Donald Holder
Tuesday, November 13, 2018 at 12:15pm
Hamman Hall Theatre 
Reception

Donald Holder  has worked extensively in Theatre, Opera, Dance, Architectural and Television lighting in the US and abroad for almost 30  years.  He has designed over 50 Broadway productions and has been nominated for thirteen Tony awards, winning the Tony for Best Lighting Design for ‘The Lion King’ in 1998, and for the 2008 revival of ‘South Pacific’.  Recent and upcoming Broadway productions include: ‘Tootsie’ ‘Anastasia’, ‘Oslo’, ‘Straight White Men’, ‘Kiss Me Kate’, ‘Fiddler On The Roof’, ‘The King and I’, ‘On The Twentieth Century’ ,’Golden Boy’, ‘You Can’t Take It With You’, ‘Spiderman Turn Off The Dark’, ‘Bullets Over Broadway’ , ‘The Bridges Of Madison County, ‘Come Fly Away’ , ‘Ragtime’,  ‘Movin Out’ and many others.  Projects at the NY Metropolitan Opera include  ‘Samson et Delilah’, ‘Otello’, ‘The Magic Flute’ (directed by Julie Taymor), ‘Two Boys’ and the upcoming ‘Porgy and Bess’ in 2019. He has worked at most of the nation’s leading resident theatres, and has designed over 100 Off-Broadway productions.  His television/film work includes the theatrical lighting for seasons one and two of ‘Smash’ (NBC- Dreamworks) and ‘Oceans 8’ (Warner Brothers Pictures). 

Mr. Holder is currently an Associate Professor and Head of the Lighting Design program at Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts. 

He is a volunteer fireman and lieutenant for the Chemical Engine Company in his community of Croton on Hudson, NY. Mr. Holder is a graduate of the University of Maine and the Yale School of Drama, and is the recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Arts degree from Muhlenberg College. 

The Arts in the Humanities Lecture Series is generously supported by the Jerome Segal Endowment in the Department of Visual and Dramatic Arts as well as the Dean of the School of Humanities. 

The Department of Visual and Dramatic Arts supports the Arts in the Humanities Lecture Series that brings national and international artists and scholars to give talks on their work and research.  The lectures are during the academic year, usually once in the fall and once in the spring.  Speakers for the next academic year will be announced in the fall.