SYRACUSE, NY – Joe Aldridge of Las Vegas, Nevada took office as president of USITT July 1. He will lead the 3,800 member organization of designers, managers, and technologists in performing arts and entertainment for the next two years. USITT members choose their volunteer leadership in annual balloting. The organization's annual Conference & Stage Expo includes more than 150 sessions, panels, and workshops plus a 100,000 square-foot trade show.
USITT's volunteer officers work to fulfill the Institute's mission, including actively promoting the knowledge and skills of its members through sponsoring projects, programs, research, and symposia; participating in the development of industry standards; providing opportunities for professional contacts and networking; and promoting and sponsoring international alliances and activities.
Aldridge has toured Japan with Siegfried and Roy, helped stage Oedipus at Colonus in Greece, taken plays to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and has been artistic director for Shakespeare Under the Stars in Wimberley, Texas. Those experiences are just part of what Joe Aldridge brings to the job of leading USITT into its second half century.
Aldridge has also been with the University of Nevada at Las Vegas intermittently since the 1970s, serving first as technical director and, most recently, helping create and nurture the Entertainment Engineering and Design Program, a joint effort of the colleges of Fine Arts and Engineering.
Aldridge has been a member of IATSE Local 720, the local that serves the Las Vegas entertainment industry for four decades. While he now rarely works calls, he is a Trustee and Chair of the Nevada Resort Assn./IATSE Local 720 Training Trust, working to advance the skills of those involved in Las Vegas productions.
As USITT's Vice-President for Conferences, a post he held for three terms, Aldridge was responsible for planning and administration of the Institute's Annual Conference & Stage Expo, which draws more than 4,000 people to a different North American city each year.
He has been active in the Institute since 1985, has served as a USITT representative to the Entertainment Technician Certification Program council since it was formed. He was also named a Fellow of the Institute, a lifetime honor, in 2008.
Aldridge, who received his undergraduate degree from Texas Tech and his Masters from UNLV, and USITT's other new officers and Directors at Large, were formally acknowledged at USITT's Annual Conference & Stage Expo in Kansas City, Mo. in March.
USITT's members include behind-the-scenes professionals include scenery, costume, sound and lighting designers; scenery, costume, sound and lighting technicians; properties, makeup and special effects craftspersons; stagehands, architects; theatrical consultants; acousticians, performing arts educators and staff; and performing arts manufacturers, suppliers and distributors throughout the U.S., Canada and 40 other countries.
For more information, please visit www.usitt.org.
