmas Show for 27 years as well as the Las Vegas production show Jubliee!  Many nightclub and concert acts for such stars as Shirley MacLaine, Ann-Margret, Liberace, Chita Rivera, and The McGuire Sisters.  Also over one hundred opera production worldwide including Porgy and Bess for Milan's La Scalla, Madrid's Theatro Real, and Opera Bastille. In the world of Theme parks, the original Fantasmic! at Disneyland California, numerous shows for Seaworld Parks in Florida, California and Texas.  Also shows for Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia. His architectural work can be seen in clubs and restaurants in the USA and Asia and include such landmarks as New York's Tavern on the Green and 54 Below. Ken is the recipient of many awards including the Tony (Broadway), Lumen (Architecture), Ace (Television), and the United States Institute of Theatre Technology - Lighting Designer of the year.  In 2015 he was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame.

Penny Jacobus

1997- Hemsley Lighting Programs Internship Recipient. Penny was the Lighting Director of New York City Ballet from 2004 - 2018. She was hired as a Lighting Assistant for the New York City Opera in 1998 upon completion of the Internship and remained in that position until 2000 when she moved to New York City Ballet lighting staff. Other projects have included assisting on Broadway shows, lighting dance tours in Europe, American Lighting Supervisor for the Kirov Ballet for their USA tours, Lighting Designer/Supervisor for Christopher Wheeldon’s dance company Morphoses and many years with Tom Gold Dance Company . She can be reached at PLJacobus@gmail.com and would be happy to answer any questions that Internship applicants may have. B.A. University of Wisconsin, Madison 1995.

AL CRAWFORD

Al has been the Lighting Director of the world-renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater since 1998.  Now in his 20th season with the famed dance company, he has produced the lighting for Ailey in virtually every major theater, performing arts center and opera house on the planet having toured to 48 states and over 60 countries including historically significant performances in Russia, China and South Africa.  Al has had the opportunity to work directly with many important choreographers in the dance world including Judith Jamison, Robert Battle, Garth Fagan, Matthew Rushing, Ron Brown, George Faison, Mark Dendy, Trey McIntyre, Christopher Huggins, Hope Boykin, Osnel Delgado, Jeanguy Saintus and many others.  He has designed 19 new works for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and 12 for Ailey II.  Additionally, he has been responsible for maintaining the lighting for the significant Ailey repertory designed by many of the top lighting designers in the industry.  A huge believer in cross genre design, Al founded Arc3design, a lighting design group dedicated to merging his theatrical aesthetic into all areas of art, architecture, dance, live music, theater, broadcast, and live event production. Arc3design employees a team of talented designers and technical artists that support the creation and implementation of new projects worldwide.  Arc3design creates the lighting for over 100 projects annually. Recent and current projects include architectural installations at New York Central Synagogue, new ballets for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Haiti’s Ayikodans and Cuba's Malpaso Dance Company, multiple State Dinners for The White House, Cedar Point's multimillion dollar light show Luminosity, a variety of shows for Holland America Cruise Lines, Madison Square Garden Sports Entertainment and brand events for Spotify, Google, Samsung, Intel, Dom Perignon and Lamborghini. Al is a Board of Trustee member of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and was recently an Adjunct Faculty member at the University of Connecticut School of Fine Arts.  He has had the opportunity to speak to students at universities around the country, at the United States Institute for Theater Technology Conference (USITT), Live Design International (LDI) and the Stagecraft Institute of Las Vegas.  Al was recently a keynote speaker at the Electronic Theater Controls CUE conference in Madison, WI.   Al is a member of United Scenic Artists (USA-829) and the International Alliance for Theatrical Stage Employees (Local 635).  He is a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts.

FORMER BOARD MEMBERS

FRED FOSTER

John MCGraw

Philip S. Rosenberg