Bill Healey

BIO in BRIEF:

Since his discharge from SJU/ CSB in the late 1980s Bill has been conspiring to tell stories and build worlds with [ selected ]; The Jungle Theater, Open Eye Figure Theater, Walking Shadow Theater Co, The Minnesota Opera Company, The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, & UMN-TAD. He was somehow awarded an Emmy Award in 2003, TPT production, SPCO - Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Since 2010 he has been the Lighting Supervisor for the Dept. of Theatre Arts and Dance at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities campus. He strives to create opportunities for young theater designers and technicians, much as those who welcomed, fostered, and shepherded his generation into the wonderful Twin Cities theater community.

LIGHTING PRODUCTION:

Bill had been the Head Electrician at The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul, MN from 1998-2010, and Assistant Electrician from ’96-’98. Over the 14+ years at the Ordway he oversaw every aspect of theatrical and facility lighting needs. He supervised the installation of productions as varied as Minnesota Opera Company, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Ordway productions/ co-productions of both new and traditional musicals, touring broadway productions, and a great variety of touring dance, music and small theatrical productions. In many cases he also acted as lighting designer for many of these small companies and musicians who didn’t travel with an LD. From 2007-2010 he steered the renovation of both the theatrical and facility lighting systems as part of the 7.5 million dollar bonding renovation of the Ordway.

Between graduating from St. John’s University in Collegeville, MN in 1988, and landing on the doorstep of the Ordway in 1996, Bill had worked for; The Childrens’ Theatre Company as master electrician, touring master electrician, & Lighting programmer,  The Jungle Theater as resident lighting designer and production manager, as well as freelance technician work for The Guthrie theater, Theatre de la Juene Lune, Chanhassen Dinner Theater, and many other companies.

LIGHTING DESIGN:

Bill continues to freelance design and is currently the Resident Lighting Designer for Open Eye Figure Theater in South Minneapolis. He has designed several productions for the Ordway Center, & the Minnesota Opera Company. He’s designed dozens of productions for the Jungle Theater as resident designer and continues to freelance design for the Jungle. Memorable productions include; Jungle: Gertrude Stein and a Companion, The Swan, Journey’s End, A Life in the Theater, The Ice Fishing Play, Waiting for Godot, and The Diary of Anne Frank, Open Eye: Red Shoes, Once Upon a Winters Night, The Beldenville Troll, MnOpera: Manon Lescaut, UMN-TAD: Earthquakes in London, Argonautika

AWARDS & AFFILIATIONS:

In 2003 he was a co-recipient of an Emmy Award in Lighting Design for Twin Cities Public Television’s 2003 production of The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra performing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in Concert at The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts.

Bill is a proud member of IATSE, Local #13, Mpls/ St. Paul, MN.