SALT LAKE CITY — Gary “Frog” Justesen, founder and owner of Oasis Stage Werks, a theatrical lighting, staging, and rigging company based in Salt Lake City, passed away July 2. Justesen, who founded his company in 1977, was also one of the founding members of the Theatrical Dealers Association, which later became ESTA, and he was a staunch supporter of ESTA’s Standards, Certification, and Safety programs. He was a well-liked icon in the entertainment industry.
More details from Oasis Stage Werks (www.oasistage.com):
Gary Kent (“Frog”) Justesen, 69, passed away unexpectedly in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, July 2, 2019. He was born on September 9, 1949, in Murray, Utah, the eldest of the six sons of Glade Clifford and Margaret Elaine (Toomer) Justesen.
Gary grew up in Kearns, Utah, graduating from Cyprus High School in 1967 where he played football and took a leading role “behind the curtains” in every theatrical stage production there during his high school years.
As a very young teenager at Kearns Jr. High, a fire was lit in Frog’s soul for theatrical stage work that never ebbed or dimmed for over 55 years.
Frog also played guitar in several local rock bands, including “Jolly Green and the Giants” and “The Full Measure,” that had notable successes throughout the West Valley and Salt Lake County areas, and served as back-up band for national touring headliners at Lagoon during the 1960s.
Frog briefly attended the University of Utah in 1967-68, serving as a manager for the football team and as a stage carpenter and electrician at Pioneer Memorial Theater and Kingsbury Hall. He enlisted in the United Sates Marine Corps in July 1968, was awarded Honor Man of the Utah Platoon, and served a combat tour in Alpha Company, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division in the I Corps area of northern South Vietnam in 1969-70.
Following military service, Frog resumed his passion for theatrical stage work at the University, and became a member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Local #99 in Salt Lake City.
For over the next four and half decades Frog worked tirelessly to build his business and further the interests of the arts and entertainment industry in Utah in myriad ways. He worked for and with the Utah Repertory Dance Theater, Utah Opera, and Ballet West among many others.
In the 1990s, he was a recipient of a Governors’ Arts Award medal. He served as a stage and lighting technician for numerous national touring acts, including singer Barry Manilow, and many others.
For over 40 years, Frog served as the Head Carpenter for the New York City Ballet, and thereby also became a well known “stage hand” in theaters and opera houses throughout Europe and other parts of the world.
Frog was the founder and president of the business that is now known as Oasis Stage Werks. He was a generous and caring husband, brother, friend, employer, leader, teacher and mentor to countless family and friends, and to literally thousands of his fellow “stage hands” and others in the entertainment industry for over five decades. His presence will be sorely missed.
More details from ESTA (www.esta.org):
Gary was raised in Kearns, Utah, and attended Cyprus High School. It was there that began to develop his love for the theatre and all things performance related.
He attended the University of Utah, majoring in a music degree. He then joined the Marine Corps, and ended up serving in Viet Nam where he was a forward reconnaissance radio man.
Frog’s experiences in the Entertainment industry were as varied as his personality.
On returning to Utah after his deployment, he pursued his love of production and spent the next several years touring with several well known performers, including Ballet West, Neil Diamond, Barry Manilow, and many others. Learning his craft and when necessary, inventing and developing the craft itself. The early days of the technical performance Industry were new and unchartered territory. Much of what he learned and developed, he has passed on generously to hundreds of others, leaving a legacy of enriched artists and technicians whom he mentored, encouraged and trained.
During these years, he developed his long term relationship with New York City Ballet. He spent the next 45 years continuing to tour with them, traveling throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and South America.
In 1977, Frog realized that the Salt Lake City desperately needed a company to support the growing performing arts in the area. He started Oasis Stage Werks that same year. He was an avid supporter of all levels of performers and technicians, whether a middle school teacher trying to figure out how the lights worked, or helping a fledgling Festival that became the Sundance Film Festival, helping turn a sleepy mountain town into a world renowned Festival showcase.
Frog was a founding member of the Theatrical Dealers Association, later to become the Entertainment Services and Technology Association. He was an active participant in the Technical Standards Program and the Entertainment Technician Certification Program. His support of those programs helped them spread throughout the industry through financial support, sitting on committees, providing training and sharing his by then vast technical expertise, as well as directing members of his own company to serve and support these endeavors.
Frog always put his money ( and energy ) where his mouth was. A man who truly “walked like he talked”.
He felt it was necessary to give back to the industry that had supported him over the years. In addition to his support of ESTA, he also supported USITT, and was very happy when the Intermountain Desert Region chapter of USITT was formed. His generosity extended to the high school theatre level as well. He awarded dozens of scholarships over the years to high school students through the Utah Theatre Association, in order to help them pursue their interest in technical theatre.
His presence will be sorely missed. He touched more lives in more ways than he ever knew. As a person he was generous to a fault, kind, encouraging…and just plain fun to be around.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Behind the Scenes Charity, at www.btshelp.org/donate. or www.behindthescenescharity.org
Michael S. Eddy, editor of PLSN affiliate Stage Directions magazine, posted this remembrance:
“I originally met Frog when I worked at Rosco and continued to see him when I worked at Electronic Theatre Controls. He was a huge presence and always had a big smile when he saw you. He would remember everyone’s name and greet them like a long lost friend when reconnecting at a trade show or industry event. He was a blast at the LDI W.E.T. fishing tournament that Wybron, ETC, and TMB sponsored every year. He was some times cantankerous and, while he was an innovator, a hard worker, and ran a good shop, he could sometimes exasperate people and, like many, you wondered how he could get away with all he did in life! I will miss his big laugh and his jokes.”
