Caroline Nowak, a third-year Master of Fine Arts graduate student in lighting design, is one of two students nationally to be selected for the prestigious Hemsley Internship for 2025.
Nowak was selected following a portfolio review in New York City at Alvin Ailey Studios in March. This summer she will intern at the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera as the assistant lighting designer, working with lighting designer Paul Miller.
“I was over the moon,” Nowak said of her reaction to learning she had earned the internship. “I was shocked and so excited. I’ve been working towards this program for three years, since I got to grad school, so I was overjoyed.”
Michelle Harvey, assistant professor of theatre (lighting design), said the Hemsley Lighting Program is the most prestigious national event in the theatrical world of lighting design.
“The Hemsley Internship is the pinnacle of this event,” Harvey said. “Many students are nominated to attend the program event, but only two are accepted for the internship. I was thrilled to nominate Caroline for the Hemsley Program and beyond proud of her Hemsley internship acceptance. She is not only a lovely designer, but a confident, astute and courteous person, which makes her an exceptional artistic colleague.”
Harvey said Nowak makes the most of every opportunity she is given, including this internship.
“The commitment she has to her craft is beyond commendable,” Harvey said. “Caroline is a thoughtful and intelligent artist, telling dramatic and ambitious stories with her lighting design.”
Nowak said the portfolio review at Alvin Ailey Studios in New York worked similarly to the ones held in the Carson School.
“It was just a big room with all the student tables lined up, and we just hung out at our tables, and people came up and talked to us,” Nowak said. “And it was amazing. I had a lot of really great conversations about design process and how to do clean paperwork and ways that I can improve myself. I think transitioning from student to professional is a really great way to meet people and feel a little more comfortable talking with people.”
Nowak doesn’t know yet specifically what shows she will be doing at her internship with Miller.
“I know that I’m doing a few musicals and a gala with him. I’ll be his assistant lighting designer,” Nowak said. “I know that one of the shows is going on tour so I will go with the first two tour stops to put the show with them, which is really exciting. I’ve never done that before.”
She is most lookin forward to working with Miller and getting to know his approach to lighting design.
“His work is so beautiful, and he’s a really wonderful human, so I’m just excited to work with him and get a poke into the brain of somebody who’s a very successful industry professional and to make those connections," Nowak said. "I’ve also never been to Pittsburgh, so that will be fun. I love going to new spaces and new places for theater and working with all new people. It’s so fun.”
Looking ahead, her ultimate goal is designing on Broadway.
“I don’t necessarily think that Broadway is a success indicator,” Nowak said. “But to work at that scope and scale is, I think, the goal. A lot of the people I’ve met who work there, love it. It’s so satisfying to be able to reach so many people with theater, which is I think why I’m drawn to growing in scope and scale because I want to reach more people.”
Nowak said she has been doing theatre since she was 5 years old and started exploring lighting design in high school. She took a stagecraft class, where they did “The Little Mermaid.”
“Once I did that first show, my core memory of why I flipped was we had a DMX-controlled bubble machine, so I could press a button on the console, and the bubbles would go out over the audience, and the kids’ joy and happiness really struck my heart as a teenager," Nowak said. "And I was like, ‘I think I want to do this for the rest of my life.’ You get the applause when you’re an actor. But there was just something different about being able to hear that in a different way that I quite literally pressed a button, and they screamed. I knew I wanted to continue with lighting after that.”
