Justin Schmitz

Justin is a proud Non-Binary (he/they) Sound Designer, Composer, and Theatre Artist. Justin is a member of: I.A.T.S.E. United Scenic Artists Local 829 (USA829); a trustee outside of New York City for the Labor Union Executive Board for USA 829, the Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association (TSDCA); Vice-Co-Chair of TSDCA, and is a part of USITT’s Professional Membership. Justin is the 2022 Rada Distinguished Alumni Award recipient for The University of Wisconsin – La Crosse. He has received fellowships from The Chautauqua Theatre Company in 2013, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to attend The Orchard Project in 2011, and to work with Theater J in DC in 2015-2016. He has been nominated twice for Helen Hayes Awards including: I Call My Brothers (Forum Theater), and The Wild Party (Constellation Theatre). He is a Region 3 KCACTF winner (2011) for Sound Design and national finalist for his work on Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice. He has four Certificates of Merit for Sound from the Kennedy Center: Eurydice, The Diary of Anne Frank, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Into The Woods; and a Certificate of Merit for Stage Management: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

Justin has designed productions at: The Kennedy Center, Signature Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Woolly Mammoth, Studio Theatre, Constellation Theatre Company, Imagination Stage, Gala Hispanic Theatre, amongst numerous others. He has collaborated Off-Broadway with 59E59 Theaters and Round House Theatre, The Dixon Place Theatre. Regional credits include Cincinnati Playhouse In the Park, The St. Louis Black Rep Theatre Company, and others. He has been the designer of three national touring productions through the Kennedy Center’s Theatre for Young Audiences including: DARIUS AND TWIG, ME, JANE…THE DREAMS AND ADVENTURES OF YOUNG JANE GOODALL, and most recently DON’T LET PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS, THE MUSICAL! in collaboration with Mo Willems. 

Justin has performed with Carol Burnett in her one-woman show: Carol Burnett, Laughter and Reflection. In June 2017, Justin sang at Carnegie Hall in the Octavo Series through the University of Wisconsin La Crosse Alumni Choir. Justin earned a Master’s of Fine Arts degree from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) in Sound Design. He holds a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree from The University of Wisconsin – La Crosse in Theatre Design and Technology where he specialized in Sound Design and Stage Management. 

Website: www.justinschmitztheatre.com