ABOUT ME

He is a lighting designer and an assistant professor of lighting and sound design at Southern Illinois University. He is also a proud member of United Scenic Artists Local USA829.

 

In 2023, he received the Jonathan Resnick Lighting Design Award, sponsored by Barbizon Lighting Company, from the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT). His work was also selected for the USITT St. Louis Design Expo and published in the Spring 2023 issue of Theatre Design & Technology (TD&T) magazine.

 

In 2025, he was selected through a highly competitive process to participate in the USITT Training Ground x Cirque du Soleil program—an intensive workshop hosted by Cirque du Soleil’s Resident Show Division in Las Vegas. Among the selected participants, he was additionally awarded a scholarship, recognizing his exceptional potential and professional excellence.

 

Originally from South Korea, he began his career in 2005 by designing the lighting for the opera La Traviata. Since then, he has designed over 150 productions across various genres, including plays, musicals, operas, and dance.

 

In South Korea, he worked as a resident lighting designer and full-time lighting supervisor at a nationally funded performing arts center with approximately 1,200 seats in Daegu. With an academic background in vocal performance, he brings a unique musical sensitivity to his design process—skillfully analyzing musical structure and translating emotion and rhythm into light.

 

Recent professional design credits include:

The Bridges of Madison County, Footloose, Hello Dolly, The Prom (McLeod Summer Playhouse); The Prom, Little Shop of Horrors (Porthouse Theater); Passage (CWRU/Cleveland Playhouse); Sweeney Todd, The Lightning Thief (Rubber City Theatre); A Christmas Carol (Players Guild Theatre); La Siempreviva, Trópico Macbeth (LatinUs Theater Company); King and the Clown (Sodam Art Production/Pontifex Production); El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom (Cleveland Public Theatre).