Thomas R. Skelton
Encyclopedia
Thomas R. Skelton was a lighting designer
. In a career spanning more than four decades, he was best known for his lighting designs for ballet
and Broadway theatre
productions.
, Skelton graduated from Middlebury College
, Theatre Department. He pursued an interest in modern dance after moving to New York, studying dance with Martha Graham
and José Limón
. His lighting career started as an apprentice to Jean Rosenthal
at the American Dance Festival
. He worked for Robert Joffrey
's new dance company as a lighting designer and stage manager.
By the 1950s he was published regularly in Dance Magazine
with his lighting methods. He taught at both Yale University
and New York Studio and Forum of Stage Design
.
Most of his work was within the world of dance, particularly ballet
. He designed lighting for, among others, the American Ballet Theatre
, The Joffrey Ballet, the New York City Ballet
and the Ohio Ballet, for which he was Associate Director. His method was published as 'The Handbook for Dance Stagecraft' between October 1955 and December 1956 in Dance Magazine.
He also designed lighting for some 63 Broadway
productions, beginning with Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad
in 1963 until his last production in 1993, Shakespeare For My Father
. He also designed lighting for numerous productions at, among others, the Circle in the Square, Yale Repertory Theatre
, and the American Shakespeare Festival. Skelton received three Tony Award
nominations.
According to the New York Times: "Mr. Skelton was equally at home in two very different art forms. His lighting brought extra texture and body and jewel-like color to dance stages in an era when dance lighting usually emphasized airy, open space. His theater designs often added a feeling of light and air to a stage picture while strengthening the dramatic quality of a production."
Ballet
Lighting designer
The role of the lighting designer within theatre is to work with the director, choreographer, set designer, costume designer, and sound designer to create an overall 'look' for the show in response to the text, while keeping in mind issues of visibility, safety and cost...
. In a career spanning more than four decades, he was best known for his lighting designs for ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
and Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
productions.
Biography
Born in North Bridgeton, MaineMaine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, Skelton graduated from Middlebury College
Middlebury College
Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college located in Middlebury, Vermont, USA. Founded in 1800, it is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges in the United States. Drawing 2,400 undergraduates from all 50 United States and over 70 countries, Middlebury offers 44 majors in the arts,...
, Theatre Department. He pursued an interest in modern dance after moving to New York, studying dance with Martha Graham
Martha Graham
Martha Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence Picasso had on modern visual arts, Stravinsky had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture.She danced and choreographed for over seventy years...
and José Limón
José Limón
José Arcadio Limón was a pioneer in the field of modern dance and choreography. In 1928, at age 20, he moved to New York City where he studied under Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman. In 1946, Limón founded the José Limón Dance Company...
. His lighting career started as an apprentice to Jean Rosenthal
Jean Rosenthal
Jean Rosenthal is considered a pioneer in the field of theatrical lighting design. She was born in New York City to Romanian-Jewish immigrants....
at the American Dance Festival
American Dance Festival
The American Dance Festival is a six and four-week school for dance and a six-week summer festival of modern dance performances, currently held at Duke University and the Durham Performing Arts Center in Durham, North Carolina....
. He worked for Robert Joffrey
Robert Joffrey
Robert Joffrey was an American dancer, teacher, producer and choreographer, known for his highly imaginative modern ballets...
's new dance company as a lighting designer and stage manager.
By the 1950s he was published regularly in Dance Magazine
Dance Magazine
Dance Magazine is an "influential" American trade publication for dance, currently published by the Macfadden Communications Group. It was first published in June 1927 as The American Dancer. William Como was its editor-in-chief from 1970 to his death in 1989. Wendy Perron became its editor-in...
with his lighting methods. He taught at both Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
and New York Studio and Forum of Stage Design
New York Studio and Forum of Stage Design
The Studio and Forum of Stage Design was started by Lester Polakov in Greenwich Village, NYC .Mr. Polakov was born in Chicago in 1916 and studied in New York with George Grosz and at Columbia University. He began his career designing sets in summer stock and in 1939 made his debut in New York City...
.
Most of his work was within the world of dance, particularly ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
. He designed lighting for, among others, the American Ballet Theatre
American Ballet Theatre
American Ballet Theatre , based in New York City, was one of the foremost ballet companies of the 20th century. It continues as a leading dance company in the world today...
, The Joffrey Ballet, the New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Leon Barzin was the company's first music director. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company...
and the Ohio Ballet, for which he was Associate Director. His method was published as 'The Handbook for Dance Stagecraft' between October 1955 and December 1956 in Dance Magazine.
He also designed lighting for some 63 Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
productions, beginning with Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad
Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad
Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad: A Pseudoclassical Tragifarce in a Bastard French Tradition was the first play written by Arthur L. Kopit. The play opened off-Broadway at the Phoenix Repertory Theatre in New York City in 1962 and moved to the Morosco Theatre...
in 1963 until his last production in 1993, Shakespeare For My Father
Shakespeare For My Father
Shakespeare for My Father is a one-woman play written and performed by Lynn Redgrave. The play concerns Redgrave's relationship with her father, the imposing actor and family patriarch Sir Michael Redgrave....
. He also designed lighting for numerous productions at, among others, the Circle in the Square, Yale Repertory Theatre
Yale Repertory Theatre
The Yale Repertory Theatre at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut was founded by Robert Brustein, dean of the Yale School of Drama in 1966, with the goal of facilitating a meaningful collaboration between theatre professionals and talented students. In the process it has become one of the...
, and the American Shakespeare Festival. Skelton received three Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nominations.
According to the New York Times: "Mr. Skelton was equally at home in two very different art forms. His lighting brought extra texture and body and jewel-like color to dance stages in an era when dance lighting usually emphasized airy, open space. His theater designs often added a feeling of light and air to a stage picture while strengthening the dramatic quality of a production."
Work
Broadway (selected)- CocoCoco (musical)Coco is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by André Previn. It starred Katharine Hepburn in her only stage musical.-Background:...
(1968) - Indians (1970) Tony Award Best Lighting Design (Nominee)
- Guys and Dolls (1976)
- The King and IThe King and IThe King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...
(1977) - GigiGigiGigi is a 1944 novella by French writer Colette. The plot focuses on a young Parisian girl being groomed for a career as a courtesan and her relationship with the wealthy cultured man named Gaston who falls in love with her and eventually marries her....
(1973) - PurliePurliePurlie is a musical with a book by Ossie Davis, Philip Rose, and Peter Udell, lyrics by Udell, and music by Gary Geld. It is based on Davis' 1961 play Purlie Victorious, which was later made into the 1963 film Gone Are the Days! and which included all of the original Broadway cast, including Ruby...
(1970) - ShenandoahShenandoah (musical)Shenandoah is a musical that was written in 1975 with music by Gary Geld, lyrics by Peter Udell, and a book by Udell, Philip Rose and James Lee Barrett, based on Barrett's original screenplay for the 1965 film Shenandoah.-Productions:...
(1974) - All God's Chillun Got WingsAll God's Chillun Got Wings (play)All God's Chillun Got Wings was a 1924 play by Eugene O'Neill about miscegenation.Paul Robeson performed in the premiere, in which he portrayed the black husband of an abusive white woman who, resenting her husband's skin colour, destroys his promising career as a lawyer.-Performances:Trish Van...
(1975) Tony Award Best Lighting Design (Nominee) - A Matter of GravityA Matter of GravityA Matter of Gravity is a play by Enid Bagnold.At its center is eccentric dowager Mrs. Basil, who chooses to live in only one room of her Oxford mansion. Her quiet existence is disrupted by the arrival of her grandson Nicky and four of his friends and new cook-housekeeper Dubois, who startles the...
(1976) - Legend (1976) Drama Desk Award Outstanding Lighting Design nominee
- Death of a SalesmanDeath of a SalesmanDeath of a Salesman is a 1949 play written by American playwright Arthur Miller. It was the recipient of the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. Premiered at the Morosco Theatre in February 1949, the original production ran for a total of 742 performances.-Plot :Willy Loman...
(George C Scott) (1975) - Death of a SalesmanDeath of a SalesmanDeath of a Salesman is a 1949 play written by American playwright Arthur Miller. It was the recipient of the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. Premiered at the Morosco Theatre in February 1949, the original production ran for a total of 742 performances.-Plot :Willy Loman...
(Michael Rudman) (1984) - Oklahoma!Oklahoma!Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...
(1979) - Peter PanPeter PanPeter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
(1979) - BrigadoonBrigadoonBrigadoon is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. Songs from the musical, such as "Almost Like Being in Love" have become standards....
(1980) - Lena HorneLena HorneLena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the...
: The Lady and Her Music (1981) Drama Desk Award Outstanding Lighting Design nominee - The Iceman ComethThe Iceman ComethThe Iceman Cometh is a play written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill in 1939. First published in 1940 the play premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on 9 October 1946, directed by Eddie Dowling where it ran for 136 performances to close on 15 March 1947.-Characters:* Night Hawk-...
(1985) Tony Award Best Lighting Design nominee - Shakespeare For My FatherShakespeare For My FatherShakespeare for My Father is a one-woman play written and performed by Lynn Redgrave. The play concerns Redgrave's relationship with her father, the imposing actor and family patriarch Sir Michael Redgrave....
(1993)
Ballet
- Jerome RobbinsJerome RobbinsJerome Robbins was an American theater producer, director, and choreographer known primarily for Broadway Theater and Ballet/Dance, but who also occasionally directed films and directed/produced for television. His work has included everything from classical ballet to contemporary musical theater...
' Dances at a Gathering - Robert JoffreyRobert JoffreyRobert Joffrey was an American dancer, teacher, producer and choreographer, known for his highly imaginative modern ballets...
's Astarte - Heinz Poll's Scenes From Childhood
- José LimónJosé LimónJosé Arcadio Limón was a pioneer in the field of modern dance and choreography. In 1928, at age 20, he moved to New York City where he studied under Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman. In 1946, Limón founded the José Limón Dance Company...
's The Moor's Pavane - Paul Taylor's Aureole
- Martha Graham's Rite of Spring
- Kurt Jooss' The Green Table
- Gerald Arpino's Kettantanz
- Leonide Massine's Parade
Sources
- Thomas R. Skelton. "Handbook of Dance Stagecraft." Dance Magazine. October 1955 to December 1956
- Lighting the Dance