Jimmie Robinson

Jimmie Robinson will be forever remembered most for his kindness and authenticity, his Cheshire Cat grin, and his loyal devotion to his students, to his colleagues and their families, and most especially to his many, many friends. Jimmie was an Illinois native, born on April 1st, 1944, and raised by his beloved grandmother on the south side of Chicago. As a young teenager, he attended a summer theatre camp where he first discovered his passion for theatre technology of all kinds – lighting and sound design, technical direction, set and prop construction, special effects and, later in his career, the undergraduate college teaching of all of the above. He pursued his BA in theatre from Wichita State University, where he was a Campus Radio DJ, played football his freshman year, and was a member of both Psi Epsilon Delta – National Collegiate Players, and the Arnold Air Society – Air Force ROTC. After graduating from WSU in 1967, Jimmie actively served in the military, stationed at an air force base in Texas. After his honorable discharge, he entered the Master of Arts program in lighting design and technical direction at the University of Washington. In 1975 Jimmie landed his first faculty teaching position at San Francisco State University, followed by a stint at the University of Toledo. It was while in Ohio that Jimmie first became involved with the work of the United States Institute of Theatre Technology. A life-time member, Jimmie served on the Board of Directors of USITT and as Treasurer for the Rocky Mountain Section when he moved to Colorado in the early 80s to become the resident faculty Lighting Designer and Technical Director at the University of Denver. When DU disbanded their theatre department in the spring of 1984, Jimmie stayed in Denver employed by Ace Hardware, while working P/T as Designer/TD at Arapahoe Community College (ACC) in Littleton. He also stage managed live music events at ACC. His favorite concert? Blues icon B.B. King in the ACC Cafeteria! In 1991, he began working as TD F/T for Henry Lowenstein (“The Father of Denver Theater” and one of Denver’s most famous stage producers) at The Denver Civic Theatre. In 1997, he moved to Fort Collins to accept a “temporary” position in the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance at Colorado State University that lasted 14 years until his retirement in 2011. Jimmie’s “bread and butter” class was Technical Theatre I, a course then required of all Theatre and Dance majors. He took particular pride in introducing dancers to the backstage world, knowing that many of them would one day manage their own studios and performance venues. At the end of each semester, Jimmie would put on a show of his own by demonstrating a wide array of SPX. Little known fact: Jimmie Robinson was the only licensed “Pyro Guy” in Northern Colorado (lighting indoor fireworks at sporting arenas and making things explode onstage) until all such licenses were revoked after 911. As a side hustle in FoCo, Jimmie designed lights and sound for productions staged by Bas Bleu Theatre Company for over 20 years, beginning in 1999 with a twin bill of Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days and Krapp’s Last Tape and ending in 2022 with his lighting design for Lost in Yonkers and his sound design for A Thurber Carnival. Ironically, Jimmie had first worked on a production of A Thurber Carnival at that summer theatre camp back in high school. As a highly-respected theatre artist and consummate craftsman, his 50+ year career had come full circle. The American humorist James Thurber once implored: “Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness.” That was the life of Jimmie Robinson. Jimmie lived in the present tense, viscerally aware of the world around him, and connecting with others by his willingness to listen to where they were coming from and his respect for where they were trying to go, often helping them get there. Jimmie thus touched the lives of many, forging life-long friendships along the way. Jimmie was greatly loved and he will be sorely missed.

Jimmie Robinson

March 23, 2025