CFA Faculty Biography

Stan Kaye
School of Theater + Dance
Professor
Specialization: Lighting Design

T: (352) 273-0510
F: (352) 392-5114
E: stankaye@ufl.edu

Address:
207 McGuire Pavilion, P.O. Box 115900
Gainesville, Fl 32611-5900

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STAN KAYE heads the graduate Lighting Design program at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Professor Kaye’s background stretches over thirty 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, to name a few.

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 (PLDA) 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 20 years, including a Po’o-kela award (the Hawaiian Tony) and several KC-ACTF awards, most recently in 2007 for King of Hearts as a guest designer at Kennesaw State University in Georgia.  In Fall 2006 along with the McMillian Group he designed museum exhibition lighting for the "Cradle of Christianity" exhibit for the Israel Museum US tour to the Museum of Art in Ft. Lauderdale.  Lighting for priceless artifacts including a portion of the "Dead Sea Scrolls" were a highlight. Recently a strong alliance has been formed with Luxam Inc. a specialty fiber optic lighting company working internationally in many of the worlds most respected museums.  Kaye is an internationally recognized lighting expert and in the last year has worked with Luxam in Valencia Spain at the Museo of Historia de Valencia, the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford University in the UK and at the Library of Congress in Washington DC.   In addition to theatrical training Kaye's students are being trained in the emerging field of museum specialty lighting (specifically custom fiber optics) in which Luxam is the world leader.  
Students are connected directly to Luxam and have completed projects in 2009 in China, England and Luxembourg.

Kaye will be working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York next year on the new Islamic collection as a lighting expert.

 Kaye's students have a strong history at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, recent students have worked as Head electrician and Assistant LD's and as ALD's on Broadway shows. Others have secured design positions at the Asolo theatre in Sarasota, and the American Dance Festival.  Florida students dominate at the Lighting Dimensions International conference and Trade show each year, and in fact our Alumni run the internship program there making direct connections to the industry and the most active design and technology professionals in the entertainment industry.


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.

He writes for industry trade publications and is often quoted in articles related to lighting design education. He works a guest artist nationally and consults.  In May 2007 the Merryman Center for Performing Arts in Kearney Nebraska opened its doors to a full touring schedule.  This historic, 5.2 million dollar project is the first regional performing arts venue housed within an elementary magnet school.  Professor Kaye is the theatre consultant on this project which began in 1998. His primary creative/research interests include the use of automated lighting technology in traditional theatre and dance forms. The lighting program at UF boasts the use of high technology, balanced by artistic integrity. 

You can view Professor Kaye’s personal website at:

web.me.com/stankaye

 

 



 
UF

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