Class of 2023
SIENA ZOË ALLEN
Siena Zoë Allen is a New York City based costume designer whose work is centered around reinvention and adaptation. She is most fulfilled carving out new lives for stories both classic and obscure, and reimagining them in worlds seductive and consequential. Themes common in her work are dreaming, memory, and future: spaces unique to all that can be designed uniquely every time. With an investment in sustainable practice, she believes design is born out of what you see and how you make it. Zoë is one of this year’s Princess Grace Award Winners and recipient of the Pierre Cardin Theater Honor.
See Zoë's Work
JOSH BARILLA
Josh Barilla (he/him) is a set and production designer based in Brooklyn. He is most interested in telling contemporary stories that ask big questions and give the audience space to make their own conclusions. His fascination with nature, how it infiltrates urban spaces, and how the city landscape interferes with the human experience of nature, is frequently present in his work. In his designs, he often plays with familiar architecture on stage in a way the audience may not have been confronted with in a theatrical context. Having the audience experience extend beyond the proscenium, creating a fully immersive experience, is something Josh is always looking to explore in set design. He believes that theater spaces should be accessible for all that want to experience it and is committed to fighting for equitability for those creating it.
See Josh's Work
LINDSEY EIFERT
Lindsey Eifert is a Costume Designer based in New York City. She is inspired by the timeless, glamorous styles of old Hollywood, and celebrates the classics through a contemporary lens. She finds joy reinventing the past for a modern audience.
See Lindsey's Work
TAYLOR FRIEL
Taylor is a scenic designer originally from Las Vegas, Nevada. Growing up in the spectacle and theatricality of Sin City instilled in Taylor an adoration for scenically rich environments, as well as a constant craving for storytelling. She is interested in interrogating femininity and the human condition through our relationship to horror cinema and the experience of growing up in the anonymity of online spaces. The deeply personal nature of the design process is something Taylor holds close to her heart, as she strives to offer a piece of her soul to each project, creating a collage of the self throughout her work. Outside of scenic design, Taylor loves photography, her little gray cat Alvin, and is looking forward to starting an herb and flower garden.
See Taylor's Work
GARVIN HASTINGS
Garvin Hastings is a Costume Designer from Nashville, Tennessee, who’s based in New York City. Holding a B.F.A. from Syracuse University in Costume Design with a Minor in Medieval and Renaissance History, Garvin has spent the last three years at NYU Tisch, in pursuit of telling deeper, visual stories. They like to embrace any chance to incorporate their love for all things historical into their designs, and explore new ways to interpret and be inspired by the past. Garvin feels most fulfilled during team collaboration with other creative minds, specifically, engaging with stories and storytellers. Outside of design, they enjoy exploring New York, listening to audio books, and reading history.
NICO HEN
Nicolas is a production designer born in France and raised in the United States. He is interested in all things film and art. He loves the classics, enjoys painting and drawing, and spends his spare time in nature. He does this because he likes beauty and emotion and wants to help create these.
See Nico's Work
CELESTE JENNINGS
Celeste Jennings is a costume designer and playwright. Her dream projects evoke the past, present, and future and remind Black women that they are loved, that they’re soft, powerful, capable of resting, deserving of liberation, and that they are everything- that they always have been. Most recently, her play ‘Bov Water was produced at Northern Stage, and she developed her play, Contentious Woman, with PlayCo. Selected work includes Citrus (produced at Northern Stage), and Processing. Lately she collaborated with JAG in a designer workshop for Urinetown and worked as an assistant designer on The Notebook. She’s grateful to her community of friends, family, and mentors for encouraging and uplifting her work and is grateful for the journey ahead of learning and growing as a human being and artist.
See Celeste's Work
RYAN MARSH
Ryan Marsh is a lighting and sound designer based in New York City. With a passion for collaboration, Ryan thrives in the creative process of working with other designers, musicians, and performers to create unforgettable experiences for audiences. One of Ryan’s defining traits as a designer is his use of call and response in his work. He understands the importance of responding to the various design disciplines, the music, and the action taking place on stage. At the same time, Ryan loves when he can incorporate bold design choices that are not only impactful to the audience, but also cleverly propel stories forward.
See Ryan's Work
MONA MEKKAWI
Mona Mekkawi is an Egyptian production designer and filmmaker currently based in New York City. Her work has gained recognition internationally, being featured in renowned film festivals such as the Cannes Film Festival, the Sundance Film Festival, and the Berlin International Film Festival. Notably, one of Mona’s recent documentaries, “Oversight,” which she designed, received three Emmy Awards, solidifying her position as one of the first Egyptian women to achieve such recognition. Mona’s passion lies in creating immersive and authentic worlds for her stories, drawing inspiration from her diverse cultural background and personal experiences. She has a keen interest in merging history with the future, exploring themes of time, progress, and societal evolution. Additionally, Mona has a deep appreciation for the power of storytelling in exploring the complexities of the human condition and highlighting universal experiences that connect people across different backgrounds and locations.
See Mona's Work
JOSH OBERLANDER
Josh Oberlander is a designer and artist, focusing on theater, opera, and dance. Originally from Georgia, he’s been involved in the theater since the third grade, and theatrical artifice, performance, and storytelling have been his main ways of mediating between the world and himself since. As a queer artist, he’s especially interested in how identity is formed and then destabilized at the intersection of inherited narratives, performativity and class warfare. He believes theater today should exist somewhere between journalism and philosophy: it is through intellectual, ethical, emotional and poetic rigor that theater can affect meaningful change. He holds a B.A. in Theater Studies and English and Creative Writing from Emory University in Atlanta.
See Josh's Work
KRISTEN PAIGE
Kristen Paige is a lighting designer, day dreamer, abstract painter, and contemporary performance maker living and working in NYC. She’s been making up stories for as long as she can remember, hungry to escape into a fantasy of the everyday world. Her work hopes to create authentic environments that explore the relationship of light, texture, transportation, and moving bodies. Kristen graduated from Muhlenberg College with a B.A. in Theater; a liberal arts program that allowed her to learn a little bit about a lot of things. She is a previous Resident Lighting Designer for the Second Avenue Dance Company and has designed dance pieces at the West End Theatre and New York Live Arts. The best kinds of stories envelop you in a world of their own.
See Kristen's Work
AMANDA ROBERGE
Amanda Roberge is a New York based costume designer. Originally from North Carolina, she spent much of her younger years exploring barefoot in the woods. Therefore, Amanda finds great joy in infusing her work with inspiration from nature and delights in sharing her secondarily passion for gardening with anyone who will talk with her about plants. Amanda originally came to theater by way of performance and draws from her on-stage background to highlight and transform the human body. She loves working with actors to create characters and is most energized when she is collaborating with fellow artists in pursuit of telling the story.
See Amanda's Work
NATASHA MARIE ROTONDARO
Natasha Marie Rotondaro is a Canadian Lighting Designer based out of New York City and Toronto. She uses light to build worlds and tell stories within them. She loves collaborating, and aims to explore light through theatre, dance, or other art forms where light can sculpt space. Natasha is excited to continue working in New York City post-graduation, and hopes to find herself working internationally throughout the course of her career.
See Natasha's Work
MEHULA SINGH
Mehula is a production designer hailing from Mumbai, India who is currently based in New York City. When she saw her favorite book as a child “Harry Potter “, turned into a movie, her father leaned over and whispered into her ear, “”There are people who make all that stuff, you know.”” A decade later Mehula walked onto her first movie set and never looked back. She likes to play around with the very fundamentals of design like Proportion, Contrast, Emphasis, Repetition to create worlds that convey emotion evoking stories. She likes to add a sense of humor to her design and is drawn to surrealism and absurdity.
See Mehula's Work
MARISSA TODD
Marissa is a multidisciplinary designer based in New York City. With roots grounded in design for stage and live performance, Marissa mixes the mediums of stage and film to provide a visual dialogue in support of the actors and director’s vision. Each process includes deep exploration into materials that create an environment, this in turn allows for a rumination of truth and authenticity stunningly unique to each collaboration.
See Marissa's Work