University of Missouri junior Joey Seevers’ craft often keeps him in the darkness, but he lights up when he talks about the lighting design process.

“It doesn’t fill you with a panic, but that’s the closest emotion I can use to describe it,” Seevers said. “It’s like a time crunch exhilaration that you’ll never get from something else.”

Seevers is a Theatre major with a double emphasis in tech/design and playwriting. Seevers says he thrives under the pressure of tech week, the final moments of a show’s rehearsal process when everything finally comes together.

Lighting is typically one of the last things figured out about a show, so Seevers has to be prepared and work quickly to pivot at a moment’s notice to fit the directorial team’s needs.

“It’s a beautiful experience,” Seevers said. “The director, the scenic designer, the actors, the choreographer, the music director, all of these talented people have all come together and built this beautiful creation together. And it’s just great to see it happen.”

According to Mizzou professor Claire Syler, who teaches in the theater performance and visual studies departments, lighting designers are key to amplifying the acting components of a show.

“They so beautifully help mimic and create an emotional world on stage,” Syler said. “When the character’s experiencing something that is difficult, challenging or an obstacle, the lighting responds.”

This past fall, Syler directed “What the Constitution Means to Me,” a play that tackled gender equality and domestic abuse. Due to how closely she worked with Seevers, Syler was able to catch a glimpse of his work ethic and talents.

“He comes from a background where he is a performer, he is a director, and that gives him a really great foundation of what’s happening on stage,” Syler said. “He has sort of an intuitive ability to say what a different scene needs to look like.”

Seevers didn’t always plan on working in lighting design. Originally, he planned to study engineering and keep theater as a hobby. However, Seevers realized he couldn’t keep his passion in the rearview once he began working in Mizzou’s theater department.

“It feels really good to kind of fully commit to something that you love, rather than just doing the thing that you think is going to set you up for life,” Seevers said. “Kind of jumping both feet into what you want to do.”

As a lighting designer, Seevers remains outside the audience’s view, so he often doesn’t receive the recognition a performer might get. However, last January, Seevers won first place at the American College Theatre Festival’s Region 5 competition for his work on Mizzou’s spring 2025 play “Romero.” The play told the story of a priest who was killed for speaking out about the mistreatment of immigrants and those in poverty. Seevers will advance to the national ACTF competition later this year.

Through his work on “What the Constitution Means to Me” and “Romero,” Seevers helped highlight underrepresented issues. He believes the arts are essential to revealing vulnerabilities in our world.

“They activate a different part of your brain, and they bring light to things that need to have light brought to them,” Seevers said. “A very important part of how we work is doing shows that illuminate certain parts of the world.”

This story was originally published on The Maneater on April 19, 2026.