Rick Malone, co-founder of San Antonio's Classic Theatre, has died

Theater artist Rick Malone, co-founder of San Antonio's Classic Theatre, has died at age 81, the Express-News reports.

According to the daily, Malone died of complications of the lung disease pulmonary fibrosis on Tuesday evening.

Malone co-founded the Classic in 2008 with Chris Cheever, Allan S. Ross, Terri Peña Ross, Tony Ciaravino and Asia Ciaravino. Though he worked in both lights and sound, Malone specialized in sound design and had his sound work featured in multiple international expos.

"Not only the San Antonio theatre community, but the international world of sound designers will feel the loss of Rick Malone," Classic co-founder Allan Ross said in an Instagram post from the theater.

"Although Rick was a major force with The Classic Theatre, he also created sound designs for many other theaters in the community and throughout the nation. Rick had the unique ability to seamlessly blend natural sounds with his own musical compositions to capture the mood of a scene or the quality and ambience of the entire play. Because of his international connections he was able to acquire authentic sound effects and music to create the exact world of the play no matter the historical period or geographic location. If the script called for it, Rick would always find it. We will all miss the masterful sound designs he created."

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