Roy Lightner

Artistic Director

Red Mountain Theatre

Roy Lightner is an award-winning theatre creator, director, choreographer, and educator born and raised in Kansas City. Roy currently serves as the Artistic Director for the 2-time TONY Award Winning Red Mountain Theatre and as an Associate Professor of Musical Theatre at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Prior, he was the Associate Artistic Director for the Transcendence Theatre Company, and on the Musical Theatre Faculty of Ithaca College. Additionally, Roy has taught courses at Arizona State University and Cornell University. His work as a creator, director, and choreographer spans internationally, including productions and immersive events for Google, New London Barn Theatre, Lincoln Center, the Stephen Sondheim Center, Red Mountain Theatre, Transcendence Theatre Company, MTWichita, Music Theatre of Kansas City, GEVA Theatre, Cape Playhouse, Westin Playhouse, Depot Theatre, and more. As a creator/director/choreographer his credits include: Red Mountain Theatre’s productions of Freaky Friday, Mary Poppins, Sister Act, Bright Star, Shrek, ONCE, and Holiday Spectacular 2022, 2023, 2024; Transcendence Theatre Company’s productions of Those Dancin’ Feet Oh, What a Night! (2015 Winner - Best Director), Superheroes in Love, and Music of the Night; New London Barn’s Newsies; New York City Opera’s Lucky to Be Me (Lincoln Center, assistant to Peggy Hickey), Hairspray, Miss Saigon (Sondheim Center), Hound of the Baskervilles (Cape Playhouse, New Jersey Rep, Westin Playhouse, Depot Theatre), Bring It On (Music Theatre of Kansas City), Hairspray (Winner - Best Director, Broadway World KC), Thoroughly Modern Millie, Good News, Urban Cowboy, Starmites, Little Shop of Horrors, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and more. Roy created, directed, and choreographed an original musical Those Dancin’ Feet in 2019, for Transcendence Theatre Company in Sonoma, California. Roy has created and directed immersive theatrical events for GOOGLE at San Francisco City Hall, The Wine Country Speakeasy at Cornerstone, The Roaring 20s and Grand Opening Event for Red Mountain Theatre. Dance Concert Choreography credits include: two full-length original choreographic works Under the Covers (Ithaca College) and In Your Eyes (Miller-Marley Ballet Company), The Oklahoma City Dance Project, NYC’s Community Dance Project, New York City’s Jazz Choreography Enterprise, Astoria Fine Arts and B.C. Beat. Performance credits total over 40 national and international professional productions. Roy has taught at New York City’s Professional Performing Arts School, as well as created the contemporary/musical theatre dance program for the Astoria School of Fine Arts. Roy received 5 National Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival awards for his work on an original production at UAB called Disconnect, including Special Achievement in Directing and the Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Award. In 2021, he was the recipient of the Dorothy Schwartz Outstanding Educator Award from the Alabama Conference of Theatre. He graduated from Oklahoma City University with a degree in Musical Theatre; and received his Master of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Arts with a Concentration in Performance Creation from Goddard College.