About

Artist Statement

I believe in magic.

I am a set designer and lighting designer. Both. Even when i am doing one or the other, both are in always in constant consideration.

I believe that theatre can create true magic. When all the design elements are perfectly in sync with the energy of performer on stage, everyone telling the story together.

Theatre is all about people. by people, for people. It must be experienced, in person, together in close proximity. Breathing, laughing, crying, feeling, having a shared experience with the other audience members all around us as well as with the actors.

I don’t believe that I have developed a style, if every play and director are different, why should every show look the same? I am there to fulfil the directors vision. while bringing the full extent of my experience, ability and energy to bear.

If I do have a style, it is a style of working. I keep things light and energetic, fun. creative and collaborative. Work can and should be joyful. Playful but also efficient and determined.

I look at every element from the perspective of the audience. Not just from the good and bad seats, but from where they first enter the house, it is when they first encounter the world of the play, it is the first impression of the world we are creating. their experience is everything.
Who are they? put yourself in their shoes. what are they hoping for? I have done a show with no actors, I do not believe you can do one without an audience.

I strive to do the best work I can, every day, on every show. i honestly feel like I am doing the best work I have ever done, and that I am just getting started!

Awards

2002 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Set Design – BREATH[e]
2001 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Lighting Design BOXHEAD 1999 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Lighting Design EASY LENNY LAZMON and the GREAT WESTERN ASCENSION

1992 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Design JUMP

2017 Dora Mavor Moore Nomination Outstanding Lighting Design PASSING STRANGE

2016 Dora Mavor Moore Nomination Outstanding Lighting Design BOTTICELLI IN THE FIRE / SUNDAY IN SODOM

2006 Siminovitch Prize in Theatre Nomination
2006 Dora Mavor Moore Nomination Outstanding Set Design BLOOD.CLAAT
2005 Dora Mavor Moore Nomination Outstanding Set Design I KNOW AND FEEL THAT FATE IS HARSH BUT I AM SO LOATH TO ACCEPT THIS

2004 Dora Mavor Moore Nomination Outstanding Lighting Design FUSION

2003 Siminovitch Prize in Theatre Nomination
2003 Dora Mavor Moore Nomination Outstanding Set Design CRIMES
2002 K.M. Hunter Award Nomination
2002 Dora Mavor Moore Nomination Outstanding Set Design THIS HOTEL
2002 Dora Mavor Moore Nomination Outstanding Lighting Design THE WALLS

OF AFRICA
2002 Dora Mavor Moore Nomination Outstanding Set Design THE WALLS OF AFRICA
2002 Dora Mavor Moore Nomination Outstanding Lighting Design BREATH[e] –
2001 Dora Mavor Moore Nomination Outstanding Set Design SCIENCE FICTION
2001 Dora Mavor Moore Nomination Outstanding Lighting Design THE PSYCHOANALYSIS OF ADAM R. TZADDIK
2001 Dora Mavor Moore Nomination Outstanding Lighting Design THE BEWITCHING OF MAX GUNTER

2000 Dora Mavor Moore Nomination Outstanding Set Design THE EMOTIONALISTS

2000 Dora Mavor Moore Nomination Outstanding set Design STAY

1999 Dora Mavor Moore Nomination Outstanding Lighting Design LENZ
1998 Dora Mavor Moore Nomination Outstanding Lighting Design ARTAUD AND HIS DOUBLES PART 2: BLOODSPURT

1997 Dora Mavor Moore Nomination Outstanding Lighting Design ARTAUD AND HIS DOUBLES: PRELUDE – CAN’T –

1996 Pauline Mc Gibbon Award Nomination
1996 Dora Mavor Moore Nomination Outstanding Set Design GULAG
1995 Dora Mavor Moore Nomination Outstanding Set Design THE AMERICA PLAY
1995 Dora Mavor Moore Nomination Outstanding Lighting Design DAS RHINEGOLDT –

1994 Dora Mavor Moore Nomination Outstanding Set Design NEVER SWIM ALONE
1994 Dora Mavor Moore Nomination Outstanding Set Design THE LAST SUPPER
1994 Dora Mavor Moore Nomination Outstanding Set Design PLAY MURDER
1993 Dora Mavor Moore Nomination Outstanding Set Design AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE STRANGE CASE OF THE WILDBOY

1992 Dora Mavor Moore Nomination Outstanding Set Design SUZIE GOO, PRIVATE SECRETARY

1991 Dora Mavor Moore Nomination Outstanding Set Design NEVER SWIM ALONE

Biography

Since 1987 Steve has designed award winning sets and lighting for more than 500 productions of theatre, dance and performance art.

His work has run the gamut, Starting with his design debut at the the Poor Alex with See Bob Run [also Daniel Macivor’s Toronto Debut] he has done everything from family Christmas pantos to radical eastern European avant garde. Working in Large venues to Storefronts, from Off Broadway to The woman’s washroom at Buddies in Bad times. From Tokyo to St Petersburg to Port Dover.

His work has toured extensively and has been seen all across Canada, the United States, the UK, Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, Australia, and Asia. 25 countries so far!

Steve’s work in theatre has mainly been focused on new and original plays; he has designed the world premieres of literally hundreds of shows, many of which have gone on to further acclaim. These include: 2 Pianos 4 Hands, Never Swim Alone, The Drowsy Chaperone, Time After Time: The Chet Baker Project, The Ballad of Stompin’ Tom, Stag and Doe, bloodclaat, Revolutions in Therapy, 7 Important Things, and The Drawer Boy.

Other productions include:

Of Marriage and Men [Shaw Festival ], Long Days Journey Into Night [Stratford festival] Heisenburg [Canadian Stage Company], 1979 [GCTC / Shaw Festival],1837 The Farmers Revolt [Shaw Festival],The Physicists [Stratford Festival], Heisenburg [Canadian Stage], Strange [Obsidian Theatre/ Acting Upstage], Botticelli in the fire/Sunday in Sodom [Canadian Stage Company],The Pigeon King [Blyth Festival], The Syringa Tree [The Grand, London], Stag and Doe [Neptune], Innocence Lost [Blyth Festival], Step Right Up! [Theatre Orangeville], In The Wings [Theatre Passe Muraille], Ed’s Garage [MTC], A Midsummer Nights Dream [The Dream in High Park] Poor Super Man [Canadian Stage], The Drowning Girls [Thousand Islands Playhouse], The Real McCoy [Factory Theatre], Grounded [Lighthouse Festival], Rope Enough [Buddies in Bad Times]

Steve’s work in dance includes collaborations with choreographers and companies such as Christopher House, Peter Chin, Malgorzata Nowacka, Peggy Baker, Kate Alton, Toronto Dance Theatre, DNA Theatre, The Chimera Project, Red Sky Performance, and The Guangdong Modern Dance Company of China.

Steve’s design work in the event world includes an installation for the site design for the 2014 Luminato Festival Hub and MOCCA Courtyard venues and Thom Sokolvski’s massive “Drive-thru Funhouse” for Nuit Blanche 2012. He was also responsible for the event design, and creation and direction of performances for THE SHADOW BALL Halloween Galas at the Art Gallery of Ontario over a period of 5 years.

Steve has conceived and directed several of his own shows, including the award winning performer-less BREATH[e], which played to sold-out houses in two Toronto runs, as well as touring to London England at the ICA, and Edinburgh at the Traverse Theatre.

Steve has received several awards including four Dora Mavor Awards for his set and lighting designs. He has also been nominated for several of Canada’s most prestigious awards including the Siminovitch Prize in Theatre, the Pauline Mc Gibbon Award, the K.M. Hunter Award, and thirty one Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations.

Steve now resides beside the Noisy River, just outside of Creemore, where he lives in a 250 year old converted barn with his wife Jenn and his greatest designs yet, his sons Griffin and Corben.

Resume

Selected Theatre Credits

2 Pianos 4 Hands [Talking Fingers / Marquis Entertainment] Production Design
Long Days Journey into Night [Stratford Festival] Lighting Design
Of Marriage and Men [Shaw Festival] Set and Lighting Design
1837 The Farmers Revolt [Shaw Festival] Lighting Design
1979 [GCTC, Shaw Festival] Set, Lighting and Projection Design
Passing Strange [Obsidian Theatre / The Opera House] Set and Lighting Design

The Physicists [Stratford Festival] Lighting Design
The Pigeon King [Blyth Festival] Set and Lighting Design
Heisenberg [Canadian Stage] Set, Lighting and Projection Design
Botticelli In The Fire / Sunday in Sodom [Canadian Stage] Lighting Design

7 Important Things [Sto-Union] Lighting Design

Butcher [Theatre Kinston] Set and Lighting Design
The Syringa Tree [The Grand, London ON] Lighting Design
Da Kink In Her Hair [Hackney Empire, London England] Lighting Design
The Ballad of Stompin’ Tom [Blyth Festival / Summerside PEI] Set Design
Innocence Lost – [Blyth Festival] Set, lighting and Projection Design
Step Right Up! [Theatre Orangeville] Set and Lighting Design
The Drawer Boy [Theatre Passe Muraille] original Lighting Design / Touring set and lighting design
In The Wings [Theatre Passe Muraille] Set and Lighting Design
Never Swim Alone [Platform 9, Theatre Passe Muraille] Set and Lighting Design
Time After Time: The Chet Baker Project [Crows Theatre] Set and lighting Design
The Real McCoy [Factory Theatre / GCTC] Set and Lighting Design
The Motherfucker With The Hat [Coal Mine Theatre] Set and Lighting Design
The Winters Tale [Groundlings Theatre] Set and Lighting Design
A Midsummer Nights Dream [The Dream in High Park]
Romeo and Juliet [The Dream in High Park] Set Design
The Tempest [Festival of Classics] Set and Lighting Design
The Drowsy Chaperone [Thousand Islands Playhouse] Set and Lighting Design
The Drowning Girls [Thousand Islands Playhouse] Set and Lighting Design
Grounded [Lighthouse Festival] Set Design
Rope Enough [Buddies in Bad Times] Set and Lighting Design
Jata Mu Hing Rahula [DNA Theatre / Rakvere Theatre] Set and Lighting Design
BREATH[e] [Theatre 2.0, The Theatre Centre Toronto / ICA London, England / Traverse Edinburgh] Direction, Set and Lighting Design

Selected Dance Credits

Shades [Dance Umbrella] Set and Lighting Design

Echo [Toronto Dance Theatre] Lighting Design
Time Code Break [TDT / Canada Dance Festival, Ottawa] Set and Lighting Design
The Great Mountain [Red Sky / YPT / NAC Ottawa] Lighting Design

Blood [The Chimera Project/ Danceworks] Lighting Design
Strings Attached [Tiger Princess Productions] Set Design
Sly Verb [TDT / The Joyce NYC] Lighting Design
Dancing Americas [Red Sky / Canada Dance Festival, Ottawa] Lighting Design
I Know and Feel that Fate is Harsh But I am So Loathe to Accept This [DNA Theatre] Set Design

Gaungdong Modern Dance of China [NAC / Holland Dance Festival, The Hague] Lighting Design

Pierrot Lunaire & Transfigured Night [Opera de Lyon (Lyon, France) / Autumn Leaf Performance] Lighting Design
Everything Explodes [Oval House, London England]

Selected Event Credits

2014 LUMINATO HUB and COURTYARD Venue Design
2012 Nuit Blanche DRIVE THRU FUNHOUSE Set and Lighting Design
EARTH RANGERS Live Animal Show [Ontario Place] Technical Direction, Venue, Set and Lighting Design
2003 – 2007 SHADOWBALL GALA Black tie halloween fundraiser [The Art Gallery of Ontario] Concept, Direction, Set and Lighting Design

Related Experience

Vice president Coal Mine Theatre
Resident Designer Theatre Passe Muraille 1999-2004
Theatre Design Consultant Buddies in Bad Times, 12 Alexander St. renovation Theatre Design Consultant The Cameron Public House back room Theatre

Assistant Director Le Polygraphe, Theatre Repere, Robert Lepage director