Moulin Rouge! The Musical (2019), one of two Broadway musicals for which Justin Townsend has received a TONY award nomination for lighting design. Photo by Matthew Murphy
Tony-nominated theater professor Justin Townsend. Photo by Matthew Murphy
罢丑别听聽released its nominations in mid-October, and聽, international lighting designer and associate professor for performance in the Theater Department, was nominated twice for Best Lighting Design of a Musical for his incredible work on聽Jagged Little Pill听补苍诲听Moulin Rouge! The Musical鈥攂oth also nominated for Best Musical. Townsend is nominated along with Bruno Poet for聽Tina: The Tina Turner Musical. A ceremony date has not been announced.
Townsend, who has been teaching classes including Lighting Design, Stagecraft, Stage Design Concepts, and Research Problems in Theater since 2017, is no stranger to Broadway. His lighting designs include聽American Psycho聽(TONY nomination, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, and Henry Hewes Award),听The Humans聽(TONY nomination, Drama Desk Award),听The Nap,听Little Foxes,听Present Laughter,听Casa Valentina,听A Night with Janis Joplin聽(NAACP Theatre Award),听Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,听The Other Place, and聽Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson聽(Hewes Nomination, Outer Critics Circle Nomination).
His off-Broadway work includes聽Joan of Arc: Into the Fire;听Here Lies Love聽(Drama Desk Award);听Vietgone;听Pretty Filthy;听Mr. Burns, a Post Electric Play;听Odyssey;听Venus; and聽Unnatural Acts聽(Lucille Lortel Award nomination).
Townsend also won the Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Lighting Design in 2014.
Townsend designed the lighting for the 2015 revival of the Pulitzer-prize winning play Fool for Love (1983) by actor and playwright Sam Shepard.
Towsend collaborated with Grammy-winning recording artist Drake to design a 50-foot replica of the top of the Toronto’s iconic CN Tower for the 2017 OVO Fest in that city.
Jagged Little Pill, a musical based on an album by musician Alanis Morissette, received 15 TONY award nominations, one of which is Professor Justin Townsend’s for lighting design. Photo by Matthew Murphy
Townsend won the 2016 Drama Desk and Outer Critic Circle awards for Outstanding Lighting Design for a Musical for American Psycho. Photo by Matthew Murphy
Here Lies Love, a rock musical by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim about the life of the former First Lady of the Philippines Imelda Marcos, premiered off-Broadway at the Public Theater in New York City in 2013. Photo by Matthew Murphy
