​LIGHTING & PROJECTIONS DESIGN

​Lighting Concept: The universe is vast and ever moving, sometimes we get lost in its beauty.
​When lost, bring it back to the human body - breathe.

After Images or Marie Curie Remembers
LIGHTING DESIGN, ADAPTATION

​Written & Directed by Bryan Reynolds
Choreographed by Jessica Dunn
Starring Jessica Dunn & Evan Lugo
Music Composer: Jordy the Blonde
Original Production, Lighting Designer: Lonnie Alcaraz
Lighting Design Adaptation: Jesús López Vargas
Media Creator: James Intriligator
Projections Engineer: Merle DeWitt III
Media Assistant & PA: Gosia Lorenza
Costume Designer: Rosalida Medina
Makeup Design & Artists: Jesús López Vargas
Calling Stage Manager: Jessica Keasberry-Vnuk
Publicity & Photography: MOON Collective
Produced by Transversal Theater Company, Bryan Reynolds
& University of Amsterdam
September 21s & 22nd @ 7:00pm, 2022
University of Amsterdam
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

VIVO - Lotería
LIGHTING DESIGN

​Lighting Concept: Sterile realism healed by chaos.
Written by Mabelle Reynoso
Directed by Sara Rodriguez
Scenic Designer: Brandon PT Davis
Lighting Designer: Jesús López Vargas
Projections Designer: Merle DeWitt III
Costume Designer: Lauryn Moles
Properties Designer: Kinsey Lahn
​Sound Designer: Grayson Moreno
Puppet Designer: Cory Gilstrap
Calling Stage Manager: Audrey Lang
Assistant Stage Manager: Gary Livingston-Weave
Producers: Melissa Livingston & Chris Alleman
Starring: Cesar Mendoza, Alyssa Mendoza, Hugo Conde, Alexis DeJoy, Graco Hernandez, Ray Zarate.
The Flex at Lake Dillon Theatre Co., ​2022
Silverthorne, Colorado

The shadow of loving (you)
​LIGHTING DESIGN

Lighting Concept: The seconds before dawn.
​Concept & Choreography by Katherine Lingle
for "KIN" - a presentation by Katherine Lingle & Bridget Nagel
Dancers: Gianna Acciacca, Veronica Allen,
Katherine Lingle, Katie Walsh 
Original Music: Andrew J Tarr, Featuring Air So Sweet by dodie
Lighting Designer: Jesús López Vargas
Associate Lighting Designer: Athziri Morales
Costume Collaboration with Wishful Sinful Vintage
Publicity Photos: Waeli Wang
​Stage Photography: Athziri Morales
Produced by Katie Lingle & Stomping Grounds L.A.
October 8th @ 7:30pm, 2022
Stomping Grounds,
Los Angeles, California

After Images or Marie Curie Remembers
LIGHTING DESIGN, ADAPTATION

​Written & Directed by Bryan Reynolds
Choreographed by Jessica Dunn
Starring Jessica Dunn & Evan Lugo
Music Composer: Jordy the Blonde
Original Production, Lighting Designer: Lonnie Alcaraz
Lighting Design Adaptation: Jesús López Vargas
Media Creator: James Intriligator
Projections Engineer: Merle DeWitt III
Media Assistant: Gosia Lorenza
Costume Designer: Rosalida Medina
Makeup Design & Artists: Jesús López Vargas
Calling Stage Manager: Jessica Keasberry-Vnuk
Technical Director & Venue Manager: Bruno Mathelart
Produced by Transversal Theater Company, Bruno Mathelart, Bryan Reynolds & Dinant Creative Factory
September 17th @ 8:00pm, 2022
Dinant Creative Factory
Dinant, Belgium

Tomás and
​the Library Lady
PROJECTIONS DESIGN

Written by José Gonzalez
​Directed by Sara Rodriguez
Set Design by Brandon PT Davis
​Lighting Design by Nita Mendoza
Projections by Jesús López Vargas & Cory Gilstrap (puppet)
Non-Animated Projections by Brandon PT Davis
Costume Designer: Lauryn Moles
Sound Designer: Noel Nichols
Props Designer & Puppetteer: Kinsey Lahn
Technical Director: Ben Whitmore
The Flex at Lake Dillon Theatre Co., ​2022
Silverthorne, Colorado
The puppet seen on these pictures was designed and built by Cory Gilstrap, the projections were animated and treated for color and texture by Jesús López Vargas.

​The videos below show the four animations created for this projection design:

​Bloody Shakespeare
​LIGHTING DESIGN

Lighting Concept: Nature taking over the world.
Adapted by Jay Stratton & Herman Gomez 
​Directed by Jay Stratton
​Lighting Design by Jesús López Vargas
Lighting Programmer: Merle DeWitt III
​Set Design by Olivia Fuentes & Constanza Romero
​Costume Design by Sofia Perez & Gabby Montelongo
​Blood Effects by Nichole Harrison
UTEP Studio Theater, ​2017
El Paso, Texas

​An original production adapted by Jay Stratton & Herman Gomez, Bloody Shakespeare takes its audiences through Shakespeare's seven most shocking scenes as characters fight for their lives inches away from its audience. With a "haunted-house" premise, Bloody Shakespeare ​takes its audience through the darkest stories of Shakespeare. 

​Aloft
​LIGHTING & PROJECTIONS DESIGN

Choreographed by Lisa Smith
Lighting and Projection Design by Jesús López Vargas
Costume Design by Luz Escalde
​UTEP Wise Family Theater, ​2018
El Paso, Texas
 Lighting Concept: Framed stillness in movement.
Aloft was the main stage piece reserved for the top two graduating seniors at UTEP's Dance Festival production in Spring 2018. My concept for this piece was "to take flight and dance in the clouds". Throughout the progression of the piece, the clouds swayed with the wind, accelerating their ​pace with the music.

In This Light | There
​is Silence
​LIGHTING & PROJECTIONS DESIGN

Directed by Jesús López Vargas
Lighting & Projections by Jesús López Vargas
Scored by Dimitri Soto
Costumes & Makeup Design: Athziri Morales
Technical Director: Merle DeWitt III
Performers & Improvisational Movers: Daniella Ballester
​& Brandon Ray
Beall Center for the Arts, 2019
Santa Ana, California
​In This Light There is Silence was an outdoors installation performance. A physical & conceptual space tangibly confined by both shadow & light, a space known as fear. The performance was made up of different elements that shared the same space & interacted with each other in front of an audience. 

Digital animations shifted throughout the night on the "upstage wall" accompanied by music, together dictating the mood of each episode. The performer known as "RED" had the freedom to enter and exit the performance space only through two openings on the "upstage wall". The individual known as "---", without sharing their goal, sought to understand why they found themselves stuck in this space, stuck in this state of mind, paralyzed by fears.

​The end of each performance concluded with a realization,
​"---" now able to exit this space.

In-Utero
​​LIGHTING DESIGN

​Choreographed by Oliver Dominguez & Ray Alba
​Lighting Design by Jesús López Vargas
​Associate Lighting Designer: Merle DeWitt III
​Set Properties by Susan Precket
Shundo Ballroom Dance Studio, 2018
El Paso, Texas
 Lighting Concept: Bring it back to birth, retro carnal.
Only ten lighting-board controlled instruments were used to light this hour-long production, including three "fluorescent" LED's built in the shape of a triangle, in order to match the aesthetic of the photos I had recently taken to advertise the up-and-coming dance company.
​
​In-Utero is defined as "being in a woman's uterus, before birth", this show is inspired by similar concepts like creation and destruction. Fawnz Dance Company explores topics like politics, psychology, character, fashion & human relationships.

FAWNZ Dance Company
Publicity Material
​​LIGHTING DESIGN​

Photography & Lighting Design by Jesús López Vargas
Graphic Design by Jesús López & Paola Carrera
​Artistic Direction by Ray Alba & Jesús López
​Costume Design by Oliver Dominguez & Brandon Ray Alba
Photoshoot Gaffer: Merle DeWitt III
El Paso, TX, 2017
​
​Fawnz Dance Company is an emerging contemporary dance company in El Paso, Texas. They are known for their geometric shapes and contrasting organic movements. As an emerging dance company, they have hired me to design their image for publicity and online presence. On the right are some samples of this work.​

Mary's Wedding
​​LIGHTING DESIGN

 Lighting Concept: Tonight, it is a dream.
Written by Stephen Massicotte 
​Directed by Stephanie Carrillo
​Lighting Design by Jesús López Vargas
Sound Design by Athziri Morales
Costume Design by Luz Escalde
UTEP Basement Theater, 2017
​
With incredibly poetic language, this play relies mostly on the audience's relationship with both of its characters, with this in mind the goal of my design was to keep the story flowing smoothly without any emphasis on the technical elements. In a very intimate alley formation and with limited scenery, lighting defined the various transitions from time and location, taking on the role of this production's "dream" .

RED
​​LIGHTING DESIGNER

Lighting Concept: Mimic an open mic, for angst.
​Directed by MOON Collective
​Lighting Design by Jesús López Vargas
Production Assistant: Merle DeWitt III
​performance poetry based off "I See Red"
UTEP Basement Theater, 2017

​Based on the coming of age poetry book "I See Red" by K. Zakrevski, RED was a production that came to fruition due to my experimentation with written and spoken language as well as with visual composition on stage. The event consisted of 11 poems in Spanish & English, performed as monologues or duets in front of an intimate audience.

Rubin Center
​Charity Gala
​​LIGHTING DESIGNER

​​Lighting Design by Jesús López Vargas
​Supervised by Hideaki Tsutsui
Electricians: Athziri Morales, Lexy Amador, Cassandra Soto & Merle DeWitt III
Rubin Center Courtyard, El Paso, 2017

An outdoors gala organized by the Rubin Center (Art Gallery) at the University of Texas at El Paso which consisted of two bars, a photo-booth, a tattoo booth, ​a live-music stage, and an art bus. ​

​Life in the Theatre
​with Octavio Solis
​LIGHTING DESIGNER

Lighting Concept: Barebones, the structure of a home.
Live reading of Lydia by Octavio Solis
Interview hosted by director Kim McKean
Lighting Design: Jesús López Vargas
Set Design (base structure): Ross Fleming
Event Manager: Logan Martin
​UTEP Studio Theater, 2017

A two-day event open to the community consisting of a Q&A with playwright Octavio Solis, hosted by director Kim McKean, and a live reading of the play by the cast of the production. The event took place in the skeleton of what would two weeks later become the stage, a broken home full of dark secrets.

​Dance Capstones 2016
​LIGHTING DESIGNER

Resilience
Choreographed by Stephanie Rangel
UTEP Dance Studio, 2016

​Soul on Fire
Choreographed by Yaya Nuñez
​UTEP Dance Studio, 2016

​Two dance pieces choreographed by graduating students of the dance program at the University of Texas at El Paso. Resilience was a contemporary/hip-hop piece performed by 8 dancers, while Soul on Fire was a solo tap-dance piece. General lighting plot shared by five other lighting designers.​

​Lighting Design in Photography
​(samples)

photography portfolio 
As an active professional & fine-art photographer, I have designed lights for my photographic projects ever since 2009. The lighting & visual composition of all photos have been directed by me. ​Many of my these photos were lit using unconventional methods & instruments, the results were achieved through use of various reflective surfaces, angles, &  lighting sources.
*All photography in this website was taken by Jesús ​López unless stated otherwise*
​(c)opyright Jesús ​López 2023

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