Welcome! Thanks for checking out the fluxion website. I'm Stephen Pruitt and I've been working in photography and visual event design for well over twenty five years now. These days, my main interest is dance and experimental theater - I'm the resident production designer (designing all the visual elements - lights, scenic, video, etc and occasionally dipping my toes into the audio as well) for several dance companies including Forklift Danceworks, Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance, Tapestry Dance Company and others, as well as a company member with Austin's Rude Mechs.

Latest News (25/04/18)

Good design supports a show and makes it better, but what that means is contextual to every work. Sometimes the design shouldn't be noticed - just linger in the background. Other times it may define the work, with elements playing a role as large as the performers. Here is a selection of some of my favorite past designs...

The Undoing of Nonet - Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance - 2013

Stephen Pruitt's lighting design serves the purposes of the dance but stands additionally as an artistic work in its own right. Standard flood lighting bulbs hanging from flexible cords point straight down... they form a plane above the stage, one that has the illusory effect of lowering the ceiling of the dance space... Pruitt’s design drapes layers of light and shadow across the dancers, like multiple layers of tulle or lace over a figure, and then shifts the layers through time and across space.- David Glen Robinson, austinlivetheater.com

The lighting, designed by Stephen Pruitt, came from 65 or so halogen bulbs suspended from a wooden grid above the stage, and whenever a dancer's toe or finger brushed one of the bulbs, the entire apparatus swayed. Near the end of the piece, groups of the lights flickered, as if their power source was faltering. Soon after, the instruments' final tones faded into nothing, and dancer Shari Brown was alone, curled, just off-center. She stayed there long enough that, as though seasons had passed, her crouching human form surrendered its defense and became a beautiful, earthly shape. -Jonelle Seitz, Austin Chronicle.

Forklift Danceworks - PowerUp! - 2013

PowerUP inevitably echoed The Trash Project in many ways – the balletic grace of its machines, stretching and pirouetting; Reynolds' captivating brew of jazz and funk (here enhanced with the velvety luster of an orchestra under Peter Bay's direction and jolted by Todd Reynolds' electrifying violin); the dramatic lighting by Stephen Pruitt – but the most significant was this: the sense of service from its subjects. The dedication to and pride in their work shone from these Austin Energy staffers like a million-lumen lamp. It left you dazzled and inspired, thankful for them and for Orr, for providing them their turn in the spotlight. - Robert Faires, Austin Chronicle

Solo Symphony - Forklift Danceworks, 2012

Following an introduction by composer Graham Reynolds' atmospheric piano, which said very clearly, "Here comes something special – pay attention," the lights went up on a flipped orchestra: Bay faced the audience before the musicians, whose backs were to us. Between Bay's conducting and some candid, autobiographical audio clips, he moved and listened. Some of the choreographed gestures, performed in silence and to Reynolds' sound design, were memorable, especially as lit by Stephen Pruitt. - Jonelle Seitz, Austin Chronicle

The Rude Mechs - I've Never Been So Happy - 2011

A terrific ensemble keeps the plot anchored as Miwa Matreyek's video design (the best I've seen in Austin) combined with Stephen Pruitt's lighting transforms the set's freshly swept barn look into the desert sky at night, the variety show, and even illustrates the mountain lion's fury. The cast maintain a sense of sincerity and energetic fun, and Cami Alys in particular as Jason's commune-bound mom, Julie, wails through her songs with a fierce, rock n' roll snarl. - Georgia Young, The Austinist

Trouble Puppet Theater's The Jungle - 2011

As we follow the joys and agonies of newly immigrated Jurgis' journey through the (metaphorical and literal) abattoir, we're treated to choreographies of workers and puppets more diverse than the workshop version allowed, with props beyond that first iteration, with lighting (by Stephen Pruitt) doing things to Hopkins' efficient ebony set that, if that lighting were a lover doing similar things to you, you'd likely climax several times before exhaustion left you panting and useless.

- Wayne Alan Brenner, Austin Chronicle

Post Oedipus - The Getalong Gang - 2010

Director Spencer Driggers is especially lucky to have designer Stephen Pruitt to provide the perfect stark, multilevel setting, dominated by a rebar tree whose branches extend seemingly everywhere. - Barry Pineo, Austin Chronicle

Stephen Pruitt’s starkly atmospheric set and lighting - all exposed metal bars, ripped gauzy cloth, plain wood platforms - completes the picture. - Cleve Weise, The Austinist

The Trash Project - Forklift Danceworks 2009 & 2011

But machine-as-extension-of-human was most apparent in a solo for a crane and its operator, Don Anderson. To Reynolds' sweeping, poignant strings (and Stephen Pruitt's quiet lighting), Anderson – I swear I'm not making this up – turned this hunk of metal and wires into something with qualities you might imagine shared by a prehistoric bird. - Jonelle Seitz, Austin Chronicle

- That lighting director Stephen Pruitt managed to engagingly illuminate such a vast outside area seemed nearly miraculous. That Pruitt did so to great dramatic effect even more so. - Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, Austin-American Statesman

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