top of page
100_7522.jpg
IMG_8120.JPG

UNIVERSITY OF NEW ORLEANS LIGHTING DESIGNS

THE ROYALE, MARCO RAMIREZ

Robert E Nims Thrust Theatre

This piece, based loosely on the life of Jack Johnson, deals with questions about singular, individual actions that have far-reaching consequences. Starting with the idea that this play is a boxing match, the design evolved into one about shape--specifically squares. This white-washed Jim Crow world is hard, angular, unbending, and ultimately, isolating.

TWELFTH NIGHT, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Robert E Nims Thrust Theatre

Containment of wild-ness and gradual blossoming and revelation drove the design for this project. Set in an Edwardian country garden, the lighting focused on a progression from winter toward summer over the course of the five acts.

THE ALIENS, ANNIE BAKER

Nims Lab Theatre

For this production, I concentrated on how light would enter this dead-end back alley in a naturalistic, source-driven way, while exploring themes of stagnation, helplessness, and loss.

AIRLINE HIGHWAY, LISA D'AMOUR

Robert E Nims Thrust Theatre

Co-produced with Southern Repertory Theatre, this production's design followed the characters' descent and eventual reemergence and reckoning with themselves and their chosen families.

PLEADING 894, KATE BAILEY

Robert E Nims Thrust Theatre

This script came out of UNO's Creative Writing Workshop as a graduate thesis project. The design evolved from the central metaphor that the main character was a recklessly careening ice cube in a cocktail glass.

THE MISANTHROPE, MOLIERE

Robert E Nims Thrust Theatre

This classic comedy was set in 1960s Paris, and the simplicity of the lighting design gave focus to the actors in the space, with subtle shifts to show passage of time.

TWO ROOMS, LEE BLESSING

Nims Lab Theatre

This piece was produced in rep with Agnes of God. Playing off of the rectilinear space, the lighting design focused on isolation and figure/ground reversal.

MELANCHOLY PLAY, SARAH RUHL

Robert E Nims Thrust Theatre

Fluidity and effortless motion drove the design work for this production, dominated by the surrealist petal-floor, windows and floating dress form.

HAMLET, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Robert E Nims Thrust Theatre

I took a very architectural approach to the lighting design for this production. Each facet of the set was isolated, enabling the lights to carve out different shapes within the space.

BENGAL TIGER AT THE BAGHDAD ZOO, RAJIV JOSEPH

Robert E Nims Thrust Theatre

The design for this production was driven by a sense of deep hopelessness, out of which one cannot see-- a horizon-less existence.

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, HARPER LEE, ADAPTED BY CHRISTOPHER SERGEL

Robert E Nims Thrust Theatre

The designing principle for this classic story was vision, or how vision is obscured

PARSIFAL WORTHY, MARK MEDOFF

Robert E Nims Thrust Theatre

Part Christmas Carol, with a lot of It's a Wonderful Life and a smattering of the Quest for the Holy Grail, this original Mark Medoff piece was driven by Parsifal's attempts to build a better world.

ORESTES 2.0, CHARLES MEE

Robert E Nims Thrust Theatre

The designing principle for Orestes was decay and deterioration. The lighting supported this idea through a progression of color, moving from green to burnt reds, and finally to open white.

THE GOOD DOCTOR, NEIL SIMON

Robert E Nims Thrust Theatre

In this production, the driving design concept explored the central theme of poverty and inequity through materials and texture.

SUICIDE IN THE KEY OF INFOMERCIAL, JARED GORE

Nims Lab Theatre

Suicide is another original work. The scenery and lighting were mainly static and naturalistically driven, except for a hallucinatory moment when the infomercial host breaks into the 'real' world of the hotel room--in this moment, I used primary colored lights to 'explode' the television across the stage space.

HOLY GHOSTS, ROMULUS LINNEY

Robert E Nims Thrust Theatre

For this project, the lighting focused on Nancy's journey to clarity, and departure.

ABOUT TIME, ADAM FALIK

Robert E Nims Thrust Theatre

About Time was a student-written piece that came out of UNO's Creative Writing Workshop. As the scenic unit rotated toward the center of the home, its heart, the lighting took on progressively warmer tones.

AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY ABOUT MY BROTHER, JUSTIN KURITZKES

Nims Lab Theatre

This piece was the winner of the Tennessee Williams One-Act Play Competition in 2011. The driving concept for the production was storage and compartmentalization of the past, of memories.

bottom of page