T.J. Gerckens

T. J. Gerckens

Phone
614-823-1098

Email
tgerckens@otterbein.edu

Office
Cowan Hall 13

Associate Professor, & Department Chair
Department of Theatre & Dance

T.J. Gerckens (Lighting Design) is the lighting design faculty member at Otterbein University, a USA829 Union Lighting Designer, and proud Otterbein Alum. At Otterbein he has designed the lighting for productions such as Fiddler on the Roof, Is He Dead?, Dance 2015: Famously Yours, Dance 2014: Tell-Tale Poe, and Into the Woods. As a freelance lighting designer T.J. has been part of the design team for the Tony Award winner and MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Mary Zimmerman for the last 23 years. Most recently he designed Mary Zimmerman’s productions of Wonderful Town at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Guys and Dolls in L.A., her world-premiere adaptation of Treasure Island, at the Lookingglass Theatre and Berkeley Rep and Dan Ostling’s production of Blood Wedding at the Lookingglass.. His lighting designs have been seen at regional theatres across the United States, on and off Broadway, and at the Metropolitan Opera. Internationally, he has designed in England, Australia, and at the LaScala Opera House in Milan, Italy. He has received numerous awards for his designs including New York’s Drama Desk Award and Lortel Awards for his lighting of Metamorphoses on and off Broadway, Jefferson Awards for The Odyssey and Metamorphoses in Chicago, and an award for “Exemplifying the Art of Collaboration” given to the Zimmerman design team by Entertainment Design Magazine. You can see his designs for Lucia di Lammermoor and La Sonnambula on DVDs released by the Metropolitan Opera. Upcoming design projects include Dvorak’s Rusalka at the Metropolitan Opera and The Odyssey at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. T.J. comes to Otterbein after two years at the University of Toledo, and prior to that he spent 17 years in production and executive management at CATCO. T.J. holds a BFA from Otterbein University and an MFA from Boston University. He is married to set designer, scenic artist, and Otterbein adjunct instructor Stephanie R. Gerckens. They have two children and live in Plain City.

Education

  • MFA Theatre Lighting Design, Boston University, 1992
  • BFA Theatre Design/Technology, Otterbein University, 1988

    • Research, Creative, & Professional Work

  • Theatrical Lighting Design
  • Opera Lighting Design

    • Affiliations & Awards

  • 2014 Nominated for the 2014 Joseph Jefferson Award for Outstanding Lighting Design (Large theatre) for The White Snake, The Goodman Theatre,Chicago, IL
  • 2013 Received the 2013 Joseph Jefferson Award for Outstanding Lighting Design (Large theatre) for Metamorphoses, The Loookingglass Theatre , Chicago, Illinois
  • 2012 Received the IRNE Award for Best Lighting Design for Candide, The Huntington Theatre Company, Boston, Massachusetts
  • 2012 Nominated for the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Design (Large Theatre) with Daniel Ostling, Mara Blumenfeld, Richard Woodbury for Candide, The Huntington Theatre Company, Boston, Massachusetts
  • 2011 Nominated for the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lighting Design for Candide, The Shakespeare Theatre, Washington D.C.
  • 2006 Nominated for the Jefferson Award for Outstanding Lighting Design for The Old Curiosity Shop, The Lookingglass Theatre Company, Chicago, Illinois
  • Nominated for the Jefferson Award for Outstanding Lighting Design for Pericles, The Goodman Theatre, Chicago, Illinois
  • 2005 Nominated for the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lighting Design for Pericles, The Shakespeare Theatre, Washington D.C.
  • 2005 Nominated for the Jefferson Award for Outstanding Lighting Design for Silk, The Goodman Theatre, Chicago, Illinois
  • 2004 Received the Connecticut Theatre Critic’s Circle Award for Lighting Design for Metamorphoses, Hartford Stage, Hartford, Connecticut
  • Nominated for the New York Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting design for The Notebooks of Leonardo DaVinci, SecondStage Theatre, New York, NY
  • Nominated for the Bay Area Critic’s Circle Outstanding Achievement Award for The Notebooks of Leonardo DaVinci, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Berkeley CA
  • 2003 Received the 2003 Entertainment Design Magazine “Eddy” Award for “Exemplifying the Art of Collaboration” (with Mara Blumenfeld and Daniel Ostling)
  • Received the New York Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting design for
  • Metamorphoses, SecondStage Theatre and Circle in the Square Theatre, New York, New York
  • Nominated for the Jefferson Award for Outstanding Lighting Design for Secret in the Wings, The Lookingglass Theatre Company, Chicago, Illinois
  • 2002 Received the American Theatre Wing Henry Hewes Award for Lighting Design for Metamorphoses, Circle in the Square Theatre, New York, New York
  • Received the Lucille Lortell Award for Lighting Design in an Off-Broadway Theatre for Metamorphoses, SecondStage Theatre New, York, NY
  • Received the Ovation Award for Lighting Design (Large Theatre) for Metamorphoses, The Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles, CA
  • Received the BackstageWest Magazine Garland Award for Lighting Design for Metamorphoses, The Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles, California and by Seattle Repertory Theatre at the Intiman Theatre, Seattle, Washington
  • 1999 Received the Bay Area Critic’s Circle Outstanding Achievement Award for Metamorphoses, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Berkeley, CA
  • 1997 Nominated for Bay Area Critic’s Circle Outstanding Achievement Award for Journey to the West, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Berkeley, California