Tom Williams:  

HISTORY: My life has been full since I left Rome following High School graduation. My departure from Rome followed the break-up of the Peppermint Confederacy and my dust-up with the Georgia legal system over a certain controlled substance. I attended several different colleges, Kennesaw Jr. College - now Kennesaw State University, Off-Campus UGA in Rome, Berry College, Georgia State and finally graduated from UGA with a degree in Journalism. Along the way though, I discovered a deep love for the theatre and decided to do graduate work in Theatrical Design - UGA still. The start of my conscious relationship with light began in college. The unconscious part of my involvement with light started many years earlier while assisting my Veterinarian father in surgery at 7. My job was to hold the instruments exactly so and keep my hands out-of-the-light. At 7 I was studying intensely the most essential element of lighting design, shadow. My high school involvement with the Peppermint Confederacy introduced me to performance and I started messing around with portable lighting for the PC. Later, hanging out in Atlanta's infamous CATACOMBS where the Electric Collage completely challenged my meager understanding of light. In the next few months I followed, hung out and eventually booked the Electric Collage. That experience was an amazing introduction to the unlimited potential for light in performance. But my issues with the law required I stop being a hippy and become a college student. While at Kennesaw, my focus shifted again to art, photography and working for the KJC student newspaper. An award and new friends involved in art, theatre and journalism opened several more doors a crack. Late summer of 1972, I was off probation and and with a secret pocket full of traveler's checks from a concrete construction job with Joe Hofer, I headed west in my orange VW Van. My first stop was to see Howard Elrod, a friend from HS who had moved to Denver. I was a bit surprised to find Howard had become a Buddhist Monk and had a "marriage of convenience" to a Buddhist Nun so they could get a mortgage for the suburban home they used as their temple. That was a truly a powerful experience, personally beneficial. I easily found work on a construction site in Denver, but was fired when the crew I was assigned to was fired for laziness. I was included because of my ponytail. I sold my Bus and hitched-hiked to California. I had a invitation from a girl I knew in High School. Unfortunately,when I made it to Hollywood I found she was now otherwise engaged. I turned north, eventually hiking about 300 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail. The trail led me to Portland, Oregon and an extended stay as a "Guest" of Reed College. After a rest I headed for Vancouver Island in Canada. I got a good look at the Pacific Northwest, drank beer with the indigenous people, ate shellfish steamed with seaweed on the beach. New acquaintances, who understood the local weather, warned me that the rains were coming. I turned South then East. In Austin, Texas, I visited a friend from college and bought a bicycle from 2 runaways who had stolen their parents' car with the bike in the trunk. They needed gas money and I had the cash. I geared up the bike with needed storage and headed home to return to college. The bike ride home was a bit monotonous. The prevailing winds were out of the East and I have to admit I did flag a couple of trucks down for lifts. We put the bike in the back and I made good time. I do remember the enormous number of perfectly preserved Armadillos in the hot tar on the sides of the road. My Father warmly welcomed me home and I returned to college. Some would suggest I finally got my head screwed on. Considering my career path, some would challenge that notion. My family calls it the year Tom disappeared. Off to UGA and the Art Dept where I majored in Photographic Design, an experience that quickly morphed into the Grady School of Journalism Radio and TV Production. I actually got an undergraduate degree at age 25 and was co-awarded the Outstanding Senior Award. During my senior year in J-School, I took Paul Camp's Intro to Theatre Lighting in the Drama Department. I experienced a rare "moment of clarity" while watching a technical rehearsal for THE HOSTAGE; Joe Stell designed the set and lights. I realized the creation I was looking at was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen! As I watched Joe orchestrating the physical and visual environment of the play, I understood that I wanted to do THAT for a living. Following that momentous occasion and graduating from the J-School in August, I literally marched across Sanford Drive and began work on a Master of Fine Arts in Design and Technical Theatre in UGA's Drama & Theatre Department that fall. What followed the next 2 years was a joy of discovery, creativity and work. I was surrounded by legions of amazingly talented faculty, staff and students who seemed to enjoy working with me. The culmination of my study resolves into a blur of work on sets, lights, recordin...Expand for more