
BIO
Ryan J. O’Gara is an award-winning lighting designer whose work spans Broadway, national tours, regional theatre, opera, dance, and international productions.
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Broadway: The Wiz and Thoughts of a Colored Man.
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Tours: The Wiz, CLUE, On Your Feet!, Million Dollar Quartet Christmas, A Night with Janis Joplin, Blippi, Vocalocity, The Walking Dead Experience, and The Little Prince.
International: Cirque du Soleil’s Paramour in Germany; Disney Tokyo Sea’s Out of Shadowland; Super You at Leicester Curve, UK; and multiple productions for Norwegian Cruise Line including Havana and Palace of Lights, created by Warren Carlyle.
New York & Special Projects: NBCUniversal Upfront at Radio City Music Hall, Lady Day at the Little Shubert, Michael Counts’ Moses in Egypt for New York City Opera and THE RIDE, the Dawson’s Creek Reunion, POP’s Gala opening of David Geffen Hall, and productions at Carnegie Hall, the New Victory Theatre, Lincoln Center Festival, NYU/Playwrights Horizons, and Westbeth Theatre Center.
Regional: Theatre Under the Stars, Paper Mill Playhouse, Walnut Street Theatre, Drury Lane Chicago (Jefferson Award nomination, 2019 & 2025), George Street Playhouse, La Mirada Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Syracuse Stage, Baltimore Center Stage, Signature Theatre (DC), Capital Repertory, Bucks County Playhouse, North Carolina Theatre, and 15 productions with Bristol Riverside Theatre, including Man of La Mancha (Barrymore Award)
Dance: American Ballet Theatre, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, MOMIX, Ballet Hispanico, gloATL, Cedar Lake Ensemble, Giordano Jazz Dance, Luna Negra Dance Theatre, and performances at The Joyce Theatre.
Broadway Associate: Ain’t Too Proud, POTUS, Summer, Prince of Broadway, Come From Away, Hamilton, Bronx Tale, After Midnight, Jesus Christ Superstar, In the Heights, Xanadu, Gypsy, West Side Story, and more.
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O’Gara is a graduate of the School of Design & Production at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.