Like many high school students, David Hare created a rock band with his friends. But it wasn’t about the music.
“I cared more about having a big show, than actually playing in the band,” Hare recalled. “For my senior year, I was focused on having an awesome light show for the talent show.”
From there, Hare joined the theater department at Collin College to hone his chops at lighting design. “It wasn’t until I went to Collin that I realized I could do so much more than high school theater,”
Hare said. “I started working in the technical department at Collin, and that’s really when my career started.”
At Collin College, Hare received David Hare hands-on experience working on real stages and lighting shows. Since then, he has channeled creative energy into his own business working as a lighting and production designer with clients including George Strait, Stevie Wonder, the band Chicago, and Six Flags Over Texas Amusement Parks.
“For any client, I design all the visual aspects of a concert or show—anything you see at a concert or anything involving lighting,” Hare said.
For Hare nowadays, a job entails designing all visual aspects of a concert or show, anything you see that involves lighting. A typical day on the road setting up for a concert starts at 8 a.m. and often doesn’t fi nish until 2:30 a.m. Loading semi trucks, setting up the lighting, and unloading gear are all part of the job.
“What I enjoy most about my work is that I get to be creative,” Hare said. “I’m not just handed a book and told to go step-by-step. I get to create diff erent types of looks and scenes that really draw people in and immerse them in the show.”
In addition to the challenging hours, Hare also has to balance his creative side with different artistic visions. “When you’re working with a wide variety of artists like Chicago for example, there’s a lot of competing ideas of what is best,” Hare said. “You have to learn how to implement what multiple people want and still hold on to your creative vision.”
For Hare, the best part of his career is the freedom. “It’s not your typical nine-to-fi ve job. I like to say, ‘I don’t know what I would do if I ever had to get a job,’” Hare said. “In a lot of ways, it’s like being on vacation all of the time. I get to travel and experience so many different things.”
