Santa Clara University

Derek Duarte

Lighting Designer Derek Duarte joined the theatre faculty of Santa Clara University in 1997 after serving two years as a Lecturer in the Theatre Arts Department of the University of California at Santa Cruz. A graduate of U.C. Berkeley where he earned his B.A. in Dramatic Art in 1978, Derek went on to graduate school at UCLA where he earned his MFA in Theatre Technology with an emphasis in Lighting and Sound Design, and Technical Direction. With over twenty years of experience and over 250 shows under his belt, Derek has worked with such theatres as Berkeley Repertory, Portland Center Stage, The Western Stage, San Jose Repertory, the Alley Theatre, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Hong Kong Repertory, Syracuse Stage, and American Conservatory Theater where he worked as a resident lighting designer for seven years, designing more than 50 productions. He has won several awards and honors including 5 Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Lighting Design for his work on such shows as Sunday in the Park with George, Execution of Justice, Judevine, Stardust, and Woody Guthrie's American Song. He has also been the recipient of numerous Drama-Logue Critics awards for his lighting designs. In 1986, he received a Theatre Communications Group Observership grant to observe lighting designers in New York City.

Derek currently teaches Production Management, Basic Lighting, Lighting Design, Theater Graphics, and Introduction to Theatre Arts, at Santa Clara University, and also oversees students conducting independent study work in the areas of design and technology. His work has been seen in such SCU productions as My Fair Lady, Twilight of the Golds, Family, and Lend Me A Tenor.