Eugene Palmer began working backstage in the 7th grade over 40 years ago. He was a lighting design major at SUNY Purchase during its second year of inception in 1974 and designed lighting for Death of a Salesman and Twelfth Night as an undergraduate. Moving to Syracuse, New York, he was the resident lighting designer for the Salt City Playhouse and worked with Syracuse Ballet, Cortland Repertory Theater and the Contemporary Theater of Syracuse. Traveling West, doing a bit of street and beach theater, he landed in Berkeley and started working at Zellerbach Auditorium in 1980. Taking the reins as Master Electrician and the title of Theater Supervisor in 1983, he worked to improve the lighting and sound systems at Wheeler and Zellerbach Auditoriums while mounting hundreds of world class Cal Performances productions.
Eugene's work as a professional stagehand outside UC Berkeley earned him journeyman status as a member of IATSE Local 107 in 1986. Eugene transferred to the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies in 2004 and has since dedicated himself to lighting, sound and video improvements at the department’s venues and educating students as they build and run TDPS productions. Eugene holds ETCP certifications as an Entertainment Electrician, Theater Rigger and Arena Rigger, the 14th person in the country to gain all three. He also holds INFOCOMM certifications as a Certified Technology Specialist as well as Microsoft Professional Certifications in Small Business Server and networks. He lives in Marin with his wife and two boys and enjoys a good, hard week of hiking in the High Sierras during the off season.
