E.D. Intemann, M.F.A. ’84, senior lecturer in the performing and media arts department and resident lighting designer at the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts for over 20 years, died on Feb. 21. He was 60 years old.
Intemann died suddenly at Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse, surrounded by family and friends. He is survived by his partner, Ellen Chase, his two sons and his two sisters.
Rather than flowers, a scholarship fund is being set up in Intermann’s memory for lighting design students, according to Bangs Funeral Home.
Intemann designed more than 60 shows for Cornell including Metamorphoses, The Grapes of Wrath, Hamlet, Antigone and Amadeus, according the Cornell Chronicle, a University-run publication. His work in the department of performing and media arts also included teaching writing seminars, production labs and a lighting design studio.
He joined the PMA department — then called theatre, film and dance — in 1995 and wore many hats over the next decades. In addition to his teaching and design work, he advised undergraduates and student organizations and supervised graduate research.
“Ed Intemann was deeply committed to his lighting design students,” interim department chair Sabine Haenni told The Chronicle.
His accolades include a Syracuse Area Live Theatre Award nomination for his lighting design on a world-premiere production of What Happens Next at the Cherry Artspace in Ithaca.
Ed worked in dance as well as theater productions, co-directing the 2017 dance performance, Captured Spaces and serving as artistic director and lighting designer for the 2005 dance performance Reflections in an Eye of Titanium. He also did design work for Ithaca’s Kitchen Theatre and Hangar Theatre.
“Ed lit the world for us,” Jumay Chu, senior lecturer in dance, told the Chronicle. “Day in and day out, he let us take his brilliance for granted. His art was a form of teaching. Year after year, he helped me to see what I wanted and to bring it to life.”
A Denver University alumnus, Intemann graduated magna cum laude in 1981 with a B.A. in theatre, according to his website. He then received an M.F.A. in design from Cornell, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, a collegiate honors society. During his time at Cornell, Ed designed scenery, lighting and costumes for campus and Hangar Theatre shows.
Prior to returning to Cornell in 1995, Intemann taught at Frostburg State University in Maryland and the University of South Carolina.
“Everyone who has moved through our department has a story like mine, as do hundreds of artists across the country – directors, actors, choreographers, dancers, musicians and other lighting designers,” Chu said. “At my best, I shall always be working by Ed’s lights.”