Brad Powers
Congratulations to Assistant Professor, Design and Production and Design and Production MFA Graduate Advisor Brad Powers for receiving a Faculty of Arts Research grant of $4,000.00 for his project entitled The Ancient Athenian Ekkyklēma: A Practical Model for the period April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018.
The Ancient Athenian Ekkyklēma: a Practical Model
This project will build a working model of the ancient Athenian (“roll-out device”) to test for the first time the practical constraints of the device, providing insight into its use in the tragedies and comedies of the fifth-century BCE. The concerns and standards brought by a working theatre designer introduce new parameters for the historical understanding of ancient “special effects.” A working model will be demonstrated at an international Classics conference and illustrated peer-reviewed publication will follow.
BIO: BRAD POWERS, B.A. (Ohio State University), M.F.A. (Yale) is Assistant Professor of Production Technology at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Highlights from his work as Technical Design Manager and Consultant for LA Propoint Inc in Los Angeles include the following team projects: technical consulting on a multistory indoor theme park in China, the technical design, fabrication and installation of the world’s largest 3D projection screen for KING KONG: 360 3-D at Universal Studios Hollywood, rigging for the FORTUNE DIAMOND attraction at Galaxy Macau resort, an acrobatic catwalk grid for Cirque du Soleil’s IRISin Los Angeles, the scenery and automation for the award-winning BEYOND ALL BOUNDARIES at the WWII museum in New Orleans, and numerous rigging system and tension grid installations. Powers has served as Technical Director for La Jolla Playhouse, the University of California San Diego, and Yale Repertory Theatre. His expertise and research interests include entertainment technical design and management, structural design for the stage, mechanical design and automation, entertainment rigging, computer aided 3D modeling and drafting, CNC routing and machining, lighting technology, sound technology, and scenic carpentry & welding. He is currently a co-author on the soon to be released expanded and updated second edition of STRUCTURAL DESIGN FOR THE STAGE.
