Jaymi Lee Smith

Jaymi has designed lights for over 200 productions throughout the country.  Some production highlights include:  three seasons at Utah Shakespeare Festival, The Wiz at Dallas Theater Center, Topdog Underdog at South Coast Repertory, Smart Cookie at The Alliance Theater, Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune at Hartford Stage, Orlando and Mary Stuart  at The Court Theatre, Among the Thugs and Anna in the Tropics at The Goodman, No Place Like Home, Uncle Vanya, The Dazzle, Absolution and The Ordinary Yearnings of Miriam Buddwing at Steppenwolf, The Haunting of Winchester and Splitting Infinity at San Jose Repertory, Our Town, Carousel, The Creaudeux Canvas and Copenhagen at Madison Repertory, Tug of War at The Getty Villa and the national tour of John Astins Once Upon a Midnight. 

Some theatre companies she has designed for include South Coast Repertory, Utah Shakespeare, Dallas Theater Center, Pasadena Playhouse, The Alliance Theater, The Clarence Brown, The Pearl Theater, Northlight Theatre, About Face, Victory Gardens, Irish Repertory, Blair Thomas and Company, Drury Lane, The Next Theatre, Steppenwolf, The Court Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Redmoon, Rivendell, Naked Eye, Lookingglass, Milwaukee Repertory, Milwaukee Shakespeare, Madison Repertory, San Jose Repertory, European Repertory, Plasticene, Roadworks and Hartford Stage.  She was a founding member of Naked Eye Theater Company and an ensemble member of The Next Theater and Rivendell Theater Ensemble, all of them Chicago based companies.

Other design work has included the scenic and projection design on dozens on productions.  She also acted as Architectural Lighting Consultant on over three hundred and fifty private residences and designed four different restaurants within Chicago.  In addition, she has designed over fifty various special events for non-for-profits, red carpet events and private parties.

As a production manager, she has held many positions.  She acted as Senior Production Manager for KBA Marketing who produced more than 10,000 events a year for companies such as Coca-Cola, RJ Reynolds and Nike.  She also managed and initiated the groundbreaking citywide theatre festival in Chicago known as Theatre Fever with more than 80 theatre companies leading free workshops and performances for a two-week period.  She spent seven years as the Producer for The League of Chicago Theatres facilitating all galas, media events and community conferences.  Other production management credits include Outfest Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and Mrs. Ts Triathlon.

She received her training from the conservatory program of The Theatre School, DePaul University.  In 2003 she was the recipient of the Michael Merrit/ Michael Maggio Emerging Designer Award.  She received an honorable mention from the Backstage West Garland Awards for Lobster Alice at The Blank Theatre and was nominated for Joseph Jefferson Awards for Orlando at The Court Theater, The Incident with The Next Theatre, Terrible Girls with About Face, Yellowman with The Next Theatre and OffSpring of the Cold War with Walkabout Theatre. In 2010, she won the Jeff Award for her design on Mary's Wedding with Rivendell Theater Ensemble.  Previous teaching credits include adjunct faculty at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Associated Colleges of the Midwest and The Theatre School, DePaul University.

Her website is available at jaymismith.com