By Michela Arlia
NYU Tisch School of the Arts officially announced on Feb. 1 that Professor Justin Townsend will be its incoming Chair of Design for Stage and Film. Townsend, who was a professor at Brooklyn College for seven years, is set to join as Tisch’s Chair in August 2022 but has since joined NYU’s faculty.
Townsend recently became a Tony Award winner in 2021 for his lighting design in Broadway’s “Moulin Rouge! The Musical.” He taught a number of technical theater courses in the Theater Department at BC, including Introduction to Lighting Design and Lighting Techniques.
Part of Townsend’s duties as a lighting designer is to help create the world of the show through various light forms. This includes rendering or designing sketches of all lights that need to be used, and even designing special structures for lights in some shows. He often communicates with the director and other designers, including set and sound, to develop the show from the very first days of concept through the first performance.
As mentioned in the official announcement by NYU, Townsend will take on the role from his predecessor, renowned costume designer Susan Hilferty, who headed the program for over 20 years.
“We are in a critical and thrilling moment for design education. Designers are uniquely suited to meet moments of cultural change; we think about story, audience experience, character arc, world building, and evoking an audience’s radical imagination,” Townsend said in the announcement. “Technologies and aesthetics we can’t yet imagine are coming, and at NYU Tisch, a designer can link their art and growing craft with these emergent forms.”
His 25-year career in lighting and set design also includes productions of “Jagged Little Pill,” “American Psycho,” “Present Laughter,” “Fool For Love,” “The Humans,” “Mr. Burns, a Post Electric Play,” and many more.
Having taken on the offer before the semester’s start, Townsend says he is hopeful to carry on the program’s legacy and expand the craft of design for theater and film by including more voices from the creative process to the roster of design professionals in the industry.
“There is so much to learn in a new leadership role and I’m grateful to be able to listen and hear from the faculty, students, staff, and alumni about their thoughts and dreams for what is next in education,” Townsend wrote in an email to the Vanguard.
With the good news of Townsend’s move to NYU Tisch comes bad news for BC. Townsend will no longer be teaching classes with the Department of Theater.
“I’m very sad that this exciting opportunity means that I will not be continuing my teaching with Brooklyn College,” said Townsend. “It has been a great honor to work here and I’m grateful for my experience.”