top of page
Alex Billman Headshot.jpg

Alex Billman

Billman is currently the Sound Supervisor at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. He started college as a Computer Science major, working nights and weekends recording concerts for the Music Department.
When asked to mix Evil Dead: The Musical he couldn't resist, and from then on he was a theatrical sound person. Changing majors and getting started designing right a way.
Billman went through KCACTF himself, being awarded a fellowship at Williamstown Theatre Festival after the National KCACTF competition.
While at WTF he worked several premiers, Musical events, and designed for a 10 minute play series. From there he went on to begin working with the DCPA as a Sound Technician, and took on the role of Supervisor this season.

jaypic.jpeg

Jay Duckworth

Jay boasts over 36 years’ experience in LORT & Off-Broadways theatre, independent films, TV, music videos and over 65 off-Broadway shows credit his name as a Props Master and Props Designer. The roll call of shows for which he has created original work, starts in Classic Greek Theater, re-imagined Shakespeare plays as well as being part of the artistic team that created musicals including Hamilton, Fun Home, Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson, at his decade residency at The Public Theater. As well as being a writer for Stage Directions Magazine, he teaches Properties and the Philosophy of Aesthetics at Pace University. He has been the Keynote Speaker for The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival and the United States Institute of Theater Technology, curating USITT's very first Prop Lab in 2018.

Fajardo, Alejandro Headshot.jpg

Alejandro Fajardo

Alejandro Fajardo is a Colombian lighting designer based in Lenapehoking (Brooklyn). Alejandro strongly believes that art and imagination can help guide our communities through the current crises we face and build a new future that centers community care and growth. His recent  theatrical credits include NYC Free: a month long performance festival at Little Island Park, Murmur (Kafka Collective), The Bengson’s Broken Ear Setlist: Songs from OHIO (St. Ann’s Warehouse), /wÄ“/ and fôr (Michiyaya Dance), Cherie Dre (Danspace Projects), and more. Alejandro has designed 2 escape rooms at Big Sky Resort in Montana, as well as a series of theatrical immersive games at the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center (Big Sky, MT). Alejandro has designed the site lighting for music festivals (Electric Forest, Okeechobee Music and Arts Festival, Life is Beautiful) and many New York Fashion Week shows with Rob Ross Design; he is one of the associate Lighting Directors for Fall for Dance Festival at New York City Center. See more of his work at www.fajardodesigns.com

KatakalosHeadshot.jpg

Mellie Katalos

Professor Katakalos has been a freelance scenic designer for over 25 years, combining the art of storytelling with a compelling environment, collaborative processes, and the dynamics between collaborators. She works predominantly in San Francisco, NYC, and Philadelphia having designed over 100 productions, many of which were world premieres. Her designs have been seen on a variety of stages including La Jolla Playhouse, San Francisco Mime Troupe, Berkeley’s California Shakespeare Theatre, Los Angeles’ Cornerstone Theatre, Philadelphia’s Arden, and InterAct Theatre and Dallas Theater Center. In NYC, she has designed off-Broadway at the Clurman, at HERE Arts Center, La Mama, 45th Street Theatre, and the Triad. Her designs and devised works have been performed at the Beijing International Fringe and the Singapore International Fringe. She has been the director of the New Play Design Lab at the Bay Area Playwrights Foundation, and is a co-founder of San-Francisco-based Crowded Fire Theater Company, which has been producing and commissioning new works for over 20 years. She has the honor of having her work chosen to represent the United States at the 2019 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space, the largest performance design event in the world. Among her many nominations and awards are two San Diego Playbill Awards, two Bay Area Critics Circle nominations, two Barrymore nominations, and the honor of Best Set Designer from The East Bay Express. Upcoming shows include Peril, a new play based on Pericles for Shakespeare in Clark Park in Philadelphia this summer. She is an Associate Professor of Theatre at Lehigh University where she was recently appointed as the Class of 1961 Professor and is the Artist-in-Residence at Lehigh@NASDAQ. She received her BFA in Theatrical Production Arts, Concentration in Design from Ithaca College, and her MFA in Scenic Design from UC San Diego.

Sarah Kelso.jpg

Sarah Kelso

Sarah Kelso is a proud AEA Stage Manager who is delighted to parlay her love of post-it notes, excel spreadsheets and inspiring action with a single syllable into a career in Stage Management. She is the Resident Stage Manager with Boise Contemporary Theater, an active member of the Stage Management teams of the Idaho Shakespeare Festival (11 seasons) and Great Lakes Theater (5 seasons) and has even spent a few summers on the beach with the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival (4 seasons). She is a graduate of Boise State University's Theatre Arts Department and was a participant in KCACTF's Region 7 Design and Management expo back in her day. She is thrilled to be a part of the 2022 Festival and is looking forward to meeting Theater Professionals of the future and learning about their experiences, insights and adventures in the world of Stage Management.

JLHeadshots-3.jpg

Jerrilyn Lanier Duckworth

Jerrilyn Lanier Duckworth is the creative brains behind Bridging the Gap: A Look into African American Hair & Makeup for Theatre. She is a costume designer as well as a hair & makeup designer. Jerrilyn has an MFA in Costume Design and Production from the University of Alabama and a BA in Theatre from the University of Southern Mississippi. Jerrilyn has worked at the Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, and independent film work along the MS Gulf Coast. Her designs have graced the stages in theatre and film. In 2021, she was the costume designer in residence at Indiana University. In Spring 2022, she will open a show at Illinois State University.Jerrilyn will also continue her Bridging the Gap work. She travels to different universities to give seminars about hair & makeup issues that plague BIPOC students and performers in the theatre industry. Bridging the Gap dives into the history of hair & makeup, wig prep on natural hair textures, correct language, products, and practical applications that would set any performer or a creative artist up for success. The goal is to have an inclusive environment for all performers. Through her work, Jerrilyn has given over 200 workshops that have been attended by over 1,500 people.

Untitled.jpg

Claudia Lynch

Claudia Lynch is an Actors’ Equity Association Stage Manager, and is an Associate Professor and Coordinates the BFA Stage Management program at the University of Central Florida.  Claudia is the KCACTF Region 4 Stage Management Coordinator.  Credits include Broadway (Rock of Ages, A Catered Affair, Company, Little Shop of Horrors, The Light in the Piazza, The Rivals, Dinner at Eight, Contact); NY City Center Encores! And Encores! Off-Center (9 shows 2013 -2017); Off Broadway; Passion Classic Stage Company, Rock of Ages at New World Stages; and Regional Theatres (Alley, The Old Globe, Cleveland Playhouse, Arena Stage). 

IMG_5797 copy 2.jpg

Leslie Malitz-Vukasovich

Leslie Malitz (Costume Designer) is a bi-costal freelance costume designer. Leslie currently works for Fox Studios (formally know as 20th Century Fox). She has designed costumes for dance, theater, opera, television, and film. From Shakespeare to musicals Leslie has designed a lot and loves working with new works in theater.  Most recently, Leslie has been Associate Costume Designer for Rear Window with Kevin Bacon and a new musical called Empire about the building of the Empire State Building. Associate Costume Designer credits include Harmony a musical by Barry Manilow, the national tour and Broadway run of Jekyll and Hyde, the Musical and the regional and Broadway run of Bonnie and Clyde, the Musical.  Leslie’s also worked on the costumes for the Olympic Opening Ceremonies in Athens, Greece in 2004. 

She has her MFA in Costume Design and Technology from San Diego State and BA from Texas A&M University as well as a proud member of Costume Society of America, USA 829 and MLocal 705.

Michael Morales

Michael is originally from Tampa FL and graduated with a BFA in Stage Management from The University of Central Florida in Orlando.  After college I bounced around for a couple years doing summer stocks and working for Special Events at Universal Studios Florida.  In 2006, I went on the road with Jesus Christ Superstar, a non-equity, one nighter, bus and truck where I learned a lot about stress management, quick and confident decision making and communication skills under pressure.  I continued to tour in this style with Chicago, and Movin’ Out.  In 2009, I was ASM for a pre-Broadway run where I got my equity card.  I went back on the road in 2010 with the first National tour of Rock of Ages and continued touring until 2017 with Mary Poppins, Phantom of the Opera and The Lion King.  In 2017 I left the road and joined the core SM team at the Denver Center for Performing Arts.  Between contracts I continued to sub on the The Lion King and Hamilton tours until the shutdown.  In August of 2021, I was promoted to the PSM of the Denver Center Theatre Company where I am now overseeing the core SM teams and supporting all the shows produced under the Theatre Company umbrella.

Untitled (1).jpg
pasted image 0 (1).png

Jeanette Oi-Suk

Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew is an award-winning multi-disciplinary theatrical designer for theatre, dance, opera, musicals, music performances, installation, immersive experiences and digital productions.  Her designs have been seen across US cities and internationally at Havana (Cuba), Prague (Czech Republic), Lima (Peru), Edinburgh (Scotland), Tokyo (Japan), Graz (Austria), Shanghai (China), Paris (France), and Bloemfontein (South Africa).  As a designer, Jeanette aims to create a visual environment that is organically integrated into the landscape and language of the production. NY Times described her designs as “clever” and “inventive”.  Recent: KPOP! (Henry Hewes Award, LIT Design Award, Lortel and Drama Desk Nomination), Sweet Land (2020 Lighting Design Achievement Award), Erika Dickerson-Despenza’s cullud wattah, Amy Berryman’s Walden (2021 Berkshire Theatre Awards Outstanding Lighting Design Nomination), Whitney White’s Macbeth in Stride, Haruna Lee’s Suicide Forest, Aya Ogawa’s Ludic Proxy (Bel Geddes Design Enhancement), Oneohtrix Point Never’s Myriad (premiere at Park Avenue Armory) and En Garde Art’s installation A Dozen Dreams.  In addition, she is a generative artist in devising interdisciplinary and collaborative productions with puppetry.  Jeanette is the Assistant Arts Professor and Head of Lighting Design Training with NYU’s Department of Drama Production & Design Studio (P&D). Member of Woodshed Collective, Caborca and USA829. Recipient of the NEA/TCG Career Development Program.

pasted image 0.png

Barbra Samuels

Barbara Samuels (she/her) is a queer lighting designer, organizer and producer residing on unceded Wappinger and Munsee Lenape land. Barbara received Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Award nominations for her lighting of the immersive sci-fi folk concert, Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future (Ars Nova). She has designed for several OBIE award winning plays including Dance Nation (Playwrights Horizons), Great Lakes… (New Georges/WP Theater) and Grimly Handsome (minor theater). General Manager of OBIE Award-winning 13P from 2008-2012; 2016 Target Margin Institute Fellow; Fordham University, BA; NYU, MFA. Proud member of USA Local 829. New Georges Affiliated Artist.

 

About My Values:

I like being in rooms with people making live performances filled with joy.

I create intimate and explosive environments for new plays, opera and dance, aiming to unearth the human condition and consciousness of our surroundings.

I produce, manage, design and organize toward an American theater that is equitable, intersectional, antiracist and innovative.

I care about employee-centric labor practices and pay transparency.

I believe in fostering generous and collaborative workplaces that value a diversity of approaches and ideas.

!Steve Head-Personal small-052620.jpg

Steve Shelley

STEVE SHELLEY is a United Scenic Artist 829 lighting designer, production manager, author, and graphic designer. He’s designed lighting on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and at theatre, opera, and dance companies around the world.

On Broadway, Steve has been associated with Patrick Stewart’s one-man Christmas Carol, Sherri Lewis’s Lambchop on Broadway, and Bill Irwin’s Largely New York and Fool Moon.

Steve’s lighting can be seen in the repertories of American Ballet Theatre, Martha Graham Dance Company, Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, Boston Ballet, and North Carolina Dance Theatre. He’s designed lighting at the Cannes International Dance Festival, the Spoleto Festival in Italy, the Spoleto Festival USA, and Paul Winter’s Solstice Celebration Concert at Saint John the Divine in New York City. In opera, his lighting has been seen at the Manhattan School of Music and the Connecticut Opera.

Steve has toured as a lighting designer, lighting director, and/or production manager throughout the USA and four continents with presentations ranging from Patti LuPone and Larry King, to dance companies such as the Bolshoi, Kirov, Paris Opera Ballet, Twyla Tharp, Ballet Trockadero, José Limón, and Baryshnikov's White Oak.

Steve's the author and illustrator of A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting, 3rd Ed., the inventor of the Field Template™ plastic drafting stencils, and the designer of Vectorworks® SoftSymbols™, found at fieldtemplate.com.

​

bottom of page