Ryan Bona, a UALR theater major graduating this month, was accepted into the California Institute of the Arts Master of Fine Arts program in lighting design – one of two students accepted this year in the exclusive program.

Bona, a graduate of North Little Rock High School, placed second last year in the South Eastern Theatre Conference Undergraduate Design competition and won the undergraduate research award in the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. He has designed lighting and sets for department productions, was the company manager for the Marlowe project that traveled to Canterbury, England, last summer, edited the weekly e-newsletter, and served as president of the student theater organization.

The strength of Bona’s portfolio and written submissions won him an interview at the New York studio of Donald Holder, the director of CalArts lighting program. Holder has won Tony Awards for Broadway hits “Lion King” and “Movin’ Out.”

CalArts, the nation’s first art institute to offer BFAs and MFAs in both the visual and performing arts, is dedicated to training the next generation of professional artists and fostering innovation within the broadest context possible. Emphasis is placed on new and experimental work and students are admitted solely on the basis of artistic ability.