Long before audiences applauded his Emmy Award-winning designs or watched celebrities walk across the Academy Awards red carpet he created, Jay Heiserman was a five-year-old sitting in the audience at Junior Theatre, completely captivated by the world unfolding before him.
He still remembers productions like Rumpelstiltskin and The Music Man. It wasn’t only the stories that captured his imagination. It was the scenery. When the shows ended, the magic didn’t stay at the theatre.
Back at home, Jay recreated entire stage productions using blocks, cardboard, and Muppet figurines, building miniature worlds inspired by what he had just seen onstage. Even then, he wasn’t imagining himself in the spotlight. He was imagining how the spotlight got there.
“I instantly fell in love with the visual worlds that I saw on the stage,” Jay recalls. “And with theatre itself.”
That sense of wonder would become the foundation of a remarkable career.
As a student at Junior Theatre, Jay explored every opportunity to create. While he enjoyed performing, he gradually realized his true passion wasn’t standing on the stage. It was designing the world around it.
By his final years of high school, the choice had become clear.
“As much as I enjoyed performing, my artistic talents and love for design outweighed my desire to perform. Designing won.”
Junior Theatre didn’t simply give Jay a place to discover that passion. It gave him people who believed in it.
Mentors like Tony Cucuzzella encouraged him to design Confetti productions while he was still a student. After he left to study scenic design in college, Tony, Will Nesbit, and Tory Dulop invited him back each summer to design productions at JT. Over the years, he collaborated with directors including Desha Crownover, Becky Cherlin Baird, and Steve Anthony, each helping him grow as both an artist and collaborator.
“Their encouragement and belief in my talents helped contribute to my rising career as a professional scenic designer.”
That support extended far beyond artistic development.
Junior Theatre became a place where Jay found confidence during the often uncertain middle and high school years.
“JT truly provided a safe and warm environment for me to grow and express myself,” he says. “I always looked forward to coming to Junior Theatre where I knew I was loved and encouraged in a way that other environments did not provide.”
The rhythm of theatre itself also became a blueprint for life.
“The rehearsals, the opening of a show, the run, and finally the closing,” he reflects. “It taught me about the process as much as the culmination of everyone’s efforts.”
Those lessons carried him into a career that has taken him to some of entertainment’s biggest stages. His work has spanned television, live events, and productions seen by millions, including designing this year’s Academy Awards red carpet.
Standing on a closed Hollywood Boulevard before sunrise as crews rolled out the carpet and a forklift lowered the final twenty-foot Oscar statue into place remains one of the defining moments of his career.
“It was honestly the most fun I’ve ever had designing a production,” he says. “Watching the movie stars pose in front of my design was truly a thrilling experience I’ll never forget.”
Yet this summer, one of his most meaningful projects isn’t in Hollywood.
It’s back where it all began.
When longtime collaborator Desha Crownover invited Jay to design the scenic world for Junior Theatre’s Les Misérables, he immediately embraced the opportunity.
“I was thrilled,” he says. “It’s always been inspiring for me to return and contribute to giving the students the most professional experience possible during their studies at Junior Theatre.”
Creating the world of Les Misérables required balancing history with imagination. Working closely with Crownover, Jay developed a sculptural, textured environment capable of transforming across the story’s many locations while immersing audiences in nineteenth-century France.
Their inspiration came from unexpected places.
Victor Hugo’s own artwork influenced the production’s color palette, mood, and textures, while haunting nineteenth-century photographs by Charles Marville, documenting neighborhoods of Paris before they disappeared forever, informed the architecture and weathered details of the design.
“I’m excited about the internally lit scenic elements and the practical lighting we’ve incorporated,” Jay says. “I can’t wait to see how the lighting and costumes interact with the scenery. It’s wonderful working with such a talented design team, including professional lighting designer, Michael Barahura, also a JT alum.”
For Jay, returning to Junior Theatre has also brought an unexpected sense of peace.
“It struck me how comfortable and warm the process was,” he reflects. “Every time I return to JT, I feel a sense of calm and appreciation for what I can bring to the table.”
That feeling is perhaps the clearest reminder that this journey has come full circle.
The kid who once hurried home to build miniature stages from cardboard is now creating worlds that inspire a new generation of young artists sitting in those same seats, dreaming dreams they may not yet have words for.
If he could offer that young designer one piece of advice, it would be simple.
“Savor and appreciate as many moments as possible. I wish I had stressed out less and enjoyed the moments more.”
It’s advice he now shares with today’s JT students as they begin their own creative journeys.
“The relationships you build matter even more than the talent you possess,” he says. “What matters most is how you finish a creative endeavor.”
When the curtain rises on Les Misérables, Jay hopes audiences won’t simply see a set.
He hopes they’ll feel transported.
“I hope audiences will feel absolutely immersed in the world of Les Misérables.”
For one young audience member, perhaps sitting in the theatre for the very first time, that world may spark something extraordinary.
Just as it did for a five-year-old named Jay.
Photos include Jay at the Oscars; with Desha Crownover on the Les Mis set; winning his Emmy; Junior Theatre’s productions of The Music Man (1991) and Bye Bye Birdie (2001).
