Joshua J. Mullady is the Visiting Instructor of Lighting and Sound at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, KY. He teaches lighting, sound, projection design, stage management, and more. He also mentors students in those areas and designs lights and sound for department productions.
He is a recent graduate of the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, where he received an MFA in Lighting Design. Originally from Dubuque, IA, he spent the past 20 years working in multiple areas of the entertainment industry.
In 2008, he graduated from the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa, as the first student to receive a BA in Theatre with all three emphases the school offered: Performance, Design and Production, and Drama for Youth. While at UNI, he acted, directed, designed, and was a TA in the scene studio and classroom. He served as the President and Vice President of the UNI Student Theatre Association, producing and working on multiple productions. In addition, he spent three summers as a carpenter with the Texas Shakespeare Festival.
After graduation, he moved to Omaha, Nebraska, to work as the Technical Director and Scenic Designer with the Omaha Theatre Company. In 2010, he went to work as a freelance artist in the community, where he acted, designed, directed, and taught. He was a Nebraska Artist in Residence with the Nebraska Arts Council from 2017-2020, allowing him to provide even more specialized residency workshops. He also spent two years as an Adjunct Faculty member with the Iowa Western Community College Theatre Department, teaching technical theatre while designing scenery and lights for their productions. He also owned and operated a wedding and karaoke company as a DJ and MC on many events.
His work gained lots of recognition with multiple nominations for scenic and lighting design.
In 2017, he won Best Lighting Design from the Omaha Theatre Arts Guild Awards and the Omaha Arts and Entertainment Awards for his work on "Carrie: The Musical" with SNAP! Productions.
After working on over 100 productions and countless workshops, he returned to graduate school to focus on his love of lighting design, learn new skills like projections and digital rendering, and gain experience teaching at the university level. Since returning to school, he's worked on multiple plays, dance recitals, and operas. He is also the Lighting Director at The Shed Smokehouse and Juke Joint, working on concerts with groups such as George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, Zach Bryan, and Drive-By Truckers.