The Wally Russell Foundation Awards the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award to Jules Fisher

	Jules Fisher, Wally Russell 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award winner. Photo: Live Design Master Class

The board of directors of the Wally Russell Foundation announces the winner of the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award, is renowned lighting designer, Jules Fisher. The award will be presented at this year's USITT Stage Expo and Conference in Fort Worth Texas, March 26 - 29.

Jules Fisher is credited with lighting designs for more than 300 productions over the course of his 50+ year career in Broadway and off-Broadway shows, and for his extensive work in film, ballet, opera, television, and concert tours. He has been nominated 19 times for Tony Awards and received nine. His most recent project, Lucky Guy, 2013, garnered his last Tony. Previous awards were for Assassins, 2004; Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk, 1996; Jelly's Last Jam, 1992; The Will Rogers Follies, 1991; Grand Hotel, 1990; Dancin', 1978; Ulysses in Nighttown, 1973; and Pippin, 1972.

His other theatre credits include: Ricky Jay on the Stem, Elaine Stritch at Liberty, The Wild Party, Marie Christine, Ragtime, Victor/Victoria, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, Perestroika, Death and the Maiden, La Cage Aux Folles, Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, Lenny, No, No Nannette, Chicago, Beatlemania, and American Buffalo.

His credits as producer include The Rink, Lenny, Bob Fosse's Dancin', Rock N' Roll! The First 5,000 Years, Elvis: An American Musical, and Dangerous Games. He designed the lighting for Kevin Kline's production of Hamlet for WNET-TV, Porgy and Bess, A Midsummer Night's Dream at the New York City Opera, and Il Trittico at the MET.

Fisher was production supervisor for tours of the Rolling Stones, KISS, and David Bowie. His other lighting design work has ranged from Crosby Stills and Nash, Whitney Houston, and the Simon and Garfunkel concerts in Central Park to the 1977 Academy Awards show.

He lit the Quincy Jones Reunion on the Mall concert for President Clinton's inaugural, which was nominated for an Emmy Award, as well as America's Millennium Live All-Star Concert New Year's Eve 2000. He designed the lighting for the theatre sequences in the films Chicago, School of Rock, The Producers, Dreamgirls, and Burlesque.

Fisher is a graduate of Carnegie Institute of Technology. He serves as a theatre consultant to architects and performing arts groups and is a consultant to the Broadway Lighting Master Class. He is a partner in the theatrical lighting design firm Third Eye with Peggy Eisenhauer, the theatrical consulting firm Fisher Dachs Associates and the architectural lighting consultancy, Fisher Marantz Stone.

He is married to the celebrated director Graciela Daniele.

The Wally Russell Foundation was founded in 1992 after the untimely death of Wally Russell, a true visionary in the entertainment field. The Foundation annually supports the Wally Russell Lighting Intern at the Los Angeles Opera and the Canadian Opera. Additionally, the Foundation annually awards the Lifetime Achievement award and the Newcomer Award.

Jules Fisher is the 22nd winner of the 'Wally' Award.

For further information or to contribute to the Foundation, please visit the recently updated website at the URL below.