“Philadelphia’s premier dance filmmaker”
-THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
on Rennie Harris PureMovement’s FACING MEKKA
“On a huge screen backdrop, images of mercy and madness play: African ceremonial dance rites set against National Guardsmen and gunmen cresting a hill, a weathered nun and a weeping woman, cops hosing down pedestrians, Martin Luther King Jr., hooded Ku Klux Klansmen. Kept slightly out of focus, it's a blur of fleeting impressions, a wash of social history that's both confrontational and cathartic.”
-THE OREGONIAN - Catherine Thomas
“Tobin Rothlein’s video projections are often nearly subliminal, but they not only support the moods and rhythm’s of the performance but also periodically offer graphic reminders of the life that drove young African Americans onto the street and led to the creation of hip-hop and other forms of escape. The mood is somber. This is no energy circus.”
-LOS ANGELES TIMES
“On the backdrop there’s video--a tumultuous collage (by Tobin Rothlein) in which at various times I could make out National Guardsmen and Martin Luther King and burning crosses...it is clear that Facing Mekka ia about more than the street. Its subject i think is African American memory.”
-THE NEW YORKER - Joan Acocella
“Pulsing in rhythm to the music, the intentionally fuzzy projections by collagists John Abner and Theodore A. Harris and videographer Tobin Rothlein were most effective in the opening. Later, the calm surface of a body of water flooded the backdrop, mirroring the female chorus who moved in ripples of consummate grace, control, and sensuality, free of vanity or stereotypes of women as sex objects.”
-DANCE MAGAZINE - Brenda Dixon Gottschield
The most satisfying of the three dances wasn't a premiere but a repeat of "In the Arms of Morpheus" by Jodie Gates, a former PAB principal dancer. And what a welcome repeat. Gates' luscious choreography gave the audience a vision of the dreamer, and the dream itself, all tangled together in Tobin Rothlein's beautiful videos and visuals.
-CITY PAPER – Janet Anderson
on SharpWire’s ADAM'S APPLE
“Projected imagery plays a significant part in the show. From its flickering images Matthew Sharp emerges, nearly naked as a new-born baby, and takes up the ‘cello against Wyer’s guitar. At times this seems like a physical energising, from six strings to four, but more often there’s an element of competition, even conflict, as if the new creation is finding its feet, then its place in the world…A female figure (presumably choreographer Amanda Miller) dancing on screen provides another image of freedom and joy – an Eve for this Adam.…Just the type of experimental cross-fertilisation bac provides, Adam’s Apple is itself developmental; individual and intriguing…”
-REVIEWS GATE - Timothy Ramsden
“An intoxicating and intimate passion play of sound, song, movement, and video”
-THE GUARDIAN, UK
“a multi-media song-cycle, which has been captivating audiences across the United Kingdom.” "spellbinding...."
-MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS, UK
"This is a totally engaging way of experiencing music...not just the visual and special elements of
the work but the way in which the performers are treating music as a form of theatre, an expression of
their own emotion...The lush romantic melancholy of Wyer’s score is ravishing…
-ROGUES AND VAGABONDS, LONDON
"...by turns, feverish and yearning...it bravely pushes the music theatre envelope…”
-TIME OUT, LONDON
on IMBALANCE
“Tobin Rothlein projects heart monitors, animations and scribbled messages onstage. The result is a moving poem of spiraling arcs and dreamy melancholy”
-PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY
“Brilliant Multimedia… “
-PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
“Thoroughly magnetic, dreamy imagery projected on the seven dancers and draperies…A masterpiece”
-PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
“Haunting Video Work”
-CITYPAPER - J. Anderson
“A Gorgeous Work- Pristine image fragments floated across the blue-lit back wall like apparitions”
-THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
On FREQUENCIES AND ARMS OF MORPHEUS
“Tobin Rothlein cast the unified tone that carried mysteriously through...[the choreographies] In these days of stumbling attempts at interdisciplinary work, few artists complement each other as well as Rothlein and these dancers”
-PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
“Imaginative Visuals…”
-CITYPAPER - D Kasrel
on RE:TURN
“Film played a big role in the program…A film by [Carol] Brown and Tobin Rothlein, highlighted…the interaction of movement with different environments…
-THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
“Images jostle implode and unravel into dazed slow motion…”
-THE GUARDIAN (London) - Judith Mackrell
On POETRY PARTS ONE AND TWO
“Witty interactive use of dancers and video”
-CITYPAPER - R Ackerman
“Eye popping video…Projected images that question our perception as to what is real…a hauntingly poetic moment that sent chills up my spine was when Moriarty hologram like crosses into his own projected image.”
-THE DANCE INSIDER
On ORTE
“Rothlein’s atmospheric video and Pete Wyer’s oceanic score fuse into a beautiful whole”
–PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
“Beautifully filmed”
-PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY
“The brilliant final image caps off Hereafter with an impact rarely achieved in conventional theatre”
-PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY – J Cooper Robb
“Provocative Imagery”
-CITYPAPER
“ With Tobin Rothlein’s strong video sequences layered over or counterpoint to the action...This evening length piece succeeded in generating some trenchant, thought provoking moments”
-PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
On SWAN
“A subtle rhapsody.”
-PHILDELPHIA INQUIRER
“Evocatively dark and dreamy”
-CITYPAPER
“ A moving film…”
-PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY
On LEARNING CURVE
The film provided poignant insight into …the good work of MANNA…It artfully underscored [the evening’s] purpose of giving back with heart soul and sweat to conquer a killer that touches all of us.
-CITYPAPER
“Poignant Insight...”
-CITYPAPER
On INVISIBLE
“A Charming Fantasy...”-PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
on SONG OF THE BODY
“Filmmaker Tobin Rothlein reminds us that the athletic, the talented and the eternally youthful are covered by the same lovely and vulnerable stuff.”
-PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY
“Two clever pieces”
-CITYPAPER
“Delightful…”
-PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
“Strong aural and visual appeal”
-CURTAIN UP - Kathryn Osenlund
“In contrast to (Wayne Wang’s) Chinese Box, which often has the feel of a period piece, J. Tobin Rothlein’s Eyes of the Storm artfully shows that history is quite capable of producing its own drama.”
-American Historical Review Oct 1998
“Eyes of the Storm reveals the complex and manifold implications of the handover by approaching it through a mosaic of individuals and events.”
-American Historical Review Oct 1998
“Eyes of the Storm creates considerable anxiety about the future of Hong Kong. In this case however, the anxiety is not a trick of the light but a reflection of genuine concerns about the future of Hong Kong and its people.”
-American Historical Review Oct 1998
Jacqui Sadashige
University of Pennsylvania
“4 stars (out of 4)”
-PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY - Michael Wakely
“The film transcends the purely political by capturing very human elements of the handover…”
“Rothlein brilliantly draws out various tensions and confusions latent within this historic moment.”
“[A] timely and important film”
“What is most brilliant about this film- and what makes it an honest appraisal- is that it illuminates the tense uncertainty of the present and future of Hong Kong.”
News and Reviews - a publication of the Asian Educational Media Service, Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Joseph Wong
Associate in research / Harvard University’s
Fairbank Center for East Asian Research
MEDIA:
PLSN – Pro Lights and Staging News – March 2004
One of four designers interviewed and written about in an article entitled, "Regional Theatre Designers" by Joyce Storey
REVIEWS:the break/s
Marc Bamuthi Joseph/The Living Word Project"The technical elements ... supported the performances exactly. Clotfelter’s lights created intimate scenes for Bamuthi Joseph to connect deeper with the audience."
"Every beat (musical and theatrical) was as tight as it could have been in this 80-minute drive-by of a show."
- Kacey Shiflet - Broadway Hour Seattle - June 19, 2009 | link
"well-crafted, entertaining and provocative"
"the technical design of the piece (which was an order of magnitude more intricate than I was expecting) had literally hundreds of cues, each executed to perfection."
"One affecting moment, reliant on the controlled environment of the theater, finds him standing just behind a panel of light spanning the stage’s apron; as he speaks of the inner conflict unique to the African-American-as-descendant-of-slaves and the resultant flaring up of feelings of rage and revenge, he dips forward into the light, and backs out again, moving horizontally as though he’s snorkeling along a vertical surface, where the light is water and the audience (perhaps more diverse tonight than in many of his previous host venues) creatures of the deep he’s peering at from the other side of a divide as profound as the one between ocean and air."
It is nuanced... seamless in excecution..."
- trailerpilot.com - March 27, 2009 | link
"the break/s is among the most innovative bits of theater I’ve ever seen."
- John Stoehr - Artsjournal Weblog, June 20, 2008 | permalinkThe Seafarer
Southern Repertory, New Orleans"...James Clotfelter's lighting dims so that the sole light source seems to be the living room's open stove, throwing long shadows on the back wall, evoking horror movies and campfire stories."
"How good is "The Seafarer" at Southern Rep? It is one of the best things I've seen in 40-odd (and they have been odd) years of theater-going in New Orleans."
"Extraordinary is the word for this theater experience, a confluence of talent and craft seldom seen on our stages."
- David Cuthbert - The Times-Picayune, November 14, 2008Chekhov Lizardbrain
Pig Iron Theatre Company, The Ohio Theatre, New York City"James Clotfelter’s lighting design is the most soulful and evocative I’ve seen in quite a while; even his tangle of bare light bulbs is striking and haunting."
- Jenny Sandman - A CurtainUp Review, October 2008, http://www.curtainup.com/chekhovlizardbrainny.html
"The highlight of the show, aptly enough, is James Clotfelter’s lighting design."
" The overall lighting effect is so seamlessly blended into the scene changes that its cleverness almost escapes notice…"
- Emma Varvaloucas, Washington Square News, October 17, 2008Flesh and Blood and Fish and Foul
Geoff Soebelle and Charlotte Ford, The Abandoned Rite- Aid, Philly"Ford and Sobelle are supported by an extraordinarily imaginative and clever team of designers."
- Toby Zinman, Philadelphia Inquirer, Sep. 11, 2008
Color-ography, The Dances of Jacob Lawrece
Dayton Contemporary Dance Company"Byrd uses lines dissolving and reforming, and tableaux juxtaposed to action, with lighting (by James Clotfelter) that reinforces the onward-leading vision."
"Terrific lighting design by Clotfelter always beckons the dancers on..."
- Phillippa Kirraly, Seattle Post - Intelligencer, May 4, 2007"... the choreographers were marvelously well assisted by the production designers, who created a rich stage world, mostly out of light..."
- Kate Dobbs Ariail, Classical Voice of North Carolina, February 20, 2007Hurdy Gurdy
Miro Dance Theatre, Live Arts Festival, Plays & Players Theatre, Philadelphia, PA"This piece by Miro Dance Theater delivers a mix of visual and aural brilliance . . . in a palette of purple and silver, black and white."
" Production values are superb..."- Lisa Kraus, The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 10, 2005
A Human Interest Story (or ‘The Gory Details and All’)
Breadline Theatre, Chicago, IL“The environment for the production – a shrewd creation by set designer Joey Wade (with superb lighting design by James Clotfelter) – is the essence of minimalism and dislocation.”
- Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun Times, January 15, 2004
"absorbing theatrics"
- Michael Phillips - Chicago Tribune, Janruary 12, 2004Phrenic New Ballet’s Four World Premieres
Mandell Theatre, Philadelphia, PA“…James Clotfelter’s lighting lavishly supported the program’s four inventive choreographic concepts.”
- Merilyn Jackson, The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 15, 2003Goodbye Charlie
Theatre Works, Pioria, AZ“James Clotfelter's lights…blows away most community theatre groups offerings...”
- Mark Turvin, Goldfish Publishers, August 21, 1999The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me
On the Spot Theatre, Phoenix, AZ“With the assistance of little more than James Clotfelter's expert lighting, he shifts among Drake's various personae with quick precision.”
- Robert L. Pela, Phoenix New Times, April 22, 1999