July 2, 2013
Michelle Habeck, Assistant Professor of Lighting Design at the Department of Theatre and Dance, has received the 2009 University Co-op Fine Arts Award.
Presented last night at the Four Seasons Hotel by Doug Dempster, dean of the College of Fine Arts, the award provides annual recognition for outstanding UT Austin faculty achievement in the visual and performing arts.
Habeck is recognized for her extraordinary achievements during the 2008–2009 academic year. During this period, she designed the lighting for five major theatrical productions including the world premiere of the off-broadway production of Fifty Words by Michael Weller directed by Austin Pendleton and glowingly reviewed in The New York Times.
Habeck's largest theatrical undertaking this year was the design of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun directed by the esteemed Lou Bellamy. The production marked the 50th anniversary of the play and was mounted at five notable theatres over the course of the year including the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis.
In addition to her contributions to the stage, Habeck's reputation as an emerging star in her field has recently been recognized with invitations to sit on the Gilbert Hemsley Lighting Portfolio Panel and the Chicago Michael Merritt Award Portfolio Panel. These organizations review and recognize student and emerging artists' work, respectively.
She has also been named as one of the few designers approved by the estate of the late Pulitzer prize-winning playwright August Wilson. As a result, she designed Wilson's Radio Golf, Gem of the Ocean, and The Piano Lesson around the United States, all directed by Lou Bellamy.
This past May, Habeck served the university by providing advising to the students who designed the elaborate and Texas-sized lights for the 126th commencement.