CHARLES MURDOCK LUCAS
Imagination
As a child in Greenville, South Carolina I spent hours gazing at my father's model ships. They were fantastic miniature recreations of nautical adventure. I was forbidden to touch them, but that didn't keep me from spending hours gazing at them and imagining the stories of the people who sailed them. I read voraciously, and fell asleep every night to recordings of Old Time Radio dramas. I carried a sketchbook, journal, and three to four books with me everywhere I went- it was a childhood spent in imagination.
I attended a small liberal arts university, Furman University, for my undergraduate education. I got to do everything there: act, direct, design, build, paint, stage manage, sew, and much more. I was one of a graduating class of two. I became a scenic and projection designer, and my classmate and great friend became a lighting and sound designer. I did my graduate training at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where I was mentored by Franco Colavecchia, Howard Jones, Bill Brewer, Eduardo Sicangco, and Joe Tilford. I still think of Franco's opera designs almost every day while I am working.
My work is built on Peter Brook's idea of the set being the "geometry of the play," an integral part of the storytelling. My view of myself as a professional is founded on the idea of mentorship and the guild-like connection designers build with their assistants and the next generation of artists. Now, in addition to my freelance career, I mentor the next generation of students in our BA and MFA programs at San Diego State University, a thrilling international hub of culture-I am grateful for this every day.
BIO
Charles Murdock Lucas is a scene and media designer based in San Diego, California. He has designed for companies across the United States and internationally at the Sofia National Opera and Ballet in Bulgaria, Sofia Metropolitan Puppet Theatre, Seoul Arts Center, and the Daejeon Arts Center in the Republic of Korea. Companies in the USA include: San Diego Repertory Theatre, The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Barter Theatre, Village Theatre, Skylight Music Theatre, American Stage, the Duke City Repertory Theatre, the Ohio Light Opera, freeFall Theatre, Florida Repertory Theatre, Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre, Oregon Cabaret Theatre, Texas Shakespeare Festival, Gulfshore Playhouse, Flux Theatre Ensemble (NYC), Virginia Stage Company, Broadway Rose Theatre Company, Eastman Opera Theatre, PCPA, Cygnet Theatre, and more. In previous seasons he has served as the Resident Scene Designer for the Ohio Light Opera, Texas Shakespeare Festival, Luna Stage and Duke City Repertory Theatre.
Recent and favorite designs include scenery and video for Turandot at Daejeon Arts Center (Korea), scenery for La bohème also at Daejeon, video for a concert production of Lucia di Lammermoor at Seoul Arts Center (Korea), scenery for Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Skylight Music Theatre), scenery for the premiere of Shrek The Musical at the Sofia National Opera and Ballet in Bulgaria, scenery for The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (Cygnet Theatre Company), scenery for Oliver! (Cabrillo Stage), scenery for Honky Tonk Angels (Virginia Stage Company), and scenery for La Voix Humaine (Eastman Opera Theatre), among others.
Awards and honors received include: the Robert L.B. Tobin Director-Designer Showcase sponsored by OPERA America for production concepts for The Cradle Will Rock, the USITT Scene Design Award Sponsored by Rose Brand for 2012, the A.J. Fletcher Opera Fellowship in Scene Design, and the USITT Young Designers Forum. His work has been exhibited at: the 2019, 2011 and 2023 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space, Mozawa's Y PORTRAITS: AWAKENING in Chicago, and the DELURK Gallery. Selected images of his designs for The Whipping Man, The Tempest, Trifles, and Krapp’s Last Tape are published as illustrations for Scene Design and Stage Lighting 10th Edition by R. Craig Wolf and Dick Block. He was also on the board of advisers for the first ever OPERAHACK in 2019, sponsored by San Diego Opera, and Microsoft, and in 2022, he served as the Program Director for the third edition of Opera Hack, an interdisciplinary gathering of artists, designers, and technology experts from around the world. In 2023 he traveled to Bulgaria as a Fulbright Scholar to conduct research, design professional artistic projects, and teach in the Scenography Department at the National Academy of Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria
He is the Head of Scene Design, and Head of Projection & Integrated Media Design for the BA and M.F.A. programs at San Diego State University. He teaches scene design, projection and integrated media design, drafting, digital painting, advanced media design and animation, real time 3D rendering/modeling, collaborative studies, and more.
He has also served on faculty at Southern Oregon University, taught courses at University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Fresno State University/CSU Summer Arts, and guest lectured at Temple University, North Carolina State University, Michigan State University, The South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities, the University of Alabama, and Furman University.
Speaking engagements include: the USITT annual conferences (multiple), URTA annual conference, World Stage Design 2022, the North Carolina Thespian Festival, and the Associated Colleges of the South Conference,
He received his Master of Fine Arts in Scenic Design at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts where he was the A. J. Fletcher Opera Fellow in Scene Design. Murdock is a member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829 New York, Scenic Design Category.
.E-mail: himself@charlesmurdocklucas.com