In Memoriam: Kyle Chepulis

	Kyle Chepulis

Kyle Chepulis, a scenic and lighting designer, entrepreneur, and co-founder of The Flea Theatre in downtown Manhattan, was found dead in his apartment on August 29. The cause of death has not yet been determined. He was 58.

Chepulis grew up in Doylestown, Pennsylvania and moved to New York in the late 1980s, becoming technical director at BACA Downtown Cultural Center in Brooklyn. Among his earliest designs there was the play Cellophane, which launched his long association with the playwright Mac Wellman. Other productions followed at various theatres: Homo Sapien Shuffle and Him (the latter starring Christopher Walken) at the Public Theatre; A Murder of Crows, The Hyacinth Macaw, and Second Hand Smoke (all by Wellman) at Primary Stages; The Joy of Going Somewhere Definite at Atlantic Theater Company; Nixon's Nixon at MCC Theater; and Psych at Playwrights Horizons.

Nixon's Nixon and Psych were directed by Jim Simpson, with whom, in 1996, Chepulis (along with Wellman and Sigourney Weaver) co-founded The Flea Theatre, located in Tribeca. Taking over a disused cinema on White Street, Chepulis and his team created a flexible space with many amenities not typical of Off Off Broadway theatres of the era. He designed 18 productions at the Flea, among them The Guys, about firefighters in the wake of the events of 9/11. He also served as a theatre consultant on The Flea's current venue on Thomas Street.

Chepulis was founder (in 1989) and owner of Technical Artistry, which provides technical consultation and design to arts organization, theatres, museum, performers, and visual artists. The firm, which draws on a roster of designers and technicians pursuing independent careers, has received four IES Lumen Awards for museum exhibitions and an IES Award of Merit. Other unusual projects included SeaGlass, an aquatically themed carousel in Battery Park, and new lighting for the TKTS booth in Times Square.

In another enterprise, Chepulis founded Tribeca Lighting, which handles theatrical lighting and sales, with operations managed by lighting designer Eva Pinney and consultation and technical advice provided by Brian Aldous. The company is well-known for its support of otherwise underserved downtown theatre companies as well as its walk-in business, providing gear and expendables to those working with limited budgets.

Chepulis' many accomplishments are even more impressive considering that in 1996 a motorcycle accident landed him in the hospital, in and out of a coma for several weeks and cost him the use of his right arm. In a story that highlights Chepulis' indomitable nature, Aldous, who was involved in the renovation of the original Flea, says, "He kept awakening and asking for me. I got to see him, and he immediately rattled off a list of things that needed to be done at the Flea. I took four solid pages of detailed notes. He told me to order chairs, getting Jim Simpson to pick one [model]. Then he went to sleep and was in a coma for another two or three weeks. Months later, at the Flea, he said, 'Why did you get those chairs?' I said, 'You told me.' I showed him the notes. He had no memory of them."

As a designer for the theatre, Chepulis was known for his ingenuity, usually in difficult circumstances and on a limited budget. This was especially true of his work for En Garde Arts, the site-specific theatre company. Anne Hamburger, En Garde Arts' producer, reminisced in Time Out about one such production, Reza Abdoh's Father Was a Peculiar Man (1990), staged on the streets of the West Village: "We walked around the Meatpacking District -- and back then it was really just meatpacking during the day and transvestites at night. Reza fell in love with it. For some reason, the community board let us shut down four square blocks. I couldn't have done it without [designers] Kyle Chepulis and Brian Aldous; they were magic makers, mad scientists. We used 16 locations, and we put a huge table down Little West 12th Street." Commenting to Lighting&Sound America, Hamburger added, "Kyle Chepulis is one of the unsung heroes of En Garde Arts. His bravery, imagination, and ingenuity helped make the impossible happen. Despite his curmudgeonly self, he had a huge heart and beautiful soul."

Simpson said, "My New York City theatre adventure is unimaginable without the presence, genius, and friendship of Kyle Chepulis. For almost four decades, I enjoyed the company of this autodidact who had an incredible depth of practical knowledge. Together we built a lot of small shows and two small theatres. Kyle was a true experimentalist. A lot of people posture in that direction. Kyle's work was always distinguished by unusual means and unusual effects. He was an independent thinker. Just because something was always done in a certain fashion didn't mean that much to Kyle. He always looked for innovative solutions to persistent or sudden challenges." He noted that the motorcycle accident "resulted in brain and severe nerve trauma," adding, "Kyle continued working through his significant losses and continued to contribute and to excel. Kyle was brilliant, honest, trustworthy, and the best friend imaginable. I miss him terribly."

Wellman said, "Kyle was an amazing theatre artist; there was and is no one like him. I met him at BACA Downtown back in 1987. He'd started there as a stage manager for Greta Gunderson, who ran the place. But, over the years, I got to know him well. He was an absolute genius of design, unlike anyone else in the tired world of theatre. I think I told him to read Ludwig Wittgenstein because his brilliance and technical genius reminded me of no one else."

Rick Sobel, of the exhibition planning firm Ralph Appelbaum Associates, said, "I worked with Kyle on many museum exhibit projects for over 20 years and considered him an invaluable colleague and good friend. One of those people I find hard to imagine the world without. I recognized him early on as a rare breed these days, a true jack of all trades, and in that way, Kyle brought unique value to all of our interactions both in the field and off. I'm still plenty shocked at his passing."

Pinney said, "I cannot think of a downtown arts organization that has not been made better by his seemingly endless ability to create solutions where others saw problems. Kyle opened Tribeca Lighting not because he wanted to run a rental shop, but rather because we believed the community needed one. Once an issue became apparent to him, not solving that issue was not an option.

"Kyle approached every problem or stumbling block as an opportunity to fearlessly take the thing apart, fix it, and often make it better. He always assumed he could make things work and was almost always right.

"The world feels smaller without him."

Chepulis is survived by his mother, Sydney, and his sister, Cinda.