Lee Keenan | Theatrical Lighting and Scenic Designer

Tonight I was initiated as a Company Member of the House Theatre of Chicago, and I can’t tell you what it means to me. It is rare to find a group of people so committed to the same goals and ethics as you, seeking to achieve them through the same means. — Fight Evil—-, Lee

Don’t miss my first lighting design for Lookingglass. It was a delightful adventure to work on and it is a delightful adventure to watch.

Scenic Design by Jacqueline and Richard Penrod
Lighting Design by Lee Keenan
Costume Design by Mara Blumenfeld
Original music by Kevin O’Donnell
Sound Design by Joshua Horvath

FeaturingKevin Douglas and Philip R. Smith, Joe Dempsey, Ravi Batista, Anish Jethmalani, Ericka Ratcliff, Nick Sandys and Rom Barkhordar.
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Silk Road Theatre Project | Pierce Hall, Chicago Temple Building | Sprin 2008

Our Enemies by Yussef El Guindi
Director | Patrizia Acerra
Scenic Design | Lee Keenan
Costume Design | Christine Pascual
Lighting Design | Mac Vaughey
Sound Design & Original Music | Rob Steel
Props Design | Daniel Katz

Featuring | Kareem Bandealy, Andrew Navarrom, Don Bender, James Elly, Susie Griffith, Monica Lopez, Vincent P. Mahler<

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The House Theatre of Chicago | Winter 2008

The Attempters by Shawn Pfautsch
Director | Marika Mashburn
Scenic Designer | Collette Pollard
Costume Designer | Debbie Baer
Lighting Designer | Lee Keenan
Music Director | Andy Wagner
Sound Designer | Rick Sims
Props Designer | Michelle Warner
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‘Our Enemies’ steers clear of caricature

By Chris Jones | Theater critic
March 4, 2008

At the top of Yussef El Guindi’s new play, we’re taken to a TV studio—it looks a lot like Fox News—where an iconoclastic host is about to interview the Arab-born author of “Jihad 101.” It’s a book that panders to the prejudices of conservative hosts who view all Arab cultures as nothing more than petri dishes for terrorism.

Oh no, I thought. Most plays don’t do either cable news or conservative authors well—the temptations of caricature prove too great. And for about five minutes, it feels like we’re about to get one of those earnest, liberal, grant-friendly and (if all we’re being is honest) deadly boring plays where the American mass media is vilified (like that’s hard) and a misguided character spends two hours discovering the spiritual importance of from whence he came.

El Guindi delivers no such thing. On the contrary, this world premiere of “Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat” reveals an exceedingly smart, sophisticated and compelling exploration of Arab-American identity and the opportunities as well as the perils of assimilation. Not only does El Guindi probe the dilemma of being Arab in a culture with little understanding of the Middle East, he’s also willing to explore the demonstrable personal benefits of leaving the past behind in America. (more…)

Loyola University Chicago | Kathleen Mullady Memorial Theatre | February 2008

Burial at Thebes adapted from Sophocles Antigone by Seamus Heaney
Director | Sarah Gabel
Scenic & Costume Designer | Jacqueline Firkins
Lighting Designer | Lee Keenan
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The Building Stage | Fall 2007
Noir Conceived and Directed by Blake Montgomery

Production Design | Lee Keenan, Meghan Raham, and Blake Montgomery
Costume Design | Meghan Raham
Lighting design | Lee Keenan
Sound Design | Kevin O’Donnell
Assistant Lighting Designer | Ryan Williams

Performed and Created | David Amaral, Eddie Bennett, Sarah Goeden, Fannie Hungerford, Chelsea Keenan, and Daiva Olson.

I’m really proud of this show, through light, paint, and a heroic hour worth of hair and make-up each night on the part of the cast, we pulled off a compelling black and white look.
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The Building Stage presents Noir

What a joy this was to light, the whole production is in greyscale, right down to skin and hair [thanks to the actors for their laborious preshow makeup job]. It is is dark,shadowy , high contrast, sexy, its Noir. And the show is funny, it comes from a clown aesthetic and plays at the noir style. It runs Fri-Sun till Nov 4th.

Reviews:

New City Chicago

“…in terms of aesthetics, Montgomery knows what he is doing. Lee Keenan’s lighting design is crucial–the long, husky shadows; the muted glow creeping through the slats of an unseen window blind, tattooing the wall. (Keenan also designed[actually I collaborated with Blake and Megan on] the set, a soaring space defined by pivoting walls that suggests the slipperiness of truth as it reveals itself in film noir.) ” - Nina Metz (more…)

I’m really proud of this show. I designed the set and the projections on this our latest Silk Road Theatre Project: Shishir Kurup’s Merchant On Venice. The “On” is not a typo, this is a modern adaptation set on West LA’s Venice Blvd with Hindus and Muslims rather than Christian’s and Jews, its a perfect Silk Road show. Reviews have been phenomenal as you can see below. It runs through November 4th, don’t miss it.

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chicagotribune.com
THEATER REVIEW
Bold ‘Merchant’ melds Bard, Bollywood
By Chris Jones

Tribune theater critic

October 8, 2007

Shylock becomes an alienated Muslim trapped in a Southern Californian world of immigrant, movie-loving Hindus. Jessica runs away to Hollywood. To snag Portia’s hand in marriage, suitors have to pick the right DVD. And that famous pound of flesh? In Shishir Kurup’s remarkable polycultural deconstruction of William Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice,” the owner of the Money Store wants to make his extraction from a most delicate part of the male anatomy. (more…)

Silk Road Theatre Project | Pierce Hall, Chicago Temple Building | Fall 2007

Merchant on Venice by Shishir Kurup
Director | Stuart Carden
Scenic Design | Lee Keenan
Costume Design | Carol Blanchard
Lighting Design | Rebecca Barrett
Sound Design & Original Music | Rob Steel
Props Design | Dan Pellant

Featuring | Kamal Hans, Madrid St. Angelo, Vincent Mahler, Andy Nagraj, Gerardo Cardenas, Marvin Quihada, Pranidhi Varshney, Amira Sabbagh, Anish Jethmalani, Tariq Vasudeva, Sadieh Rifai
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