
Title
Designer, Professor of TheatreOffice Building
Oscar Larson Performing Arts CenterOffice
189FMailing Address
Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center 189FSchool of Performing Arts-Box 2830
University Station
Brookings, SD 57007
Biography
Corey Shelsta is a Professor of Theatre at South Dakota State University. He designs lighting, scenery and sound for productions at SDSU as well as other theatres in the region. Additionally, he teaches courses in design, technical production, and theatre history. His interests include incorporating digital technology and virtual reality simulations into the classroom and the stage. During the summer, Corey is the production manager for Prairie Repertory Theatre. Before coming to SDSU, Corey was the resident lighting and sound designer at Theatre Memphis in Memphis, TN. Corey’s awards include SDSU Artist of the Year for An Evening with Harvey Dunn’s Feminine Images; Broadway World Award for Shrek the Musical (Lighting Design); Detroit Free Press Theatre award for Beyond the Horizon (Lighting Design), and Memphis Theatre Awards for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Lighting Design), As Bees in Honey Drown (Original Music), Gypsy (Sound Design) and A Piece of My Heart (Sound Design). Last year marked a milestone for Corey as he designed his 200th career production. Recent designs include lighting designs for Romeo and Juliet and THE [scream] at Minnesota State University Moorhead; scenic, lighting and projection designs for Bonnie & Clyde and An Evening with Harvey Dunn’s Feminine Images at South Dakota State University; lighting design for Mary Poppins at Sioux Empire Community Theatre; scenic designs for Smokey Joe’s Café, Dial M for Murder and Boeing, Boeing and lighting design for Smokey Joe’s Café and Hairspray at Prairie Repertory Theatre. Last summer, he directed Don’t Hug Me for Prairie Repertory Theatre. Corey and his wife Stacy have two children, Preston and Ainsley, both of whom have been coming to the theatre since before they were old enough to walk and are now active in high school and community theatre. When he is not teaching, designing or mentoring student designers, he can be found getting his fingers tangled up in guitar and banjo strings, mowing his lawn, or running model trains around his basement.Education
MFA - Theatre DesignWayne State University, Detroit MI
Academic Interests
Lighting DesignSound Design
Scenic Design
Theatre History
Production Management
Academic Responsibilities
Thea 100 - Introduction to TheatreThea 241 - Stagecraft
Thea 361 - Literature and History of the Theatre I
Thea 362 - Literature and History of the Theatre II
Thea 441 - Scenic Design
Thea 445 - Lighting Design
Committee Activities
University Integrated Marketing CommitteeDepartment(s)
Image for School of Performing Arts
School of Performing Arts
Image for Theatre & Dance
Theatre & Dance
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Performing Arts Center