Roxy's Downtown is lucky to have a set designer whose visual art has graced everything from the Super Bowl Halftime Show to six Olympic games. Michael Downs, an eclectic Emmy-nominated designer and Wichita State alum lived in 27 locations around the globe before moving back to Wichita.

Technically a production designer by occupation, the scope of duties assumed over Downs’ 44-year career has evolved from necessity to include experiential designer, creative director, production and scenic designer, environment designer, video content designer, sport production architect, illustrator and storyboard artist. His work on 1,150 projects, carried out in 48 countries and all but one US state, has been seen by billions around the world. 

“The best way I can say it is that I am a 3-D storyteller,” Downs said. “I dimensionalize whatever the written word is, whether that’s a script, brand campaign, production or playwright’s film script.” His creative visual offerings have been showcased at three Super Bowl halftime shows, six Olympic games, major music concerts and festivals, the Electronic Music Awards, American Rodeo, Broadway and other theater productions, television programs, museums, zoos and corporate meetings, and a Founding Day celebration in Saudi Arabia. 

An eight-time theater award winner, his involvement in creating a backdrop for NBC’s live presidential election coverage at Democracy Plaza in Rockefeller Center garnered Emmy consideration. Locally, his work with Rick Bumgardner, artistic director at Roxy’s Downtown, has helped breathe life into 11 on-stage productions at the theater since 2020. 

It was Bumgardner whose encouragement helped encourage Downs’ passion for theater production during a chance classroom encounter at Wichita Southeast High School in 1980. “I was an undergraduate school drama teacher at Southeast and Tom Pride, theater director, needed to be gone from drama class for two-and-a-half-weeks,” Bumgardner said. “The school hired me to take the class and Michael was in it. That’s how we met. 

“He showed me the artwork he was doing in one of his art classes, and I was just blown away by the creativity and lines he drew. I told him, ‘You have a future, my friend.’ We sort of followed each other at Wichita State, then he went on to do great things theatrically and scenically, and I stayed here doing what I was doing.”

Already a fan of art and music, Downs was formally introduced to theater his junior year at Southeast by a fellow student, who invited him on a date to attend a Sarah Awards presentation hosted by the local drama department. Though her involvement in the production prevented them from sitting together, he was nevertheless mesmerized by what turned out to be a life-altering experience.

“I was just going to sit there anyway and they needed somebody to run the lights,” he said. “(Instructor) Tom Pride was backstage with me, and I asked him, ‘What do you have to do to win one of these Sarah Awards?’ That’s when I got super involved in theater. It combined all the things I loved on a large scale: art, music and hanging out with really strange people. I was bitten by the bug, and the rest is history.”

The two friends eventually lost touch through the years, as Downs’ business ventures launched a life of globetrotting that necessitated 27 moves around the world for work-related projects. He has since returned to Wichita where he resides with his wife, Rachel, who owns PAINTology custom-paint solutions in Wichita, and their three children: Olivia, 14; Isabella, 13; and Jackson, 9. 

It took a lull in Downs’ work schedule to reconnect him with Bumgardner during the pandemic. That encounter led to their first of many projects together. “I hadn’t known about Rick for decades,” Downs said. “During the pandemic, Tom Pride was putting together a show at Roxy’s, a parody of ‘Young Frankenstein.’ They asked me if I wanted to do the show. Because I’m 6-foot-7, they asked me if I wanted to be the monster. I’d never acted before, but the monster just screamed at everyone, so I said yes. 

“After a while, I asked, ‘Why isn’t anybody asking me to design the set? That’s what I do.’ And they said, ‘Oh yeah.’ Now we’re working on our 11th show together.”

The two men continue to share a high level of respect and admiration for each other, one that has blossomed into a friendship that goes well beyond the confines of their theater work together. “Rick’s impact is unbelievable,” Downs said. “We work to take care of the actors on stage so they recognize their character part and parcel to make it a really good show. Rick understands those elements. He knows what the actors think and need to be successful and where we’re going visually.

“It’s become kind of a family affair. We are really good friends, and my wife and Rick are good friends, too. She paints scenic art for the theater, and our kids have been running around there for years. When you work together and really trust each other, you become friends.”

“Michael is larger-than-life,” Bumgardner said. “Not only is he 6-foot-5 inches tall — or 6-7, with his hair spiked up — but also his personality, his visualization and his ability to see the show from an artistic standpoint. He says I get his set designs and movement. I say his set designs show me the movement.

“He and I collaborated on a project proposal last year outside the theater. His level of trust and that he asked me to help him with that meant a lot to me. His wife paints scenes for us at the theater. I consider them extended family; their kids, my nieces and nephew. We’re friends outside the theater for sure.”

As the Downs family and Bumgardner ready for the upcoming production of “Cabaret” opening April 4 at Roxy’s, Downs acknowledged his good fortune at finding the ideal career through which to express himself. Having poured his heart and soul wholeheartedly into his work, his achieved level of success mirrors the same illusionary magic that has served to define his projects for more than four decades.

“The sky’s the limit,” he said. “If anybody applies themselves and finds something they love, things just happen. If you do good work, are very interested and creative, and love what you do, it all comes to you. It also helps if you have good stories and are fun at dinner.

“I never expected this as a kid at Southeast High School. I remember my school counselor asking me, ‘Why do you want to learn a foreign language? You’ll never leave Wichita.’ And here I am, 48 countries later and counting. If you are a good collaborator, good friend, show up on time and do your best, you are going to win more than you lose.”