Festival Feature: Long-time Lighting Designer Donna Ruzika Celebrates Five Decades at the Festival
By Liz Armstrong, guest writer
Lighting Designer Donna Ruzika has designed over 70 shows at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, including Henry VIII, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Winter’s Tale for the 2024 season.
Ruzika’s first season was in 1973, when her husband Tom was asked by former Associate Artistic Director Cam Harvey to design the lights. She was the box office manager that summer. Ruzika then became the first company manager the following season. As she developed her freelance career as a lighting designer, Harvey asked her to come back to Utah, and she started her longtime collaboration with the Festival as a lighting designer in 1998.
Ruzika explains how she got involved in theatre lighting design. A love story for the times, she simultaneously not only found her husband, but her passion.
“When I was in college, I started out as a business major, but I went in search of a new major. After trying physical education and social sciences, I literally ran into this guy that suggested I try out for a production of Hair in the theatre department. He was the keyboard player and lighting designer. I was cast in the show. We dated. I found my major. When I graduated, we got married. Tom Ruzika became my wonderful husband and, in a way, my lighting mentor,” Ruzika said.
To those that aren’t familiar with lighting design, Ruzika explains that it is what “illuminates the entire play and hopefully reflects the mood, place, and time of the play. Of course, lighting the actors is the primary goal of theatrical lighting.”
“It also shows the audience, without their knowing it, where to look,” Ruzika said.
She noted that this past season was challenging designing the three different plays in the Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre. The season was full of contrast in design, as Henry VIII required dark and moody historical lighting while The Taming of the Shrew needed “bright, sharp, and overt colors.”
“Taming was great fun, the challenge was to not have the colorful set overwhelm the actors, so I needed to put a lot of light on the actors (from different directions) which made them stand out from all that color,” Ruzika explained. “There’s so much to look at, but you’re lighting the actor, because if the audience can’t see faces they’re not going to listen.”
Even The Winter’s Tale alternated between moods, with the setting of Sicilia in the first act being cold and dark and the second act’s Bohemia was a more lighthearted, fun, and fairytale-like place.
“Director Carolyn Howarth did a wonderful job with a play that’s very hard to do. I’ve lit that play twice before and I have to say that Properties Director Ben Hohman [and team] created the best bear for this production. . . it was amazing,” Ruzika said.
For Ruzika, her favorite part of the 2024 season was working with one of the best crews she’s had in her history of seasons at the Festival. Ruzika also appreciated her assistant, Maren Taylor, who did an exceptional job.
“We laughed a lot, while getting all the work done. . . the crew was excellent. After the last preview performance, the crew surprised Maren and I with bouquets of flowers. It was a wonderful way to finish off the season,” Ruzika said, teary-eyed.
Reflecting on her time at the Festival, Ruzika said she returned year after year due to a combination of factors.
“It’s a lovely place to work and Utah is a beautiful state,” Ruzika said. “My former assistant (for many years) Michael Pasquini and I would go on ‘dirt road adventures’ each Sunday (our day off), always exploring a new road, not knowing where we would end up. It was great fun and we saw a big chunk of Southern Utah.”
In addition to her adventures exploring southern Utah, Ruzika returned to the Festival because of the positive experiences she had designing.
“Designing at the Festival is artistically challenging and satisfying,” Ruzika said. “I got to work with the best directors and crews, and that always makes designing lighting a joyful experience.”
She said one of the most memorable and challenging shows she ever worked on at the Festival was A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2011) for its 50th anniversary season, directed by Festival Founder Fred C. Adams. Due to an enormous tree, three-quarters of Ruzika’s lighting was blocked.
“Fred’s beautiful tree, filled with three colors of tiny lights, was the most challenging, so I basically had to light the actors with only side light, down light, and front light,” Ruzika said.
Another project that Ruzika and her husband were called in to help with was designing the Festival’s holiday lighting display on the grounds of the Beverley Center. In November 2020, they joined forces with Festival technicians and production staff to create a display that dazzles with over 100,000 lights, wreaths, icicles, and other decorations. Holiday revelers are invited to stroll through the festive grounds.
Ruzika described her time at the Festival as “a joyful adventure” and is very glad Cam Harvey convinced her to come to Utah all those years ago.
