News & Notices
New Fellows 2018
Three new Fellows will be inducted at USITT 2018 in Fort Lauderdale. The induction will be held Wednesday as part of the morning keynote event, which will begin at 9:30 a.m.
Meet our new inductees:
Dan Culhane
Dan Culhane is currently the President Elect of USITT. He works for Wenger / J.R. Clancy as a Senior Mechanical Engineer. Prior to this position, he spent 16 years at SECOA as the Engineering Manager and Technical Business Development Manager, responsible for converting architectural drawings and consultant's specifications into manufacturing drawings as well as facilitating the design of specific solutions to venue-specific problems. He is an ETCP Certified Rigger for Theatre and Subject Matter Expert for that organization for which he received the 2012 Frank Stewart Volunteer of the Year Award.
Dan recently wrote the chapter on The Mechanics of Stage Automation in the book Entertainment Rigging For the 21st Century, edited by Bill Sapsis.
Dan is a veteran of the industry. He spent 15 years as a Technical Director working for theaters across the country including the Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, Minnesota; The Children’s Theatre Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota; StageWest, Springfield, Massachusetts; and Great Lakes Theatre Festival, Cleveland, Ohio. He has an MFA in Theatre Technology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and a BA in Theatre from Southern Illinois University – Carbondale.
He serves on the PLASA Technical Standards Program, where he is co-chair of the Stage Lift Working Group and is also a member of the Rigging Working Group. He is a member of the UL Standards Technical Panel for Fire Doors (STP 10) and serves as an alternate committee member to the NFPA Technical Committee on Fire Doors and Windows.
Dan is married to Tree O’Halloran, the Production Stage Manager for the Guthrie Theater. They have two children and live in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Travis De Castro
Travis De Castro began his working life as a professional stage manager. From the start of his career in New York, he made his mark stage managing for Radio City Music Hall and Broadway houses such as the Virginia and Marriott Marquis, Lincoln Center, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Madison Square Garden.
Travis has been a longtime member of the USITT beginning with his first national experience in 1993. He was one of the first mentors of the Stage Management Mentor Project at the Wichita Conference. To his many years of service as a member, Commission member, section member, and Board member, he has continued to give of his time and talent to USITT. He served as Vice-Commissioner for the Management Commission, as first National Special Events Coordinator for the annual Conference and on the national Conference Committee until 2004. He was elected Treasurer of the Institute, most notably during the U.S. financial meltdown of 2007-2008, serving for six years.
Following his rich freelance stage management career, he took a position at Penn State University School of Theatre using his background and connections as well as his continuing interest and contribution to the growth of the American theatre to benefit his students and colleagues alike sharing his knowledge as a theatre maker and guidance as a mentor.
Susan Tsu
Susan Tsu is honored to have designed for Ed Stern under his artistic leadership both at the Indiana Rep and Cincinnati Playhouse. Susan’s costume designs have been seen nationally at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Alley Theatre, Huntington Theatre, Milwaukee Rep, City Theatre, Quantum Theatre, and Pittsburgh Public Theatre, amongst many others. Signature productions include Godspell; The Joy Luck Club, Shanghai People’s Art Theatre/Long Wharf Theatre; and The Balcony, Bolshoi Theatre (US/Soviet Arts Exchange). She has served on the Board of TCG, has been an NEA and McArthur Foundation recommender, and has been a curator for the USITT/USA/Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space for 12 years. Tsu served as Artistic Director for PQ2011, bringing the exhibit to La Mama La Galleria in New York City; Penn State University; the Bakhrushin Museum in Moscow, Russia; and the Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon where she heads the Costume Design program.
