Biography
STAN KAYE heads the graduate Lighting Design program at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Professor Kaye’s background stretches over forty years of experience in both academia and the lighting industry. The relationship between a strong commitment to teaching and ongoing activity in the profession is a cornerstone of his teaching style. Born in Brooklyn, his informal training in lighting design was the result of years of professional free-lance exposure to the finest practitioners of stage lighting in New York City. He has held positions and worked on projects at Production Arts Lighting (now PRG), The Joyce Theatre, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, Lincoln Center, The Acting Company, Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, and Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts, the Freed Center for the Performing Arts, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery where he was a research fellow for 2015-16. In Fall 2022 Kaye wlll be on sabbatical workng at the Smithsonian again and learning from LD Jeff Razitz in California who is a renowned expert on lighting live events for TV broadcast.
He holds the following degrees: The AA from Kingsborough Community College (City University of New York), the BFA from Brooklyn College, (CUNY) and the MFA from the University of Hawaii, Manoa. Since 1989 he has taught at Bucknell University, Northeastern University, and The University of Nebraska. In the Fall of 1999 he joined the faculty of the University of Florida. Professor Kaye is a member of United Scenic Artists-829, the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) and the Illuminating Engineers Society of North America (IESNA) and the Professional Lighting Designers Association (PLD) based in Europe.
His design credits include over 150 productions including dramas, musicals, industrials, architecture, and special events in both professional and academic domains. He has won numerous awards for his design work over the last 39 years, including a Po’o-kela award (the Hawaiian Tony) and several KC-ACTF awards. In Fall of 2015 while on research sabbatical he worked with the Smithsonian’s lighting design department to relight David Hockney's groundbreaking piece Snails Space: Painting as Performance with Vari-lites the first work of art illuminated with automated color changing lighting. Kaye and Scott Rosenfeld engaged in a yearlong study of the art and designed a LED based system that replaced the 20 year old Varilite system. The Smithsonian choose to fund the redesign and is now in operation at American Art in Washington DC. See link: http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=71863Links to an external site. Kaye also assisted Rosenfeld on the lighting of the opening show at the Renwick Gallery titled Wonder in Fall 2015. See Link: https://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/online/wonder/Links to an external site..
Many of Kaye's students have a strong history at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, opn and off Braodway, recent students have worked as Assistant LD's and as LD's on Broadway shows. Kaye set up and secured a formal apprenticeship program at the Asolo (LORT) regional theatre in Sarasota. At the Asolo students work side by side with professional freelance designers and build relationships that bridge them into the professional theatre in NYC and other major markets around the nation. Florida students dominate at the Lighting Dimensions International conference and trade show each year, in fact our alumni have run the internship program there making direct connections to the industry along with the most active design and technology professionals in the entertainment industry. Recently Kay organized a internshio iwth the Lighting Design Group.
Back in 2002 Professor Kaye, in partnership with Professor Martin Gold (School of Architecture), received a grant from the Nuckolls Fund for Lighting Education to create a curriculum that synthesizes theatrical and architectural lighting design. Recent guests in this special program have included James Turrell, Anne Millitello, Paul Gallo and Heather Carson among others. This Bi-annuall team-taught class is offered to graduate theatrical lighting designers and graduate architecture students in alternating years.
He writes for industry trade publications and is often quoted in articles related to lighting design education. Including Live Design, LD & A. He works as a guest artist nationally and consults.
Professor Kaye is President and founder of SKDesign and Consulting LLC, a theatre design consultancy working in the Southeast United States.
Professor Kaye founded the international podcast known as LIGHT TALK with the Lumern Brothers with his colleagues David Jacques (UC Long Beach) and Steve Woods (Southern Methodist University) Ligh Talk began in 2017 and has been downloaded over 150,000 times across 120 foreign nations. The podcast has be called the "new voice of the industry" Light Talk is published weekly and is self produced. LIGHT TALK is non-profit endeveour and curenlty does not take any comerical sponsors. Currently there are over 150 episodes and may be found on iTunes, Googleplay and Sticher and Iheart radio. LIGHT TALK also interviews leaders in the profession in a informal and engaging way. Over 12 interviews are schedueled for 2019-20 The podcast maintians a website at www.lightalk.orgLinks to an external site..
In Summer 2018 Kaye was a Keynote speaker at Electronic Theatre Controls International Workshop in Madison Wisconsin where he and the Lumen Brothers interviewed CEO and founder of ETC Fred Foster. Kaye and the Lumen Brothers gave a master class in lighting design to participants from over 40 countries. LIGHT TALK continues to attract listeners, with a facebook group with over 1,200 members worldwide who pose questions and topics for upcoming shows. Some lighting educators around the world include the Light Talk podcast as required listening for their students. The show is entertaining and educational.
His consultancy SKDesign and Consulting LLC recenlty completed the the new Furman Center for the Arts at the University of Tampa, including the new recital hall, small black box, and reception stage in the new gallery space. For the the Sarastoa Jewish Federation with https://www.fleischmangarcia.com/SKD is designing facade lighitng, custom remote controlled track lighitng for the new ballroom. Three large projects are currently underway in the early phases: ansd renmovation of the Martin Theatre in Panama Cith Florida, Howard Middle School for the perforiming arts in Orlando Floirda and Winter Park Hight School theatre in Winter Park Florida. Porces work can be seen here:
In 2020 Professor Kaye was awarded the undergraduate mentor of the year award from the University Regional Theatre Association (URTA) in Chicago. In that same year, Kaye was presented with the distinguished alumni award from Brooklyn College of the city university of New York.
In Fall 2022 Kaye is on a research sabbatical. Once again at the Smithsonian where he is researching and learning about the worlds largest wirelessly controlled museum lighting system. He will also travel to California to learn from several of the nations top designers for lighting live performance in the broadcast environment.
In November he will host and participate in a 90-minute webinar hosted by the Illuminating Engineers Society of North America on how to reform lighting education at the University level to give students more dynamic and sustainable careers. The webinar can be found here.
Professor Kaye and two MFA graduate students, and two BFA students on a 3D digital reconstruction project for legendary lighitng designer Bevery Emmons of her 1996 Broadway production of The Heiress for the perfromoinmg arts legacy project.