Curriculum Vitae

Curriculum Vitae

CURRICULUM VITAE

June 1, 2022

Matt Kizer

Matt Kizer Design LLC
+1(603)236-2638
www.scenicandlighting.com
mkizer@scenicandlighting.com

Professor of Theatre Design and Technology
Plymouth State University  
+1(603)535-2385

SUMMARY: Matt Kizer has worked in higher education for thirty years.  He has worked professionally in the theatre industry for over thirty-six years.   Kizer has overseen Theatre Design and Technology at Plymouth State University since 1996. 

Kizer has designed scenery, lighting, and projections for national tours, theatres, workshops, and universities in the U.S.A and internationally, including Italy, Taiwan, D.C., Cyprus, New York, and Germany.   These total over 300 productions.  He maintains online resources that include virtual labs, videos, and articles that are used by thousands of students and institutions around the world daily.  He serves as webmaster and designer for a variety of New York-based websites for theatre resources and Broadway sales.  He is a member of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) and the International Organization of Scenographers, Theatre Architects, and Technicians (OISTAT).

Kizer has served in leadership positions on behalf of the university and the greater community.  These include serving as chair of the Department of Music, Theatre, & Dance at Plymouth State University with over thirty-five faculty in wide-ranging disciplines.  His greater role was as transformational leader for an academic unit of seven departments (the Arts & Technologies Cluster), including: English; Communications; Art; Philosophy; Computer Science; Integrated Arts; plus, the department of Music, Theatre, & Dance.   He also presided over a large non-profit arts organization with a board of fourteen trustees that served institutions and communities across the state of New Hampshire.

EDUCATION:

 

1995

M.F.A.

The Ohio State University.   Primary studies in Design for Performing Arts.

1992

B.A.

Purdue University.   Primary studies in Theatre Arts emphasizing design & technology.

 

UNIVERSITY EMPLOYMENT:

 

 

2012 – Present

Professor, Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance, Plymouth State University.

 

2001 – 2012

Associate Professor, Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance, Plymouth State University.

 

1996 – 2001  

Assistant Professor, Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance, Plymouth State University.

 

1996

Visiting Professor, Randolph Macon Woman’s College, Department of Theatre.

 

1992-1995  

Teaching Associate, The Ohio State University, Department of Theatre.

 

OTHER EMPLOYMENT & PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY:

 

2014 – Present

Matt Kizer Design LLC.  Rental projection media and theatre educational tools.
ֽ֩• Regular rental of proprietary scenic projection media to theatres and schools
• A suite of virtual lighting labs for educational purposes
• Proprietary subscription-based resources for groups including schools.
   – Cue Builder is a virtual light multichannel programmable light board
   – Directing Lab is a virtual acting space with movable set props and poseable figures
   – The Improv Machine is an online tool for acting exercises either live or online
   – The Production Machine is a gamified resource for conceptualizing design solutions
• Over fifty articles and videos on various aspects of projection design, lighting design,
    and scenery for the performing arts.

 

 

 

2012 – Present

Webmaster for All Tickets Inc in New York, NY.  This includes two Broadway Theatre group ticketing sites, plus three open-education resource sites:  AllTicketsInc.com, BroadwayTix.com, BroadwayIQ.com, BroadwayScene.com, Broadway Educators.com.

 

2007 – 2015 

Scenic Designer, North Country Center for the Arts: Papermill Theatre.  Served as the resident scenic designer for a transition across multiple venues during demolition, design, and construction of new facility.

 

2003 – 2004 

Faculty Lighting Designer, Operafestival di Roma, Rome, Italy.  Designed and implemented lighting for outdoor opera performance in a 12th century courtyard adjacent to Piazza Navona and the Italian Parliament with the Orchestra Sinfonica dell’ International Chamber Ensemble at Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza in central Rome.

 

2000-2002 

Scenic Designer, Barnstormers Theatre, Tamworth, NH.  Barnstormers is the oldest ongoing professional summer theatre in the United States.

 

1996-2002 

Designer & Technical Director for Kearsarge Arts Theatre (KAT Company), NH.  KAT Company was a repeated recipient of the Moss Hart Award for Youth & Children’s Theatre and a presentation by invitation at the Kennedy Center in D.C.

 

1995

Technical Director, White River Theatre Festival, White River Junction, VT.

 

 

 

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TRAINING

 

2017

Collaborative Leadership Institute:  Collaborative Leadership in Higher Education.  Led by Academic Impressions.   Series of all-day training workshops on designing meeting structures.

 

2016 – 2017

Howard Teibel workshop series: Navigating Change.  Presented by Teibel Inc. https://teibelinc.com/

 


INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS, DESIGNS, AND WORKSHOPS:

 

 


PQ Studio: Festival Series: Brilliant Being.  Visual design and production manager for Brilliant Being, performed at the Theatre X10 for the Prague Quadrennial of Performance and Design.  This design included a digital fantasyscape that made use of original software, written by Professor Kizer, and tracking techniques for integrating live performance with media.   https://scenicandlighting.com/article/brilliant-being/

USITT 2019 PQ Exhibition at the Prague Quadrennial of Performance and Design.   This work was included as a part of the United States’ international installation at the Prague Quadrennial, as well as at the USITT National Conference and Stage Expo in Louisville.   http://pq19.usitt.org/professional

World Stage Design 2017 Reconnect (July 5, 2017), workshop.  Presented a series of workshops on how physical space interacts with performance and movement in the presence of media and design.  Taipei School of the Arts, Taipei City, Taiwan.  http://www.wsd2017.com/scenofest/detail/?pid=501

 

Cyprus Theater Organization and Cyprus Centre of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians.   Solo presentation of a four-day seminar on the uses of projections and projection mapping in performing arts.  Funded by a grant from the Cyprus Ministry of Culture.   Dec. 4-7, 2015.  http://cyprus-mail.com/2015/11/28/controlling-projection/

 

Stadt für eine Nacht: Puppets Red III:  Guest designer, A-Fortiori and Alban Elved Dance Company, Schiffbauergasse, Potsdam, Germany, 2011.   https://www.t-werk.de/programm.11.html?bab/eventid=1356

 

Operafestival di Roma:  The Magic Flute (2004): Maestro del Luci (lighting designer).  Operafestival di Roma with the Orchestra Sinfonica dell’ International Chamber Ensemble at Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza in central Rome.  Performed in a courtyard adjoining a 13th century baroque cathedral attached to the Italian Parliament, adjacent to Piazza Navona and the Pantheon.

 

Operafestival di Roma:  L’elisir di amore  (The Elixir of Love) (2003): Maestro del Luci (lighting designer).  Operafestival di Roma with the Orchestra Sinfonica dell’ International Chamber Ensemble at Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza in central Rome.   Same details as above.

 

NATIONAL EXHIBITIONS, DESIGNS, DESIGN WORK, AND WORKSHOPS:

Workshops and presentations

·         The Greek Trilogy Project (March 2017), Presentation.  United States Institute for Theatre Technology Conference.  St. Louis, MO..

·         National Opera Association, New York, NY, 2013: Integrating Projections into the Show (workshop/lecture)

·         "Auburn University Department of Art Studio Faculty Exhibition."  Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art.  901 South College Street, Auburn, Alabama 36849. March 24–May 19, 2012.    Scenic and lighting designs for Hamlet included

·         Lighting Design Highlights of the Prague Quadrennial (March 2012), Panel Discussion, United States Institute for Theatre Technology Conference.  Long Beach, CA.

·         Projection Workshop,  Saint Louis University Theatre (March 2000).  Hosted by Dr. Mark Landis and Professor Cristina Markham.

·         High Tech Done Low, (March, 2000), Panel Discussion, United States Institute for Theatre Technology Conference, Denver, CO.

·         What I Never Learned in College, (March 1994), Panel Discussion, United States Institute for Theatre Technology Conference.  Nashville, TN

Open Education Resources and Web Design

2018

Open-Education Resource:  Created a series of browser-based light labs that demonstrate the principles of lighting design.  https://scenicandlighting.com/academic/light-labs-and-more/

2015

Open-Education Resource:  The Drama Machine.   This is an interactive classroom ideally used with a Smart Board.  It generates complicated production variables including scripts, budgets, venue restrictions, and more, and challenges the class to solve problems in a game-show like atmosphere.
http://broadwayeducators.com/the-drama-machine

2013

Created BroadwayScene.com in with a corporate New York affiliate and collaborative contributors.  This is a reference site detailing information on all forty-one Broadway theatre venues.   Served as web designer in addition to creating interactive 3D models of every Broadway Theatre house.

2013

Established BroadwayEducators.com.  This is an open-education resource site for theatre educators.  It includes materials from approved contributors and exists in affiliation with a New York group-ticketing company.


More open-education and other education resources by Professor Kizer are available at https://scenicandlighting.com and at http://broadwayeducators.com.

 

DESIGN WORK
Kizer has served as a designer in various capacities for approximately 300 productions.

Plymouth State University

 

1995 – 2019   


Over 120 productions, including musicals, devised works, straight plays, dance, and opera, in three venues.

 

PerSeverence Productions – national commercial tour

 

2015-2021

Scenic Design & Projections: A Christmas Carol, syndicated by CMI Productions.  Fully animated and mapped projection media with original set design, engineered to tour nationally to upwards of twenty-four venues in eighteen states,, as far as New Mexico, Washington state, and Florida.    This work is revisited and updated annually before it tours.

 

Auburn University Theatre (Auburn, AL)

 

2014-2017

Scenic design, projection design, and lighting design for six productions in two spaces.

 


Papermill Theatre/Jean’s Playhouse (Lincoln, NH)

 

2007-2015

Scenic designs for over twenty-five productions in three spaces, with eight directors.

 

 

 

 

Kearsarge Arts Theatre
This company stopped producing after the 2012 season.   It was a very large, award-winning children’s theatre company that produced in the summer in New Hampshire.
1996-2012            Design for sixteen musical productions, some of which won national awards, and one of which was presented by invitation at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Educational Theatre Collaborative, NH (Trish Lindberg, director)
This company produces once a year, in January, emphasizing collaboration between the education program at Plymouth State and the community.  At times it has as many as 120 performers, and aims for production values that might be compared to a LORT B theatre.
1997 – 2019       Design for fifteen musicals, including some original scripts and scores.

Other Professional Companies, Colleges, and Universities
Kizer has designed for many other institutions including Brown University, The Ohio State University, The New Hampshire Historical Society, and more.
1990 – 2019   Upwards of over 120 other designs for dozens of institutions not listed here. 


LEADERSHIP AT PLYMOUTH STATE UNIVERSITY:

2017-2019

Chair, Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance

2016-2017

Cluster Guide for Arts & Technologies Cluster.  This included English, Communications, Art, Philosophy, Computer Science, Integrated Arts, Music, Theatre, & Dance.

2004-2006

Curriculum Committee

1998-2002

Communication Studies Council.

1998-1999

Dean’s Advisory Board on Technology.

1999-2000

Chair, General Education Committee.

1998-2000

General Education Committee.

1998-1999

Executive Council for the University.

 

OTHER SERVICE TO PLYMOUTH STATE UNIVERSITY

Created and organized an advocacy group for the performing arts at Plymouth State University consisting of prominent regional business leaders and key personalities on campus.  This regional and campus community group fosters support and initiatives on behalf of the Silver Center for the Arts.   They are the Silver Ambassadors.   This included recruitment, drafting all correspondence, determining benefits, organizing reception events, creating physical materials, organization with the administration on campus, and more.

Created a digital callboard for the performing arts at Plymouth State University.  This is a content-management system based on WordPress with original extra code.   Includes calendar, cast lists, sign-up sheets for many purposes, contact sheets, practicum management, photo archives, and it collects and stores bios for programs.  A demo is available here: https://youtu.be/wdKPV6i6yuk.  The actual URL is here:  http://plymouth.showportal.net/ (requires login).

SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY
2019      Obtained a grant from the New Hampshire State Council for the Arts, facilitated a regional marketing project called Granite Arts Festival.  Worked with faculty, students, and regional organizations.

2008 – 2011       Served as President for Friends of the Arts Regional Arts Council.   Non-profit organization with a board of fourteen trustees and $250,000 annual operating budget that created regional arts programming.

PUBLICATIONS

Professor Kizer has published over thirty-five articles in a variety of media, plus many educational resources.  Publications include both digital and printed articles for USITT-PQ, USITT-Sightlines, Broadway Educators, and more.  Kizer also publishes open-education resources and for-purchase resources on ScenicandLighting.com.  These include browser-based 3D light labs, classroom tools, educational playing card sets, and digital projection media.  Included among this body of work are short video articles on a variety of topics.  These include some of his work with digital media interacting with performers, conceptualizing how vision works with projections, important basic principles of set design and stagecraft, and more.
http://pq15.usitt.org/ • http://broadwayeducators.com • https://scenicandlighting.com • http://broadwayiq.com/  • https://www.makeplayingcards.com/sell/marketplace/production-beating.html