Student leader in Department of Theatre Arts awarded Diversity in Design scholarship

SUNY New Paltz student Natalie Houle ’21 (Theatre Arts) was one of six undergraduates nationwide to receive the Pat MacKay Diversity in Design Scholarship for 2020.

The MacKay Design Scholarship was founded in 2019 to support underrepresented populations in the lighting, digital media and sound design industry.

Houle is an exceptionally deserving recipient of the award, a theatre design and music specialist who has remained active even as the COVID-19 pandemic has limited performances.

She is a cofounder of the Virtual Theatre Collaboration, a New Paltz-based collective of theatre arts majors who have been creating remote productions and other opportunities to keep students performing through the pandemic.

Houle previously designed and composed for the Department of Theatre Arts’ Mainstage productions of “The Servant of Two Masters” and “She Kills Monsters,” and the Praxis Series production of “The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told.”

She got off-campus professional experience as composer for the Denizen Theatre production of “Fury!” starring Theatre Arts Adjunct Lecturer Lauren Bone Noble and directed by former Assistant Professor Bria Walker.

Houle has additionally worked as a broadcast production audio technician for four years, including on “Good Morning America,” and a theater audio technician for A Contemporary Theatre of Connecticut.

Learn more about Houle’s work and get in touch at https://www.natssounddesign.com/.