Marcus McShane

Marcus has 22 awards across art and design, in the areas of theatre, fine arts, architecture, and museum design. In 2007 he designed Heat, the world’s first entirely zero-emission piece of touring theatre, for which he had to construct his own led fittings and design and build a wind and solar power supply. In 2009 he premiered Nag, a self-powered studio entirely constructed from found materials where artists have to pedal while working, spinning recycled washing machine motors that generate the power they need. Nag has since had 38 installations and is still touring. In 2021 he won the inaugural NZ Arts Foundation Behind the Limelight award, which recognises artists whose work supports other artists and his daughter was born, which has slowed him down some. Recently he has been building a studio out of found materials in Houghton Bay, Wellington, and creating new work with Footnote dance, Mascall dance, and 5ever Books. He was once a copywriter, so many of the things he makes revolve around the intersection of light and text. Marcus has a master’s degree, and his interests include finding sneaky ways to keep his carbon footprint low, growing vegetables, building bicycles, and reading things worth reading.

With Trick of the Light he has been lighting designer for Broken River, The Devil’s Half-Acre, Beards! Beards! Beards!, The Road That Wasn’t There, Tröll, and The Griegol.