In Episode 5, host Josafath Reynoso sits down with Dawn Chiang, lighting designer, project manager, mentor, and recipient of the USITT Distinguished Achievement Award in Lighting Design and Technology. From Broadway to the House of Dancing Water in Macau, Dawn’s career spans decades of design at every scale imaginable.

This conversation goes deep into what it actually means to design light: how it responds to performers in real time, how it comments on the text, and how it can transform a scene in ways even the designer doesn’t fully anticipate until the moment happens. Dawn also reflects on the mentors who shaped her path, from piano teachers and ballet instructors to Theron Musser and Jennifer Tipton, and on the work she does today with young and underserved artists through the TDF Wendy Wasserstein Project and the Behind the Scenes charity.

Full episode, shorts and highlights available on Youtube and Spotify

Timestamps.

• 00:00 – Introduction and career overview
• 03:45 – The aha moment backstage at Don Giovanni
• 06:12 – Piano, ballet, and the roots of a design sensibility
• 09:30 – Learning from Theron Musser and Jennifer Tipton
• 13:29 – Lighting in real time: speed, preparation, and instinct
• 14:53 – When light transforms the narrative
• 22:00 – Designing for the text, not the audience
• 26:00 – The light log assignment and advice for young designers