Biography
Wesley Cornwell is a third year PhD student in the Program in Theatre and Performance. He studies the history and theory of twentieth-century performance in its philosophical, architectural, and technological contexts. His dissertation traces the emergence and professionalization of lighting design to reveal the recursive relationship between technological change, aesthetic imagination, and artistic labor.
Wesley maintains an ongoing practice as a designer for theater and live performance. He contributed to the futureStages at Harvard’s metaLAB, and his designs have been seen at Off-Broadway and indie theaters, including Pershing Square Signature Center, Theater Row, American Theater of Actors, The Tank, Theater for the New City, Under St. Marks, The Brick, and more.
He holds an MDes from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and a BA in Anthropology and Theatre from Princeton, where he was awarded the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts.
