By ARIELLA MONTI
"To be acknowledged for work that I really care about, that I gave my heart and soul to, it's a good feeling," said Holder.
His mother, Rita Holder, still lives in Rockville Centre and, like any mother, was bursting with pride. "We felt he had a good chance [to win]," she said. "He had gotten such terrific reviews." Holder dedicated the award to his mother and his late father who he said influenced his love of the theater. "We dragged them to the theater a lot," laughed Rita when she spoke of how she and her husband would take Holder and his brother Doug to Broadway.
When he was eight he saw Fiddler on the Roof and remembers crying his eyes out when the villagers were asked to leave Anatevka. He said he was also heavily impacted by Chorus Line which he saw as a teenager. "It had a profound affect on me," he said. "It stuck with me, the idea that you have to take risks for what you believe in and you have to follow your heart and not be afraid to go out on a limb and don't settle for anything but what you firmly want to be."
Those who have Broadway dreams, more often than not wish to be the star on the stage. Holder found his niche in the realm of lighting. Even as a boy scout, he was always intrigued by light. He could always be found tending to the fire or lighting the smudge-pots along the ceremonial trails. In seventh grade he found the technical aspect of stagecraft fascinating. Later in life he started to notice the paintings of the great masters and carefully observed their work on canvass. "It kind of hit me like a ton of bricks. I was so moved and stunned by what I saw," he said. "I was sort of prewired to have this kind of connection with light."
As a youngster living in Rockville Centre he was actively involved in the theater productions mounted by South Side middle and high schools, where he was once a student. He graduated with the class of 1976 and described his experience with the SSHS theater program as positive.
Holder said former English and theater teacher Larry Waxman played an important part in the development of his skills as a designer. Waxman also worked hard to make the program feel like an extended family and community, an aspect of theater that Holder found himself very attracted to. "We all come together as a group to create something special," he said.
While theater was always part of Holder's life, it wasn't his first career choice. He left Rockville Centre to pursue a life in forestry at the University of Maine. While he was there he decided that his chosen career path may not be what truly wanted. He finished he degree in forestry and took a job as engineering representative with Aetna Life and Casualty which he admits was a short-lived career. "Ultimately I realized I wouldn't be happy unless I followed my dream," he said.
He took a job as an assistant technical director at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa. While working at the college he earned enough credits to apply to the Yale School of Drama. While there, he studied under Professor Jennifer Tipton who won her own Tony Awards for Best Lighting Design in 1977 and 1989.
Her impressions of Holder as a student lead her to believe that he would never be a successful designer. "She's someone I admire and I owe her a huge debt of gratitude," he said, explaining that Tipton is a very honest person and it was not meant to be mean spirited "Once I proved her wrong, she immediately embraced me and my work and supported me."
After graduating from Yale, Holder often found himself working on some smaller productions and for a drafting firm in New York. He happened to be in the right place at the right time when someone was fired from a show director Julie Taymor was working on. She hired Holder and a few shows later they were working on The Lion King together. The rest is history.
Holder continues to work on smaller productions around the country as well as on Broadway. He has many projects in the works including Spiderman the Musical which will come to the city next year. He is married to director Evan Yionoulis, whom he met at Yale. He and his wife have a daughter Sarah, 13, who has a flair for dance who Holder suspects will go into the arts like her parents , and a son Joshua, 9. As Holder's parents did for him, he says he will support his children's dreams, no matter where they take them.
He encourages those who wish to have a career in the arts to become students of the world and the human condition. He said theater mirrors the society in which we live. He also advises that to be successful you should read as much as you can, become as articulate as you can and become well educated in as many disciplines that interest you. "Become a student of art and culture because all of that will feed your work," he said. "The most important thing is to become a thinker and a well rounded and well educated person in our society."
He now calls Croton-on-Hudson home but, as for his life in Rockville Centre, he has no complaints. He said he had a happy childhood and he liked where he lived. He stressed that his life at South Side High School played a major role in his life in theater. "It lead me down the path that I've ultimately taken today," he said. "It all started there."
Comments about this story? AMonti@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 282
