Apr 23, 2025 | Theatre and Dance, Theatre and Dance News, xCVPA, xFeatured
Kev Kollmann, an M.F.A. in lighting design in the NIU School of Theatre and Dance is featured in the Winter 2025 edition of Protocol Magazine, the journal of the entertainment technology industry. The feature and accompanying video focus on inclusion and innovation issues in the entertainment industry and the way ETC and their partners are looking to improve accessibility. In the video, Kollmann talks about being discouraged from majoring in percussion at the university where he earned his undergraduate degree. But a visit to the theater department next door opened a new world to him and he earned his bachelor of arts in theater.
Kollmann came to NIU as a graduate student, and both he and members of the faculty discuss the common sense solutions they have found to improve the accessibility of the spaces and equipment theater technicians need to do their jobs. These improvements are already benefitting other students and technicians at NIU and beyond.
Oct 18, 2023 | Theatre and Dance, Theatre and Dance News, xCVPA, xFeatured
Last summer, Northern Illinois University was selected as the site of the second annual Midwest Rigging Intensive, a weekend-long event, held August 17-19, with a focus on practical learning for entertainment riggers. Sessions were held in the Stevens Building and the Convocation Center. The event is featured in a cover story in the Fall 2023 edition of Protocol, the journal of the entertainment technology industry, and the cover photo is of a hands-on session being held high up in the Convocation Center.
Tracy Nunnally, Technical Director/Head of Design and Technology in the NIU School of Theatre and Dance is a member of ESTA (Entertainment Services and Technology Association) and was a driving force behind the effort to host the conference at NIU. After looking at several sites, NIU was chosen as the best location for this professional training event due to the specific rigging facilities included in the renovations to the Stevens Building. These include the highly accessible rigging points in the Black Box Theatre and the rigging lab I-beams located in the scene shop.
Nunnally led or co-led a number of sessions in various locations in the Stevens Building and Convocation Center, and on the final day of the event was one of nine honored by ESTA with the Frank Stewart Volunteer of the Year Award.
In addition to his work as head of design and technology for the school, Nunnally is owner and president of Vertigo, a Cortland, Illinois based company that “has been providing exceptional flying effects around the world since 1991.”
May 1, 2018 | Theatre and Dance, Theatre and Dance News
Tracy Nunnally
A first-person account of the importance of combining experience in the field with the Entertainment Technician Certification Program (ETCP) highlights an article written by Tracy Nunally, Head of Design and Technology at NIU’s School of Theatre and Dance. (more…)
