Meet Jim “TUT” Tutorow, a lighting wiz with decades of experience and MAC Productions’ Lighting Director. TUT celebrates 13 years with our organization on January 2, 2022.
Before then, he was the CEO of a lighting company where he worked closely with the MAC Productions team. TUT said joining MAC Productions has allowed him to do what he does best, which is design.
“One of the things I always say I do is that I paint with light. These productions are my canvases,” he said.
As a child, TUT did theatre and was (as we can only imagine) a true force on stage, but he found out that he also enjoyed the behind-the-scenes work. However, TUT really fell in love with lighting design while in school at Bowling Green State University when taking theatre classes.
“When I was a kid, I acted and danced through theatre involvement. When I got into college, one of my professors said ‘hey, come take my lighting design course.’ I fell in love with it and things took off from there,” he said. “I liked being out front, but I loved being behind the scenes.”
TUT does a little bit of everything at MAC Productions but his favorite part of any workday is working on rigging designs because of the challenge it poses. TUT is an ETCP certified Entertainment Electrician and Rigger- Arena.
“Everything we do rigging-wise, we’re doing over people’s heads. Everything must be done right and safely. There’s a lot of physics and math involved to make sure everything gets done right,” TUT said.
When he was a kid, he played with Erector sets and Legos. While rigging is much more complicated than a toy set, the challenge of putting something together and designing it is something TUT has always loved, but especially for clients.
Over the years, some of his favorite productions have been RE/MAX events like R4. TUT has been working with RE/MAX on events for more than 20 years as a lighting designer.
“I love partnering with them. I can see all the designs in my head. It’s a big show and I enjoy bringing to life their big event and figuring it out before we get there,” TUT said.
When he’s not designing rigging setups at our headquarters or traveling with the MAC team, he’s got his hands full at home. TUT has six sons, two of them in the military, and a “patient” wife. His wife also works in the lighting industry as an equipment installer for arenas and in permanent lighting.
In addition to his many accolades, TUT also holds the trophy for winning MAC’s first monthly staff photo contest – He’s not worried about the competition if another one happens.
“Everything I do is visual since I’m not an audio guy. Without me it’s all just radio,” he joked when asked about his strategy for the next contest.
With decades of experience as his witness, TUT said what sets MAC apart from other production companies is the service provided for clients. He also feels like the tight-knit family environment leads to great work.
“MAC is a mom and pop – it’s locally owned and operated. Every single one of us has a stake in this business. All of us have our hearts in this. We want to make things happen for our clients and we want this company to succeed,” he said. “It might as well be our own names on the building.”
“You can go out and buy lights and start a company but if you can’t back up what you’re doing with experience while taking care of your customer, you might as well not have bought the lights,” TUT said.
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