In Memoriam: David F. Segal

Lighting&Sound America has learned of the death of lighting designer David F. Segal died on March 31, following a short illness. He was 70.

A native of New York, Segal attended University of Pennsylvania and New York University. He began designing Off Broadway around 1965. He assisted Tharon Musser on Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance in 1966 before making his Broadway lighting design debut in 1969 with The World's a Stage, an entertainment starring hypnotist Sam Vine.

More productions followed, including, most notoriously, Oh! Calcutta! In its original Broadway run (1969 - 72) after starting Off Broadway. Other Broadway projects included Happy Birthday, Wanda June, by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1970); Twigs (1971), which won a Tony for leading lady Sada Thompson; Irene (1974), starring Debbie Reynolds; The Robber Bridegroom (1976); The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel (1977), starring Al Pacino; Loose Ends (1979), starring Kevin Kline and Roxanne Hart; and Damn Yankees (1994), starring Victor Garber and Bebe Neuwirth.

As Segal noted wryly on his LinkedIn page, "During my career I had posters of my Broadway flops in Joe Allen's NYC, Hollywood, London, and Paris so I could sit under a poster with my name on it around the world and wonder if I had chosen the correct career!" Among these would be Edward Albee's Lolita, which was roundly panned, and the musical Saravá, which previewed for a then-unheard of six weeks without announcing an opening night before the New York Times theatre critic announced his intention to attend the show.

Segal worked Off Broadway on such productions as the hit musical The Last Sweet Days of Isaac (1970), Jules Feiffer's The White House Murder Case (1970), Athol Fugard's Boesman and Lena (1969), the revue Taking My Turn (1983), and Full Gallop (1995), starring Mary Louise Wilson as Diana Vreeland.

Segal was also staff designer for six seasons of John Houseman's Acting Company. Other projects included Manhattan Showboat, at Radio City Music Hall and the Folies Bergere in Las Vegas. Among his concert touring clients were Marlene Dietrich and Leslie Uggams. He also worked as a lighting director at ABC.

In the regional theatre scene, he was an associate artist at Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. He also worked at the Stratford Festivals in Connecticut and Canada, the Long Wharf Theatre, Hartford Stage, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, La Jolla Playhouse, McCarter Theatre, Ford's Theatre, Huntington Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, and Pittsburgh Public Theatre, among others. He also designed productions for the Dallas and Washington Operas.

As an educator, he was on the faculty at the Studio and Forum of Stage Design in New York, and Marymount Manhattan College, in addition to being a visiting lecturer with residencies at the Universities of Michigan and Ohio.

Segal was also, over the course of 18 years, board member, vice chairman and chairman of Maverick Concerts in Woodstock, the oldest summer chamber music festival in America.

Segal is survived by a close circle of nieces, nephew, cousins and their progeny, most notably his niece, Jennifer Herman, and cousin, Larry Blumberg, who cared for him in his last weeks.