Donald Holder ’80 was nominated this year for his 12th Tony Award for Best Lighting Design of a Play for Oslo, which on June 11th won the 2017 Tony Award for Best Play.
Holder, a world-renowned theatrical and architectural lighting designer, created the dramatic lighting for Oslo. The play recounts the surprising behind-the-scenes events during the 1993 peace talks that led to the Oslo Peace Accords between the Israelis and Palestinians.
Holder earned his degree in forestry at UMaine, and later pursued his interest in theater and music at the Yale School of Drama. Though he did not win the Tony in 2017, he previously won two Tony Awards, one for The Lion King in 1998 and one for South Pacific in 2008.