ABOUT

I am a lighting designer based in Brooklyn. My work has been presented in New York City, regionally across the U.S, and now in the U.K.

I often joke that it may be more accurate to call me a ‘darkness designer.’ My contributions bloom from design dramaturgy, space, and surprise. I especially enjoy developing new works and reigniting classics. I hope my designs activate elemental layers in stories, heightening our listening and empathy. I’m fascinated by the uncanny and delight in time as a medium. I like to challenge our definitions of spectacle by celebrating vivid design that charges us with feeling and curiosity first before striving to please the camera. Often the camera cannot capture my work. I prioritize kindness and fun in every process.

I’m honored to have worked on many celebrated productions over the past 15 years, clarifying long creative relationships and sparking new ones. This includes various world premieres with playwright Will Arbery. The design of Heroes of the Fourth Turning (2019) was recognized with multiple New York awards, where some reviews called the design “rich with portent and glinting significance” and “wonderfully dark… [where] the light only makes the shadows thicken… naturalism that’s also something more.” In 2022, a surprise joint review of Arbery’s Corsicana, and Brian Watkin’s Epiphany, focused directly on the impact of the design, remarking, “Byrd’s lighting exerting a strong but delicate harmonic influence, like that of the double-bass in an orchestra, made the pieces cohere for me, forming a suite on the themes of the terror of love and the agonies of belief.”

In 2021, I made my West End debut designing a new, in-the-round revival of the classic musical CABARET, which garnered an Olivier nomination! In 2024 I will be making my Broadway debuts with CABARET and a new An Enemy of the People.

I am a member of USA-829 and support union labor and freelancer rights. In the industry pause created by the pandemic, I could dedicate more time toward food justice, arts activism in pay equity, and anti-racist listening spaces.

Click over to the news / press page for upcoming projects, highlights, and links to features that begin to discuss my design thinking. I would love to expand my creative collaborations beyond the theatrical bubble. Don’t hesitate, say hello!