Hailey Garza
Lighting Designer
2026 BFA Drama, Lighting Design
Hailey is a lighting designer, originally a fourth-generation resident of Buckeye, Arizona, where she was raised in the community her family has long called home. Hailey stepped away from the familiarity of the farmlands to move across the country as a first-generation college student. Now graduating, Hailey plans on moving to NYC to work in theatre, whether that be as an Assistant, Associate, Freelance Designer, or Vectorworks drafter.
She often thinks back to childhood where she would pretend to be in a dance performance in her living room with her younger sister setting up a plastic, colorful disco ball and making sure a flashlight was pointed at whoever was dancing. It wasn’t until Hailey’s sophomore year of high school where she begrudgingly took a technical theatre class to finally realize her willingness to get her hands dirty and her imagination was the perfect fit for working in theatre.
As a lighting designer, it excites Hailey to have the role of guiding the audience’s focus and emotions with her lighting. She really enjoys the collaborative nature of being a lighting designer- getting to work with all departments and supporting the work, vision, and storytelling her collaborators bring to each project.
Hailey has spent two summers working at Interlochen Center for the Arts, first as a Lighting, Video, and Sound Technician, and later as the Master Electrician and Lighting Designer for Intermediate Productions. She enjoys pushing cases and figuring out how to get a lighting plot from paper into space, but is excited to move into design and drafting focused roles post-graduation.
Work Samples
The Inseparables
By T.J. Young
Directed by Robert Ramirez
Lighting Design by Hailey Garza
CMU School of Drama – March 2025
Company
Lyrics and Music by Stephen Sondheim
Book by George Furth
Directed by Darren Lee
Lighting Design by Hailey Garza
CMU School of Drama – April 2026
Dance/Light: Nobody Wants To Hear Songs Anymore
Choreographed by Olivia Ruhnke
Lighting Design by Hailey Garza
CMU School of Drama – 2025