Jane Cox (lighting designer)

Jane Cox
Born
Dublin, Ireland
EducationUniversity of London
OccupationLighting designer
AwardsTony Award for Best Lighting Design of a Play

Jane Cox is an Irish lighting designer. She has been nominated for five Tony Awards, and won the 2024 Tony Award for Best Lighting Design of a Play for her work on Appropriate.[1] She teaches at Princeton University.[2]

Early life and education

Jane Cox is from Dublin, Ireland. Her parents had moved there from the north of England; her mother worked for Amnesty International Ireland and her father was a professor at Trinity College.[3]

Cox studied flute at the University of London before changing her major to theatre. She worked as a light board operator on an undergraduate production of a Caryl Churchill play, an experience she found to be "like music, only in a visual medium."[4] She studied abroad at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she was mentored by American lighting designer Penny Remson.[5]

After relocating to the United States, Cox worked odd jobs, including as a theater electrician at Hartford Stage, before pursuing graduate studies at New York University Tisch School of the Arts.[4] At NYU, Cox studied with lighting designer John Gleason.[6] She graduated in 1998 with an MFA in lighting design. She credits another member of the NYU faculty, Susan Hilferty, with helping her get her first professional design job after graduate school.[7] In 2001, Cox was accepted into the National Endowment for the Arts/Theater Communications Group Career Development Program for promising early-career artists.[8]

Lighting design

Over the course of a decades-long career, Cox has designed theatre, opera, and dance productions in the United States and internationally. She has an extensive list of Broadway credits, including Macbeth (2022), which starred Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga, and the musical adaptation of Amélie.[9][7] She has also worked off-Broadway and at regional theatres across the United States.[10] Internationally, her work has been seen at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and the National Theatre in London.[3]

Her major collaborators include the directors Sam Gold and John Doyle, the choreographer Monica Bill Barnes. Lighting designers Isabella Byrd and Stacey Derosier worked with her early in their careers in the role of associate designer.[4]

Cox has described her design process as beginning with the show's text or musical score, which she reads or listens to several times before beginning creative discussions with the director and other collaborators. She sees lighting in a live performance setting as a way to craft atmosphere and invoke certain feelings, as well as to direct the audience's attention. She describes herself as "primarily fascinated with how much light and shadow can be used to reveal and to hide a human being onstage...the audience's relationship to their own imaginations shifts as stage information is hidden and revealed."[10]

She has a great interest in color, and favors a palette of greens, golds, and yellows. Cox has cited painters William John Leech and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec as major influences on her use of color, as well as the work of light and space artist James Turrell.[4]

In 2017, Cox designed Sunday in the Park with George at the Guthrie Theater, directed by Joseph Haj. In an interview, she framed her work in relationship to the musical's interest in the way light and color are rendered in painting, and described the play of light and shadow in Georges Seurat's monochromatic preparatory sketches as a major inspiration.[11]

In 2022's Broadway production of Macbeth, Cox and director Sam Gold drew creative inspiration from a comparison between theater craft and witchcraft. They chose a heavily saturated color palette influenced by horror films, feminist artists like Judy Chicago, and the band Pussy Riot's punk-activist spectacles. In the production, the actors operated custom-built portable fog machines and handheld lighting instruments to shape the atmosphere onstage.[9]

Appropriate

Cox's lighting design for Second Stage Theater's 2023 production of Appropriate won the Tony Award for Best Lighting Design of a Play, as well as a Drama Desk Award. The show, by playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, opened at the Helen Hayes Theater in December and later moved to the Belasco Theatre. It was directed by Lila Neugebauer, and the creative team included the scenic design collective dots, costume designer Dede Ayite, and sound design by Will Pickens and Bray Poor.[10]

Cox and Neugebauer developed a design concept by first focusing on the play's third-act coup de theatre, which requires the house at the heart of the play's plot to decay before the audience's eyes in a sped-up manner akin to time-lapse photography. Cox described the sequence as "chang[ing] days hundreds of times in quick succession," which required the programming of hundreds of cues that culminate in a strobing effect.[12] They worked backward from there to draw out a stage picture for the rest of the play, one characterized by obscurity and claustrophobia.[10]

Cox's attire for the 2024 Tony Awards was inspired by the soundscape of cicada song that scores the play's transitions. She wore a custom-made dress with a prominent cicada print, as well as a cicada pendant necklace.[13] Cox dedicated her Tony win to "all the patient partners and children of theater-makers everywhere."[14]

Critical reception

The New York Times has described Cox's work as "painterly" and "eye-teasing".[15][16] Critic Jesse Green called her work for Annie Baker's The Flick at Playwrights Horizons "almost orgasmically expressive."[17] In Variety, her lighting for a National Theatre production of Hamlet starring Benedict Cumberbatch was compared to "sumptuous cinematography."[18]

Stage credits

Year Title Role Venue Ref.
2000 The Ride Down Mt. Morgan Assistant Lighting Designer Broadway, Ambassador Theatre [19]
2002 Morning's at Seven Associate Lighting Designer Broadway, Lyceum Theatre [20]
2004 Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance Lighting Designer Broadway, Music Box Theatre [21]
2008 Come Back, Little Sheba Broadway, Biltmore Theatre [22]
2013 Picnic Broadway, American Airlines Theatre [23]
Passion Off-Broadway, Classic Stage Company [24]
The Flick Off-Broadway, Playwrights Horizons [25][26]
2014 Machinal Broadway, American Airlines Theatre [27]
All the Way Broadway, Neil Simon Theatre [28]
2015 The Color Purple Broadway, Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre [29]
The Flick Off-Broadway, Barrow Street Theatre [30]
2016 Noises Off Broadway, American Airlines Theatre [31]
2017 Jitney Broadway, Samuel J. Friedman Theatre [32]
Amélie Broadway, Walter Kerr Theatre [33]
2019 True West Broadway, American Airlines Theatre [34]
King Lear Broadway, Cort Theatre [35]
The Secret Life of Bees Off-Broadway, Atlantic Theatre Company [36]
Macbeth Off-Broadway, Classic Stage Company [37]
2022 Broadway, Longacre Theatre [38]
2023 Appropriate Broadway, Belasco Theatre [39][40]
2026 The Rocky Horror Show Broadway, Studio 54 [41][42]

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Production Result Ref.
2013 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Lighting Design Passion Nominated [43][44]
Henry Hewes Design Award The Flick Won [45][46]
2014 Tony Award Best Lighting Design of a Play Machinal Nominated [47]
Drama Desk Award Outstanding Lighting Design Nominated [48]
2016 Ruth Morley Design Award Won [49]
2016 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Lighting Design of a Musical The Color Purple Nominated [50][51]
2017 Tony Award Best Lighting Design of a Play Jitney Nominated [52]
2019 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Lighting Design of a Musical The Secret Life of Bees Nominated [53][54]
2022 Tony Award Best Lighting Design of a Play Macbeth Nominated [55]
2024 Appropriate Won [56]
Drama Desk Award Outstanding Lighting Design of a Play Won [57][58]
2026 Tony Award Best Lighting Design of a Musical Richard O'Brien's Rocky Horror Show Nominated [59]

Other work

Since 2016, Jane Cox has been the director of the Program in Theater and Music Theater at Princeton University. She has been on the Princeton faculty since 2007. Cox has also taught at NYU Tisch, UMass Amherst, Vassar College, and Sarah Lawrence College.

Cox has worked as a producer and arts administrator.[60] in 2020, she was one of the founding members of Design Action, a coalition of theater designers organized against racial inequity in theater design and advocating for change in the theater industry.[61][62] As part of her work with Design Action, Cox was one of the co-organizers of the Park Avenue Armory's 2023 symposium event "Sound & Color: The Future of Race in Design" alongside fellow theater artists Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Mimi Lien, and Mikaal Sulaiman, and curator Tavia Nyong'o.[63] The event was partly inspired by a class that Cox had co-taught at Princeton with Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, focused on race and lighting design.[64]

Personal life

Cox lives in Princeton, New Jersey.[60] She is married to designer Evan Alexander, with whom she has a daughter, Becket.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Culwell-Block, Logan (16 June 2024). "Tony Awards 2024: See the Complete List of Winners". Playbill. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  2. ↑ "Jane Cox". Trenton Arts at Princeton. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 "Lit From Within | Princeton Magazine". 2 March 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "An Interview with Jane Cox" (PDF). City Theatrical. 2020. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  5. ↑ "Jane Cox wins a Tony Award for Lighting Design on Appropriate : Theater : UMass Amherst". www.umass.edu. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
  6. ↑ "John Gleason, 62, Whose Lights Colored the Stage in New Ways (Published 2003)". 8 November 2003. Archived from the original on 9 March 2021. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
  7. 1 2 Communications, NYU Web. "Alumni @ Work: Jane Cox Lights Up Broadway". www.nyu.edu. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
  8. ↑ "NEA/TCG Selects Twelve for Career Program". Vol. 42, no. 38. 21 September 2001. p. 49. Retrieved 31 December 2024 – via Gale General OneFile.
  9. 1 2 Kinnersley, Hannah (29 December 2022). "31 Days Of Plots: Jane Cox—Macbeth | Live Design Online". www.livedesignonline.com. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Lampert-Greaux, Ellen (26 June 2024). "An Appropriate Balance Of Light And Shadow | Live Design Online". www.livedesignonline.com. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
  11. ↑ "Sunday In The Park With Jane Cox". spectrum.rosco.com. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
  12. ↑ "Jane Cox's Tony Award-winning Lighting Design uses ETC to Illuminate the Darkness of Appropriate". www.etcconnect.com. Archived from the original on 7 September 2024. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
  13. ↑ Runk, Steve (17 June 2024). "Jane Cox wins Tony Award!". Lewis Center for the Arts. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
  14. ↑ The Tony Awards (20 June 2024). Jane Cox | 2024 Tony Awards Acceptance Speeches. Retrieved 31 December 2024 – via YouTube.
  15. ↑ Kourlas, Gia (4 December 2014). "No Maelstrom This Time, but a World of Stillness and Apartness: [Review]". The New York Times. pp. C.5. ProQuest 1629871511. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
  16. ↑ Brantley, Ben (26 February 2001). "Rich Voices Paint a Path To Paradise: Theater Review". The New York Times (Online). ProQuest 2232716637. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
  17. ↑ Green, Jesse (19 May 2015). "Theater Review: The Return of Annie Baker's The Flick". Vulture. Retrieved 31 December 2024 – via Gale General OneFile.
  18. ↑ Trueman, Matt (1 September 2015). "Hamlet". Variety. Vol. 329, no. 3. pp. 62+. Retrieved 31 December 2024 – via Gale General OneFile.
  19. ↑ "The Ride Down Mt. Morgan (Broadway, 2000)". Playbill Vault. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  20. ↑ "Mornings at Seven (Broadway, 2002)". Playbill Vault. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  21. ↑ Rooney, David (21 November 2004). "Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance!". Variety. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  22. ↑ Brantley, Ben (25 January 2008). "So Quiet You Can Hear a Heart Stop". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  23. ↑ "Picnic (Broadway, 2013)". Playbill Vault. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  24. ↑ "The Caucasian Chalk Circle (2012-2013)". Classic Stage Company. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  25. ↑ "The Flick (2012-2013)". Playwrights Horizons. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  26. ↑ Gioia, Michael (15 February 2013). "Annie Baker's The Flick, a Tale of Movie-House Workers, Begins World Premiere Run in NYC". Playbill. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  27. ↑ Stasio, Marilyn (16 January 2014). "Broadway Review: 'Machinal' Starring Rebecca Hall". Variety. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  28. ↑ "All the Way (Broadway, 2014)". Playbill Vault. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  29. ↑ Stasio, Marilyn (10 December 2015). "Broadway Review: 'The Color Purple' Starring Cynthia Erivo, Jennifer Hudson". Variety. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  30. ↑ Editorial Staff (19 March 2015). "Annie Baker's Pulitzer Prize-Winning Play The Flick Will Return to the New York Stage". TheaterMania. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  31. ↑ "Noises Off (2015-2016 Season)". Roundabout Theatre Company. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  32. ↑ "August Wilson's Jitney — Creative". Manhattan Theatre Club. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  33. ↑ Gioia, Michael (4 April 2017). "Watch Highlights From Amélie's Opening Night". Playbill. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  34. ↑ Brantley, Ben (24 January 2019). "Review: Two Men, One Typewriter and a Whole Lot of Toasters in 'True West'". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  35. ↑ "King Lear, Starring Glenda Jackson, Opens on Broadway". Playbill. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  36. ↑ "The Secret Life of Bees".
  37. ↑ "Macbeth (2019)". Classic Stage Company. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  38. ↑ Sullivan, Lindsey (29 March 2022). "Macbeth, Starring Daniel Craig & Ruth Negga, Begins Broadway Performances". Broadway.com. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  39. ↑ "Jane Cox's Tony Award-winning Lighting Design uses ETC to Illuminate the Darkness of 'Appropriate'". ETC Connect. 20 June 2024. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  40. ↑ "Appropriate (Broadway, 2023)". Playbill Vault. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  41. ↑ "2026 Tony Award Nominee Jane Cox on Designing The Rocky Horror Show". Live Design. 12 May 2026. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  42. ↑ "Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show (2025–2026 Season)". Roundabout Theatre Company. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  43. ↑ "2013 Awards – Nominees and Recipients". Drama Desk. Retrieved 21 September 2025.
  44. ↑ Michael Paulson (20 May 2013). "Matilda Wins Big at Drama Desk Awards". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
  45. ↑ "2013 Henry Hewes Design Awards Honorees Announced". Lighting&Sound America Online. 5 September 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  46. ↑ "'The Nance's Ann Roth, 'Natasha, Pierre's Mimi Lien and More Honored with Henry Hewes Design Awards". Broadway.com. 5 September 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  47. ↑ "2014 Tony Awards: Winners Announced". New York Theatre Guide. 8 June 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  48. ↑ Jesse Green (1 June 2014). "Drama Desk Embraces a Gentleman's Guide". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
  49. ↑ "Jane Cox receives the Ruth Morley Design Award from the League of Professional Theatre Women". Discovery: Research at Princeton. Princeton University. 15 November 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  50. ↑ "2016 Awards – Nominees and Recipients". Drama Desk. Retrieved 21 September 2025.
  51. ↑ Gordon Cox (5 June 2016). "2016 Drama Desk Awards (FULL LIST): 'Shuffle Along,' 'The Humans'". Variety. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
  52. ↑ "Tony Awards 2017: Winners List". Variety. 11 June 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  53. ↑ "2019 Awards – Nominees and Recipients". Drama Desk. Retrieved 21 September 2025.
  54. ↑ Ruthie Fierberg (2 June 2019). "Tootsie, Hadestown, and The Ferryman Lead 2019 Drama Desk Award Winners". Playbill. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
  55. ↑ Evans, Greg (12 June 2022). "Tony Awards Review: The Highlights, Some Lowlights & All Praise For The Unstoppable Ariana DeBose". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  56. ↑ Culwell-Block, Logan; Gans, Andrew (16 June 2024). "The Outsiders, Stereophonic Win Top Honors at 2024 Tony Awards; Maleah Joi Moon, Jonathan Groff, Sarah Paulson Among Winners". Playbill. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  57. ↑ "2024 Awards – Nominees and Recipients". Drama Desk. Retrieved 21 September 2025.
  58. ↑ Logan Culwell-Block (10 June 2024). "Stereophonic Leads 2024 Drama Desk Awards With 7 Wins Including Outstanding Play". Playbill. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
  59. ↑ Paulson, Michael (7 June 2026). "Tony Awards Winners 2026: Full List". Variety. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
  60. 1 2 "Tony Awards 2024: Daniel Radcliffe and Irish lighting designer Jane Cox among the winners". The Irish Times. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
  61. ↑ "about us". DESIGN ACTION. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
  62. ↑ Pierson, Alexandra (20 January 2023). "How to Design a More Just Theatre Field". AMERICAN THEATRE. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
  63. ↑ "Symposium: Sound & Color—The Future of Race in Design : Program & Events". Park Avenue Armory. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
  64. ↑ Collins-Hughes, Laura (12 January 2023). "5 Broadway Veterans on Race and Representation in Theater Design". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
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