Theatre, to me, is an incredibly intimate and exciting art form. Some of the most engaging and emotional experiences of my life have been in the theatre, and I hope to create atmospheres and spaces that can help provide those experiences for others. I also love working on new work that pushes the boundaries of what we expect to see in the theater, and I hope to continue to learn and better understand this art form more and more.
I'm currently based in New York, having recieved my MFA at NYU. Some of my recent work includes lighting design for Misterman at Theatre Row for Origin Theatre Company, lighting design for concerts, music videos, comedy, and other live performances at the Cherry Lane Theatre for A24, and assistant / associate lighting design for Watch Me Walk at Soho Rep and The Beastiary at Ars Nova.
Outside of theatre, I am interested in modern and pop art, and I really enjoy getting lost in a good book - at the moment I am getting through Katabasis by R.F. Kuang.
Please feel free to say hi down below or at my instagram @shanemhennessy - I would love to connect!
*no part of this website was made using any form of AI.
"Shane Hennessy’s sculptural lighting shifts with uncanny sensitivity between harsh reality and spiritual hallucination ... Together, this remarkable creative team constructs not merely a stage environment but a complete psychological cosmos, one in which memory, faith, trauma, and imagination become inseparable."
- Tony Marinelli (Theatrescene)
"... some sheets of reflective silver material. The latter, in addition to sometimes giving an impression of the fires in how it interacts with the assertive color changes in Shane Hennessy's lighting design, evokes mirrors and all that they thematically imply, from self-examination to imitation to false surfaces."
-John R. Ziegler and Leah Richards (Thinking Theater NYC)
"Scenic design by Silin Chen and lighting design by Shane Hennessy embrace a deliberately stripped-back, industrial aesthetic ... The result feels like being invited inside somebody else’s psychosis. It is a work of emotional and intellectual resonance, threaded with humor, shadowed by darkness, and guided by an unmistakably individual vision."
- Paula Bellu (Stage & Cinema)
"The beautiful scenic and lighting design from Scott Aronow and Shane Hennessy, respectively, produces a dramatic impression of the landscape in which the family's humble home stands as well as of the passage of time. There is a wonderfully staged moment when we see inside that home–suggested by a wooden door frame and a semi-transparent hanging, lit from within–and this image of gazing through the walls at an interior where a ritual both expresses gratitude and recalls a "burden of bitterness" encapsulates the workings of this compelling production as a whole."
-John R. Ziegler and Leah Richards (Thinking Theater NYC)
