Jim Lenahan received an honors degree in Theatrical Scenic Design from the University of Florida, and then did production at Walt Disney World until Tom Petty invited him to California where he designed lights, scenery and video for every Petty tour from 1974 through 2012. He has also designed scenery and/or lighting and video for Bob Dylan, John Mayer, Sarah McLachlan, The Backstreet Boys, Korn, Santana, Jane’s Addiction, John Legend, Roger McGuinn, Marty Stuart, Trisha Yearwood, Lady Antebellum, Lenny Kravitz, X Japan, Boz Scaggs, David Lee Roth, The Dead, Thirdeye Blind, Barenaked Ladies, Toby Keith, Jackson Browne, Barry Manilow, The Fabulous Poodles, The Motels, The Knack, Quarterflash, Petra, Helen Reddy, Sally Kellerman, Jeep, Ford, Outside Magazine and Miller Lite among others. He has also lectured on Theatrical Production Design at U.C.L.A., U.S.C., The University of Florida and North Carolina School of the Arts.
As a consultant at Walt Disney Imagineering, he designed lighting for the one hundred-truck “Disney Fest Asia” tour and developed special effects lighting for Disney’s original production of “Aida” for Broadway. Since then he has consulted with Imagineering on the renovation of Space Mountain.
Lenahan has designed and/or directed music videos for Tom Petty, Stevie Nicks, Jay Aaron, Aldo Nova, Trisha Yearwood, and many others.
For six years Lenahan ran a scene shop in California and, as Technical Director, supervised the construction of scenery for over thirty Equity theatre productions. This practical experience greatly benefits his designs, which have received feature write-ups in Lighting Dimensions, Entertainment Design, Total Production U.S., Lighting and Sound America, Production Lights and Staging News and Theatre Crafts magazines. These publications have termed Lenahan a "Visualist" who is at the center of a movement to combine staging, lighting and the latest cutting edge video innovations into a unified and cohesive whole.
Jim Lenahan Production Design is a network of colleagues, vendors and associates that Lenahan has developed over the years. These experts in many different disciplines assure that any size or type of live event is not only possible but practical and cost effective while still being innovative and visually striking.