university of florida

STAN KAYE
THEATRE AND DANCE Associate Professor

T: 352-273-0510
F: 352-392-5114
E: stankaye@ufl.edu
Office Address:
207 McGuire Pavilion, P.O. Box 115900
Gainesville, Fl 32611-5900

STAN KAYE heads the graduate Lighting Design program at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Professor Kaye’s background stretches over twenty-five 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 recently joined Theater Design Inc, a New York based theater consulting firm working worldwide.

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).

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 lighitng 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.

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 artiist 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 elementry 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.

Professor Kayes interst in Architectural Lighting began concurrently with his stage lighting work. In the past ten years this interest has expanded. In Sept. of 2007 he was contracted to design exterior lighitng for Williams Park in downtown St.Petersburg Florida, the 180,000 square foot park will be desinged in non traditional ways using the most sustainable technology avaliable,

Recent articles by Professor Kaye can be found at:

On the web:
Live Design Article on Training Programs 2007
Teaching with WYSIWYG by Prof, Kaye 2002

School of Theatre and Dance

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