Local young man makes good, and what an interesting life he has embarked upon. One of our own, Devin Cameron, who grew up in the area and graduated from Colfax High School, has become a sought-after lighting designer in New York, California, and venues around the world. Now, he is developing the lighting design for InConcert Sierra’s new Crown Point Venues. He is developing the lighting design for the entire 42,000 square foot building, including the complex systems for the 540-seat concert hall and the 150-seat black box theater.
Devin has participated in theater since he was nine, acting and singing, and started doing lighting design at age eleven. At Colfax High School, he was mentored by Erin Beatie and John Deaderick and engaged in both acting and lighting design. During that time, he also designed lighting for The Center for the Arts and the Nevada Theater.
He attended Emerson College in Boston, where he received his bachelor’s degree in fine arts in theater and design technology, lighting design. In 2012, Devin moved to New York to break into the theater scene. A milestone came in 2016 when he became the resident lighting designer for an Off-Broadway show called “Sleep No More” as well as the building in which the show took place.
Devin then became the touring lighting director with an NPR show called “Water+/-” and fortuitously met the artistic director for NPR Presents, who is now the executive artistic director for Apple’s Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino. She hired Devin to design lighting for various product launches and cultural events at the Jobs Theater.
He says that he works every week in a different place, which is both exhausting and exhilarating. He was in South Korea to design lighting for “FOOD,” a quasi-immersive theater piece which will travel to Australia, Scotland and the U.S. and which will continue to travel for several more years.
Devin has also designed for Norwegian Cruise Line’s new ships, for the full repertoire of their performances. He joins the cruise for the first week or so to supervise the lighting, often leaving out of Italy. Unfortunately, since he works so hard, he says he hasn’t had much time to explore Italy.
A few of his other projects include a show called “HOME” for the Edinburgh Fringe Festive and an immersive piece in the downtown Los Angeles’ arts district called “Madcap Motel,” which opened the night before Covid lockdown, then reopened in May 2021 and ran for about a year. He didn’t have to stay with it once it opened but had to return there for several months at a time to set it up and then keep it tuned.
This summer, Devin is going to design the lighting for Sierra Stage’s musical “Honk!” in July at the Nevada Theatre; he has previously done lighting design for other local plays.
For InConcert Sierra’s project, Devin has already submitted his preliminary designs. He will need to be in Grass Valley for about a month once it is time to install the lighting. He will supervise the installation of the systems that adjust the lights for the entire building, establishing different moods for tours, meetings, shows, and concerts. Each space will have individual consoles to allow for adjustment of theatrical or presentation modes. This is the largest project where he has also participated in other building components, such as architectural elements and design.
Collaborating with the architect, theater designer and acoustician, Devin has selected new fixtures that have no fans, so they are absolutely silent, as necessary in an acoustic concert hall. He is also using all LED fixtures throughout the building. Devin has worked in Lincoln Center in New York and says that InConcert Sierra’s fixtures will be better suited for concerts than Lincoln Center’s because they are newer and state of the art.
As a lighting designer, he is responsible for selecting all the appropriate lighting fixtures, placement, and their management. He also supervises the installation process. Once everything is installed, he makes necessary adjustments to ensure it can be perfectly managed and modified as needed. Numerous phone meetings have been held to ensure the entire team knows where everything should be placed. Devin says it’s fun to work on a project in the community in which he grew up, as well as being able to create a project from scratch. InConcert Sierra’s Crown Point Venues building is a significant project for him, and he’s excited about the possibilities. He will be in Grass Valley for about a month in the fall to work on the various lighting installations in the numerous rooms and spaces.
Devin says one of his aspirations is to do lighting design combined with video design and immersive theater in a space that doesn’t have seats, although it’s not participatory theater. Instead, the audience moves from space to space to follow the performers. He likes the challenge of lighting appropriately for both the audience and performers. Since that is a new genre, it’s open for interpretation and creativity.
For fun, Devin loves walking and running in Central Park, hiking in the Hudson Valley, going to theater productions and Broadway plays, cooking and eating at restaurants. When he’s in Nevada County in the fall, he’ll check in with friends and family in between all the long hours and hard work he’ll be putting in to install the best and innovative lighting for InConcert Sierra’s new building.
If you would like to see InConcert Sierra’s Crown Point Venues construction site and plans, you can sign up for a tour at www.inconcertsierra.org/crown-point-project/take-a-tour or www.crownpointvenues.com.
For more information on Devin Cameron, visit https://www.devincameron.com/
Hindi Greenberg is president of the InConcert Sierra Board of Directors and an avid supporter of the arts.