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Matthew Richards - Lighting Designer

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Les Dickert, Lighting Designer

In 1997, after graduating from the University of South Carolina and then the Yale School of Drama, I moved to New York. In the following few years, I assisted my mentor Jennifer Tipton while pursuing my interests in theater. 1998 I began touring with White Oak Dance Project, first as a lighting supervisor and later as a designer. During that time, I had the opportunity to design world premieres by choreographers such as Mark Morris, Trisha Brown, Yvonne Rainer, Steve Paxton, Simone Forti, Lucinda Childs, and Richard Move, most featuring Mikhail Baryshnikov, the company’s artistic director. At the same time, I continued my work in the theater, working with emerging New York companies and regional theaters. By 2002 I no longer had time to juggle so many projects, and I made the difficult decision to stop touring and assisting, so that I could devote my full attention to creating original work.

 

Since then, I have collaborated with a diverse range of directors and choreographers, spanning the downtown New York theater scene, American regional theaters, and international ballet companies. My love of light grows stronger each year, as does my love of travel (although not my love of most airlines.) I believe in the importance of the cultural exchange of theater, which feeds my interest in the international language of dance. I am also interested in blurring the lines of established performance genres, and in incorporating new visual media, such as video. My other interests include running (I ran the Amsterdam marathon in 2006; I plan to run NYC’s in 2008), photography, vegan cuisine, and the effects of natural light on human emotions. I still live in New York, which remains my favorite city in the world.

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