loudbox, New Design Studio, Opens

The creative minds behind BTS' Love Yourself Tour and the Emmy-winning Jesus Christ Superstar Live on NBC announce their new joint venture, loudbox. Jaw.studio.ny and FragmentNine are coming together to create a show direction and design collective.

Founded in 2017 by Jason Ardizzone-West, jaw.studio.ny provides scenic and production design for black box theatres to Broadway, television, film, opera, ballet, and global stadium tours. His work includes the Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert, the Broadway musical Redwood, Phish's Gamehendge at Madison Square Garden, and Adele Live in New York City (also on NBC), as well as arena tours for Lana Del Rey, Dua Lipa, and Florence + The Machine. He has designed more than 50 productions Off-Broadway, at regional theaters across the country, in London, and for dance, including Wedding Band (Theatre for a New Audience), shadow/land (The Public Theater), Monsoon Wedding (St. Ann's Warehouse), The Bluest Eye (Huntington Theatre Company), and The Rite of Spring (Atlanta Ballet).

FragmentNine (F9) was founded in 2013 by Jeremy Lechterman and Jackson Gallagher, soon joined by Michael "Hank" Hankowsky. Their expertise spans show direction, lighting and video design, content creation, programming and producing, which they've delivered for artists including BTS, Keith Urban, alt-J, Karol G, and Green Day.

Over several years, jaw.studio.ny and FragmentNine built a close creative friendship, searching for the right collaboration opportunity. The project was Hikaru Utada's Science Fiction Tour, covered in the November 2024 issue of Lighting&Sound America.

As loudbox, the two studios "leverage their complementary strengths as a single creative practice, removing the traditional divide between disciplines and allowing one team to shape every aspect of the live experience," according to a statement. Ardizzone-West says that stages "transform storytelling into shared, deeply human experiences," and that shared belief is said to be loudbox's signature.

The loudbox collective now consists of 22 designers, animators, programmers, and producers across its US and international teams. Since loudbox's inception, it has worked on Jon Batiste's Big Money Tour, Lady Gaga's The Mayhem Ball Tour, Mayhem in the Desert's Coachella set, and XG's global tour THE CORE.

While loudbox takes on comprehensive show design and direction projects in their entirety, jaw.studio.ny and FragmentNine also continue to operate independently, each taking on projects within their respective signature fields. For full-scope show direction and design, please contact loudbox. For theatrical stage design, please contact jaw.studio.ny. For video content and programming, please contact FragmentNine.