For many arts majors, specifically film or theatre majors, Luke Cantarella is a familiar face on campus. Along with being a professor of various production and design classes, he is currently serving as the Chair of the Film and Screen Studies department.
Cantarella has an extensive theatre background, earning his Bachelor of Science in Theatre from Northwestern University in 1994 and his Master of Fine Arts in Scenic Design from Yale in 2000. He has continued to pursue theatre and live performance outside of the University, and is currently working on “Sweeney Todd” for Hartford Stage and “Of Mice and Men” at the Houston Grand Opera.
He brings this knowledge back to the University through teaching a wide range of classes in both the film and theatre departments, including Intro to Production Design and Scenic and Costume Practicum. In addition to these and his many other courses, Cantarella aims to provide hands-on opportunities to students.
“I have a few students working with me on [‘Sweeney Todd’]. If I have an interested student, I’ll invite them to come back to my studio in Brooklyn once a week to do some work and learn how to do model making and research and different kinds of skills like that,” Cantarella said. “Students learn stuff in the classroom, but working on a project can take it to the next level because [students] get to see more of the nuts and bolts.”
Although he has been working at the University and living in New York for over a decade, he has not always called the city “home.”
“After my undergrad, I took a few years to live in Chicago, working and just being young. I had a little theatre company that I was a part of, where we did really low-budget, sort of grungy shows in found spaces around the city. That was a really informative time for me as an artist, figuring out how to scrap things together and what was important and meaningful to me,” Cantarella said.
Despite not actively searching for a teaching job, when an opportunity came up to teach at the University of California Irvine, he took it for the chance to reflect on his career and connect with students. Then, after four years at that school, he switched to the University in 2012 to be a part of their growing arts department.
“New York always feels like it’s changing, which is exciting because that means there are opportunities,” Cantarella said.
He has taken full advantage of all that New York City has to offer, racking up numerous production credits over the years in both the theatre and film spheres. He has taught almost 30 courses at the University and has become an integral member of the University community.
