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Memorial Tribute to Honor Chris Parry

Please join colleagues, friends and family in a commemorative tribute to the life and work of our esteemed colleague, Chris Parry, who died January 16. "Let There Be Light: A Tribute to the Life of Chris Parry," planned and presented by the students for whom Parry was mentor and friend, will be held this Sunday, February 25, beginning at 4 p.m. in the Mandell Weiss Forum Theatre in the UCSD Theatre District/La Jolla Playhouse. Ample parking is available in P102 located at Revelle College Drive and Scholars Drive South, directly across from the theatre.

Chris Parry was an internationally acclaimed theatre and opera lighting designer and had been a Professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance since 1988, combining his love for teaching with his transatlantic career as a lighting designer. Trained in his native England, Mr. Parry had designed internationally for more than 30 years, earning the prestigious Tony Award, the British Olivier Award, and 25 other major awards and nominations, including the New York Drama Desk Award and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award. His work included 160 British and US regional theatre and opera designs, as well as several Broadway productions, a section of the movie Renaissance Man, and several retail design projects in San Diego and Los Angeles. "Chris was a brilliant designer and a wonderful teacher," said Charlie Oates, Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance. "He is greatly missed here and throughout the world of theatre."

Among his credits were The Who's Tommy, directed by Des McAnuff, which won the Tony Award for Parry. Other highlights of his long career in lighting design included 24 productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), including the musical The Blue Angel for Trevor Nunn, The Secret Garden and A Midsummer Night's Dream for Adrian Noble, and Les Liaisons Dangereuses for Howard Davies, which garnered him a Tony Award nomination and the New York Drama Desk Award for the production design on Broadway. Parry also worked with the Royal National Theatre in England, as well as work for the Los Angles Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Opera Theatre of Lucca (Italy), La Jolla Playhouse and many others prestigious venues. He was nominated for the New York Drama Desk Award for his work on RSC's A Midsummer Night's Dream on Broadway, as well as the London Olivier Award nomination for the production lighting design in England. For his designs on the Tennessee Williams premiere of Not About Nightingales, he won the New York Drama Desk Award and received another Tony nomination. Parry was also presented the Lighting Designer of the Year Award in 1994 by Lighting Dimensions.

Related Website: http://theatre.ucsd.edu/chrisparrytribute/default.html

Michael A. Bernstein Dean Arts and Humanities