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Joseph Mobilia profile picture

Email: jmobilia@fda-online.com

Joseph Mobilia

Principal
Stage Rigging & Technology Design

B.A. Visual and Environmental Studies, Harvard University, 1976

Member, American Society of Theatre Consultants (ASTC)

Theatre Planning is not a licensed profession.

Joe Mobilia joined FDA in 1977.  Over the years he has consulted on literally hundreds of projects of every type and size. 

Joe is one of FDA’s project managers, guiding a project from the earliest days of programming and feasibility to completion of construction.  

Joe also oversees the design and specification of stage rigging and machinery. Since every theatre has stage rigging, every FDA project benefits from Joe’s extensive experience, not just those he manages. 

Joe has been project manager for performing arts centers, concert halls, historic theatre renovations, theatre and music venues for educational institutions, and museums.  His project management resume includes the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, the Oklahoma City Civic Center Music Hall, renovations of Radio City Music Hall and the Muny in St. Louis, Harvard University’s Farkas Theatre, the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington DC, and the Walker Arts Center’s McGuire Stage in Minneapolis. 

Joe’s longevity at FDA is such that he now will work on renovations of venues that had been FDA projects when they were new.  The Broward Center opened in 1991; in 2011 now-outdated equipment was replaced, and the Center was expanded to include a new studio theatre and event space. 

As a specialist in stage rigging and machinery, Joe’s has designed acoustical systems that address the demands of a multipurpose theatre.  These spaces must successfully – and safely – accommodate very different requirements: an orchestra concert one day, and a touring Broadway show the next.  Applying the acoustical consultant’s physical criteria, Joe has been instrumental in the development of movable orchestra shell ceilings at Newark’s New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, the Oklahoma City Civic Center Music Hall, and the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas. The ceilings associated with these complex, automated systems weigh 100,000 pounds, or more. 

Joe has a degree in Visual and Environmental Studies from Harvard University, and has been a guest lecturer there.  Before turning to theatre consulting, Joe was a set designer and scene painter.  As well as own design work, he was an assistant on a number of Broadway shows and operas. 

Joe Mobilia is a member of the American Society of Theatre Consultants. 

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