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    The Arthropologist

    Blinded by the light: Remembering how Jeremy Choate created magic on H-Towndance stages

    Nancy Wozny
    Aug 15, 2012 | 2:56 pm
    • The amazing Jeremy Choate standing in the light
      Photo by © Lynn Lane
    • Suchu Dance artists in Ella Paradise, with light design by Jeremy Choate
      Photo by Lorie Garcia
    • Jacquelyne Boe is bathed in Jeremy Choate's lighting design for Photo Box D inSplitting the Night, choreographed by Andy Noble and Dionne Sparkman Noble.
      Photo by © Lynn Lane
    • A scene from All Those Vanishes Engines, with lighting by Jeremy Choate
    • Catalina Molnari in Toni Valle's Tetris
      Photo and Lighting by Jeremy Choate
    • Erik Hellman in The Stage Repertory Theater's production of Will Eno's Oh! TheHumanity, with lighting by Jeremy Choate
      Photo by © Bruce Bennett
    • Artists of NobleMotion Dance in Photo Box D
      Photo and Lighting by Jeremy Choate

    The arts community lost a dear friend. I lost a friend and a colleague. By now, you know that Jeremy Choate died due to injuries sustained during a motorcycle accident last weekend. Choate was one of Houston's most treasured dance lighting designers.

    He worked with Suchu Dance, Karen Stokes Dance, 6 Degrees, Hope Stone, NobleMotion, Infinite Motion Ever Evolving (IMEE), Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble, Revolve and others, in addition to his work on all the Big Range Dance Festivals and Weekend of Contemporary Dance at Miller Outdoor Theatre.

    You won't find a dance person in this city that doesn't have a story about how he helped, supported and became a friend to an entire community. Just about everyone remembers Choate's kindness and generosity. But now is the time to also remember his spectacular body of work on Houston's dance stages.

     

    Much of my past decade of Houston dance watching was filtered through the lens of Choate's lighting design. I watched him grow into an artist in his own right.  

    Much of my past decade of Houston dance watching was filtered through the lens of Choate's lighting design. I watched him grow into an artist in his own right. He had a great career ahead of him, and was working more toward artistic ownership of his pieces.

    His work and life touched just about every dance company at one time in their careers. For some, like Andy and Dionne Sparkman Noble of Noblemotion, he helped define the company.

    Unlike theater lighting, where one often has to approximate three in the afternoon in a 19th century living room, dance lighting calls on a different part of the imagination. It's about building and supporting the world created by the choreographer. Choate drew from a different part of his magic-making on the dance stage. I had the great privilege of writing about many of his designs over the years.

     Stories to tell

    Choate considered light as another moving element, and in the process elevated the production values of local dance. He had a keen sense of rhythm, often using dynamic cues that highlighted the choreography. His installation work at DiverseWorks and MASS MOCA showed yet another aspect of his interest in lighting the character of a space. In fact, I will be ending my summer in the Berkshires with my annual pilgrimage to MASS MOCA, this time to see Choate's work in Stephen Vitiello's All Those Vanished Engines.

    Houston dance artists, shaken as they are from the loss, have stories to tell.

    "Working with Jeremy was a dream," says Toni Valle's who worked with Choate for Tetris, her second major evening-length work. "He saw my vision to create the split-personality world that embodied both the time period of the '80s, and the Freudian characters I had created, without making them two-dimensional caricatures.

    "Every scene was carefully thought out, and not only beautifully well lit, but emotionally charged and reminiscent of a much-loved but troubled early adulthood that marked my generation."

     

      "Jeremy knew how to use the dark as well as the light." 

    Valle recalls how hard he worked to get the section on love and AIDS just right. "Jeremy hit the mood of fear, separation, and anxiety dead-on with a mottled gobo, shafts of dim light, and alternating shadows," recalls Valle. "Jeremy knew how to use the dark as well as the light."

    Nowhere is his penchant for the power of darkness more evident than in his wok with NobleMotion. The velvety blackness of Photo Box D was as exciting as the glaring white lights that sometimes stunned us into seeing. It was in his time with NobleMotion that he took some of his biggest risks, becoming truly part of the creative process.

    "Jeremy was an incredibly thoughtful artist, but was not afraid to make people uncomfortable with his work. He had reached a wonderful place in his career where he knew all of the rules of his craft and was looking for the unconventional," recalls Noble, co-artistic director.

    "What excited me so much about his work and collaborating with him, was that nothing was off the table. He was seeking out opportunities to shake things up--excited to try new things. A unique hallmark of Jeremy's work, was that he could take everyday mundane lighting instruments and create a world of light that had emotion and texture. There was a magic to his work, a boyish wonder. A galaxy of stars, a looming realm of shadows and darkness and our choreography liked growing in those scary places."

     Strong collaboration

    His work with choreographer Jennifer Wood with Suchu Dance stands as some of the strongest collaborative work in the history of Houston dance. Unlike larger theaters where you tech, dress and perform in one day, at Barnevelder Wood and Choate were able to develop the work in the performance space, creating considerably more nuanced performances as a result.

    "As a designer, Jeremy always made my life easier because he would get the job done beautifully without needing much decision-making on my part, leaving me free to worry about other things," says Wood. "Many times he would stay overnight at the theater working on an installation or hanging lights so that everything would be ready in time."

     

      Once of his most memorable pieces for Suchu was Impluvium, where he installed 500 small LED lights suspended, evenly spaced throughout the high space onstage. Simply breathtaking. 

    Once of his most memorable pieces for Suchu was Impluvium, where he installed 500 small LED lights suspended, evenly spaced throughout the high space onstage. Simply breathtaking.

    "This created an otherworldly atmosphere in the space giving an exciting boost to the work, and one I had not envisioned at all, but it was better than anything I would have thought of," says Wood. "On the other hand, he ran with with any weird idea I threw at him."

    Choate lit four of of Karen Stokes evening length productions. "I loved so many things about working with him, it's hard to know where to begin. His artistry is at the top," says Stokes. "He had the rare ability to create dramatic lighting effects that highlighted the choreography in completely collaborative and organic fashion. His work was, quite simply, beautiful. Backstage in tech rehearsals, Jeremy was incredibly fast, efficient, and technically skilled. He could do everything and he could do it exceedingly well and at hyper drive speed. Even though he could work fast, he projected a calm and easy demeanor."

    Choate was also a prolfic designer for theater, designing numerous shows for Stages Repertory Theatre, Horse Head Theatre Company. I will never forget how he totally transformed the Brewery Tap for Horse Head production of Fault Lines, and how he made an already scary place underneath the Brewery Tap even scarier for Among the Thugs. He transferred many of his dynamic leanings into theater making, for a truly visceral experience.

    His work in the Stages production of Will Eno's Oh! The Humanity stands out for Kenn McLaughlin. "The design that was as daring and unexpected as it was simple he used almost all natural lighting," says McLaughlin. "He was the most relaxed of our artists, but also one of the most driven to excellence. He knew what he wanted with a confidence that was palpable but he never let his own ego get in the way of a collaboration."

    Christina Giannelli, Houston Ballet's former resident designer worked side by side with Choate for most of his time in Houston. "I respected him enormously both as a fellow designer and as a human being," she says. "He had a gift for connection. If everyone could bring themselves as fully to their work and their interactions with other people as Jeremy did, the world would be better for it."

    Jeremy, we were all honored to stand in your light.

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    Movie Review

    New Superman movie forges into the future while honoring the past

    Alex Bentley
    Jul 11, 2025 | 3:30 pm
    David Corenswet in Superman
    Photo by Jessica Miglio
    David Corenswet in Superman.

    When the character of Superman was invented in 1938, it was perhaps easier to see the world in good and bad terms. Fascism was already on the rise in Germany under Adolf Hitler, and the idea of an all-powerful superhero who stood up for people in need was a welcome one. In the nearly 90 years since, though, the world and the character have undergone multiple evolutions, and the thought of someone who is purely good is often met with cynicism or worse.

    The new Superman, written and directed by James Gunn, puts the superhero (or metahuman, as the film calls him and similar creatures) squarely in the midst of the modern world, with geopolitical conflicts, mega-corporations, and social media all combining to make the altruism of Superman/Clark Kent (David Corenswet) questionable. That skepticism even extends to his coworker/girlfriend Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), whose knowledge of his exploits puts her in a tricky position personally and professionally.

    Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) is out to dominate the world and take down Superman, with his eponymous corporation and vast group of underlings dedicated to doing both. Superman is generally a one-man fighting crew, but he’s occasionally aided by a group calling themselves the Justice Gang, comprised of heroes many have never heard of like Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), a version of Green Lantern; Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), a flying metahuman; and Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi), who knows all kinds of technology.

    One of the best things about this new version of Superman is that it mostly dispenses with introductions, putting the audience in a world where Superman is already a well-known quantity who’s adored by many and hated by some. Gunn has used his new position as co-CEO of DC Studios to honor the past of the hero and take him into the future. With the 1978 John Williams theme song echoing throughout and Corenswet giving off Christopher Reeve vibes, it’s clear Gunn wants audiences to feel nostalgia while still getting something new.

    He also appears to want viewers to fight against the negativity that the modern world can bring. The plot involves manipulation of the public, usually at the hands of Luthor, through bombastic talk shows, political theater, and social media, the latter of which — in a great joke — comes to involve hundreds of typing monkeys. The film could be read as a rebuttal of many real-world ills as, despite Luthor’s machinations, many choose to continue to believe in the goodness of Superman.

    There is a lot going on in the film, but somehow it never comes off as overly complicated. Superman’s relationship with Lois Lane and Luthor’s attempts at taking him down are given the most prominence, with everything else supporting those two main things. The Justice Gang is a fun addition, with Mr. Terrific becoming the breakout hero of the group. The addition of the (CGI) dog Krypto provides levity, poignant moments, and unexpectedly great action scenes. The only part that gets somewhat short shrift is the crew of The Daily Planet, with everyone besides Lois and Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) getting little more than face time.

    Being the new Superman is a lot to live up to, but Corenswet is completely up to the job. He, like Reeve, plays the character as someone who is earnest but not naive, a quality that comes through even when he’s in the middle of fight scenes. Brosnahan is also fantastic, providing a nice balance to the relationship while also proving the character’s own worth. Hoult makes for a great new version of Luthor, and Gathegi nearly makes the case that Mr. Terrific should get a starring film of his own.

    Just as he did with the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, Gunn has shown that success can be found through making characters people want to see. Not everyone in this Superman will be familiar to viewers, but in the end a group of people working together toward a goal that serves the common good is one worth watching and cheering for.

    ---

    Superman is now playing in theaters.

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