Review: (Toronto) How to Disappear Completely (SummerWorks)

Completely Disappearing: the Art of Light
by Jason Booker

Normally, saying that the lighting was the best element of the show is a polite code used amongst friends and professionals. Correctly interpreted, it means that little else about the show was worth mentioning. 

First-Person: Itai Erdal on How to Disappear Completely

Mother and Me

Exploring life through theatre

by Itai Erdal (production photos by Emily Cooper)

Twelve years ago, I was going to be a documentary filmmaker. I became a theatre lighting designer instead. I never planned to be a designer, it kind of happened by accident. I was a good lighting technician in Israel but I was happy to leave theatre behind to pursue my dreams in film, and when I moved to Vancouver in 1999 it was its booming film industry that attracted me. I worked as a lamp operator in big union movies (Halloween 8, Air Bud 4, etc.), and at the same time I tried to be an independent and documentary filmmaker. I bought a video camera and I tried to start a business of shooting EPK’s (electronic press kits, or the behind the scenes). It was around that time that I received a phone call from Israel telling me that my mother had lung cancer and nine months to live.