Maximo Grano De Oro
I am a New Jersey-born, Chicago-based Latino-American freelance lighting designer with experience in theater, opera, dance, and music. I recently received my M.F.A in Stage Design from Northwestern University. I received my B.F.A. in Theater Design from Rutgers Mason Gross, where I spent a semester abroad studying design at Shakespeare's Globe in London.
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I am first and foremost a storyteller and world builder. I work as a lighting designer collaboratively with teams of other artists towards the goal of creating a collective work in service of the audience. The medium I have chosen allows the spectator the space to wander into another world for a short period of time. Sometimes it serves to distract, sometimes to heal, and sometimes to hold up a mirror to the self, always through the lens of empathy. The work we do has the power to affect change on a personal and community level as long as we reach out to people with empathy. It is my responsibility as an artist to do so however I can through each story I tell.
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As an educator, I believe in constantly supporting the next generation of artists and sharing knowledge and experience in the interest of always moving our art form forward.
