Senior Olivia Maynard is in her sixth year of the theater program as the lighting designer for the musicals and plays on the stage at Milton.
“I do the lighting designs, so any sort of light that you see and any colors that are changing on stage,” she said. “I like having it be a creative outlet for me.”
Olivia started doing lighting in eighth grade at Milton when her dad introduced her to it. “My dad used to do lights for a cover band, and I would go along with him, and it just went from there,” she added. Her dad is Mr. Patrick Maynard, who has been doing lighting at Milton since 2019.
Olivia was the lighting designer for 11 Milton shows including the Addams Family, The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940, Mamma Mia, She Kills Monsters, Chicago, White Christmas, Makin’ It, The Outsiders, The SpongeBob Musical and You Can’t Take It With You.
“My favorite show I did was SpongeBob because I had free range to do whatever I wanted,” Olivia said.
“The most frightening moment that has happened during a show was when the entire lighting system crashed and everything went dark,” Olivia said. She added that the most exciting part of lighting is seeing the final product.
She has won many awards for her work including a Ray of Light Award in 2022 for best lighting and sound for Mamma Mia, best lighting and sound in 2024 for White Christmas, and she won the student design award for Chicago in 2023.
“Olivia is very passionate, motivated and full of talent when it comes to her abilities as a lighting designer,” Milton’s Drama Club Director Mr. Steve Aguirre said.
Olivia plans to go to Syracuse University to major in Theater Design and Technology. After college, she said she hopes she can eventually become a lighting designer on Broadway. Her other hobbies are art and she works at Knoebels.
“When I attend shows, the first thing I do is look up and look at all the lights I can see, and get new ideas for shows,” Olivia said.
