Alex Casillas (she/her) is a Lighting, Scenic and Puppet designer based in Austin, TX. Alex's goal is to bring the Chicana perspective to all of her work and challenge expectations of the traditional design process. Some of her favorite credits include Seven Spots on the Sun (Universtiy of Iowa), Shelter (Otherworld Theatre and The Navigators), Peter and the Starcatcher and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Festival 56), Yana Wana's Legend of the Bluebonnet (Teatro Vivo and The Vortex Theatre) and most recently 45 Plays for America's First Ladies (The Neo-Futurists, NYT Critic's Pick) for which she served as Production Designer.
As an organizing member of La Gente: The Latinx Theatre Design Network, Alex encourages everyone to follow them @lagentenetwork and to stay tuned to meet more Latinx and BIPOC artists. @acasdesigns
Emma Deane is a proud enrolled member of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation and recent MFA graduate of Yale School of Drama. She is a NYC based lighting designer whose latest credits include Mary Kathryn Nagle's Manahatta at Yale Repertory Theater and Jeremy O. Harris' YELL: A "DOCUMENTARY" OF MY TIME HERE. Yale School of Drama credits include Reykjavík, Trouble in Mind, and her Yale Cabaret credits include Little Boy/Little Man, Burn Book, The Light Fantastic, This Sweet Affliction, Mud. Prior Chicago design credits include The Adventures of Robin Hood, Pinocchio: A Folk Musical & Fog Island (Filament Theatre); Proof, As You Like It (North Park University); The Amish Project, Still (Interrobang Theatre Project); Hitler on the Roof, Hand in Hand & Nothing of Me (Akvavit Theatre); Scarcity, The Seedbed (Redtwist Theatre); The Woman in Black (Wildclaw); Fight City, Dating & Dragons (The Factory); Buddy Cop 2 (Pavement Group). Additional credits include work with Court Theatre, The Goodman, Albany Park Theater Project, Steppenwolf Theater Company, Northlight Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Victory Gardens, Shakespeare Academy at Stratford, The Actors Gymnasium, and The Gannon Center for Women and Leadership. She holds a MFA from Yale School of Drama and a BA in English from Loyola University Chicago. @ehhmahhh
Marcella Barbeau is a New York City based lighting designer. Currently, she serves as the lighting supervisor for The Atlanta Opera. Marcella earned her Masters of Fine Arts at Boston University in lighting design and continues to design across the US. She has had the opportunity to work with designers at The English National Opera, National Theatre Mannheim, National Theatre München, Cincinnati Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, ACT Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and the Huntington Theatre Company. As a Chinese American designer, Marcella actively seeks to collaborate with and amplify the voices of fellow BIPOC artists of all intersectionalities.
UArts’ Design Tech account is highlighting the talent BIPOC designers and technicians on their page. Check out all the artists on their page!
@uarts_design_tech
Trey Brazeal is a recent graduate from the School of Theatre and Dance at Illinois State University with his Master of Fine Arts in Lighting Design.
He is currently based in Chicago, IL. Some of his favorite works in the recent past have been Guys and Dolls and The Illusion at ISU and designing the lights for the Fall 2019 University High School Orchesis dance performance.
tbrazealdesigns.com @lightedwings
Stacey Derosier (NYC lighting designer) credits include: Here We Are (Theater for One), School Girls, Or the African Mean Girls Play (Berkeley Rep), All the Natalie Portmans (MCC Theater), Stew (Page 73), How to Load a Musket (Less Than Rent), The Copper Children (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Men on Boats (Baltimore Center Stage), for all the women who thought they were Mad (Soho Rep), White Noise conceived by Daniel Fish (NYU Skirball), the bandaged place (NYSAF Powerhouse), Playing Hot! (Pipeline Theater Company), The Climb (Cherry Lane - Mentor Project), Mies Julie & Dance of Death (Classic Stage Company), Novenas For a Lost Hospital, No One is Forgotten, Lewiston/Clarkston (Rattlestick Playwright’s Theater), The Revolving Cycles Truly & Steadily Roll’d (Playwright’s Realm) & was the 2018 Lilly Award recipient of the Daryl Roth Prize. @stacemadeaface
“I design lights for theater, dance, opera, installations and probably any other type of performance that we as creators share with audiences. But to be honest I am mainly a theater person.
I began my career in Iran - where I worked with some of the prominent directors for several years. In 2014, I moved to New York City to pursue my MFA degree at New York University - Tisch School of the Arts, where I was offered a full-ride for three years. Besides more than 30 productions that I designed in Iran, my works have been shown on Off-Broadway and regional theaters across the United States such as The Public Theater, ART New York Theaters, Actors Theater of Louisville, Alabama Shakespeare, Long wharf Theater, Geva Theater Center, PlayMakers Rep, The Guthrie Theater, Baltimore Center Stage and etc.
I am so proud of winning the prestigious award of Knight of Illumination for Nina Simone: Four Women in 2019. Also, I was nominated for the Henry Hewes Design Award for Henry VI (NAATCO) in 2018 and Hamlet (WATERWELL) in 2017.” Reza is a member of USA Local 829 and Wingspace Theatrical Design. He currently resides in Brooklyn, New York.
@rezza_behjat
rezabehjat.com
Born to a family of engineers in Cairo, Egypt, Omar developed a passion for movie directing. For this reason he studied stage acting, wrote a play for his undergrad thesis, and eventually started a career as a Lighting Designer. Confused much? Well, it has been an interestingly twisted journey.
Omar’s designs have been presented in various countries, festivals and venues such as The Maxim Gorki Theatre (Berlin), BoZar (Brussels), Shubbak Festival (London), D-CAF (Cairo), UNAM (Mexico City) and others. Credits vary from classical theatre to new works and experimental performance. Selected credits include the West Coast premiere of Young-Jean Lee’s We’re Gonna Die; the workshop production of Black Like Me; Waiting for Godot; Measure for Measure; and La Princesa a co-devised piece which won first prize in ArtChangeUS competition. Omar’s background in performing, directing and writing shaped his design process, allowing it to stem from a dramaturgical approach rather than a solely aesthetic one.
Omar holds a MFA from CalArts (‘20) and a BA in Theatre from The American University in Cairo (‘11).
omarmadkour.com
@omarbmadkour
“I am a lighting designer, a maker.
Inspired by the world we are living in.
Thinking big when I plan on it.
Narrow down when I work on it.
Try it.
Money is not always a bad thing.
What I can offer is more important than what I can get.
Tackle any challenges coming along my way.
Technology is always a friend if it's been portrayed artistically.
Live with contradiction. Willing to hear different opinions.
Build a bridge between you and me.
Learning how to compromise is tough, but it always happens.
Appreciated to people who do not like me, because they make me grow.
I have hands.
Working hard is good, working smart is better.
Never stop learning.”
-Jiajing Qi
7-lights.com
@jiajing_7
Natali (she/her) is proud first-generation Cuban-American Lighting Designer, Assistant, and Programmer based in New York City. She designs and assists for opera, theatre, dance, site specific venues, concerts, award ceremonies and more. She currently serves as the Lighting Director for Samsung’s flagship store, Samsung 837 in New York's Meatpacking District.
Natali also freelances as a graphic designer and web developer. Currently, she is collaborating
with La Gente: The Latinx Theatre Design Network generating content for social media and
designing and developing an online directory for Latinx Theatre Designers and Technicians
across the nation. Follow @lagentenetwork for updates!
Natali is also one of the co-founders of the WTF Lighting Instagram back in 2018!
nataliarco.com
@nataliarco
Chun-Yen Huang is a theater lighting designer. He got his MFA in theater lighting design from the University of Washington. He is a designer who cares about humanistic side of society and always wants to help the director tell a good story. He
believes that a good story can have a positive impact on people's minds which will eventually make this world a better place.
Come from Taiwan.
Seattle based.
And open to going anywhere for telling a good story.
@chun_yenn
chunnyenn.weebly.com
