On September 30th 2008 Greg Kieta passed away suddenly at the age of 55. Greg grew up in Roseland and Chicago Heights. He recently lived in Lynwood with his wife Laurie. Greg attended Columbia College where he earned a film degree. Greg was a founding partner of the Idea Machine through 1980, and worked for many local production companies before he became a partner at Production Plus on January 1st, 1986.

Greg was very much loved by his family, many of whom now work at Pro Plus. He was a quiet giant that commanded everyone’s attention when he chose to speak. His sense of humor was uncanny. His cigar was ever present. His love and expertise of trap shooting was unparalleled. He would do anything for anyone. He was an extraordinary human being.

Greg was the go to guy at Pro Plus for anything out of the ordinary. Exploding logos, custom turntables, robotic snow mobile reveals, stage lifts, roll drops, mirror ball pods for Tim and Faith. If it was out of the ordinary and plugged in, Greg was the guy. He was a master at engineering and electronics and had the distinctive talent of approaching every design differently, always making the final product better than expected.

John Huddleston from Upstaging said it very well…

“Greg was the smartest mechanical designer I have ever known – his designs were functional, elegant and most times downright genius (and when they did not work perfectly in rehearsals, some of the best comedy I can ever recall!!)”. “For over 20 years all I ever needed to  hear was that “Greg is working on it” and I would never stress.”

Greg was an exceptional partner, boss, co-worker, and friend. He was a great mentor who spent the last few years turning over his responsibilities to his very talented Pro Plus staff. His shoes will be very hard to fill, but Greg was committed to sharing his knowledge with those that will now do their best to carry on his distinctive, brilliant legacy.