Sam Nance, Resident Lighting Designer
Today is a very special post about a very special man, Sam Nance. His title is Resident Lighting Designer (plus Technical Supervisor for our Living Black & White™ shows), but his impact on Pegasus extends beyond that. Read about this talented genius in today’s blog entry!
Tell us about your background in theatre.
It all started with a junior high play in 1960, when my 8th grade English teacher cornered me to read for “I Am A Family Crisis”. I was hooked and continued my involvement in theatre throughout high school, doing acting and technical work. I did technical theatre work at a local college, then got a scholarship to Bethel College in North Newton, Kansas.
After graduating, I worked at the Dallas Theater Center for 6 years, ending up as Associate Technical Director and a member of the company. In a prophetic moment, Paul Baker once said “There are some of you who will grow to love this place too much. It’s my job to help you transition out into the world. You will hate me for it.” And so he did!
After DTC, I did freelance work for a year before settling into doing lighting and staging for fashion shows at Market Center. In a life-changing moment, I formed a company with a colleague, calling it Samarco. We continued the work at Market Center and branched out into other industrial shows. Our success enabled us to expand and add a rental house and retail outlet (in addition to our production department). For 28 years, we served the DFW community and beyond. About 10 years ago, we sold the company, and I went to the Episcopal School of Dallas where I taught technical theatre for five years. Since leaving ESD, I’ve taken up freelance work again in addition to a non-theatre day job.
Throughout my tenure as co-owner of Samarco, I was able to do lighting for some theatrical productions, mostly with Pegasus Theatre. [Editor’s note: For which we are eternally grateful!] After selling Samarco, I have had more time to do live stage theatre, both with Pegasus and many other local companies.
What keeps you coming back to Pegasus Theatre?
I think it’s the comfort of working with people whom I’ve known for a long time. We’ve developed a short hand, we understand one another. I especially enjoy the sense of humor that pervades the work environment, the smiles, the laughs. [Editor’s note: It was clear from the beginning that we “clicked” with Sam. We share similar values, and those values affect our work. We especially love that Sam “gets” our philosophy that “we’re serious about comedy!” Yes, we have fun, and we never let the fun interfere with our professional dedication to the show.]
What do you do when not at Pegasus?
I am a Peace Mennonite and am very active in the church. Our current pastor is our son-in-law. Family is also important to us. We have one son and one daughter. And while the journey was bitter sweet, I am happy to report that we are down to one cat.
We knew from the beginning of our relationship with Sam that it was going to be special. Here was an award-winning lighting designer, the co-owner of a well-respected design and production house, and he was willing to spend his spare time with Pegasus, a somewhat scruffy little Deep Ellum theatre company. His impact is impossible to measure. He refined the lighting technique for the Living Black & White™ shows and met every challenge with aplomb. Black and white flames in a fireplace? Sure! A rotating fireplace? Why not!
When we moved our Living Black & White™ shows to the Eisemann Center, Sam (along with our co-producer, Phil Allen) encountered and solved technical problems that we had never dreamed of. And Sam’s approach was always the same: He never just brought us the problem. He always came with multiple options to solving said problem. As a result, our trust in him runs very deep indeed.
Having Sam as our Resident Lighting Designer means he gets first right of refusal to design lights for any show we produce. It is our fervent desire that he takes us up on that option for many years to come!