Michael James Clark is the head of lighting and production media for HGO. During the company’s 2024-25 season, he serves as revival lighting designer for Cinderella and lighting designer for La bohème. In the 2023-24 season, he was lighting designer for Falstaff and The Big Swim and revival lighting designer for Parsifal. During the 2022-23 season, Clark was associate lighting designer for The Marriage of Figaro, Werther, and Tosca, and during the company’s 2021-22 season he created the lighting design for the world premiere production of The Snowy Day, and served as the assistant lighting designer for The Magic Flute and associate lighting designer for Carmen. He served as revival lighting designer for HGO’s production of Aida (2020) and designed lighting for mainstage and Miller Outdoor Theatre productions of La bohème (2018-19) and the world premiere of The Phoenix (2019). He lit the HGO world premieres of Some Light Emerges (2017), After the Storm (2016), and O Columbia (2015); mainstage productions of Otello (2014); Die Fledermaus, Aida, and Il trovatore (2013); La bohème, La traviata, and The Rape of Lucretia (2012); The Marriage of Figaro (2011); the world premiere of Cruzar la Cara de la Luna (2010); and numerous outdoor productions. Clark also has designed lighting for Teatro La Fenice, San Francisco Opera, the Canadian Opera Company, Stages Repertory Theatre, Theatre Under the Stars, Rice University, and the 2007 Prague Quadrennial. He holds a degree in lighting design from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
Lighting Designer:
RIGOLETTO 2008-09 (Miller Outdoor Theatre)
TOSCA 2009-10 (Miller Outdoor Theatre), 2015-16 (Miller Outdoor Theatre)
CRUZAR LA CARA DE LA LUNA 2010-11 (World premiere)
THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO 2010-11
LA TRAVIATA 2011-12, 2022-23 (Miller Outdoor Theatre)
THE RAPE OF LUCRETIA 2011-12
LA BOHÈME 2012-13 (Mainstage, Miller Outdoor Theatre, and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion), 2018-19 (Mainstage, Miller Outdoor Theatre, and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion)
IL TROVATORE 2012-13
AIDA 2013-14
DIE FLEDERMAUS 2013-14 (Mainstage and Miller Outdoor Theatre)
OTELLO 2014-15
HGO 60TH ANNIVERSARY GALA CONCERT 2014-15 (Co-Lighting Designer)
THE MAGIC FLUTE 2014-15 (Miller Outdoor Theatre and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion)
O COLUMBIA 2015-16 (World premiere, Revention Music Center)
AFTER THE STORM 2015-16 (World premiere, Cullen Theater and The Grand 1894 Opera House, Galveston)
THE ELIXIR OF LOVE 2016-17 (Miller Outdoor Theatre and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion)
SOME LIGHT EMERGES 2016-17 (World premiere, The Ballroom at Bayou Place)
ELEKTRA 2017-18
THE BARBER OF SEVILLE 2017-18 (Miller Outdoor Theatre and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion)
THE PHOENIX 2018-19 (World premiere)
GIVING VOICE 2019-20, 2021-22
AN EVENING WITH JONAS KAUFMANN 2021-22
THE SNOWY DAY 2021-22 (World premiere)
CELEBRATING CARLISLE FLOYD 2021-22
SUITE ESPAÑOLA 2021-22
ROMEO AND JULIET 2021-22 (Miller Outdoor Theatre)
ANOTHER CITY 2022-23 (World premiere, Ecclesia Houston)
FALSTAFF 2023-24
THE BIG SWIM 2023-24 (World premiere, Asia Society Texas)
Revival Lighting Designer / Lighting Realizer / Associate Lighting Designer:
THE ELIXIR OF LOVE 2009-10
THE QUEEN OF SPADES 2009-10
ARIADNE AUF NAXOS 2010-11
FIDELIO 2011-12
MARY STUART 2011-12
THE MAGIC FLUTE 2014-15
THE LITTLE PRINCE 2015-16
FAUST 2016-17
AIDA 2019-20
CARMEN 2021-22
THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO 2022-23
WERTHER 2022-23
TOSCA 2022-23
PARSIFAL 2023-24