BOB FOREMAN'S RESUME ILLUSTRATED

Bob Foreman as an adult, backstage at Atlanta's "Cobb Energy Centre" in 2016.

My first theatre job in Highlands, North Carolina was as volunteer electrician for the Highlands Community Theatre for several summers, becoming light board operator at age thirteen.

Courtesy Mike Hall

I received my first newspaper mention ("lighting by Robert Foreman") for this play which starred Collin Wilcox.

At age fifteen (green circle), I apprenticed for Chris Manos' Theatre Under the Stars, star stock presented in Atlanta's 6000-seat Chastain Park amphitheater. Shows included Shirley Jones in "Clear Day," "Kismet" with Gordon MacRae and Ann Corio in "This was Burlesque."

Chastain Park, from the stage at curtain call:

My four high school years were spent in Bingham Auditorium at the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut. Bingham was a miniature Movie Palace, fully-equipped and my first real theatre.

Me at the Taft School, autumn of my Senior year:

I then attended Atlanta's Oglethorpe University where I was editor of the college paper.

I was the first Production Manager at Atlanta's newly-saved Fox Theatre, working for Ted Stevens and Joe Patten.

Here am I giving a backstage tour at the Fox, front page news. To see an index of my articles on the Fox click here.

To view my interview on WSB-TV concerning the Fox Theatre organ in 2018, click here.

One of my favorite jobs was being Production Stage Manager (PSM) at the chic Atlanta supper club, The Manhattan Yellow Pages located in Peachtree Battle shopping center. A cast of fifteen and a three-piece combo led by Paul Ford played three shows a night in David Sheppard's forest green and mini-mirrored art deco room, all shows under the direction of Ben Thompson. Patrons could drink and smoke. To see a clip of the Pages, click here.

As Master Electrician in the marionette theatre at Atlanta's The World of Sid and Marty Krofft, the world's largest indoor amusement park which lasted only six months. The puppet theatre included a counterweight fly, an orchestra lift, and I operated the second memory lightboard in Atlanta.

CNN now occupies the space designed for Sid and Marty.

For Ed Bradberry's Augusta Opera Association, I was Production Stage Manager, Lighting Designer or both for two seasons.

I then left Georgia and landed at Tommy Brent's Theatre by-the-Sea on the Rhode Island shore where I was PSM for three seasons, later General Manager.

A view from the Inn, where we lived, showing sets being painted and "Pippin" being rehearsed on the rake stage soon to be hauled to the theatre. In the distance can be seen the three Victorian ocean-front residences belonging to the owners of the property. It was a 540-seat barn theatre with a fly house, almost always sold out. (Photo by Fred Barton).

The excellent stage at Theatre by-the-Sea in winter hibernation mode.

From Matunuck to Providence, Rhode Island, where I was Production Manager, and Director of Operations and Capital Projects for the 3200-seat Ocean State, now Providence Performing Art Center, formerly Loew's State. We opened with Ethel Merman, whom I stage managed.

Me at OSPAC in 1980:

My first New York job was at BAM, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, where I was hired as Assistant Production Manager, working for Taffy Waters and Judy Daykin.

In Manhattan, I worked for Krone Olim as an account executive for the great Dorothy Olim, whose office was in the now gone Loew building at West 45th St.

In 1983, I opened the Richmond Virginia, Carpenter Center for the Performing Arts, also a former Loew's. This became my first job as General Manager.

While in Richmond, I also designed and supervised the installation of a counterweight fly system in the Byrd Theatre.

During 1982 and 1983, I worked in collaboration with architect Joe Booth to restore the New Bedford, Massachusetts Zeiterion Theatre, controlled by John Bullard and the incomparable Sarah Delano. Read about it here.

Me in 1986:

Back in NYC, I was GM/Prod Mgr./Cap Projects for Queens Theatre-in-the-Park, in Flushing Meadows

Me in 2006 with Theatre by the Sea producer Tommy Brent in Newport.

My last New York job was as Director of Operation and Capital Projects for Joe Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival, in both the Public Theatre and and the Delacorte (below) up in Central Park.

At the Delacorte during the 1999 renovation my boss Managing Director Mark Litvin and my Delacorte Operative, Jorge Boose.

I am quoted in this Times piece about ongoing renovation to our house in the East Village, The Public Theater.

The Public Theatre in cutaway, courtesy Dan Dalrymple:

From the roof of the Public Theater, I witnessed 9/11 less than two miles south of us. After I closed the building, me and my buddies went back up to the roof and watched our city burn until nightfall while consuming copious amounts of vodka, beer, coke, smokes, and mary jane,

In 2002, after Mayor Bloomberg decreed I could no longer smoke in NYC taverns, I headed Southward again, this time as an IA hand and worked at the Richmond, Virginia Mosque.

In 2007, I returned to Atlanta and the Fox. I am a longtime member of IATSE and an ESTA-certified theatrical rigger, the first Atlantan ever to receive ESTA certification.

Courtesy Paul Ford

In 2012, I began to contribute a theatrical column to Atlanta's Ponce News.

I write primarily about technical theatre of old, with emphasis on the Atlanta Fox Theatre, such as this article about the "colored" entrance sign.

This photo-essay is entitled "Backstage at Radio City Music Hall 1932."

A Master Index to all my articles can be found by clicking here.

April 2013, revised 2020, 2024.

Four mentors