Vale Scott Allan by Mitchell Fenton

Tuesday morning I woke up to the news of Scott Allan’s passing. Like everyone who I have spoken to in Australia since the news broke, it comes as a complete shock and left me speechless. Scott was an inspiration and a mentor to me from a very young age. He was nothing short of an amazing lighting designer and collaborator.

I first met Scott at The Gold Coast Arts Centre which is now known as HOTA (Home of the Arts). Scott was the resident Lighting Designer for The Gold Coast Arts Centre for eight years and the Production Manager for four. During his time at the Gold Coast Arts Centre Scott was overseeing the full operations of the musical theatre programs, touring productions and The Summer School, a Queensland Education in the Arts program. I was a part of the Summer School program that the in house productions department ran to expose performers/technicians to a professional theatre workplace. The first production I did there with Scott was High School Musical, closely followed by The Boy From Oz & All Shook Up. Ill never forget my first day there or my first time meeting with Scott. Scott sat us all on stage and pulled out his laptop and attempted to explain this crazy industry and what a lighting designer does. Something he said that day had me hooked on lighting, maybe it was the crazy amount of lighting paperwork he was showing me, or his amazing production photos of the shows he was lighting, or perhaps that he answered all of my one hundred crazy lighting questions.

Scott and I kept in touch over the years and met up when I was in Melbourne or Sydney, on two occasions he took me around the Entech trade show to meet suppliers and other movers and shakers of the Australian industry. He was a huge supporter of what I was trying to do with my career and what was even more amazing is that he was a huge supporter of many other up and coming young lighting designers/technicians. Not to mention performers and anyone who had an interest in theatre. Scott had an amazing presence of professionalism, confidence and understanding, and above all cared deeply about young theatre artists/technicians and found joy and happiness in mentoring them. He contributed as an educator and mentor, presenting workshops and master classes for ALIA, Victorian Opera, Young People’s Theatre, TAFE, Catholic Education Victoria, and Hunter School of Performing Arts.

Scott also enjoyed a very successful career as a lighting designer for companies such as Hunter Valley Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company, Ensemble Theatre, The Production Company, Manillia Street, Queensland Ballet, Straightjacket Productions, Midsumma, Victorian Opera, Flying Teapot, Opera Hunter, La Mama, Young Dancers Company, Melbourne Opera, and Australian Dance Theatre.

Scott was a professional member of the Association of Lighting Designers (ALD), and was Treasurer of the Australasian Lighting Industry Association (ALIA) for seven years.

Scott had such a genuine passion and joy for this industry. To give you an idea of how much he loved the industry he recently started work as a lighting technician again at his local theatre in Melbourne. When asked the question in his interview, “Why does someone of your caliber want to work here?” He replied “Well its fun, and it beats a Gym membership”.

The Australian stages are darker without you Scott. There are many people who admired what you did, how you did it, how you helped people in this industry and above all how much of a genuine person you were. You will be deeply remembered. The cracked earth gobo just won’t be the same.

RIP My Friend.

Mitch

Funeral details will be added to this post soon