About our troupe: Illuminatus Lasers consists of bold and daring creatives who think up laser devices, build them, haul them around, set them up, fire them up, tear them down, and haul them back to the Illuminatus Lasers secret, sacred whirled headquarters, located just South of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Mike Gould
Mike is Co-founder and head honcho of Illuminatus Lasers, and, with Wayne Gillis, established the lightshow back in 1974 (See History Page). A winner of 2 ILDA Awards, Mike creates and Photoshops most of the graphics seen in the video displays, and serves as photographer, webmaster, poster designer, and cat-herder. He also designed and built 90% of the laser devices seen in the show. His laser artist web site is to be found at www.mikegouldlaserartist.com.
Wayne Gillis
Wayne is Co-founder of our troupe, and is chief engineering officer. He builds the laser devices Mike doesn’t build, and designs most of the electronics for Mike’s gizmos and other aspects of the show. He is our resident laser specialist and safety officer.
Steve Rich
Steve manages operations, security and legal activities and is our emergent photonic artist and illustrator. He supports the team’s creative, technical, logistical and business development efforts.
Zita Gillis
Zita assists with cat herding, logistics and displays and is the primary aesthetics consultant. She also handles public and media relations. During performances she helps out with laser graphics and general event support.
Jacob Rich
Following an apprenticeship as the youngest Illuminatus member, Jacob is stepping into key performance and operational roles. He ably works behind and in front of our technology and keeps the team versed in evolving media trends.
Draco
We found Draco on Photonlexicon.com, the international laser forum. He has a background in electronics and has been tweaking several of our lasers, as seen above.
Krunal Desai
Krunal met us at a Penguicon, and has joined us to work on the digital end of our electronics efforts. At Youmacon he ran the video screens while simultaneously controlling The ExtraLuxen. He is currently on leave to Planetary Resources, where he is designing space telescopes.