A Spotlight on a Magical Internship

For any profession, there’s what some might consider to be a “dream job” — a place to work that outshines all others.  

In tech fields, that might be a company like Google or Apple, for journalists, it could be the New York Times.  

When Brevin Bazurto, ‘26, received an offer to put his skills as a lighting designer to use in Orlando, Florida, it felt like a “dream job” was presenting itself.  

He was going to Disney World.  

“It was incredible,” Bazurto said. “Disney is this company that everybody knows and is familiar with growing up. Seeing shows at Disney was one of the things that made me realize I wanted to do theater and lighting in the first place.” 

Shortly after graduating from the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) with a degree in Theatre Design and Technology, Bazurto joined the lighting design team with Disney Live Entertainment at Walt Disney World for a seven-month internship, with the possibility of an extension at the end of the allotted time.  

For Bazurto, the opportunity was too good to pass up, even if it meant moving across the country immediately after graduation. 

“If you’d have told me a few months ago that I’d be living in Florida, I would have thought you were crazy,” Bazurto said. “But it has been such an adventure and the perfect next step for my career.” 

In just the first few months of his internship, Bazurto has had the chance to glimpse behind the scenes and learn the ins and outs of lighting design for the four main theme parks that make up Disney World — Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom.  

During that time, he has helped design lighting for stage shows, character meet-and-greets, festivals, parades and more. Most recently, he got to work on lighting upgrades for some of the floats in the Boo-to-You Halloween Parade as a part of Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, one of the park’s biggest fall festivals. 

“I love the storytelling aspect of it; being able to create a new, unique perspective on a story just by using an abstract concept like how something is lit.”

While tackling the lighting design for such a wide variety of events at such a high-profile theme park might seem like a daunting task, Bazurto said his time at UNC helped prepare him to step behind the spotlights with confidence.  

“There’s a plethora of knowledge within the School of Theatre that gave me the skills and set me up for success going into this,” Bazurto said. “I came in with the foundation and creative skillset to let me figure out new things. Even when those weren’t things I’d had the chance to work on directly before, I could apply what I’d learned at UNC to solve new problems and learn new technologies.” 

In particular, Bazurto credited the mentorship of his advisor, Brian Hapcic, MFA, professor of Design and Technology, Lighting and Sound, as a driving force in helping him become who he is today. 

Bazurto’s love for theater design blossomed in high school, but it was at UNC where he was able to fully explore and express his passions. From working to design lighting for UNC’s main stage productions to exploring the more unusual sides of the craft through projects like a conceptual lighting demonstration in an old phone booth in Frasier Hall and an immersive psychological thriller set in a residence hall, Bazurto discovered the power that the right lighting can bring to any space.  

“I love the storytelling aspect of it; being able to create a new, unique perspective on a story just by using an abstract concept like how something is lit,” Bazurto said. 

Now, he’s helping tell stories on a much larger scale, working on lighting that could potentially be seen by tens of thousands of people each day.  

Despite the chance to work on massive parades and iconic stage shows, Bazurto said he’s still most inspired by the small, everyday impacts his work can have.  

“They tell us here that our main job is creating happiness, and that may not come in the form of anything crazy. It could be something as small as a little character meet-and-greet with a few lights,” Bazurto said. “But seeing a little girl get to meet their favorite princess for the first time really drives home how the little things can create such important experiences for other people.” 

With the first step on his career path leading him to the “most magical place on earth,” Bazurto is confident that he’s off to a strong start. He said he’d be happy to stay connected to the world of Disney entertainment in some way in the future, but that he isn’t afraid to explore other avenues either.  

Whether Bazurto’s next step will see him continue to lend his lighting talents to Disney or have his spotlight swing somewhere else, it’s safe to say that from here, his future looks bright.