About Us

Michael Pizzi has been working professionally in the entertainment industry for over 20 years.  He graduated with a degree in Design in 2000 and after freelancing for a couple of years in the Philadelphia area started touring. He toured with Broadway shows such as Cabaret, Kiss Me Kate, Oklahoma, The Producers, and Chicago.  In 2008 he moved to Las Vegas to work at the Beatles LOVE show for a year before going back on tour with Cirque du Soleil's Saltimbanco Arena Tour.  He stayed with Saltimbanco as it finished it's North American leg and then went onto play in Europe, Asia, Africa, The Middle East and Australia.  In 2013 he moved back to Las Vegas to live full-time.  He started working with a Cirque du Soleil Nightclub project and then in 2016 moved over to become Head of Lighting, Projections, and SFX for Criss Angel where he still worked pre pandemic.  Michael still works with Criss and other projects as needed.

Tech Cartel was started in 2013 when I started working at Light Nightclub with at the time Cirque du Soleil.  Myself and several other technicians who have worked for more than 20 years on large scale productions in Las Vegas and around the world saw the need for a more organizational approach to the technical side of nightclubs.  When I saw how things were being installed I was often told by nightclub veterans that they install things "Rave Style".  This approach was foreign to me and I decided to start mapping the room.  The need to know where the power was coming from for the Video Panels, Lighting Fixtures and Audio Gear is crucial when troubleshooting a problem.  Throughout the next 6 months when there was free time we would map everything and compile it.  That way when there was a problem we could either fix it right away or isolate it so the experience for the patrons was affected.  Moving forward all projects I take on for new clients I offer the same service to them.

Tech Cartel can provide your venue with documentation for everything that is installed from audio, video, and lighting to even BOH equipment such as refrigeration and convenience receptacles. That way when your cooler isn't working you don't have to go through 20 circuit breaker panels to figure out why. Or worse accidentally turn of power to something critical.