St. Patrick’s Academy Dungannon are delighted to welcome back past pupil Jack Ryan as lighting designer for this year school production of School of Rock.
Jack is one of a number of ex- Academy students who have carved highly successful careers in theatre and film and he credits his education and experiences at this school, as having had a major influence on his achievements.
At a time when the arts in education are facing severe pressures, Jack feels that it is vitally important to promote their benefits to students and he is not alone in this respect.
The composer of the musical numbers in School of Rock, Andrew LLoyd Webber, has been campaigning heavily for increased focus on the Arts in the Curriculum in recent years and gifted the performing rights of this show to schools, to underscore his commitment to this worthy ideal.
Jack graduated from the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama and currently teaches programming at Guildhall for some of their productions throughout the year.
Jack is a freelance Lighting Programmer, Designer and Associate working both in the UK and internationally.
His credits as lighting programmer include: Choir of Man (West End); Peaky Blinders (Wembley Troubadour/Birmingham Hippodrome); Spike (National Tour); A Sudden Violent Burst of Rain, The Ultimate Pickle, Half Empty Glasses (Paines Plough Roundabout Season); Orbex Rocket Launch (LightWorks); Macbeth, Elizabeth I, Idomeneo, Amadigi, Dido and Aeneas, Jonas, Radamisto, The Golden Cockerel, La Boheme (English Touring Opera); Christmas @ Blenheim Palace (Sony / Culture Creative) as well as companies including : Crossroads Entertainment, Selladoor, Immersion Theatrical and Rambert Dance Company.
Jack also works extensively in live broadcast and commercials including work for companies and artists such as: Sky Studios where artists include AlunaGeorge and Gavin DeGraw; Blood Upon the Rose (Hammersmith Apollo, SEC Armadillo, The Gaiety Theatre) and regularly designs a range of performances at Union Chapel, Islington.
Jack is also the Associate Lighting Designer for the West End production of “Choir of Man”.
Jack’s father Damian is also a highly respected lighting designer and has worked on many past Academy productions. Jack developed his interest in lighting by helping his father with many local productions including our last musical, Les Miserables.
He is really looking forward to returning to his Alma Mater to design the lighting for School of Rock and we have no doubt, that the lighting for this one, will be every bit as spectacular as his design for Les Miserables was.
The school’s amateur drama group’s high energy performance of School of Rock – The Musical will take place from Wednesday October 26 – Saturday October 29 with the current going up at 7.30pm.
