Pyrotechnic expert's career part of a family tradition
By Kapono Dowson
Advertiser Staff Writer
Sherry Souza is having a blast tomorrow.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
Souza is Pyro Spectaculars' head pyrotechnician in charge of Ala Moana Center's fireworks show to be shot off Magic Island tomorrow. She says the show will be at least four times bigger than last year's display.
Pyro Spectaculars crewmembers Jerri Jo Elliot and Jim Thompson, both of California, load fireworks shells in preparation for the Fourth of July fireworks show off Magic Island.
Dressed in board shorts, T-shirt and black heavy-duty sandals with lavender trimmings, Souza gives orders to her mostly local crew of 12 men on her walkie-talkie. They position the cylinders into the beach sand and load the shells from three sides of Magic Island.
Souza is one of the few women in the world who run fireworks shows. She has worked with the bands Bon Jovi, 'N Sync and Pink Floyd, and just finished a contract for the latest Batman movie. Internationally, she has worked in Hong Kong introducing Chinese New Year for 13 years.
Besides holidays, she has worked on the Olympics and Statue of Liberty celebrations. Married to Steven Souza, whose San Francisco area family has been in the pyrotechnics industry for four generations and owns Pyro Spectaculars, she began working for the family 20 years ago. Her husband designs and produces the shows that she sets up and runs.
In the beginning, the Souza family was against her working with the company. As a rite of passage, they insisted that she hand-light the shells to prove herself. "They thought I was going to run, but I didn't," Souza says.
According to Souza, this fireworks show is particularly poignant for her family. This was the show that her son Thaddeus Souza was supposed to take over. He would have been the fifth generation of the Souza family to be involved in the business, but at 21, he was killed by a drunken driver last month. The family is dedicating the show to him.
As Souza points to the 20 cylinders set for 12-inch shells the size of basketballs being laid out and the Matson container being unloaded, she says, "The show should be spectacular."
