Roger Morgan is a pioneer in the world of theatre design consulting. He became interested in theatre architecture while a student at

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

, and worked as an assistant to the scenic designer

Jo Mielziner Joseph "Jo" Mielziner (March 19, 1901 – March 15, 1976) was an American theatrical scenic, and lighting designer born in Paris, France. He was described as "the most successful set designer of the Golden era of Broadway", and worked on both sta ...

who became the primary influence on his career. He is the Tony Award-winning lighting designer of over 200 plays on and off-Broadway and in regional theater. He founded Sachs Morgan Studio in 1976 to provide comprehensive theatre planning and design services to the performing arts community. Studio projects have won national awards in the worlds of theatre and architecture: the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

Concert Hall (AIA Award of Excellence in Interior Design);

Foxwoods Theatre The Lyric Theatre (previously known as the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, the Hilton Theatre, and the Foxwoods Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 214 West 43rd Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened i ...

on 42nd Street (USITT Honor Award); New World Stages in New York City (LUMEN Award for Architectural Lighting), the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood (Los Angeles Conservancy Preservation Award) and Temple Emmanu-El in NYC (IALD Award). Morgan won both a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

and a

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Fo ...

for his work on ''

The Crucifer of Blood ''The Crucifer of Blood'' is a play by Paul Giovanni that is adapted from the Arthur Conan Doyle novel ''The Sign of the Four.'' It depicts the character Irene St. Claire hiring the detective Sherlock Holmes to investigate the travails that he ...

''. He has received several other drama desk awards and has received numerous other awards and nominations for his work. Other lighting design credits include ''

Dracula ''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taki ...

'' (1977) with Frank Langella and Morgan's partner Ann Sachs on Broadway (for which he was nominated for the 1978 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Lighting Design);"Roger Morgan Broadway"
playbillvault.com, accessed September 5, 2015 lighting in the current repertoire of Ballet Hispanico. He is co-author of

Space for Dance Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consid ...

, commissioned in the 1980s by the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federa ...

, on the design of dance facilities; it is now out of print and considered a classic in the architectural arena. He has been a keynote speaker at USITT, the organization that honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award (when he was in his 40s), a guest speaker in the Architecture Department at Carnegie Mellon University, and at international theatre conferences in England, Italy, and Poland. Morgan believes that the job of the Studio is to plan and design theatres that work for their owners, their patrons, and the theatre professionals that use them. And that Studio projects – no matter their size – must create environments that celebrate life's rituals.

References

American lighting designers Tony Award winners Drama Desk Award winners Living people Carnegie Mellon University College of Fine Arts alumni Year of birth missing (living people) {{Stagecraft-stub