Joe Payne joined the Department of Theatre after ten years as resident sound designer for Pioneer Theatre Company and teaching sound and projection design for The University of Utah and Illinois State University. He has designed sound, projections, and/or composed music for more than 250 productions in theaters throughout the country, including twenty years at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Riverside Theatre (Vero Beach, FL), Berkeley Rep, Syracuse Stage, Imagination Stage and Round House Theatre (Bethesda, MD), Indiana Repertory Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, four years at The Virginia Stage Company, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Utah Opera and Symphony, The Fulton Opera House (Lancaster, PA), Utah Musical Theatre, and others. Internationally, he has designed projections for the London-based pop band WRENNE, and their international I Said Yes to Everything tour. Throughout each of these experiences, he has mentored and taught countless assistants and technicians the art and technology of sound and projection design. He has taught master classes for various sections of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology, Southeastern Theatre Conference, Utah Theatre Association, and Illinois High School Theatre Festival. His work has been internationally recognized at the two most prestigious of juried theatrical design exhibitions, the Prague Quadrennial, and World Stage Design. Mr. Payne also has the distinction of being the first Commissioner for the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) Digital Media Commission (2017-2022). He is a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829, and the Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association (TSDCA).