Illuminating Art
BFB Designs specializes in Theatrical Design, Dance Production Management, and Stage Management.
Bruce F. Brown, Founder, received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatrical Directing and Design from Michigan State University, where he was a member of the Spartan Marching Band and the rather unique Spartan Hockey Band. Although music was not his “major”, he has remained active in community-based music organizations that have had him performing around the US, Canada and even the Netherlands. Highlights of his performance career include performances for both of President Clinton’s Inauguration Celebrations.
After graduation from MSU, Mr. Brown spent several years designing and directing throughout the Midwest including theatres in Chicago, Lansing, Ann Arbor, Marshall, Petoskey and Cadillac. Longing to return to the challenges of academic theatre he accepted a technical theatre teaching position at the Interlochen Center for the Arts where he discovered a true love of arts education. In addition to teaching Stagecraft, Mr. Brown was responsible for scenic and lighting design for the theatre and dance departments. Never having been involved with Concert Dance, he was lucky to have veteran choreographer, Edgar Betancourt serve as a mentor. Their collaboration on a ballet based on Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid” was a breakthrough production for the school and helped develop Mr. Brown’s love of dance lighting.
Feeling a need to escape the bitter cold of Northern Michigan, Mr. Brown moved to Fort Lauderdale in 1984 to become Technical Director for Dillard Center for the Arts. His dedication to teaching the discipline of Technical Theatre produced a generation of designers, stage managers and technicians who are working on Broadway, Las Vegas, Miami, and around the world.
During his tenure at Dillard, Mr. Brown became Artistic Director and initiated or supervised such innovative projects as 22 performance seasons at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, designing or directing over 140 theatrical, music and dance productions, over-hauling the magnet fine arts curriculum, the building of the new 125,000 square foot Performing Arts Center and the development of an annual Arts Integration Conference which engaged several local arts organizations together with the Kennedy Center for the Arts to train Broward Educators in Arts teaching practices. Mr. Brown is a regular judge for the Florida State Thespian Festival and is an active member of the United States Institute of Theatre Technology, and is Past President of the Michigan State University Alumni Club of South Florida.
Academically, he served on the Dillard High Leadership Team and has been the Chairman of the School Advisory Council for 11 years, is a consultant for the Broward School’s Construction Management Department, and is a longtime member of the Broward County Commission’s Art in Education Committee. Still designing and occasionally directing, some of his favorites include the scenic and lighting designs of Sweeney Todd, Big River and Man of LaMancha and the direction of The Diviners, The Rainmaker, The Three-Penny Opera, Lilies of the Field, Annie, A Year with Frog and Toad, and the most recent, A Piece of My Heart.
Mr. Brown retired from Dillard in June, 2016 and has opened his own Design, Production, and Theatrical Consulting Company (BFB Designs, LLC) and continues to develop his professional design resume as the resident lighting designer for several South Florida based Dance Companies including his long time relationship with Florida's Premier Modern Dance Company, Dance Now! Miami. His concert lighting designs have toured throughout Florida, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, California and Illinois. Internationally, he has toured in Florence and Rome, Italy: Oaxaca, Chetumal, and Chihuahua, Mexico; San Pedro Sula, Honduras; San Jose, Costa Rica; and Amsterdam, Netherlands.
