UMaine alumnus Donald Holder, ’80, nominated for Tony Award
Contact: Joe Carr at (207) 581-3571
ORONO, Maine — This week’s Tony Award nominations included University of Maine alumnus Donald Holder for his lighting design work on Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “South Pacific.”
Holder, who graduated in 1980, is no stranger to awards. His lighting design for the Broadway production of Disney’s “The Lion King” won a Tony and a Drama Desk Award. He also received Tony nominations for his lighting work on “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Movin’ Out” and “Gem of the Ocean,” among others.
“He paints the stage and shapes the space with color,” says Tom Mikotowicz, a UMaine theater professor who is a longtime associate of Holder. “He’s one of the masters of the craft.”
Mikotowicz calls Holder a “very contemplative sort of person,” and says his work reflects that. Holder takes the time to analyze a script so that the lighting almost becomes a character in and of itself.
“It’s not a matter of lighting the stage so that it’s well-lit and the actors and costumes look great,” Mikotowicz said. “[Great lighting designers] go further than that. They take elements out of the text and organically connect the lighting to them.”
For a production like “South Pacific,” the lighting helps to create the mood and is romantic and colorful to support the feelings in the script.
As an undergraduate, Holder studied forestry, but he had a passion for music and theater. His interest in stage lighting was nurtured by the late Al Cyrus, whom Holder considered a friend and mentor. Holder went on to study drama at Yale, but he has maintained his connection to UMaine.
Four years ago, Holder was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the New England Theatre Conference, while Mikotowicz was president of the organization.
“In addition to winning the major award, Don offered workshops in lighting to young designers and he discussed the high technology of Broadway productions, which are all automated and use extensive computer technology to run them,” Mikotowicz said.
When Mikotowicz was looking for a lighting designer for the opera production of “The Marriage of Figaro,” which ran in February 2008, Holder considered coming up to Maine to execute the lighting design. However, he was offered another commitment at Lincoln Center and had to bow out, but he recommended one of his former assistants, Burke Brown, to design the lights.
When the School of Performing Arts needed a consultant for program review last year, Holder “eagerly agreed to help his alma mater out.”
“He’s been a good source for the [School for the Performing Arts],” Mikotowicz says. “He’s always willing to help.