The Tony Awards were extra-celebratory for us when another member of the UMass Theater family took home an award.
Lighting Designer Jane Cox won for Best Lighting Design of a play for her work on playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' Appropriate. It was her fourth nomination and first win. Her other nominations were for MacBeth, Jitney, and Machinal.
Jane Cox was an exchange student who discovered lighting design at UMass, and although she only spent a short time here, she also found a mentor in Prof. Penny Remsen. Cox stayed in touch with Remsen throughout the rest of her studies, first at University of London, England, then at Tisch School of the Arts in NY for an MFA.
She has further cemented her connection to UMass through stints filling in for Remsen during sabbaticals. She was also part of a series of talks, Women in Theatrical Design, presented by UMass Theater via Zoom with the funding of Women for UMass Amherst (WFUM).
Cox's professional career has included lighting design at the regional, Off Broadway, and Broadway levels, as well as teaching. Currently, she is Director of Program in Theater & Music Theater at Princeton University.