My Writing Ethos
As a queer person and early-career lighting designer, Mitchell takes great inspiration from the trailblazing early queer, female, and BIPOC greats of our industry, who set the stage for the success of future, diverse generations of lighting designers. His works seek to reify and celebrate their shaping of an industry he loves so dearly.
Coming Up Next:
“The Queer, Female, and BIPOC Leaders of Lighting Design”
For his Master’s Thesis, Mitchell expanded his prior work into “The Queer, Female, and BIPOC Leaders of Lighting Design.” By interviewing designers from underrepresented communities throughout lighting design’s history—tracing their careers, techniques, lineages of assistants, and contributions to the field—he will illuminate the path our industry has followed from the era of Jean Rosenthal. Importantly, in conversation with today’s leading designers, he will remark on the methods by which inclusivity is improving—and still needs to improve—in our field.
“A Love of the Whole”
At UCSB, he was selected to complete an Honors Thesis, examining the style and techniques of historic dance designer Jean Rosenthal, and tracing her influence on modern dance lighting, making use of extant light plots from her archives. He also proposed her methods of overcoming bigotry in the industry—and her status as a queer woman—as influential to the role modern lighting designers occupy in the collaborative design process.
“Lighting Martha”
Mitchell provided dramaturgy for and wrote a foreword/technical guide to Carolyn Gage’s play, “Lighting Martha,” a touching tale of Jean Rosenthal’s life, queerness, and love for light.
In early 2021 Mitchell was invited to be a panelist, speaking on Jean’s career and legacy as a queer LD, at post-show talkback discussions alongside Jean’s niece (Dr. Sara Rosenthal) and other experts in the fields of death positivity, queer theory, and theater history.