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Design Innovation Summer Institute – Lighting and Sound

Express ideas creatively through light and sound

Explore the art of light and sound for the theater

The Lighting and Sound Summer Institute is a two-week, UC credit-bearing intensive for students interested in lighting and sound for theater. This program provides opportunities to work with our faculty in classes such as Introduction to Lighting Intensity, Form, and Direction, Electrics Programming, and Drafting for Theater.

Students will learn the technical components of breaking down a script and the art of collaboration while gaining hands-on experience in curating research, communicating ideas, and expressing creative intent. This program is designed for a student at any level who seeks the additional discipline and training required for participation in an educational theater setting and a career in the entertainment industry.

Participation in this institute is open to pre-college students.

Fees and Payment Info

The program fee includes the unit fees for the UCLA coursework offered as part of the program and thus varies by UC student status. In addition to the program fee, students are assessed other campus and administrative fees during the summer. This is a summary of fees that commonly apply to the selected student type.

Actual tuition and fees are subject to change by the University of California. Visit the fees, payment, and financial aid section for important disclaimer, as well as more details on fees, payment instructions, and information on delinquency, refunds, and financial aid.

 

Program Fee
$3,205.00
Registration Fee
$350.00
IEI Fee
$61.00
Document Fee (for first-time Summer Sessions students)
$50.00
Total Estimated Fees:
$3,666.00
* Fees only apply for certain student types

Meet your instructors

Yelena Babinskaya

Instructor

Yelena Babinskaya (she/her) is a scenographer who has been an active member of the entertainment community for the last twenty years. Originally from Odesa, Ukraine, she has worked as a lighting, scenic, costume, and educator throughout the country.

She has taught classes on many topics, from introductions to design to advanced project management for opera, and presented at various conferences. She is thrilled to be teaching at her alma mater.

Yelena holds a Master of Fine Arts from UCLA and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Northern Colorado. She was the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion editor on the 9th Edition of Michael Gillete’s Theatrical Design and Production. In 2021, Yelena was part of a team awarded the winning grant from Opera America for their proposal to develop a new opera for Opera Hack 3.0. That project is still ongoing. To learn more about it and her upcoming projects, check out her social media and website at https://yelenababinskaya.com.

Natalie Margaret Houle

Instructor

Natalie “Nat” Margaret Houle is an LA-based sound designer, audio engineer, and composer born and raised in New York with nearly fifteen years of experience in audio that began at age thirteen. She recently graduated from the University of California, Irvine with an MFA in Sound Design. Her time at UCI culminated in the creation of her thesis, nmhspatial.com, the world’s first resource of its kind: an approachable product-agnostic analysis of object-based audio modalities explored through the theatrical sound designer’s lens.

Alongside her research, Nat trained extensively on d&b Soundscape, L-Acoustics L-ISA, and Meyer Sound Spacemap Go, diving deep into how these modalities can transform storytelling and how sound designers can effectively engage with them.

On the West Coast, she has worked either as a designer or associate designer with Arizona Theatre Company, PCPA — Pacific Conservatory Theatre, Western Stage, Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles, The Acting Company, Cal State Northridge, Cal State Los Angeles, INTUITV ARTSHIP, and Rubicon Theatre Company. Nat is an active member of TSDCA, USITT, ANBC (Audio Nerd Book Club), and Soundgirls. Aside from moving sound around, she enjoys exploring California, sharing tea ceremonies with others, transcendental meditation, and yoga practice.

 

Learn more at www.rebeccakessin.com.