Gary Fails Honored with ESTA Lifetime Achievement AwardGary Fails, founder of City Theatrical, was recognized as the recipient of ESTA's 2025 Lifetime Technical Achievement Award on March 6. Erin Grabe, ESTA executive director, presented the award during the association's annual general meeting in Columbus, Ohio, just before the first day of USITT's Annual Conference & Stage Expo. "I am truly humbled to be selected for this award, and it makes me reflect on my 53-year career in entertainment lighting," Fails said. "When I decided to go into manufacturing, we signed up for the ESTA membership, marketed to their member lists, and the ESTA dealer members became City Theatrical distributors, which City Theatrical still does business with today. I have a lot of respect for what Erin Grabe and her team at ESTA continue to do to grow ESTA for the future of our industry, and always look forward to what they come up with next. I appreciate their contributions to the growth of City Theatrical, our industry as a whole, and my own career. Thank you!" The award was presented by Steve Terry, director of standards and industry relations at ETC, and Gary Vilardi, vice president of sales at City Theatrical. The event was attended by ESTA's board of directors and members, as well as Fails' colleagues and friends. Event sponsors included IATSE Local 1, ETC, Harlequin Floors, Reliable Design, and City Theatrical. Fails founded City Theatrical in 1986 in a South Bronx garage, to create innovative lighting products and accessories. City Theatrical invents, manufactures, and customizes unique lighting accessories for the entertainment and architectural industries and has offices in Carlstadt, New Jersey, and London, England. Products include the multi-award-winning DMXcat Multi Function Test Tool and Multiverse wireless DMX/RDM systems; QolorFLEX brand of professional LED linear lighting, dimmers, and accessories; and numerous beam control accessories and hardware solutions. These products and others are part of the industry's most extensive catalog of entertainment and architectural lighting accessories. City Theatrical also performs custom manufacturing services and designs and manufactures products on an OEM basis for other lighting manufacturers. Fails was recognized by The Wally Russell Foundation with its 2020/2021 Lifetime Achievement Award, created in 1992 to celebrate the vision and life of Wally Russell, a true mentor to the industry. In July 2023, City Theatrical was acquired by Environmental Lights. Fails retired from City Theatrical the following December. Fails is a member of IATSE Local One and an MBA graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Business. He is married to Broadway actress Terri Klausner. They live in New York and have three children (Greta, Joseph, and Michael) and two grandchildren, Calvin and Silas. In his retirement, he enjoys running and yoga daily, building acoustic guitars, and spending time with his family. 
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