Chris Keene
Lighting the Stars
Behind every eye-popping rock concert is a lighting crew making the stage come to life. Chris Keene, freelance lighting tech, has traveled worldwide with some of the biggest names in the music business, from Beyonce Knowles to Neil Young, Bon Jovi, and even Martina McBride.
Born and raised in Ooltewah, Chris attended Baylor School and was a member of the Lighting & Tech Club. His first job after graduation was with an international concert lighting company where he moved up from local shows to bigger tours with Radiohead, Van Halen, and ultimately to the Rolling Stones. Later, he was to work with world-touring performers including U2.
For the U2 tour, Chris spent all day in the summer heat of Spain, where the tour began, 175 feet in the air, working on the massive support system for giant speakers, rows and rows of rotating lights, and a full circle of jumbo size video screens. As he hung suspended from a nylon safety harness, he radioed directions to a man operating a 120-foot crane dangling a 300-pound light. When it reached the perfect spot Chris slid four pins into place and started connecting the power cables that would deliver the thrilling grand finale.
The minute the show was over, he and the support team started packing up and within hours were off to the next town, catching a few hours of sleep on the bus. The crew did this 44 times in 35 cities in Europe, Canada, and the U.S.
Chris has particularly fond memories of the Crosby, Stills and Nash tour. “This was an awesome tour because these guys don’t stress themselves with monstrosity sets, and they only do about ten shows a month,” Chris explains. “They take their wives and kids with them on tour, and I got to play golf with Graham Nash.”
After a decade of concert tours, traveling around the world, and hanging out with rock and roll bands, Chris was ready for a change. In May 2010, Chris became an ecstatic newlywed, and now the plan is to wean himself off the road. But first, he’d like to work the Rolling Stones “Farewell Tour,” which he thinks may be coming soon.
Lizzie Chazen
Actress Extraordinaire
After spending the last seven years honing her acting skills, Lizzie Chazen, born and raised in Chattanooga, has come home to share her passion and performing talents with the community she loves.
A 2002 Baylor graduate with the Fine Arts Award, Lizzie went to the University of Vermont where she appeared in seven productions and directed two shows. Through the global studies program she studied with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Paris, which included a street performance on stilts.
While at the University of Vermont, one of her most challenging roles was in a comedy called “Beyond Therapy” where she played a character who was the complete opposite of her own personality. This experience along with her role in the Neil Simon comedy show “Rumors” at the university helped her understand comedy as a medium and timing as an actor’s tool.
“It’s not about being funny,” she says. “It’s about how funny life can be.”
Lizzie landed in New York City with a drama internship and spent three years auditioning for television commercials and theater roles, performing off Broadway, participating in professional workshops, and taking intensive method acting classes at the renowned Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.
In the spring of 2009, she returned to Chattanooga to play the lead in Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer Prize winning masterpiece “A Streetcar Named Desire” at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre.
“I loved Blanche, with her many flaws and the way she handled the hardships life handed her,” Lizzie says. “I really wanted to understand such a complex character, and for me, it was the role of a lifetime.”
Since she’s returned, she’s done more than a dozen shows including “The Primitive Streak,” which won the grand prize in the 2010 Biennial Festival of New Plays. Interestingly, the local playwright was Hunter Rodgers, who played Stanley opposite her in “A Streetcar Named Desire.” During the month of August, Lizzie will perform in the current production of “The Producers” at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre.
“I am on cloud nine and have never been so happy,” Lizzie says. “I never thought the expression of my craft could be like this. I enjoy giving back to this community and look forward to the incredible work to come.”
Fletcher Bright
Master Fiddler
Fletcher Bright’s first instrument was the piano, and once he figured out how to play by ear, he moved from classical to boogie woogie. His mother got him a half-sized violin, and he started violin lessons – which turned into fiddle playing.
Fletcher’s band, a group of McCallie alumni called The Dismembered Tennesseans, started singing and playing bluegrass music together in 1945. Since then, the band has wooed audiences at Riverbend and at the Tivoli Theater with the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, the Chattanooga Boys Choir, and the Chattanooga Ballet. The band’s tongue-in-cheek website posting says they have “made their mark singing bluegrass music for people who don’t particularly like country music.”
Fletcher admits that they are not known as a big-event band and have spent most of their time playing music at nationwide festivals, but they’ve also put on special performances for the Kennedy Center, ABC’s World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, and the NBC Sunday Today Show.
“I’m a ham and have enjoyed performing all these years,” Fletcher says. “But I also enjoy teaching because I feel like it keeps fiddle playing alive by passing the joy along to young people.”
In spite of his years of experience, he still practices finger exercises to keep his hands from getting stiff. He likes to learn new songs to keep his mind sharp and practices the old songs to make sure he doesn’t forget them.
A respected real estate developer, Fletcher admits real estate has supported his fiddle playing because music doesn’t always make much money. Will Fletcher ever stop playing music? He says, “When one of two things happens –
I can’t play anymore or people quit asking me.”
We hope Fletcher keeps playing for years to come.
Cinnamon Halbert Smith
Dancing Across the Globe
Her dad loved the “Mission: Impossible” television show and declared his first child would be named Cinnamon after the beautiful and smart female member of the team. The name has been a memorable one for a professional dancer, choreographer, instructor, artist, and one who makes magic with movement.
Cinnamon grew up in Oklahoma, danced through high school, and chose a self-described non-traditional path by launching her professional career in New York City immediately after graduation in 1990. Over the years, she has been privileged to work with renowned choreographers who are national and international masters in the industry.
While working on a performing arts degree from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, she made the most of her previous connections with big names in choreography and was able to tour with modern dance companies performing in the United States and Canada.
“My biggest achievement was probably the nine-month run on Broadway in ‘Cats,’” says
Cinnamon. “I also wanted to have a variety of experiences so I auditioned for MTV videos, independent films, TV commercials, soap operas, and movies, but ultimately I felt dance was more fulfilling for me.”
Just before coming to Chattanooga in 2004 she completed a B.F.A in dance and performance from the University of Texas at Austin. Her work as a choreographer has been showcased at regional and national dance festivals including a performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Last year she received a special invitation from the Singapore Ministry of Education and spent a month bringing westernized dance concepts to over a thousand school children and masters classes to their teachers.
Locally, her choreography has been performed at the Chattanooga Ballet, Girls Preparatory School, Center for Creative Arts, Hunter Museum of American Art, and at the opening of Ross’s Landing. Currently Cinnamon is leading movement classes and dance techniques at Normal Park Museum Magnet.
This busy mom spends about half her time teaching and half performing, most recently in “The Crucible” at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre. Next spring, she plans to start Flutterby, a children’s dance theater, bringing even more dancing opportunities to Chattanooga.
Dylan Kussman
From Hollywood to the
Hills of Tennessee
Dylan grew up in L.A., but his wife Amy was raised in East Ridge. They met in Bulgaria where she was in the Peace Corp with Dylan’s sister, and the couple married four years ago, bringing them back to Amy’s roots in Chattanooga.
Dylan Kussman is a successful film and television actor with a long list of well-known film credits including “Leatherheads” with George Clooney, “Dead Poets Society” with Robin Williams, and a Disney family film “Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken.” He is confident he can keep his acting career alive from his new home-base in Chattanooga and believes the major production companies are leaving the power centers to find more affordable locations.
“I have been surprised at the blazing hot acting market out of Atlanta, Nashville and Knoxville,” Dylan says. Most recently he was cast in “Memphis Beat,” a new series Dylan will add to his list of television credits that already includes popular shows like “Cold Case,” “House,” and “The X-Files.”
Since coming to Chattanooga, Dylan has performed in “Macbeth” at the Chattanooga State Repertory Theatre, the “Laramie Project” at the Ensemble Theater, and “Twelve Angry Jurors” with the Destiny Theatre Company. A musician, singer and songwriter with local band DKB, he played at “Nightfall” at Miller Plaza, Mudpie on Frazier Avenue, and most recently Tremont Tavern. But he is most excited about a new independent film series he produced in Chattanooga using all-local cast, crew and shooting locations.
“There is a plethora of talent in Chattanooga, and I am harnessing that energy,” Dylan explains.
With a MakeWork grant awarded by CreateHere, he and local cinematographer Tim Cofield, have filmed the entire first season of a mystery series called ‘The Steps.’ The series was originally released online and can be viewed today at www.watchthesteps.com.
“The web is a wild frontier as a distribution tool,” Dylan says. “At the premier party we had a hundred people in a room together all watching on wide screens, laptops and iPhones. The support from the community has been unbelievable.”