Lighting Designer Natasha Katz | THEATER: All the Moving Parts

In this episode of “THEATER: All the Moving Parts,” on CUNY TV, host Patrick Pacheco welcomes master lighting designer and 6-time Tony Award winner Natasha Katz. Most recently, she created the lighting for “MJ, the Musical“ and “Suffs“. Having worked on more than sixty Broadway shows, Natasha Katz enlightens viewers on one of the least understood of all theatrical arts. Calling herself part sculptor and painter, she employs an immense palette of light and color to enhance the story-telling, frame the actors, and manipulate emotions. To capture the many facets of Michael Jackson, as played by Myles Frost in “MJ,” Katz extensively researched film, video, photography and other ephemera concerning the rock idol. Just as closely, she studied Lynn Nottage’s script and the concepts of director-choreographer Christopher Wheeldon for the show. She mined the films of Vincente Minnelli and Jacques Demy, as well as paintings of the masters to illuminate “An American in Paris,” for which she won the Tony Award. For “Long Day’s Journey into Night,” another Tony win, she had the privilege of lighting Jessica Lange, as Mary Tyrone. In this case, she says she went for “counterpoint“, showing off the luminous beauty of the woman rather than the ravaging effects of her drug addiction. Pacheco says, “Natasha’s perfectionism and expert knowledge of craft explains why she’s Broadway’s most sought-after lighting designer. I admired her description of a set as ‘a living, feeling thing that light changes all the time.’ Hence, she loves the adrenalin-charged challenges of an art form that allows millions of different options until the lightbulb in her head goes off.” “Theater: All the Moving Parts“ is a CUNY TV show, featuring in-depth interviews with top theater artists including playwright Theresa Rebeck, dramaturg Ken Cerniglia, intimacy director Claire Warden and choreographer Sergio Trujillo. Of Pacheco, Rebeck said, “I felt like I was being interviewed by someone who knows me better than I know myself.” Go to to see these and other episodes. Guest: Natasha Katz, Lighting Designer, Natasha Katz Design Tape date: 04/12/2022 First air date: 04/29/2022 On THEATER: All the Moving Parts, host Patrick Pacheco looks beyond the spotlight at the passionate and unheralded creative talents that are critical to the theatrical experience. From costumer designers to dramaturges and everything in between, Patrick looks at all the moving parts of a Broadway production. Watch more at: THEATER: All the Moving Parts playlist ​ Subscribe to the CUNY TV channel: ​ Follow CUNY TV: Facebook: ​ Twitter: ​ Instagram: ​ YouTube: ​ LinkedIn: Find more from CUNY TV at ​ THMP04008