The staff and board, and all at Performance Space 122 are devastated by the news that Derek Lloyd, our long time Director of Production, unexpectedly but peacefully passed away yesterday.
There are those in theater who are content to make things possible. Derek made them better.
Thousands of artists, and tens of thousands of audience – whether they knew it or not – benefited from the passion, love and care with which he approached getting live performance on stage. This was matched only by the passion for his wife, Mary Rose-Lloyd, his family, his cats, his cooking and the Mets.
He was a mentor and teacher to hundreds of young technicians and artists, a designer, a sparkie wrench head techie of the highest order. Derek raised the bar of what PS122 could do for its artists, and enabled them to create stronger, better work. He pushed us all to be better and to do better. With little equipment and very modest infrastructure he made PS122 somewhere people wanted to work, wanted to create. He said yes to impossible dreams.
Performance Space 122’s current transformative renovation would quite simply not be happening without him. Derek spent the last seven years dreaming of what could be in these new spaces, and was a passionate advocate for the possibilities they offered.
Derek was a true, loyal friend to many. A big, gruff hugger who unashamedly teared up when he saw injustice. Not all will understand this but as we say – he had a heart as big as Phar Lap’s.
We will miss him, and are poorer for his loss.
Memorial services are to be determined and we’ll keep you updated via our blog and social media, however please join us for an informal gathering of friends and colleagues this Sunday evening, April 27 from 7:30pm on. We will meet at Dixon Place for the announcement of the Tom Murrin Performance Award (a dear friend and colleague to Derek) and proceed from there up First Avenue in the East Village. Please follow Little PS’er Nyc on facebook or @PS122 on twitter to meet us en route.
Thank you to all who have shared your kind words, memories, funny stories and condolences,
Vallejo, Winnie, Chris, Lori, Alex, Bevin, Jess, Jeso, Lauren, Sean, Mike and Gavin
PS122 Board – Ivan, Chet, Jason, Howard, Vivian, David, Enrico, Anne, Ain, Gavin, Lionel, David, Adam, Michael, Eli, Kambiz, Frank and Carmelita
