Lucas Ingram ’13

Time at Lehigh
Ingram came to Lehigh to study civil engineering. By the end of his first year, he switched to IDEAS, the four-year integrated honors program. Eventually he became a theatre major. He loved theatre in high school and began to work on light design and tech at Lehigh. He served as secretary and vice president for Mustard and Cheese and a member of the Improv Club.

After Lehigh
He earned his MFA from the University of Iowa in lighting, scenic, and projection Design. Then a Lehigh alumnus offered him an internship in the art department at the Tony Awards.  From there Ingram worked on many live event productions, including the MTV Video Music Awards, Country Music Awards, Democratic National Convention, Oscars, Super Bowl, and Good Morning America.

For the awards he’d travel six weeks at a time, arriving on location to then plan, install, and run the event. He soon switched to set management and art direction on episodic television, creating over 1,100 sets during three seasons of the CBS show The Equalizer. 

Career Highlight
A favorite of his was the university’s production of Urinetown. “I was the assistant lighting designer for the show, and when it opened, I went to every performance,” he says. “I was a good audience member, laughing hysterically.”

Advice to your younger self
“Branch out and take electives,” he says. “I use my engineering skills every day as I build sets, and I use the knowledge from my electives the most. Those classes have helped me know more of everything I am interacting with.”

What’s next?
While he sees the future as a nebulous question mark, he does know that the show he’s been working on was renewed for another season. “I am focused on my work for the season finale more than looking out too far,” he says.

Read the full story on Alumni News.