Sara Oldford is a lighting designer working in opera, theatre, musical theatre, and dance. Recent opera highlights include a new production of Viardot’s Cendrillon and Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro with Knoxville Opera. Sara has also designed many new productions for the University of Tennessee Opera Theatre, including Jules Massenet’s Cendrillon, Gioachino Rossini’s La cambiale di matrimonio, Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Medium and Amelia al ballo, Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites, and Giacomo Puccini’s Suor Angelica. At Florida State University, Sara has designed new productions of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel and Massenet’s Cendrillon. Other credits include productions of Mozart’s The Magic Flute and La finta giardiniera, Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, and Leonard Bernstein’s Candide.

 

In theatre, Sara’s credits include I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change for First Take Company performed at the Clayton Center for the Arts;  Frozen Jr., Godspell, Little Mermaid, Newsies, and Les Miserables for Broadway Center for the Arts; Anastasia the Musical, Finding Nemo the Musical, Cats, and Matilda the Musical for Primary Players; Metamorphoses, Urinetown, and Trifles for Maryville College Theatre; and The Seagull for Pellissippi State Theatre. 

 

Sara works regularly with dance companies including Appalachian Ballet Company, Van Metre School of Dance, Backstage Dance, Artistic Dance Unlimited, and Irena Linn's Dancers Studio. In addition to her design work, Sara served as Assistant Technical Director for the Clayton Center for the Arts in Maryville, TN from April 2021 to January 2026. Her primary duties included creating digital renderings, light plots, and sections to support the various touring and rental productions utilizing the venue while also operating and maintaining a wide variety of performance systems – including theatrical rigging, lighting, sound reinforcement, and projections.