Call Goes Out for Contributors to Joel Rubin Festschrift

	Dr. Joel E. Rubin

To celebrate the 95th birthday of Dr. Joel E. Rubin -- the noted lighting designer, theatre consultant, and author -- his friends have come together to create an informal Festschrift -- in plain English, a book honoring him. To this end, they are asking the many people who have been positively affected by Rubin to contribute tributes, photographs, ephemera, and memories. The project might be a print-on-demand book or a special publication from the USITT; details are still being worked out.

Rubin, principal consultant, lighting, at Joel E. Rubin & Associates since 1985, has contributed to many projects, including the renovation of Temple University's Baptist Temple; the auditorium at University of Pennsylvania Medical Center; Germantown Friends School; US Navy Visitor's Center in Washington, DC; Snug Harbor Cultural Center; the preliminary design for theatres at the Abu Dhabi Campus of NYU; relighting of the Century Association in New York City; the renovation of University of Chicago's Mandell Hall; the recital hall at Manhattan School of Music; and NYU's Skirball Center. From 1985 to 1995, he was managing director of the theatre planning/acoustical firm Artec Consultants and, from 1975 to 1985, executive vice president of Kliegl Brothers Lighting.

For those wondering what to contribute, the organizers suggest several topics, including Rubin's dissertation, The Technical Development of Stage Lighting Apparatus in the United States, 1900-1950; Rubin and Lee Watson's book, Theatrical Lighting Practice; working with Rubin at Kliegl Bros; how Kliegl equipment impacted one's work; joining the USITT, USITT conferences, and what that has meant; OISTAT and International adventures with Rubin; dinners and book shopping with Rubin behind the Iron Curtain; doing a Prague Quadrennial; going on an OISTAT mission; theatre consulting, Artec, and other theatre projects; becoming a USITT Fellow; and getting the Rubin USITT Founders Award.

Memories and materials should be sent to CelebratingDrJoelat95@gmail.com or uploaded to www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/2is38mjjggc29qistmejv/h?dl=0&rlkey=1lq2dyve626qfv6995lsbql4r. The recommended word count is 250 to 750 words. The format of photographs or scans of ephemera should be jpgs sized at 300 dpi. The organizers say you can be free with your memories; they will edit to fit as appropriate for space and contemporary social conventions. They also urge contributors to identify themselves and how they know Rubin, and to include past and current affiliations and how they want to be identified. If possible, please include a headshot or a photo taken with Rubin. Additional ideas are welcome.

The Celebrating Dr. Joel @ 95 Steering Committee consists of Richard Pilbrow, Gordon Pearlman, Steve Terry, Josephine Marquez, Christine Kaiser, Randy Earle, Elynmarie Kazel, Sandy Bonds, Michael Ramsaur, Eric Fielding (art direction/design), and Pat MacKay (project wrangler).