Alan Adelman

Alan Adelman

Alan Adelman designs lighting for stage, video, film and theater/studio facilities but may be best known for his working with theater artists, producers and archivists to translate and capture existing stage shows as well as create original productions for digital media. Credits include over 75 shows with the “Great Performances” PBS series including seventeen “Dance in America” programs and eight “American Playhouse” original productions showcasing work by many of the most recognized playwrights, directors, choreographers and musical icons of our time. His television work has been honored with three Emmy Awards. He is the resident lighting designer/consultant for the “Live from Lincoln Center” series (over 100 shows) and for Carnegie Hall stage productions since the “Grand Reopening” in 1987. For Carnegie he has also consulted on the stage lighting facilities for both Stern Auditorium and Zankel Hall as well as television studio installations for the CBS Ed Sullivan Theater and USA Today. Alan has designed multiple shows for other in-performance based television series including “Onstage at the Kennedy Center”, “In Performance at the White House”, “Broadway HD” and has consulted on most all video captures of Broadway shows since the 1982 live broadcast of “Sophisticated Ladies” from the Lunt Fontaine Theater. Feature film credits include the lighting design for George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker (with NYC Ballet), Elmo In Grouchland, the club lighting for Brian DePalma’s Carlito’s Way, and documentaries on Alvin Ailey and The Philadelphia Orchestra. Other selected designs have included video productions ranging from the VMAs, The Tony Awards, The Mark Twain Prize, Christmas In Rockefeller Center and the Papal Masses in Central Park and Yankee Stadium, to original stage designs for San Francisco Ballet, Miami City Ballet, The American Indian Dance Theater, Juilliard Opera and Eliot Feld, to concert specials with Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Dave Chappelle, The Eurythmics, Paul Simon, Audra McDonald, Wynton Marsalis, Jerry Seinfeld, Cynthia Erivo, Sutton Foster, Leslie Odom Jr., and many, many others. Alan teaches his “Digital Cinema for Theater Lighting Designers” seminar at colleges and universities across the United States. He received his MFA from the University of Wisconsin, Madison with Gilbert in 1978.

SSD History:
Guest Speaker, Summer 2021 with “Lighting Live Events for the Camera”