Megan Reilly is an award-winning lighting and projections designer for theater, dance, and immersive experiences. As a designer, she grounds her practice in knowing that all environments tell a story and influence audiences psychologically, emotionally, and biologically; her job as a designer is to guide an audience along a director’s journey with intention and consideration for both the work and the needs of performers and audience members.
Her work has been seen across the United States and internationally in Edinburgh (Edinburgh Fringe Festival with Toronto’s Toasterlab), Dublin (Smock Alley Theatre with spoken-word artist Felispeaks), Portugal, and Avignon. She is an eight-time nominee and two-time winner of the B. Iden Payne Award for Outstanding Lighting Design, and her work was selected for the Gallery Exhibition of World Stage Design 2009 in Seoul, Korea and the 2025 Spectacles Vivant Scénes Numeriques showcase in the Festival d’Avignon.
Regionally, her work includes THE WORLD GOES ‘ROUND (Milwaukee Repertory Theatre), A CHRISTMAS CAROL (TheatreSquared), YELLOW FACE (Lyric Stage Company of Boston), and MATILDA (TheatreSquared).
Immersive theatre work includes Minneapolis’s long-running CABAL (Walking Shadow Theatre) and her own virtual reality performance BEYOND THE GARDEN OF ADRIAN, a restaging of Adrian Howell’s 2009 performance. She is also a published scholarly writer on the subject of immersive theatre and virtual performance.
Megan is a proud member of USA 829.
Select Creative Works
- Lighting Design: THE WORLD ‘GOES ROUND, Directed by Kelley Faulkner, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee, WI, 2026.
- Lighting Design: CINDERELLA, Directed by Tom Alsip, Prescott Park Arts Festival, Portsmouth, NH, 2026.
- Lighting & Media Design: A WRINKLE IN TIME, Directed by Khalia David Philip, Coterie Theatre, Kansas City, MO, 2025.
- Lighting Design: JUST ASK!, Directed by Fran Sillau, Coterie Theatre, Kansas City, MO, 2025.
- Media Design: YELLOW FACE, Directed by Ted Hewlett, Lyric Stage Company, Boston, MA, 2024.
- Lighting Design: FINDER AND THE NORTH STAR, Directed by Michael Wright, Children’s Theatre of Madison, Madison, WI, 2023.
- Lighting Design: DISNEY’S FREAKY FRIDAY THE MUSICAL, Directed by Ana Skiddis-Vargas, Children’s Theatre of Madison, Madison, WI, 2022.
- Media Design: MATILDA, Directed by Aimée Hayes, TheatreSquared, Fayetteville, AR, 2021.
- Lighting Design: ANN, Directed by Kim McKean, TheatreSquared, Fayetteville, AR, 2020.
- Media Design: 10,000 BALCONIES, Directed by Kholoud Sawaf, TheatreSquared, Fayetteville, AR. (2019).
- Lighting Design: A CHRISTMAS CAROL, Directed by Amy Herzberg, TheatreSquared, Fayetteville, AR, 2019.
- Immersive Design: CABAL, Directed by David Pisa & John Heimbuch, Walking Shadow Theatre, Minneapolis, MN, 2019.
- Lighting Design: GHOST QUARTET, Directed by Liz Fisher, Penfold Theatre Company, Austin, TX, 2019.
- Media Design: HOODED, OR BEING BLACK FOR DUMMIES, Directed by Thomas W. Jones II, Thomas W, Mixed Blood Theatre, Minneapolis, MN, 2018.
- Lighting Design: LADY NA MASTER AND THE SYNAPTIC ROOM, Directed by David Francis Moore. (Director) Collaborative Artists Company and Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, Ireland, 2018.
Select Publications
- Reilly, M. (2027). “Neurodivergent Labor: Audience Care on the Spectrum” in The Routledge Companion to Immersive Arts and Media, ed. S. Atkinson, J. Bucknall, and H. Kennedy (forthcoming)
- Reilly, M. (2024). Light and darkness: How sunlight supports a narrative at Sintra’s Quinta da Regaleria. Theatre and Performance Design, 9(3–4), 175–190. https://doi.org/10.1080/23322551.2023.2285543
- Reilly, M. (2018). No wrong choices: performing alternate reality in The Tension Experience. International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, 14(1), 70-83. Online Publication/Abstract, Online Publication/Abstract.
- Boeshart Burelle, M., Kocurek, C. A., Perez, A., Reilly, M., Salter, A., Smith, G., & Vadakumchery, T. (2018). The Spider’s Web. Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology Online Publication/Abstract.
- Reilly, M. (2017). Great Wall of Pi: Creating a High-Tech, Multimedia Solution for $2000, not $10,000. USITT TD&T Online Publication/Abstract.
Select Presentations
- Reilly, M. (2025, June). Beyond the Garden of Adrian, SVSN Showcase at the Festival d’Avignon, Avignon, France.
- Reilly, M. (2024, May). “Beyond the Garden of Adrian and the authentic actor-audience connection,” at the Contemporary Theatre and Drama in English Conference 2024, Innsbruck, Austria.
- Reilly, M. (2021, March). USITT Session: Virtual Performance Series: Finding Pandora X Case Study. Oral Presentation presented at the 2021 USITT Virtually Anywhere conference.
- Reilly, M., Huse, C., Mosher, S., & Sundstrom, J. (2019). Project: Sensory Accessibility Headset. Selected Participant presented at the San Diego Opera Hack, San Diego, CA.
Select Awards and Honors
- Outstanding Media Design, Walden (Nominee), B. Iden Payne Awards Council, 2025
- Outstanding Lighting Design, Ghost Quartet (Nominee), B. Iden Payne Awards Council, 2020
- Outstanding Lighting Design, Still Now (Nominee), B. Iden Payne Awards Council, 2015
- Outstanding Lighting Design, Bethany (Nominee), B. Iden Payne Awards Council, 2014
- Outstanding Lighting Design, Riddley Walker (Nominee), B. Iden Payne Awards Council, 2012
- Best Lighting Design, Machinal (Nominee), Austin Critics Table, 2011
- Best Lighting Design, A Brief Narrative of an Extraordinary Birth of Rabbits (Nominee), Austin Theatre Examiner, 2010
- Outstanding Lighting Design, Murder Ballad Murder Mystery (Winner), B. Iden Payne Awards Council, 2010
- Outstanding Lighting Design, Ophelia (Winner), B. Iden Payne Awards Council, 2009