Dawn Chiang

Born in Palo Alto, California, Dawn Chiang studied both ballet and piano. While at Oberlin College she volunteered to help build the scenery for Don Giovanni which brought together all her interests in the performing arts. Following graduation, she began her professional career assisting major set and lighting designers from both New York and London when they designed at the Los Angeles Music Center. Chiang’s first major lighting design was Zoot Suit at the Mark Taper Forum in
Los Angeles which had a one-year run, plus a production on Broadway. A year later, she moved from Los Angeles to New York to continue her career as a lighting designer.

Dawn Chiang was Resident Lighting Designer for New York City Opera where her designs included Anna Bolena, La Fanciulla del West and A Little Night Music. On Broadway, she designed
Zoot Suit and Tango Pasion (co-designed with Richard Pilbrow). Off Broadway, she has designed for the Manhattan Theatre Club and the Roundabout Theatre.

Her regional theatre credits include the Mark Taper Forum, Guthrie Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, South Coast Repertory, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Denver Center Theatre, Alley Theatre and the Alabama Shakespeare Theatre. She was the creator, designer, performer for a lighting performance piece for the Whitney Museum of American Art, deLights: Art in 5 Outlets.

Chiang has won two Drama League Critics’ Awards, a Los Angeles Drama Critic’s nomination for Light Comedies (Ahamansom Theatre) and an American Theatre Wing Award nomination for A Man For All Seasons (Roundabout Theatre).