There’s a French phrase used to express an indescribable experience. Je ne sais quoi.  That something special we can’t quite grasp or put our finger on.

Live theatre often offers such a visceral experience. Audiencegoers may point to familiar elements — the music, the costumes, the actors — but goosebumps come when the lights go up. Through lighting design, so much can be said without saying anything at all.

It's subtle and brings an extra dimension to the performance. Something that even Brackley Frayer, professor of lighting design in UNLV’s theatre department, has difficulty describing. 

“Lighting is very —” Frayer says, searching for the right word. “It’s very ethereal. I was always interested in what light does and how light affects people.”

At the end of the spring 2024 term, Frayer will take his final bow after 28 years of teaching in UNLV's College of Fine Arts. While the lighting magic he's created on stage may be lowering, his impact on students will continue. 

“I think the largest thing for me in the 42 years that I’ve been teaching is the students that I’ve mentored,” Frayer says. “Whenever a lighting designer would come to town, I would arrange for a student to assist them. And then, for example, that assistant lighting director position for a Cirque show would lead to a lighting director position for a national tour.

"I have been able to gain crucial networking and contacts for all my students over the years. I enjoy it when a student graduates and becomes a significant part of the lighting and entertainment world.”

A Legacy of Student Mentorship

One such student was Stuart Beck — the first student to graduate from the College of Fine Art’s MFA lighting design program.

“I have known Brackley for nearly 30 years,” says Beck, whose spouse, Michele, is a graduate of the MFA scenic design program.

Frayer and Beck originally met at an annual national student recruitment event in Chicago. 

“I was accepted to a few schools, but it was speaking to Brackley and the opportunities and ideas we discussed that confirmed my decision UNLV was right for me,” says Beck. 

Even when others would have taken one particular incident as a sign to rethink his choices. “I visited Las Vegas to tour the campus, and as we were having lunch, a car crashed into the restaurant. Brackley says: ‘You probably changed your mind about coming here.’ I replied: ‘Well, now it just got interesting!’”

Beck signed on in 1997 and became Frayer’s first — and only, at the time — student in the MFA program. It was a new program that Frayer was just starting to build.

“I didn’t fully appreciate having my mentor all to myself, not fully grasping its value,” he says, “But in retrospect, having exclusive one-on-one access to my design mentor, first pick of design opportunities — it’s a rare and invaluable opportunity.”

After graduating in 2000, Beck worked in a variety of creative and technical roles for productions on the Strip, including Penn & Teller, KA, and The Beatles LOVE by Cirque Du Soleil. 

In 2022, Frayer suggested Beck apply for the light and sound supervisor position that had just opened at UNLV. Once again, Frayer was there to connect one of his former students to a career opportunity.

“Brackley is a champion of his students,” says Beck, citing the creation of the Moving Light Lab as one of Frayer’s legacies. 

The lab, says Beck, gives students the opportunity to work with cutting-edge lighting equipment and control consoles through industry leaders like 4Wall Entertainment. For the last decade, the lab has held an annual event in the Black Box Theatre. Its most recent production, Into the Fray, was held April 19-21. The title was a homage to Frayer.

Keeping the Community Connected Through Advocacy

Frayer, though retiring from his teaching position, will continue fostering opportunities for emerging artists and helping with fundraising initiatives as part of the advocacy board for Nevada Conservatory Theatre (NCT).

Kirsten Brandt, who started her new roles as theatre department chair and executive director of the NCT last July, says she will be able to learn from Frayer’s experiences since he held those same titles for nearly eight years.

“Brackley is such a brilliant designer and has forged an amazing program here,” Brandt says. “The board’s mission is to promote the shows we’re doing, bring people to see the shows, and make connections outside of our campus community. He’s already putting together a group of fantastic individuals from the community to help us fulfill that.”

For his colleagues in the theatre department, it doesn’t come as a shock that even after retirement Frayer will continue to provide service to the university and its students.

“Brackley Frayer has been a colleague and a friend since his arrival here in 1995,” says Michael Lugering, a professor of voice, movement, and acting. “We are grateful for his commitment to professional theatre training in the university setting, his passion, leadership, and commitment to the Department of Theatre and the Nevada Conservatory Theatre, and for the founding of the annual UNLV Light Lab — but most important, for the students he has mentored and the faculty to whom he always provided wise counsel.”

Faculty Athletics Representative

Over the years, Frayer assisted with a variety of projects at the request of UNLV’s schools and colleges. He served on the UNLV Faculty Senate and previously chaired the Intercollegiate Athletic Council. That led to becoming the faculty athletics representative (FAR) in 2008, a role that allowed him to advocate on behalf of students.

“The FAR is the liaison between the president and athletic director concerning academics,” explains Frayer. “The main role is to certify all student-athletes for competition each semester per the NCAA guidelines and to monitor the students’ well-being.”

The FAR, which reports only to the UNLV president, also is a point of contact for student-athletes with concerns related to the athletics department. They can speak to the FAR without having to talk directly to staff in the athletics department. The FAR also mediates issues between student-athletes and instructors regarding attendance.

“Student-athletes not only have to perform academically in the classroom, like all other students,” says Frayer, “they also have a full schedule of athletic-related activities.”

The FAR has a list of other administrative duties, including attending university, conference, and NCAA meetings; administering NCAA recruitment exams for coaches; participating in search committees; reviewing and approving academic certification for all NCAA student-athletes each semester; submitting award selections through the conference and NCAA; and administering NCAA surveys to their designated teams.

After Frayer's 16 years as FAR, the role will officially be turned over to alumnus, former offensive lineman, and UNLV Football Hall of Famer Tony Terrell on July 1, 2024. 

Finding a Home Behind the Stage

Frayer, a Philadelphia native, got a taste for what goes on behind the stage when he worked the light board during his high school’s production of the Wizard of Oz. 

“I didn’t know what I was doing at all,” Frayer says of the early experience. “But then at New England College, in my freshman year, I took a design course and a tech course and the two mentors I had — Peter Glynn and Rich Rice — were just wonderful.”

In 1973, Frayer began studying theatre and mathematics at New England College and spent a semester abroad, an experience that allowed him to tour with a theatre troupe across England, Scotland, and Wales. 

After earning an MFA from Yale School of Drama, Frayer was hired as a lighting designer and technical director for the Hippodrome Theatre in Gainesville, Florida, and then toured with the Houston Grand Opera for a year.

“From there, I got my first teaching job at West Virginia University,” recalls Frayer.

After West Virginia, it was Dartmouth College, where he taught until 1992. Around this time, Frayer met his future wife, Happy, while attending a national theatre conference at a Disneyland hotel in Anaheim, California. The two were both working in New England and lived only 90 minutes away from each other.

The couple moved to the Southeast, and after a few years teaching at the University of Florida and the birth of their daughter, Ariana, Frayer and his family were ready to trade the region’s humidity for Las Vegas’ dry heat.

Around 1995, Frayer was contacted by the late UNLV professor Robert Brewer regarding an open position. Brewer was the director for the musical theatre graduate program and founder of the NCT. The two had known each other since Frayer was at Dartmouth.

“I feel very happy that I made that decision,” says Frayer. “For 28 years, I’ve been here. And for a lighting designer, being a mile away from the Entertainment Capital of the World and the networking and contacts I’ve made over the years has been invaluable for our students."