Who: Jerry Krulewicz, president and co-founder of Wireworks Corporation.
What: A manufacturer of audio and audio/video cabling systems for the professional audio, broadcast and live performance industries.
Where: Hillside, N.J.
When: Founded in 1974
Full-time employees: 30
Number of products in catalog: 4,000+
Clients include: A diverse clientele, including more than 500 Broadway productions, theatres, stadiums and sports arenas, all the major TV networks and several themed entertainment venues. Wireworks also has built road systems for touring live music of all types — from rock to classical. The company recently did a complex custom cabling system for The Kronos Quartet to simplify their setup.
Recent projects of note: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Victory Gardens at the Biograph Theater in Chicago, and Broadway productions including Wicked, The Producers, Monty Python’s Spamalot, Hairspray, Avenue Q, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Movin’ Out, The Color Purple, The Drowsy Chaperone and many more.
Politically incorrect first gig: “I was hired to run the stage at the Flagship Dinner Theater and Supper Club in New Jersey in the late 1960s. This included setting up all the sound and lights and hiring all the staff. The theatre’s premier show starred Jackie Mason in a musical comedy review called, It Happened in the Gay ‘90s.”
“The worst concert I was ever sent to was… a benefit concert at the Met in New York City. The audience was full of lighting, sound and theatre designers and technicians and everything went wrong. Everyone sat with their head in their hands. I’m sure half the audience wanted to run backstage to help, but no one moved!”
Couldn’t they find something better to do, you know, in the back seat? “My most embarrassing moment was when I worked at a drive-in movie theater and was showing a movie that was missing the last roll! All the cars started honking, and people started storming the projection booth. I had to lock myself inside!”
Proudest achievement: “When Wireworks reached its 30th anniversary.”
People might be surprised to know: The average American hears or sees something over a Wireworks cable every day.
Degrees of separation: Cofounders Jerry Krulewicz and Larry Williams both have worked in the technical entertainment industry for most of their professional careers. Combined, they have worked on venues and productions throughout nearly 200 U.S. cities and have worked with the likes of Duke Ellington, Leonard Bernstein, Hal Prince, Tharon Musser, Paul Simon and Glenn Close.
Motto/Favorite Quote: “Wire — it just works.”
