Tyler Micoleau

Tyler Micoleau is an American lighting designer, known for his work on Broadway musicals such as his Tony-nominated lighting designs for The Band's Visit, for which he won the 2018 Tony Award for Best Lighting Design of a Musical, and Buena Vista Social Club.

Early life

Micoleau is from Portland, Maine, where he atteded Deering High School graduating in 1987. After high school, Micoleau enrolled in Bowdoin College with a self-designed major in theatre with an emphasis on stage design in 1987. While there, he worked as a production facilities caretaker at the college, where he found a passion for lighting and first worked with Maine State Music Theatre. He ventured out west to live with his artist uncle in 1989, where he was further inspired to pursue a career in the arts. He graduated with a Bachelor's of Arts in 1991. That summer, he began as an Assistant Master Electrician to MSMT, before receiving his first professional contract the following summer.

Next, he worked for several years as a lighting designer at theatres such as Portland Stage and Mad Horse Theatre in Maine. There, he met lighting designer Scott Zelinski, who invited him to come on as an assistant lighting designer at The Public Theater, which began his career in New York City.

Career

Micoleau has designed lighting for both Off-Broadway and Broadway productions. He got his Broadway debut in 1996 as assistant lighting designer for Juan Darien at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre. He would return to Broadway in 2018 as lighting designer for The Band's Visit, a musical adaptation of the 2007 Israeli musical of the same name. For his work, he won the 2018 Tony Award for Best Lighting Design of a Musical.

His work was also seen on Broadway in 2019's Be More Chill, 2022's American Buffalo and Into the Woods, along with 2025's Buena Vista Social Club, for which he received his second Tony Award nomination.

He has also designed lighting for notable Off-Broadway productions. He designed lighting for plays such as Jordan Harrison's The Antiquities in 2025, which netted him a Drama Desk Award nomination and Lucille Lortel Award, and Samuel D. Hunter's A Case for the Existence of God in 2022, for which he was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award. Other productions featuring his work include Good Person of Szechwan in 2013, The Antipodes in 2017 and Miss You Like Hell in 2018.

He has served on the faculty of Sarah Lawrence College, and been a visiting artist at Dartmouth College, Yale University, Bates College and his alma mater.

Personal life

Micoleau currently resides in Brooklyn, New York with his husband.

Selected stage credits

Awards and nominations