Kenneth Posner is an American lighting designer, working on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in American regional theatre. His most notable designs include the musicals Wicked and Hairspray, two highly regarded musicals of the early 21st century. In 2007, he won the Tony Award for Best Lighting Design in a Play for his work on The Coast of Utopia (Part 2 - Shipwreck).
Career and education He has been nominated for the Tony Award for Best Lighting Design 11 times and won once for The Coast of Utopia (Part 2 - Shipwreck) in 2011. His nominations have included nods for Merchant of Venice (2011), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (2005), Wicked (2004), Hairspray (2003), and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (2001). He has also been nominated 10 times for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design and received an Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Lighting in 2003. In 2013, Posner achieved a near-sweep of the nominations for the Tony Award for Best Lighting Design of a Musical, garnering nods in three of the four eligible slots (for Kinky Boots, Pippin, and Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella), though he lost to Matilda The Musical.
Posner was educated at SUNY Purchase, where Brian MacDevitt also attended. He is a 1983 graduate of Eastchester High School in Eastchester, New York. He also attended Boston University College of Fine Arts.
Personal life He is currently a resident of Verona, New Jersey and was born in 1966.KENNETH POSNER , Playbill. Accessed January 11, 2008. "He resides in Verona, New Jersey, with his wife Michelle and their three children."
Productions
Broadway
The Rose Tattoo – 1995 The Father – 1996 Getting Away With Murder – 1996 The Rehearsal – 1996 The Last Night of Ballyhoo – 1997 The Little Foxes – 1997 A View From the Bridge – 1997 Side Man – 1998 Little Me – 1998 You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown – 1999 The Lion in Winter – 1999 Swing! – 1999 Uncle Vanya – 2000 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – 2001 The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? – 2002 The Smell of the Kill – 2002 The Man Who Had All the Luck – 2002 Hairspray – 2002 Imaginary Friends – 2002 Wicked – 2003 Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All – 2003 The Frogs – 2004 Little Women – 2005 Dirty Rotten Scoundrels – 2005 Glengarry Glen Ross – 2005 The Odd Couple – 2005 Lestat – 2005 The Coast of Utopia (Part 2 - Shipwreck) – 2006 The Pirate Queen – 2007 Legally Blonde – 2007 Grease – 2007 The Homecoming – 2007 9 to 5 – 2009 The Royal Family – 2009 The Miracle Worker – 2010 Lend Me a Tenor – 2010 Mrs. Warren's Profession – 2010 A Life in the Theatre – 2010 The Merchant of Venice – 2010 Elling – 2010 Catch Me if You Can – 2010 Relatively Speaking – 2011 Other Desert Cities – 2011 Gore Vidal's The Best Man – 2012 The Columnist – 2012 Harvey – 2012 Rogers + Hammerstein's Cinderella – 2013 Kinky Boots – 2013 Pippin – 2013 If/Then – 2014 Disgraced – 2014 Finding Neverland – 2015 On Your Feet! – 2015 Tuck Everlasting – 2016 War Paint – 2017 John Lithgow: Stories by Heart – 2018 Mean Girls – 2018 Pretty Woman: The Musical – 2018 Beetlejuice – 2019 Take Me Out – 2021
Touring
Swing! (2000-2001) Hairspray (2003-2006) Wicked Tours Emerald City Tour (2005-2015) Chicago Tour (2005-2009) Los Angeles Tour (2007-2009) San Francisco Tour (2009-2010) Munchkinland Tour (2009–present) Little Women (2005-2006) Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (2006-2007) Grease (2008-2010) Kinky Boots (2014-2017) Pippin (2014-2016) Rogers + Hammerstein's Cinderella (2014-2016) If/Then (2015-2016) Finding Neverland (2016-2018) On Your Feet! (2017-2019) Mean Girls (2019–present) Pretty Woman: The Musical (upcoming)
West End
Hairspray – 2007 Legally Blonde – 2010 Kinky Boots – 2015 On Your Feet! – 2019 Wicked – 2021 Pretty Woman: The Musical – 2021 BeetleJuice The Musical - 2026 - Present
Off-Broadway
Emerald City – 1988 Come As You Are – 1990 Machinal – 1990 Walking the Dead – 1991 Ruthless! – 1992 Spike Heels – 1992 Flaubert's Latest – 1992 The Madame MacAdam Traveling Theatre – 1992 On the Bum – 1992 On the Open Road – 1993 Sophistry – 1993 Time on Fire – 1993 Marisol (play) – 1993 Johnny Pye and the Fool-Killer – 1993 The Swan – 1994 Suburbia – 1994 A Cheever Evening – 1994 The Scarlett Letter – 1994 The Rose Tattoo – 1995 The Radical Mystique – 1995 Endgame – 1995 Wake Up, I'm Fat– 1995 Cowgirls – 1996 The Blues Are Running – 1996 Nine Armenians – 1996 Dealer's Choice – 1997 Collected Stories – 1997 As Bees In Honey Drown – 1997 Misalliance – 1997 Pride's Crossing – 1997 Side Man – 1998 Labor Day – 1998 2.5 Minute Ride – 1999 That Championship Season – 1999 The Author's Voice & Imagining Brad – 1999 Give Me Your Answer, Do! – 1999 The Play About the Baby – 2000 The Wild Party – 2000 The Altruists – 2000 The Waverly Gallery – 2000 The Winter's Tale – 2000 The Credeaux Canvas – 2001 Tick, Tick... Boom! – 2001 Music from a Sparkling Planet – 2001 Hobson's Choice – 2002 Monster – 2002 F-ing A – 2003 A Little Night Music – 2003 Valhalla – 2004 Can-Can – 2004 Entertaining Mr. Sloane – 2006 Satellites – 2006 Parlour Song – 2008 The New Century – 2008 Good Boys and True – 2008 The Savannah Disputation – 2008 The Toxic Avenger – 2009 Our House – 2009 The Understudy – 2009 Mr. and Mrs. Fitch – 2010 Me, Myself & I – 2010 Other Desert Cities – 2011 Death Takes a Holiday – 2011 If I Forget – 2017 A Parallelogram – 2017 Amy and the Orphans – 2018 Long Lost – 2019 The Perplexed – 2020
Awards and nominations
Tony Awards YearCategoryWorkResult2001Best Lighting DesignThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer2003Hairspray2004Wicked2005Best Lighting Design in a MusicalDirty Rotten Scoundrels2007Best Lighting Design in a PlayThe Coast Of Utopia (Part 2 - Shipwreck)2011The Merchant of Venice2012Other Desert Cities2013Best Lighting Design in a MusicalKinky BootsRogers and Hammerstein's CinderellaPippin2019Beetlejuice
Drama Desk Awards YearCategoryWorkResult1991Outstanding Lighting DesignMachinal1998Pride's CrossingA View From the Bridge2000The Wild Party2001The Adventures of Tom Sawyer2002Monster2004Wicked2007The Coast Of Utopia (Part 2 - Shipwreck)20099 to 52012Death Takes a Holiday2013Pippin
Obie Award YearCategoryWorkResult2003Sustained Excellence in Lighting
References
External links