Manuel Garrido Freire

​Manuel Garrido has been a professional lighting designer for opera, musicals, dance, and theatre since 2009.

He is currently the Theatre Technical Manager & Lighting Designer for the Drama Department at United World College of South East Asia (UWCSEA-East). Since joining UWCSEA, Manuel has developed a well-rounded approach to lighting design within an educational setting, balancing technical expertise, artistic vision, and pedagogy. He works closely with students and teachers to craft lighting concepts for performances, breaking down the creative process into structured, accessible steps. Through annual lighting workshops, he ensures students build a strong foundation in lighting angles, color theory, and programming, starting from the GCSE level.

Beyond education, Manuel remains actively involved in Singapore’s professional theatre industry. In 2013, he designed the lighting for Glass Anatomy, a Chinese musical staged at The Esplanade Theatre. He continued his work in the local scene with Ibsen’s A Doll’s House at the Drama Centre, National Library of Singapore in 2014 and December Rains, another Chinese musical at The Esplanade, in 2015.