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Kent Barrett

Associate Professor of Scenic Design

I think of successful teaching in much the same way as I think of thoughtfully created design… Both feel like living, collaborative, and ephemeral acts. These are processes that, for me, usually unfold slowly through a series of moments but are rooted in presence and guided by honesty, and in the end, hopefully, there’s this beautiful transformation or shift that occurs.

Kent Barrett

KENT BARRETT is a multidisciplinary designer and artist whose developed a wide-ranging body of work that spans collaborative, contemporary performance, experimental theater, and new media. Kent has served on the faculty of institutions such as MIT and Dickinson College, and has been a guest lecturer at schools such as Harvard University and MICA. A former company member with The Wooster Group and recipient of an NEA grant, Kent often engages in long-standing collaborations with a variety of ensembles and artists such as the devised theater maker Charlotte Brathwaite, installation artist Abigail DeVille, and the musician Meshell Ndegeocello. His designs and creative work have been featured at venues throughout the United States including The Park Avenue Armory, The Whitney Museum of Art, The Public Theater, La MaMa, La Jolla, Harlem Stage, Signature Theatre, The Hippodrome, Geva Theatre, and The Kennedy Center, as well as internationally in multiple festivals and performance spaces around the world. Beyond live performance, Kent’s interdisciplinary work extends to independent films, gallery installations, and with architectural lighting firms. He is a founding member and Co-Artistic Director of Valley Traction Arts Collective, a contemporary performance group dedicated to producing radical, design-driven, new work.