Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2011 - 40

vendors had already been working for hours
bringing light and hope to Ground Zero. For JR,
these were the first steps that led him to two tours
in Iraq as an officer in the U.S. Marines.
I had a day off on 9/11/01. When the attacks hit I was getting a haircut at
n When the South Tower collapsed, New
a barbershop on 7th Ave in my Brooklyn neighborhood. The barbershop
York City lost its emergency management ofradio's first reports were of a small plane hitting the north tower. The
fices. Forty-three FDNY captains were dead or
south tower was then reported hit, and we knew we were under attack.
missing. Lt. Bob Wilson was the FDNY liaison to
I left the barbershop with an incomplete haircut. Passing Squad 1,
the Mayor's Office as they began to enact planaround the corner from my home, my thoughts were with the guys who
ning to respond. He contacted Dan Mahoney,
had left the firehouse and rushed to the WTC... As evening arrived it
the Business Agent for IATSE Local 52 (Studio
soon became evident that the total collapse of the towers and lower
Mechanics) and Frank Connolly, the Business
Manhattan's electric grid would mean that recovery efforts would be
Agent for Teamsters Local 817 (Theatrical
hampered, especially in the evening...We would meet on the West Side
Teamsters) and they and their staffs began callHighway north of the perimeter, and having been issued Mayor's Office
ing union members and supply houses. As the
credentials, make our way to the site. We had all worked in and around
workers who provide on-site power and lighting
the towers many times on film shoots. The shock of encountering
for theatre, film, and TV projects, and the drivwhat seemed like a post-nuclear landscape, with dust swirling, and an
ers who move them, they were uniquely qualiunrecognizable area, was difficult to bear, having spent my entire life in
fied to quickly find the assets needed to bring
NYC. As a kid I watched the long process of the towers' construction. Now
light to Ground Zero. Members of Local 52 and
the only recognizable object was the dented, yet mostly intact sphere that
equipment from Luna Lighting, a New York prowas situated within the fountain in the center of the plaza.
duction rental house, were filming of an episode
of Third Watch only a few blocks from the WTC
site. Halting production, they were among the
first volunteers to arrive.
Lowell Schulman arrived at about 3:00
p.m. in a truck with about thirty other members of Local 52. He was standing at the edge of the
disaster area as the first Muscolight arrived. Schulman was looking at the gear and feeling helpless
amid the destruction when Lt. Wilson arrived on the scene. Approaching Schulman, he asked, "Do
you know how to set this up?" Taking the hint, Schulman began directing those nearby in the setup.
Later, Bobby Wilson told him, "You are working for me. Stay in my back pocket." For Schulman, that
was the start of three months of round-the-clock work as the on-site logistics person responsible
for organizing, overseeing, and expanding the temporary lighting in partnership with Wilson and the
other disaster leadership.
Musco had supplied lighting in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing and was on the list
of companies for the Mayor's Office to contact. They had four of their lighting trucks in New York as
part of their preparations for the televised football season. They also had two in Washington, DC, that
were immediately dispatched to the Pentagon. Schulman worked with the New York Mayor's Office
to get additional units delivered by airlift from the West Coast, but that project was cancelled due to
the grounding of all aircraft in the country. Within a couple of days, Musco was able to send a fifth
truck from their headquarters in Iowa, and Schulman coordinated moving one of the units from the
Pentagon to New York. "I was on the phone working with the state police and sheriffs between DC and
New York to get that truck here. It had a police escort all the way and made the trip in less than eight
hours." Musco eventually installed the permanent site lighting system after the work at Ground Zero
transitioned from rescue to recovery.
n What began as a focus on the Pile-the rubble located primarily on the twenty-eight-acre
WTC site-quickly expanded to include locations around the city. Parking lots at Shea Stadium were
designated as the primary rally point for workers. The crews for equipment streaming into the city began work, and many slept there. Shea also became the drop-off location for the many tons of donated
materials that flooded in from across the country. The parking lot's lighting was insufficient for all this
work, so crews and theatrical equipment vendors set up lighting and power to facilitate these efforts.
Dan Mahoney often visited Shea and remembers the donations of work boots piling up. "The
Pile was hot. Fires continued to smolder under the rubble for a long time. The surface was so hot it
would melt the soles of our boots in a day or two." Schulman remembers seeing volunteers arrive

charlie libin

theatre design

& technology

summer 2011

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