11. Kevin Adams
Lighting Designer
No hidden sources here: in a handful of productions—Spring Awakening (pictured), Passing Strange, Next To Normal, Hair, and American Idiot—Adams has retooled the look of musical theatre by plugging into neon, LED, fluorescent, A-lamps on cords, and other wild choices to create a new paradigm in stage lighting. He picked up back-to-back Tony Awards in 2007 and 2008, and it’s no wonder based on the killer visual impact of his approach to lighting as art and art as lighting.

12. Richard Belliveau
Chief Technology Officer, High End Systems
If you don’t recognize Belliveau as one of the smarter folks in our biz, then you haven’t been paying attention for the last 20 or so years. Remember the Laser Chorus, High End’s first intelligent light? Richard. How about Intellabeams? Richard. Studio Colors? StudioPix? ShowPix? You see where we’re going with this. He says he’s always been “that mad scientist kid,” tinkering with everything from customizing guitars and repairing car stereos to being a DJ. Now, he’s named inventor on more than 20 patents and holds a Wally Russell Lifetime Achievement Award (2005).

13. Leroy Bennett
Production-Lighting Designer
Bennett has been on our radar for years, and he’s still going strong with unique production and lighting designs that have included tours for Kelly Clarkson, Paul McCartney, Madonna, Nine Inch Nails, Josh Groban, and Tim McGraw/Faith Hill. Never one to shy away from going against the grain, in an ever-increasing era of stages incorporating video, Bennett’s recent design for Rammstein (pictured) had no video at all, only some moving lights, and the rest was fixed-focus with strobes, fluorescents, LEDs, PARs, and loads of pyro.

14. Jake Berry
Production Director, Fader Higher
The Rolling Stones, Metallica, Madonna, Mötley Crüe, U2, AC/DC, Walking With Dinosaurs, The Wiggles, and yes, even Barney—seen a show with any of the above in the last 30 or so years? Then chances are, Berry was there too, keeping things in working order, from lighting, video, and sound to transportation. He has been the go-to guy for successful tours around the world, and while he’s been threatening to retire, we’ll believe it when we see it.

15. Bob and Colleen Bonniol
Principals, Mode Studios
Masters of the projection universe, The Bonniols run the multimedia and interactive design program at California Institute of the Arts, serve as creative consultants for the Live Design Projection Master Classes at LDI, and output tons of media for tours, including a recurring gig with Nickelback (pictured). Intrepid problem-solvers, they have propelled visual design and technology into realms previously unheard of for theatre, opera, concerts, and events. They rock, they roll, their design work is innovative, and hey, they even have time to be parents.

16. Marc Brickman
Production-Lighting Designer
Perhaps best known for years of production and lighting design work for several massive Pink Floyd and Roger Waters tours, Brickman has most recently taken on Cirque du Soleil’s new resident show at CityCenter’s Aria, Viva Elvis. In 2009, he added one more accomplishment to his list of achievements: a new bouncing baby girl.

17. Michael Brokaw
Agent
What do you do when you have so many job offers, you can’t manage your own work schedule, and you don’t have the time—or inclination—to negotiate your own terms? You hire and agent, just like in any other business, and Brokaw seems to be the guy to call. Let’s put it this way: He represents 10% of the list you’re reading, so he’s doing his job pretty well.

18. Albert and Berenice Chauvet
Owners, Chauvet
Chauvet’s story begins in the 1980s, when Albert set out to sell rope lights to US distributors, a one-man operation he ran from a warehouse in North Miami Beach. Today, Albert and Berenice own and manage Chauvet & Sons, Inc, the parent company of Chauvet and Iluminarc, its new architectural division. Except for 2009 due to the weak economy, the company has maintained double-digit growth year over year since its inception, culminating in 2008 at 30%. Construction of the company’s 75,000sq-ft. headquarters in Sunrise, FL is due for completion in the first quarter of 2010.

19. Tom Clark, Mark Menard, Nevin Steinberg
ACME Sound Partners
This partnership has a strong footing on Broadway, where sound went tribal last year when the moon rose in the seventh house for the Tony Award-winning revival of Hair, and the clarity of the vocals sent shivers down your spine. The partners have also moved into permanent installations and creating interactive environments, proof this trio continues to be at the acme of its career. Look for them to get creepy and kooky this spring with The Addams Family on Broadway.

20. Steve Cohen
Production-Lighting Designer/Director
How many folks do you know with that title? Not lighting director—we mean director director, a duty Cohen performs admirably alongside lighting and production design duties (see “The Treble Alliance,” p. 30 for his latest). And he didn’t start small. After starting lighting company Troup-a Theatre in 1974, his first two clients were Earth, Wind, and Fire and Billy Joel, and he’s gone on to do a staggering 20 world tours with Joel. He has far too many credits to list (and it’s a pretty darned impressive list), but he’s currently working a tour for Sugarland, and the current Billy Joel/Elton John Face to Face tour features his direction and design.

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