Biography - Joe Burke a projection and lighting design for theatre and live performance.

Joe Burke is an award-winning designer spanning his creativity across a wide range of performance types and creative disciplines. Centering his creative offerings on projection-based designs has afforded him opportunities to design nationwide. His artistry has been seen and appreciated in venues producing live theatre, exhibits, visual art installations, and music performances.

His passion for creativity started in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, where he discovered the impact art could have on his life. Soon after, Joe followed his interest in lighting design through the theatre department at Kent State University. In 2012 he relocated to Illinois, where he continued his studies in theatrical design. During his graduate residency, Joe discovered a new medium for creating visual art that engulfed his curiosity. He found a different way of storytelling through digital media and projected artwork. After receiving his Master of Fine Arts degree from The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Joe continued his career as a Chicago-based designer. His current design offerings include projection and lighting design, his main storytelling tools in the live theatre industry.

As an expansion of his achievements, Joe is the founder of Video Craft, a collaborative studio specializing in custom-tailored original artwork, inspired and functional designs with an evolving aesthetic that meets the needs and vision of their Client's project.

Joe contributes to the Black Box Guild, capturing and creating videos for others to utilize in their production process. He has created and collaborated with other artists, designers, and companies nationwide, centering his artistry around functional and supportive storytelling. His work utilizes various lighting and video skills and techniques. At his core, Joe is a collaborator who takes great pride in adapting his aesthetic to enhance every project.

Theatre highlights include the pre-Broadway run and world premiere of August Rush (Paramount Theatre); Midwest premier of Hope, Part II of a Mexican Trilogy (Teatro Vista); Midwest premier of The Total Bent (Haven Theatre); Midwest premier of Women Laughing Alone With Salad (Theater Wit!); world premiere of Earthquakes in London (Steep Theatre); The Christians (Steppenwolf Theatre); The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-time (Steppenwolf Theatre)

Musical performance highlights include Metamorphosis, a collaboration between Third Coast Percussion and Movement Art Is; Paddle to The Sea, a multimedia experience collaboratively composed and performed by the Grammy Award winning Third Coast Percussion.

Visual art presentations include Seven Soliloquies (Art on theMart); Folxtales (University of Illinois Urbana Champaign); Poetry Found (The Poetry Foundation)

Exhibit highlights include the world premiere of The Hunger Games Exhibition (Imagine Exhibitions); Spy: The Secret World Of Espionage (Base Entertainment); Sea Monsters (Base Entertainment)

Collaborating Companies: A-squared Theatre Workshop, Base Entertainment, Burke Brothers Sound, Case Western Reserve University, Chamber Opera Chicago, Cleveland’s Playhouse Square, Cleveland Public Theatre, Children's Theatre of Charlotte, Imagine Exhibitions Incorporated, Freeman AV, Museum of Contemporary Art-Chicago, North Park University Opera, Northwestern University, Paramount Theatre, Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre, Theatre Wit!, The House Theatre of Chicago, theMart, The Poetry Foundation, The Yard, Third Coast Percussion, Travesty Dance Group, Broadway Sacramento at Music Circus, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Steep Theatre, and Writers' Theatre.

Joe holds a Master of Fine Arts from Illinois Theatre at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Kent State University. He was the recipient of the Joseph Jefferson Award for his projection design of Elf The Musical. In 2014 he was the recipient of The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Region 3, Theatre Design Excellence in Lighting Design Award. He has been a guest speaker at many institutions including Kent State University, the University of Illinois, and Northern Illinois University.

Awards

2018 Joseph Jefferson Award - Projection Design - Elf The Musical

Nominations

2018 Joseph Jefferson Award - Projection Design - Women Laughing Alone With Salad

2015 Joseph Jefferson Award - Projections/Video Design - 1984