chip scott - (Charles e. Scott)
Charles E. "Chip" Scott is a freelance lighting designer, technical theatre consultant, and Professor Emeritus in the Entertainment Technology Department at NYC College of Technology. He specializes in lighting and scenic design/construction. Instrumental in the department's founding in 1996, he taught at the college until 2019. He designed the Voorhees Theatre, the scene shop, and consulted on the college's new 977 seat theatre . Chip designed and produced musicals, plays, dances, and concerts for the college's Theatreworks group. Teaching specialties include: lighting programming and design, CAD drafting, monster shop(animated props), technical direction, and stage props.
Chip has been building scenery, and sometimes chewing on it, since he was five. His father would cast him the local college shows, usually as "boy on the steps" of some tride and true theatre classics like Oedipus Rex. It wasn't until his own college career began that he decided to be the first at the school to major in technical theatre. After college he established a commercial scene shop in Highland NY to build shows for the Westchester Broadway Dinner Theatre and the Bardavon Theatre in Poughkeepsie. That convinced him that "learning by doing" isn't always the best way and he received his MFA in Production design and Technical Direction from the University of Iowa before going on to teach at Coe College in Iowa for a few years.
Manhattan was next, he joined Bruce and Bruce Scenery on the lower east side as a production manager and built Off-Bway shows like SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE (Playwrights); TRUE WEST (American Playhouse); I'M NOT RAPPAPORT; LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS; Philadelphia Theatre Guild's TALLY'S FOLLY, Ken Billington's SNOOPY, and MTV's first studio set. He built video sets for HBO, DIANA ROSS, BABY MUPPETS, YES, L'EGGS, and L.A. BEER; Trade shows for: IBM, PANASONIC, SONY, MAZDA, NESTLE'S, GE, JVC, CHEVROLET; and fashion shows for CLAUDE MONTANA, CAROLINA HERRERA, SOTHEBY'S, DIOR, J.P. GAULTIER, BERGDORF/GOODMAN, BLASS, HALSTON, and GEOFFERY BEENE.
Chip opened his own business with his wife and partner Norma Lee Chartoff and built shows for Mainstage Productions, ROMANCE! ROMANCE! and OLYMPUS ON MY MIND; American Ballet Comedy, FUNNY FEET; Japan Society's ONE REEL VAUDEVILLE SHOW and MIZU NO EKI; NBC Scenic, DAVID LETTERMAN and SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE; and Slim Goodbody's DINOSAUR DAYS (tour).
It seemed to be time to return to education so Chip became the Lighting Designer/Technical Director at Wagner College for the next eight years and enjoyed helping to build the program into a musical theatre specialty known nationally. Three major large budget musicals were built each year. When New York City College of Technology called an asked if he knew anyone who would like to start a specialty program in Stage Technology (now the Dept. of Entertainment Technology) he jumped at the chance and spent the next two decades there.