Associate Principal
Joseph Mobilia, Associate Principal, joined FDA in 1977. As a project manager, he specializes in facility programming, and also has overall responsibility for the design and specification of stage machinery, including rigging and lifts.
He was project manager for the renovations of the Eastman Theatre for the Eastman School of Music; Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY and the Oklahoma City Civic Center. He has also actively worked on the Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis; the Huntington Theatre, Boston; the Hasty Pudding Theatre at Harvard, Hult Center in Eugene, OR; Wolf Trap Farm Park, Vienna, VA; Broward Center, Ft. Lauderdale, FL; New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark, NJ; and Bass Performance Hall, Fort Worth, TX.
Much of his work involves meeting the many technical demands of multipurpose theatres, particularly for orchestra shells. Applying the acoustical consultant's physical criteria, he has devised sophisticated motorized systems for the orchestra shell ceilings at Wolf Trap, Bass Hall and New Jersey PAC, weighing 40,000, 100,000 and 150,000 pounds, respectively.
Joe also has led the planning and programming for much of FDA's college and university work, including theatres at Harvard, Princeton, Texas A & M, and Hofstra universities; the University of Northern Iowa; Texas Christian University; and the University of North Texas at Denton. He was principal consultant for the Clarke Studio Theatre at the Lincoln Center Institute, and the renovation and expansion of the theatres at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. He presently is leading FDA’s team at Georgetown University, the University of Texas, Corpus Christi, and Ursinus College.
He has helped to create innovative systems to solve problems in historic structures like Michigan Opera Theatre in Detroit and the Lucas Theatre in Savannah, as well as contemporary venues like the Vivian Beaumont and Mitzi Newhouse Theatres at Lincoln Center. Joe designed the complex rigging for the theatres of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines' new "Voyager of the Seas" and its sister ships. He was principal consultant on three award-winning renovation projects in Boston: the Wang Center, the Hatch Memorial Concert Shell, and Harvard University's Lowell Hall.
Joe has been extensively involved with a number of FDA's museum projects, such as the Holocaust Memorial Museum auditoria, Washington, D.C.; the Mashantucket Pequot auditorium in Connecticut; and the Wexner Center (Ohio State) Performance Space. He is leading FDA's work on a new studio theatre being designed by architects Herzog and DeMeuron for the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
A graduate of Harvard University, he received a B.A. in Visual and Environmental Studies and has subsequently been a guest lecturer at Harvard. Before turning to theatre consulting, he worked as a set designer and scene painter, and design and technical assistant on Broadway shows and on productions at the New York City Opera. He is a member of the American Society of Theatre Consultants. His wife, Wendy Smith, is the author of “Real Life Drama: A History of the Group Theatre.”
Copyright 2001 Fisher Dachs Associates