Barbara Samuels

Drafting and Lighting Design

Barbara Samuels (she/her) is an Obie and Henry Hewes Award winning queer lighting designer, producer, and organizer. Barbara uses a diversity of approaches to create design-forward live events while destabilizing harmful power structures in and out of the theater -- prioritizing generosity, equity and representation.

New York credits include designs with Soho Rep, MCC, NAATCO, Ma-Yi, Lincoln Center, Ars Nova, NYTW, Target Margin, TFANA, Playwrights Horizons, 2ST, WP Theater, The Bushwick Starr, Beth Morrison Projects, New Georges, Monica Bill Barnes & Co., Little Island, The Public and Clubbed Thumb. Regional: Pig Iron, Bard Summerscape, The Alley, Long Wharf, ACT., Woolly Mammoth, Playmakers, Kansas City Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, Shakespeare Theater Company, and Trinity Rep, South Coast Rep, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Barbara is grateful to have recently served as Creative Producer for the Obie Award-winning Snatch Adams & Tainty McCracken Present It’s That Time of the Month! at Soho Rep. Barbara served as the General Manager of Obie Award-winning 13P from 2008-2012, and as Producing Director of Morgan Gould and Friends from 2014-2018.

As a proud union member of IATSE, United Scenic Artists 829 Barbara serves as a Member Representative for the Eastern Region Board and Secretary for the Admissions Committee. She is a member of Wingspace, and participated in the 2022-24 WP Producers Lab. Barbara is a New Georges Affiliated Artist and was a 2016 Target Margin Institute Fellow. Barbara holds a BA from Fordham University and an MFA in Lighting Design from NYU. www.barbarasamuels.com.