Matt Webb

Matt is a Central Texas-based designer and educator, currently on the faculty of Texas State University, with extensive experience as both a freelance artist and a resident team member - and with wide-ranging passions, including theatre for families, new work, and the American musical.

At Texas State, Matt is Assistant Professor of Lighting Design and teaches courses at both the MFA and BFA levels in lighting design and technology. Previously, Matt's held faculty positions at the University of Houston and Mississippi State University (his undergraduate alma mater,) and he's also led classes at the University of Washington, where he received his MFA.

In addition to his work as an educator, Matt's designed professionally with Arden Theatre Company, Seattle Rep, Syracuse Stage, San Jose Rep, Seattle Children's Theatre, the Contemporary American Theater Festival, the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Phoenix Theatre, Cumberland County Playhouse, Book-It Rep, Playhouse on the Square, Cortland Rep, Omaha Theater Company, ArtsWest Playhouse, New Stage Theatre, and Sound Theatre Company. He was also the associate designer for the Asolo Rep and 5th Avenue Theatre's co-production of Ragtime and has assisted designers including Paul Miller and Duane Schuler. Matt's designs have been nominated by the Seattle Writer's Guild, the Syracuse Area Live Theatre Awards, and the Ostrander Awards in Memphis, and his design of It Happened in Little Rock appeared on the cover of American Theatre.

Matt's professional background is as a resident artist, and he designed for seven seasons with the Arkansas Repertory Theatre in Little Rock, AR, and four with Zach Theater in Austin, TX, while managing each company's lighting and video departments. He's also created architectural light as a member of Brooklyn-based Sighte Studio, with residential and commercial projects in New York, Connecticut, Tennessee, and elsewhere.

Both as an artist and an educator, Matt believes that theatre is above all about sharing stories. He loves helping students and audiences to connect, both with the play and with each other. He believes fervently that the most important stories are being told by resident companies to the communities that house and support them. Nothing excites him more than sharing a show with the community that made it, and, in particular, a story for youth or a new work for all of us.