Jimmy Ray Ward

Associate Professor, Theatre Design

With an MFA in Design from UNC-Greensboro and a BS in Theatre from Radford University, Jimmy Ward has been designing scenery, lighting, and costumes professionally for over 20 years. His design and production credits include work at numerous theatre companies along the East coast including Spoleto Festival USA, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Seaside Music Theatre, Flatrock Playhouse, and the Gainesville Theatre Alliance. Within Southwest Virginia Jimmy frequently designs for Opera Roanoke, Virginia Children's Theatre, and Mill Mountain Theatre, where he worked as Resident Designer for nine seasons. Jimmy's work has also been featured in installation projects for the Taubman Museum of Art, Virginia Museum of Transportation, the History Museum of Western Virginia, and most recently in Virginia Tech's Newman Library where the "Performing History: Women and the Vote" exhibit, co-produced by faculty from Radford and Virginia Tech, can be viewed.

In addition to his professional design work, over the last 17 years, Jimmy has taught and designed at area colleges including Hollins University and Virginia Western Community College before joining the faculty at Radford. In 2019 his contribution to the regional arts community was recognized with the prestigious Perry F. Kendig Award for Top Individual Artist in the Region; however, despite years of working in a field he loves, Jimmy feels that his best productions to date are his children, Henry, Lily, Gracie and Frank.

HIs CV can be viewed here.

Classes offered:

Theatre Appreciation, Design 1, Design 2, Design 3, Design 4, Scene Painting, Advanced Scene Painting, and Stage Makeup 1