Heart of America
Regional Section of

The Association of Design, Production, and Technology Professionals
in the Performing Arts and Entertainment Industry

Schedule for Fall 2011 Workshops at Avila University

Mark S. Damon, General Partner, Process Marketing Group, Kansas City, Missouri, has been active in the safety industry since 1975.
Mark was Vice President of Day Star Corporation, a distributor of safety equipment in Kansas City, Missouri from 1981-1987.
Before joining Day Star, Mark was Vice President of Rose Manufacturing Company, a manufacturer of fall protection equipment. While with Rose, Mark served on the OSHA Committee responsible for the revision of fall protection standards, and worked with the United States Navy to develop their fall protection standards. He has served on an ANSI subcommittee for fall protection standards and has taught at the OSHA training institute on fall protection. Mark has also served as an instructor for the OSHA 500 and 501 courses.
Mark graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a B.S. in Marketing in 1972, and received his MBA from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1976.

Robbie Jones is an Assistant Professor for the University of Nebraska at Omaha theater department. He is a set, costume and lighting designer in addition to being the department’s Technical Director. He has worked for the Nebraska Shakespeare Festival, Rose Theatre, Eugene O'Neill Playwright's Conference, Denver Center Theatre Company, H and A Summer Theater, Sunrise West Production Company, Kansas Summer theatre and was the resident scene designer at the Stephen Foster Theater.

Ed Baker is an Assistant Professor for Whicita State University and inventor of the Pro Dowser, a DMX controlled dowser for video projectors available through Bakerwood Industries. His research agenda is rooted in entrepreneurship as a guiding principal for the creative worker and artist. The primary focus is on the use and re-purposing of Commercial-Off-The-Shelf hardware for application in theatre Technology. Mr. Baker was selected a distinguished faculty fellow by the Center for Entrepreneurship in the W. Frank Barton School of Business at Wichita State University.

Rick McConnell is co-owner of XS Lighting, which is a multifaceted sales, design, installation, rental and production company located in downtown Kansas City, Missouri that specializes in the creation of high-impact, lighting, visualization and auralization. Since 1981, XS has been creating visual solutions and integration that employ a wide range of media—from effect and architectural lighting to themed events involving conception and execution of the entire project, as well as complete audio systems design and integration.

Ben Stark received his M.F.A. in Technical Design and Production from Yale University and a B.A. in Theatre and English from the University of Iowa. Ben has been a part of numerous theatrical projects while pursuing his degrees, as well as working at Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre in Winchester, VA, and Wolf Trap Opera in Vienna, VA. In addition, he worked as a Project Manager for Mystic Scenic Studios, Inc., outside of Boston, MA, where he did a variety of commercial millwork and special event projects, such as the Boston Pops 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular ’08 and ’09 and the New York Auto Show. Currently, Ben serves as Technical Director for the Kansas State University Department of Communication Studies, Theatre and Dance during the academic year; during the summer, Ben serves as Technical Director for the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival.

Michael Downs (Downsart, Inc.) is a career Experiential, Production Scenic Designer/Creative Director/Art Director with over 625 Productions to his credit, in 40 countries, spanning 5 continents, 49 of the United States and 31 of his 48 years. He is a creative hybrid, bringing inventive ideas from the very beginning of any creative approach—supporting strategic ideation throughout the process with fresh, unexpected approaches that bring dimension to any brand, any story and/or any idea. He then sees this creativity through to design a completely unique and dimensional environment. His contributions reach further than you might expect—a point of value that clients and collaborators embrace. His success with this process has helped drive cohesive creative solutions that support and lead to brand-sensitive designs for a wide variety of clients. His creative concepts, art direction and design talent have touched virtually every communications channel that requires environments: public spectaculars, theatre/opera, retail, sport production, corporate meetings and product launches, concerts, mobile marketing, consumer events, museum and trade show exhibits—even film, television and video. He is a Magna Cum Laude graduate and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Scenic Design from the School of Theatre Arts at Boston University (1986) and is an active member of I.A.T.S.E./United Scenic Artists Union #829. He is a 2011 Reggie Award nominee (History Channel Pop Shop), an Adrian Award winner (Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International Award for The British Airways Concorde Fleet Retirement Events), a Emmy Award Nominee (NBC’s Democracy Plaza in Rockefeller Center) and has a Chicago After Dark Award, two Mary Jane Teall Awards and three Sarah Awards for his theatrical designs.

Darren Levin is the Assistant Technical Director for McCain Auditorium at Kansas State University. He is a recent graduate of the MFA Lighting Design Program at the University of Texas at Austin and a graduate of the BFA Theatre program at Missouri State University. In addition to lighting design, Darren has toured with Feld Entertainment Presents Disney on Ice, and worked as the Technical Foreman for Cedar Point Live Entertainment.