P.O. Box 691 Sebring Florida USA 33871 Tel: 863-382-2525
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P.O. Box 691 Sebring Florida USA 33871 Tel: 863-382-2525 |
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Thor Knutson - Unique Member, An Acting Technician By: Roy Riedy |
Thor Knutson has been with HLT less than nine years and in that time has been awarded six Zenons, an indisputable indication of his value and versatility. When he first came to the Lakeside Playhouse in the winter of 1995, he concerned himself with the technical side of stagecraft, sound and lighting. He proved to be so good at these jobs that he was awarded his first Zenon the following August at the Eleventh Zenon Award Ceremonies in 1996 for his Sound Design for The Foreigner, in January, 1996; the much decorated third edition of Fiddler on the Roof in April, and the final show of the Twenty-third season, The Secret Garden, in August, 1996. Rarely, if ever, has a new member won a Zenon in just eight months.
Thor worked on every show of the Twenty-third Season. He was a Sound Technician for the season opener, the retro musical Forever Plaid, in October; was responsible for the Sound Design of the January drama, To Kill a Mockingbird; was a Sound Technician again for the dressy La Cage aux Folles; did the Sound Design for the summer comedy, George Washington Slept Here; and in August did the Sound Design and was the Sound Technician for the reprise of the Sondheim musical, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum. For these efforts Thor was nominated for a Production/Technical Discretionary Zenon for "Sound for the 1996/1997 season" at the Twelfth Annual Zenon Awards Ceremony in October.
Thor worked on three shows during HLT's Twenty-fourth Season. In October he designed the lighting for Godspell; he designed both lighting and sound for the June musical, Paint Your Wagon; and in August he designed the lighting and performed his first stage managing stint for the Neil Simon comedy, Rumors. His efforts did not go unrewarded and Mr. Knutson received his second award, a Board Service Zenon for his work on the Production Committee and for his feats in sound at the Thirteenth Annual Zenon Awards Ceremony in October,1998.
Melanie Boulay's The Wizard of Oz opened the Twenty-fifth Season at Highlands Little Theatre and Thor was its Assistant Director and in charge of Special Effects. A month later Unity of Sebring presented its first holiday musical review, Sounds of the Season at the SFCC Auditorium, and Thor was on the Sound Design production team and one of its technicians.
At the Fourteenth Annual Zenon Awards Ceremony on October 2, 1999, Mr. Knutson received his third Production/Technical Zenon for his Assistant Direction and Special Effects for The Wizard of Oz, one of the nine Zenons this popular show received that tied it with Frank Oberhausen's 1996 Fiddler on the Roof as the two most decorated plays presented at HLT.
Thor worked on two shows in the 26th Season, the CAT presentation of Rumplestiltskin in July, and Melanie Boulay's production of the musical Oliver! in August for which he provided the Lighting and Sound Design and received a nomination for that work at the October Zenon Ceremonies.
Mr. Knutson started the 27th Season by providing the Sound Design for the comedy On Golden Pond. He then supplied the Light Design for Mac Byron's Extra Event A Tuna Christmas. In January he showed the Lakeside Playhouse audiences another facet of his abilities when he played the King of Siam in Frank Oberhausen's reprise of The King and I, a play for which he also furnished the Sound Design. He symmetrically finished the season by working on the rest of the shows supplying the Sound and Lighting Design for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and Sound Design for Moon Over Buffalo and West Side Story. Mr. Knutson was presented with a fourth Zenon at the Fifteenth Zenon Ceremonies for Best Actor for his inspired interpretation of the King of Siam.
Thor worked on three of the five shows presented in the 28th Season. He did the Sound Design for Guys and Dolls in November; the Lighting Design for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in March; and was the Stage Manager for Melanie Boulay's delightful Peter Pan in August. He culminated this season with a fifth Zenon in October with the Best Lighting award for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, a show that now holds the fifth place slot for The Most Decorated Show with 7 Zenons.
During the Twenty-ninth Season, Thor was the Sound Designer and Technician for Frank Oberhausen and Kathy MacNeill's Man of La Mancha. In the Thirtieth Season he made a cameo appearance in Melanie Boulay's musical I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, and was also responsible for the play's Lighting Design and created the Lighting Design for Jennifer Westergom's Zenon winning musical The Scarlet Pimpernel.
Most recently, during the Thirty-first Season, Thor did the Lighting Design for Pete Pollard's The Tale of the Allergist's Wife in January, 2005; he was the Lighting Designer and Technician for Jet Hansen's reprise of the musical I Do! I Do! in June; and the Lighting Designer for Melanie Boulay and Jennifer Westergom's record breaking revival of Cabaret in August which brought him his sixth Zenon at the Twentieth Anniversary Zenon Awards Ceremony in October, 2005.
Congratulations Thor for your outstanding work and your meteoric rise to Zenon fame which is just another gauge that underscores your generosity in sharing your fabled abilities.
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