Say hello to the first-ever couple to win the Apollo Standing O Award. Michael Kimmel and Lisa Weinshrott first met in summer stock, and they've been partners in life (and in the booth) ever since. What's really amazing about this talented tag-team is their depth of experience. In just a few short years, they've traveled all over the country, designing for plays, musicals, operas, ballets, concerts and what-have-you. They even won the 2006 Papermill Playhouse Rising Star Award for Best Lighting. Well, you know what they say about two heads.

WHY THEM: Lisa and Michael are lighting phenoms with a great gift for color, a highly professional work ethic, and flat-out good taste in gel products. Oh yeah, and we couldn't resist the whole joined-at-the-hip, completing-each-other's sentences thing.

THEIR PLAYGROUND: Theatre, musical theatre, dance, opera, and concerts. They love the Big Apple, but they're at home anyplace there's a stage.

• 37 Arts, NY
  • Sophia's Fall (NYMF)
    
    
• John Jay College, NYC
  • Divas Unleashed: The Benefit (opera)
• G-LUC Productions, Off-Broadway
  • Growing Up 70s
• Hudson Guild Theatre, NYC
  • The Colored Museum
• Nevada Ballet Theatre, Las Vegas
  • East Meets West (dance)
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream
• National Tour
  • Society of Seven
    
• Newark, NJ
  • Carousel (NJPAC)
• Westfield High School, Westfield, NJ
  • Anything Goes
• Opera Idaho
  • Jacque Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris
• Heartland Fest, UW Platteville, WI
  • I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change
    
  • A Year with Frog and Toad
  • Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
    
• Brookdale Community College, NJ
  • James and the Giant Peach
• Windwood Theatricals, National Tour
  • Urban Cowboy
  • The Unsinkable Molly Brown
• Vital Theatre, NYC
  • Ogres, Trolls and Dragonwings
• Kansas City, MO
  • Choosing Chelsea (Kacico dance)
• Fond du Lac, WI
  • Wempner Dance Recital (dance)
    
    
• Gene Frankel Theater, NYC
  • Santa Claus is Coming Out

WHY APOLLO GEL: "We like the way the colors mix. They're vibrant and we know we can count on Apollo Gel to give us the feel we want when we add them to the look onstage. We also like the added bonuses you get with Apollo Gel. We love the creative and descriptive names. The perforated gel is a huge timesaver. And, it may seem insignificant, but the two little boxes of gum always put a smile on Michael's face."

MUTUAL LOVES: Bike riding, tennis, NYC skyline, Bellagio Fountains, photography, "a nice home-cooked meal," and each other.

NON-MUTUAL LOVES: Computer programming/web design (see their website at www.SharpEdgeLighting.com) and Dodgers baseball for him. Dance and scrapbooking for her. Hey, they can't do everything together.

TURN-OFFS: "People with a bad work ethic turn us off. It's a pleasure to work with people who do their job in a timely manner and don't complain about it. We always try to live by that example."

MOST RECENT APOLLO SUCCESS: "On Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the set had a large false proscenium with ancient Egyptian symbols on it. We lit it with AP7400. We've been happy with Apollo Gel every time we've used it. We like the way it blends and mixes on cycs, and it really enhanced the colors on the false proscenium. We also used Apollo's theatre gel string in the Smart Color scrollers."

SEEING GREEN: "Our favorite gel is AP5400 Rock 'n Roll Green. It's our first choice anytime we need a green cyc. It really pops on the cyc and mixes well with other cyc colors. As far as names of gel go, our favorite is AP7670 Salmon'illa'. Lisa's bachelor's degree is in microbiology, so she has spent quite a bit of time looking at microscopic organisms under magnification. She even knows a couple of songs about salmonella." Eeeeuuuw.

IN ANOTHER LIFE: Lisa was a teacher in Wisconsin. She figured teaching would be her career until she met Michael at a summer stock theater and, well...you can guess how that story turned out.

DREAM TEAM: "There are several advantages to working as a team. The first is that, on those 20-hour days of tech, we have each other to keep us going, give each other massages, and generally keep each other happy. Also, we help build off of each other. We both can design on our own, but we can take the design to another level when we bounce ideas off of each other, and when we have two sets of eyes looking at the stage. We can also double-book ourselves and know that if one has to leave in the middle of one project to start another, the first project is in good hands with the other of us finishing it."

NIGHTMARES: "The worst part of working together is that we sometimes only get one pay check. Producers still think of design as a one-person job. Most producers only want to pay one of us. The other problem is that we sometimes get competitive and fight over credit for who came up with the best looks onstage."

WHAT THEY'RE LISTENING TO: Boy, we sure hope these two have iPods because their musical tastes are definitely not in tune (pun intended). For Michael, it's `80s alternate music, Depeche Mode, The Cure, and gothic/industrial music. For Lisa, it's `60s rock 'n roll, `70s disco, `80s alternative, new age/instrumental, Disney music and show tunes.

BIGGEST THRILL: "We get our biggest thrill when everyone works together. It's exciting when somebody's great idea leads to an even better idea from another member of the production team. When all aspects of a production come together, we know we've succeeded."

WORST FEAR: "Financial instability as we grow older. A more immediate fear, though, is the airline industry. We fly often and we hope the industry doesn't get too crazy. We want producers to continue to fly us across the country."

ALLTIME FAVORITE SHOW: It's the same for both - Big, the Musical. "It was the first show we ever worked on together, so it's special to us. It might not be the best show in the world, but it's not as bad as its reputation, and there are some pretty fun numbers in it."

DREAM SHOWS TO DESIGN: Barnum, says Michael. "It's not much of a lighting show, but I ran followspot for it years ago and really liked the music. Another I would love to do is Sweeney Todd." For Lisa, it's Stars on Ice. "I'm a big figure skating fan." A dream job for Lisa would be designing for Disney World.

EDUCATION: MFA Theater, Lighting Design emphasis, University of Missouri, Kansas City, 2006 (both); Broadway Lighting Master Class, 2006 (both); ETC - ION, Congo, SmartFade Training, 2008 (both); ETC - EOS Training, 2007 (both); High End Systems - Hog iPC, 2006 (Lisa); Lighting Design Internship, Williamstown Theatre Festival, 1998 (Michael); Theater Arts, Lighting Design emphasis, Mason Gross School of Arts, Rutgers University, 1996-1997 (Michael); B.A. Dramatic Arts, Lighting Design emphasis, University of California at Santa Barbara, 1994 (Michael).

LATEST KICK: Michael did everything he could to stay away from the Sudoku craze, but Lisa finally dragged him into it. The couple is also getting into photography these days.

OTHER APOLLO FAVES: Definitely Apollo perforated gel. "We've worked in enough theaters that are cramped for space. If you can get to the paper cutter, it's cramped, dirty and in too small of an area to efficiently cut gel. With the perforated gel, it's no longer a chore. It's so much quicker and easier, and we know that whoever `cuts' the gel, the cuts will always be the right size."

Other must-haves include Smart Move rotators, Apollo templates, and Smart Color scrollers. "The Smart Color scrollers work very reliably and comparably to more expensive scrollers. They help provide variety for the different scenes in a show."

AWARDS/HONORS: 2006 Best Lighting - Papermill Playhouse Rising Star Award for Jesus Christ Superstar (both); "Young Designer to Watch" in Live Design magazine, February, 2007 (Michael); 2004 Nominated for Best Lighting - Papermill Playhouse Rising Star Award for Evita (both); 2002 Nominated for Best Lighting - Papermill Playhouse Rising Star Award for Children of Eden (both).

WINNERS' REACTION: "We were very excited. We didn't even know we were in contention for the Standing O Award, so it was a very pleasant surprise. We've always been big fans of Apollo products, so it felt great to be recognized by them."