A faculty member’s success again is spotlighting Kalamazoo College through his standout work in Michigan’s professional theatre scene.
For the sixth time, Theatre Arts Professor Lanny Potts has been selected as the recipient of a Wilde Award for Best Lighting, an honor distributed through EncoreMichigan.com. The web-based publication focuses on the state’s professional theater industry, uplifting the top productions, actors, artists, designers, writers and technicians. The awards are named for Oscar Wilde, an 1800s Irish poet and playwright.
Potts previously received Wilde Awards for Farmers Alley Theatre productions such as The Light in the Piazza in 2012, Bridges of Madison County in 2018 and Bright Star in 2021. This time, the honor comes because of his work in the 2024 Farmers Alley Theatre production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, a show presented at K that featured youthful characters trying to figure out their own personalities through competitive spirits and strong desires to spell. It’s a story of kids coming together and creating bonds between them.
The summer performances—along with a Famers Alley production of School of Rock—united K students with professional Actors’ Equity Association performers and stage workers, just like in the summer stock productions they once had with the Playhouse’s launch in 1964, 60 years prior.
Potts’ local work began in summer 1986. After serving the John F. Kennedy Center for the American College Theatre Festival as a stage manager, he worked as a technical director and lighting designer with the Kalamazoo Civic Youth Theatre program. He was hired in 1987 as the technical director for K’s Festival Playhouse and since has sustained a 25-year teaching career within higher education while also providing guest masterclass design instruction at various venues, and providing professional presentations on lighting design, design communication, and leadership and creativity within the arts at professional conferences and workshops.
The Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo awarded Potts last fall with a Community Medal of Arts. Since 1985, the annual award has recognized an artist who is a leader in their field, has a significant body of creative activity, has received local and/or national acclaim, and has impacted the Kalamazoo community through art.
“When we reflect upon celebrating the 60th anniversary of Festival Playhouse, the creative drive of Nelda K. Balch, the creative force for community good in Dorothy U. Dalton, the special relationship which forged the impetus for Festival Playhouse 60 years ago, and the creative artists who have participated in that work, I’m honored to be a small piece of that much greater story,” Potts said. “I am so thankful for the opportunity to work for our community, with gifted artists, and especially, to create with our amazing students. #luckyme.”
