2026 Alumni Achievement Award
Noah Mitz is an Emmy Award-winning television lighting designer whose career spans large-scale broadcasts and events across the globe.
Noah was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where his love of theatre started in Middle School and flourished at his high school’s well-resourced theatre program. He worked at regional theatres in Milwaukee and while interning in the lighting department at the Guthrie in Minneapolis he was encouraged to apply to the School of Drama at CMU. Noah was thrilled to be accepted and enrolled at Carnegie Mellon University in 2001. He thoroughly enjoyed his four years in the undergraduate program at the School of Drama and made lifelong connections while being trained as a theatre artist and entertainment professional.
While at Carnegie Mellon, Noah was introduced to the legendary Television lighting designer Bob Dickinson through a producer and fellow alumnus Gary Smith. Noah joined Bob and his team as an intern at the 2003 Tony Awards and was immediately hooked by the fast pace and ambition of a large-scale live television award show.
Upon earning a BFA from the School of Drama at Carnegie Mellon University in 2005, Noah moved to Los Angeles to continue working with Bob Dickinson and his firm Full Flood, Inc. where he dove in head first into the world of television production and has enjoyed creating compelling pictures for some of the world’s most recognizable events.
His designs for the Oscars, Grammys, Emmys, Tonys, and Golden Globes Awards, as well as series for America’s Got Talent and Dancing with the Stars, have been recognized domestically and internationally. Noah’s portfolio encompasses a variety of genres including talk shows for Conan O’Brien and James Corden, game shows and globally broadcast special events. Over his career he has established industry standards for lighting in live television production.
In the years since graduating from CMU Noah has continued to remain connected to the University through the School of Drama. He has returned to campus to lecture current students and participate in the Television Workshops held in the Purnell Center for several years. Noah has also stayed active in the Drama school’s West Coast Alumni Community as a long serving board member and vice president. Noah has also remained in touch with former professors Cindy Limauro and C. Todd Brown and through that connection he has provided numerous internships to current students and recent graduates of the lighting program. Through those connections Noah has mentored and fostered the careers of several younger graduates of the School of Drama. Noah attributes much of his success to his education at CMU and the quality of graduates that are part of his core professional team to this day.
Noah lives in Los Angeles where he treasures time at home with his loving wife Yoliani, their two-year-old son Jayden and dog Luna.
I am honored to receive this award. I cherished my time and education at the CMU School of Drama and have enjoyed a continued connection to the university through providing seminars, internships and employment to more recent graduates. I credit much of my professional success to the quality of my education at CMU as well as the other graduates that I still employ regularly on my productions.
Noah A. Mitz