Martin Aronstein (November 2, 1936 – May 3, 2002) was an American

lighting designer In theatre, a lighting designer (or LD) works with the director, choreographer, set designer, costume designer, and sound designer to create the lighting, atmosphere, and time of day for the production in response to the text while keeping ...

whose

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

career spanned thirty-six years. Born in

Pittsfield, Massachusetts Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfield� ...

, Aronstein attended

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than 170 ...

Flushing Flushing may refer to: Places * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom * Flushing, Queens, New York City ** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens ** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens ** Flushing ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. In 1957, following a performance sponsored by the

New York Shakespeare Festival Shakespeare in the Park (or Free Shakespeare in the Park) is a theatrical program that stages productions of Shakespearean plays at the Delacorte Theater, an open-air theater in New York City's Central Park. The theater and the productions are ...

, he approached a backstage worker and asked if he could help break down the set. He apprenticed with the festival and worked there for five years before being named its principal lighting designer, a position he held until 1976. He also served as the resident lighting supervisor at

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

.''New York Times'' obituary, June 15, 2002
/ref> Aronstein made his Broadway debut as the lighting assistant for ''

Arturo Ui ''The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui'' (german: Der aufhaltsame Aufstieg des Arturo Ui, links=no), subtitled "A parable play", is a 1941 play by the German playwright Bertolt Brecht. It chronicles the rise of Arturo Ui, a fictional 1930s Chicago ...

'' in 1963. Additional Broadway credits include ''

The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore ''The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore'' (1963 in literature, 1963) is a play in a prologue and six scenes, written by Tennessee Williams. He told John Gruen in 1965 that it was "the play that I worked on longest," and he premiered a version ...

'', ''

Tiny Alice ''Tiny Alice'' is a three-act play written by Edward Albee that premiered on Broadway at the Billy Rose Theatre in 1964. Synopsis Powerful widow Miss Alice and her lawyer offer a generous grant to the church on the condition that the cardinal's ...

'', ''

The Impossible Years ''The Impossible Years'' is a 1965 comedy play written by Robert Fisher and Arthur Marx, son of comedian Groucho Marx. After two previews, the Broadway production, directed by Arthur Storch, opened on October 13, 1965, at the Playhouse Theatre, ...

'', '' Cactus Flower'', ''

The Royal Hunt of the Sun ''The Royal Hunt of the Sun'' is a 1964 play by Peter Shaffer that dramatizes the relation of two worlds entering in a conflict by portraying two characters: Atahuallpa Inca and Francisco Pizarro. Performance history Premiere ''The Royal Hunt ...

'', ''

How Now, Dow Jones ''How Now, Dow Jones'' is a musical comedy by Academy Award winner Elmer Bernstein, Tony Award nominee Carolyn Leigh and Max Shulman. The original Broadway production opened in December 1967. A critically acclaimed revised version premiered Off-Br ...

'', ''

George M! ''George M!'' is a Broadway musical based on the life of George M. Cohan, the biggest Broadway star of his day who was known as "The Man Who Owned Broadway." The book for the musical was written by Michael Stewart, John Pascal, and Francine P ...

'', '' Promises, Promises'', '' Play It Again, Sam'', ''

The Gingerbread Lady ''The Gingerbread Lady'' is a play by Neil Simon. It was widely believed to have been written specifically for actress Maureen Stapleton, who won both the Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for her performance. But in a later autobiography, Simon w ...

'', ''

Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death ''Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death (Tunes from Blackness)'' is a musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Melvin Van Peebles. The musical contains some material also on three of Van Peebles' albums, ''Brer Soul'', '' Ain't Supposed to Die ...

'', ''

The Incomparable Max ''The Incomparable Max'' is a play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. It is based on the stories "Enoch Soames" and "A.V. Laider" in ''Seven Men'' by Max Beerbohm. Enoch Soames is a minor poet who makes a pact with the devil to spend a few ho ...

'', '' And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little'', ''

My Fat Friend ''My Fat Friend'' is a play by Charles Laurence. Plot The comedy is an ugly duckling tale about an overweight young woman who attracts the attention of a potential suitor. With the help of her friends/roommates, she undergoes a diet and exercis ...

'', '' The Ritz'', ''

The Grand Tour ''The Grand Tour'' is a British motoring television series, created by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May and Andy Wilman, made for Amazon exclusively for its online streaming service Amazon Prime Video, and premiered on 18 Novembe ...

'', ''

Noises Off ''Noises Off'' is a 1982 play by the English playwright Michael Frayn. Frayn conceived the idea in 1970 while watching from the wings a performance of ''The Two of Us'', a farce that he had written for Lynn Redgrave. He said, "It was funnier f ...

'', '' Benefactors'', and ''

The Twilight of the Golds ''The Twilight of the Golds'' is a play by Jonathan Tolins and produced by Charles H. Duggan that premiered at the Pasadena Playhouse on January 17, 1993. Strong reviews propelled it to theatres across the country including a stop at The Kennedy C ...

''. Aronstein was nominated for the

Tony Award for Best Lighting Design This is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Lighting Design for outstanding lighting design of a play or musical. The award was first presented in 1970. Since 2005, the category was divided into Lighting Design in a Play ...

five times and the

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design is an annual award presented by Drama Desk in recognition of achievements in the theatre among Broadway, Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway productions. In the 2009 ceremony, the category was sepa ...

once but failed to win either prize. In 1977 Aronstein relocated to

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

, where he designed for the

Mark Taper Forum The Mark Taper Forum is a 739-seat thrust stage at the Los Angeles Music Center designed by Welton Becket and Associates on the Bunker Hill section of Downtown Los Angeles. Named for real estate developer Mark Taper, the Forum, the neighboring ...

, the

Ahmanson Theater The Ahmanson Theatre is one of the four main venues that compose the Los Angeles Music Center. History The theatre was built as a result of a donation from Howard F. Ahmanson Sr, the founder of H.F. Ahmanson & Co., an insurance and savings and ...

, and the

Pasadena Playhouse The Pasadena Playhouse is a historic performing arts venue located 39 S. El Molino Avenue in Pasadena, California, United States. The 686-seat auditorium produces a variety of cultural and artistic events, professional shows, and community engage ...

on a regular basis. In 1978, he also created the lighting design for the musical '' Barbary Coast'' at the Orpheum Theatre. He won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for '' A Month in the Country'' in 1983 and '' Passion'' in 1984, and in 1996 he was awarded the Circle's Angstrom Award for career achievement in theatrical lighting. He was also an adjunct professor at the theater school of the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

, and designed for the

San Francisco Ballet San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Franc ...

, the

St. Louis Municipal Opera The St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre (commonly known as The Muny) is an amphitheater located in St. Louis, Missouri. The theatre seats 11,000 people with about 1,500 free seats in the last nine rows that are available on a first come, first se ...

, and the

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

.''Los Angeles Times'' obituary, June 8, 2002
/ref> Aronstein died of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

Valley Presbyterian Hospital Valley Presbyterian Hospital is a 350-bed hospital in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1958, architect William Pereira designed the original building. The facility specializes in maternal and child health, cardiac care, orthopedics, a ...

Van Nuys, California Van Nuys () is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. History In 1909, ...

. He was survived by life partner Lawrence Metzler.

References

External links

*
Martin Aronstein at FilmReference.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aronstein, Martin American lighting designers 1936 births 2002 deaths People from Pittsfield, Massachusetts Queens College, City University of New York alumni