Assistant Professor

Kenneth Ellis
901-678-3186

Ken has designed scenery and/or lighting on more than 125 produced events ranging from community, regional, and educational theater and dance to feature films, television, and major media events.

In addition, Ken has served in the capacity of technical director, and production manager for several colleges and universities including Occidental College, Lany College Peralta CC District, Livingstone College, and Coppin State University; numerous festivals, and professional theater companies.  He has served in that capacity for The Bay Area Black Comedy Competition, Full Circle Entertainment for two decades. 

Ken’s recent theatrical work includes August Wilson’s Seven Guitars, Talk Opera, A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum, Copernicus Rising, David Rush’s One Fine Day, Topdog/Underdog, Sophisticated Ladies, Bubbling Brown Sugar, Jelly’s Last Jam, and Serafina.

Ken also created award-winning designs for I’m Not Rappaport, and Laughing Wild at C.A.S.T. in Charlotte, NC, and Polish Joke, and Gem of the Ocean at Actors Theater of Charlotte. 

Most recently, Ken served as production designer and technical director of Another Kind of Christmas for the Full Vision Foundation in Oakland, CA. His special events resume’ includes premiere galas for Disney Home Video’s Winnie the Pooh at the U.N.,  The Lion King II, Simba’s Pride, and Mulan. Other notable events include: Amazon.com’s ToyQuest, and trade show displays for Dreamworks SKG products Chicken Run, and Shrek. 

Ken’s television credits include: D.L. Hughley’s Direct From South Central, an H.B.O. “One Night Stand”, and The McDonald‘s Bay Area Black Comedy Competition a Full Circle Entertainment production. Production Designs for features films include: Rag Doll and The Horrible Dr. Bones  for Red Planet/Tana 9 Productions and; Two Degrees and Tears of a Clown, both projects created for Full Circle Entertainment and Bandwagon Film Works.