Who am I?

My name is Xiaomier “Alvin” Wang: a lighting designer, a technical director, and a stage manager. I spent my childhood in Shanghai, Sydney, and Hong Kong, and currently studying at Northwestern University majoring in Theatre and Computer Science. He/him pronouns preferred.

I entered the field as a costume shop assistant. Then, as my interest in lights grew, I worked as a lightboard operator and soon got assigned as a main stage dance stage manager in my freshman year.

I invested my life in high school in the theater, pushing myself to the edge of my imagination and working in almost every show. To seek more experience, I worked as an intern theater technician at the professional Theatre YOUNG (Shanghai) and participated in the National High School Institute at Northwestern University as a Stage Management/Design-Tech Cherub.

Stage management is on the top of my priorities, but I can never survive without touching a drill or a lighting instrument in a week. I am very familiar with the ETC ION consoles, lighting fixtures, power tools, and I love it when theater clashes with engineering. I am also invested to explore emerging new media arts, like projections.

When I am not behind the scenes, I love playing ultimate frisbee and searching for authentic boba!

  • Electrics and lighting design is the first field of technical theater that I was really interested in. After observing the work of backstage crew in my freshman, I was obsessed with lights and decided to join backstage theater immersion in my freshman winter in 2021. My first show assignment was a light board operator. Then, I decided to push and challenge myself more. I started to volunteer to design lights for student dance pieces, bits and pieces of plays, and musicals. I also self-taught myself ETC ION lighting console programming while designing lights. Lighting is like painting - it's all about playing with colors. But while painting is something solid (and I hate painting), lighting is way more abstract. To me, the most fascinating part of lights is the ability to recreate space and vibes through strokes of lights.

    On a separate note, lighting design is not my only interest in electrics. I also know how to operate traditional and electrified fly systems (using a Waagner-Biro 3), and I've been exploring the field of projection design.

  • Correction: I am not a comprehensive scenic designer. My areas of focus are building, carpentry, digital modeling, drafting, and anything but painting and sketching. I am a very imaginative person, and I love it when my imagination in scenery clashes with practical engineering. For example, how should I build a functioning turntable, how should I make sure that these flats open without letting the audience see the hinges, or how should I get running water on stage. My journey with building and designing small projects began since my freshman winter, and I hadn't started professionally scenic designing until quite recently.

  • I was assigned as the stage manager for a main stage dance show in my freshman spring, and I loved it. As my competence in calling developed, I started working more professionally during my junior year: blocking notes, rehearsal reports, run sheets, and calling scripts. As a stage manager, it's not about owning the power but embracing the power and thinking for the team. The management title consists of so many responsibilities. In short, it is about being a bridge between all the departments and keeping everyone sane during the hardest moments. I am always one of those who is clear about what is going on and always the most supportive. For example, during rehearsals and tech, I always carry a bag of snacks for everyone in the space.

5 years, 40 productions.

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Shanghai · Hong Kong · Sydney

Evanston, IL