An alumna from Kalamazoo College played an important role at this year’s Super Bowl LIV halftime show in Los Angeles, when the L.A. Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals played for the NFL championship.
Alix Reynolds, an account manager for the entertainment company ATOMIC, graduated in 2011 from Kalamazoo College. She was instrumental in shaping the gridiron at Sofi Stadium into an energetic stage, according to the college.
“Something like the Super Bowl halftime show is a high-risk project, especially when it involves so much technology,” Reynolds said. “There’s going to be 100 million people watching, regardless of whether it succeeds. There’s always a lot of stress and anxiety, but ultimately, a really good team with the resources and know-how can make it safer with smart decisions and a lot of redundancy built into the system, which is what we had.”
The Super Bowl halftime show’s stage was a tribute to Compton, California, home to headliner Dr. Dre, who brought on stage with him fellow musicians Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg, and 50 Cent.
Reynolds said when she works on a stage production she has to account for what the artist envisions, along with what the budget will permit.
“Sometimes, they just have an idea of what they want to do. I’ll ask some follow-up questions and work with a project manager to figure out how much it might cost us to build and how much we should sell it for,” she said.
After majoring in theater arts at Kalamazoo College, Reynolds obtained a master’s degree in technical design and production at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. She then proceeded to get a job with ATOMIC, which allowed her to work on the Super Bowl halftime show.
“For every performer you saw on the halftime show, there were probably over 100 people working behind the scenes,” Reynolds said.
