Production Director

Tayneshia L. Jefferson is a native of Houston, Texas, now residing in Austin. She began her theatrical career by obtaining a BA in Theatre from the University of Texas at Austin. Her early career focused primarily on stage management and wig and make up design. During this time she worked with Houston Grand Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, Theatre Under the Stars (Houston, TX), 2nd Youth Repertory Theatre (Austin, TX), Austin Gilbert & Sullivan Society, Children of Light Players (Austin, TX), Houston Ebony Opera Guild and Violet Crowned Players (Austin, TX). She also served as Stage Manager for a host of Austin dance companies including Jean Fogel Zee, Ariel Dance Theatre and deafdancedeaf.

After several years spent working freelance in both Houston and Austin she relocated to Austin to accept the position of Production Associate for Austin Lyric Opera. In 2000, she returned to school to pursue a higher degree in theatre from the prestigious Professional Theatre Training Program located at the University of Delaware in Newark, DE. During her time there she was fortunate to work on short term projects at both the Kennedy Center (Washington, DC) and the Tony Award winning Alliance Theatre (Atlanta, GA). Upon obtaining her MFA in Stage Management in 2003, she accepted a position as Production Stage Manager for Utah Festival Opera Company (Logan, UT). After a successful summer she was invited to stay on in Utah, first as the Director of Production and eventually as the Director of Production & Artistic Associate.

During her time at UFOC, Ms. Jefferson served as de facto producer for well over 100 productions and events. The highlights include new productions of The Secret Garden, La Cenerentola, Brigadoon, Annie Get Your Gun, Turandot, Man of La Mancha, La Boheme, Porgy & Bess, Kismet, Most Happy Fella, Show Boat and Il Trovatore; a gala concert for over 6,000 held in Salt Lake City’s Mormon Tabernacle; 2 television appearances with the world famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir; a critically acclaimed classic film series; a wildly popular series of Production and Literary seminars and host of other outreach events and performances.

Recently, Ms. Jefferson returned to Austin to serve as the Production Director for ProArts Collective. Ms. Jefferson holds several professional and social affiliations. She is the incoming Vice Commissioner of Stage Management on the national board of the United States Institute of Theatre Technology. Within USITT she has also served as a mentor for the Stage Management Mentoring Project, a Session Chair and panelist for a variety of forums and a participant in the People of Color Networking Project. She has also been a panelist at the national conference of the Black Theatre Network and is a participant in the Production Manager’s Forum, an affiliation of Production Managers and Coordinators throughout the country.

In keeping with her commitment to the support of continuing education within the realm of theatre, Ms. Jefferson has served as a guest lecturer at the University of Delaware and agreed to serve as a part of a thesis study on Blacks in the technical and production aspect of theatre for Yale University graduate Moshe Peterson. She also served on the NAST (National Association of Schools of Theatre) /USITT committee responsible for crafting the guidelines for the standardization of the national requirements for receiving a BFA in Stage Management.

Ms. Jefferson is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., a public service organization.