My first class on my first day in high school: I was a wide-eyed freshman wearing a brand new red t-shirt and radiant white sneakers. Nervous and anxious, I was getting out my virgin notebook to take notes about something called ‘tech theatre’. As a kid raised on little league, soccer, and Friday night football games, I thought tech theatre sounded more like an oxymoron than a scholastic subject. How could the conventions of Shakespeare intermingle with technology? In just a few short weeks, my eyes would open, and I would be hooked. Tech theatre gave me the key to unshackle the uncertainty that plagues high school students. From that first day, I had been given purpose.

Twelve years later, I have even more purpose. I am even more passionate, focused, and poised to push myself further creatively and academically. UCLA’s undergraduate program offered me a broad liberal arts education in addition to providing focus on my specific theatrical interests. While working on my degree, I took numerous theater production and design classes, focusing on lighting design, sound design, computer rendering, and design technology. My senior year, I took a year-long class with graduate students taught by Bruce Vaughn, the Vice President of Research and Development (Imagineering) for The Walt Disney Company. Under his direction we worked on several projects to incorporate audience interactivity in live performance. At the conclusion of the class, we presented our ideas to Anne Hamburger, the lead of creative entertainment, and Martin Sklar, President of Walt Disney Imagineering. Collaborating with fellow students and using the same resources available to Imagineers was an incredible experience.

A year after receiving my degree, I was presented the unique opportunity to return and work in my high school theater. Everyone has a certain place that holds a magical nostalgia for him or her, and this theater held mine. I was a different person, and I wondered if the sugarcoated memories I held dear would be shattered upon my return. Almost four years later, I can say that not only have those memories remained unscathed, but I now have additional memories and experiences which helped me grow as a designer and a professional. Beyond my nostalgia, working in this venue has been the perfect opportunity for me to hone my craft. Over the past three years, I designed well over 50 realized productions. This experience has allowed me to find, develop, and improve my lighting style over a broad range of genres and theatrical events. Upon taking the job, I understood the creative risks of a designer working in only one venue; it can lead to design complacency and limit personal growth. Recognizing this risk, I promised myself that I would never light two shows the same way, and I would always experiment with at least one new idea for every production. Some ideas have worked brilliantly, and others I learned not to repeat. I worked to broaden my lighting repertoire by continuously testing new looks, angles, patterns, and colors in a production environment. Feeling that I have grown as much as I can in this venue, I am excited to open a new chapter of my life and continue my academic career.

There are several reasons why I have chosen theatrical lighting design to be my craft and professional pursuit. First, getting the attention of being on stage has never been an interest of mine, yet I find the magic of participating in the creation of a live theatrical event to be a thrilling experience. Providing the lighting design for live theatre gives me the opportunity to influence the audience’s experience more than they even realize. The lighting design provides polish and binds the other elements of a production together. One of my favorite stages of working on a show is the beginning of the tech process. The first time I turn on stage lights to reveal the set and actors, everything seems to snap together. All of a sudden the set, costumes, and actors that had previously been flat and indistinct, come alive and the scene becomes theatrical. The dichotomy of seeing the set without dimension and color to becoming vibrant and cohesive is a truly rewarding experience. I admire theatre artisans’ ability to adapt materials and conventions designed for other purposes and effectively utilize them in a completely new way for the theatrical environment. It is very fulfilling to embrace new technology that allows us to improve processes and effects that would be inconceivable without it. This includes syncopating lighting and video effects to sound via midi and networking tools. In addition, I enjoy working on ways to make theatrical experiences more cohesive and interactive by allowing actors and other individuals to trigger cues and effects by unconventional means. Examples include an actor actuating a light switch on stage, answering a phone, or using a switch on a door to play a sound effect of a door slam. Reflecting on the influence theatre had on me as a teenager, I make it a priority to help nurture, teach, and pique the students’ interest in theatre. I have found that working with these students is truly rewarding. The opportunity to give these students the tools to think critically about theatre and design is even more gratifying than taking credit for creating the entire production design myself. As a graduate student, I am continuing to teach by assisting with undergraduate courses and practicums.