Design and Production

What Alumni Are Doing

2009 Award Winners

Photos of Productions

Design Classroom

Frequently Asked Questions

Undergraduate Graduate Summer Continuing Ed Program

Sundown Beach

"Sundown Beach "

The School of Design & Production offers a unique and comprehensive program of instruction and practice in 12 different concentrations in theatrical design, technical production, project management, arts management and related theatre crafts. Students design and execute the sets, properties, costumes, lighting, sound, and wigs and makeup, as well as manage all production aspects for more than 20 shows a year. The School of Design & Production works hand-in-hand with the Schools of Dance, Drama, Filmmaking and Music in mounting and producing operas, musicals, plays, ballets, contemporary dance performances and films. Students may enroll in the undergraduate (Bachelor of Fine Arts or Arts Diploma) or the graduate (Master of Fine Arts) programs. The instructional program equips graduates for positions in the profession at an employment rate that approaches 100 percent.

What's Happening Now at D&P

Several D&P students have been selected to participate in the upcoming exhibition of Design Showcase West in Los Angeles. D&P students selected for this honor include undergraduate scenic designers Dwayne Burgess, Katy Meehan, and Ryan Wineinger, and graduate costume designer Matt Kessler. Design Showcase West is an invitation-only national portfolio exhibit of the top student designs in the nation in the areas of costume, scenic, lighting and sound design. The exhibition is typically open only to graduate-level design students, and is hosted by the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television; the Costume Designers Guild, Local 892; the Art Directors Guild, Local 800; and United Scenic Artists, Local 829 in Los Angeles. The 7th annual Showcase will be held June 6th, 2009 and feature the work of students from the nation’s top design programs, including UCLA, USC, California Institute of the Arts, Carnegie Mellon, University of Missouri-Kansas City, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, New York University, Yale, the University of Texas-Austin, Northwestern, and UNCSA. Congratulations to each of you for this very prestigious recognition!
D&P welcomes Shawn Gresser (BFA ’91 in stage management) as a visiting guest artist in stage management from April 27th through May 8th. Shawn has been a stage manager for Blue Man Group at the Venetian in Las Vegas for the past 8 years. In addition to BMG, Shawn's stage management experience includes work at Houston Grand Opera, Houston Shakespeare Festival and at the Washington Opera. Shawn will be here to teach stage management classes and to serve as an advisor to the opera. He will also be a guest teacher in our Theatre Management Survey class. Please welcome Shawn to campus!
Tonight is the opening of the “The Blonde, The Brunette and The Vengeful Redhead” at Triad Stage. Norman Coates (director, lighting program) designed the lighting, Geneva Conaway-Bennison (3rd year MFA in sound design) is the sound designer, Rob Virzera (3rd year lighting design) is the master electrician, Michael Kohler (4th year lighting design) is the projectionist and D&P Alum and School of Filmmaking faculty Bill McCord is the projection designer. The show runs through May 17th at Triad Stage’s downtown Greensboro theatre.
Two students from the lighting program, Kyle Grant (2nd year lighting design) and Sean Beech (4th year lighting design) have been selected to attend Showlight 2009 (http://www.showlight.org/) in Glasgow, Scotland May 16th – 19th. The international Showlight conference is held every four years, by lighting professionals for lighting professionals worldwide. The students are bring sponsored by German Light Products and Vectorworks, respectively.
The lighting program of D&P has again been selected to beta test two new professional lighting products during UNCSA’s upcoming production of Il mondo della luna. Lighting Designer Rob Ross (3rd year lighting design) has been working with D&P alum John McKernon on version 5 of Lightwright and will be using it under show conditions testing the communications portion of the program. In our ongoing beta testing relationship with Electronic Theater Controls we have received the latest version of Congo consol and will be beta testing that console.
Christa Boggs (1st year MFA, performing arts management) will spend her summer working as an administrative assistant and junior intern coordinator at the Children's Theatre of Charlotte. She will help to oversee their summer camp, which offers over 200 enrichment classes, and Summer Camp at ImaginOn (The Joe & Joan Martin Center) and five different satellite locations throughout the region. The theatre serves over 320,000 families with theatre and educational experiences throughout the year. This year they are celebrating their 61st season.
Howard Jones (director, scenic art program) designed the scenery and projections for the Goodspeed Opera House’s new production of 42nd Street, which opened last Friday night in East Haddam, CT. Murdock Lucas (1st year MFA) and Katy Meehan (4th yr) assisted with the project. Murdock Lucas also traveled with Jones to assist with the on-site installation of the projections.
Jason Romney (sound design faculty) chaired three sessions on sound playback systems during the recent USITT conference. In addition, he began work as Chair of a sound commission project to develop a document outlining best practices for fair use in theatre sound.

Just prior to the USITT conference, Romney was in Chattanooga, TN at the ACM Special Interest Group for Computer Science Education conference (SIGCSE). He presented a paper and taught a workshop to computer science educators on using practical creative sound design and music projects to teach computer science. The SIGCSE Technical Symposium speaks to problems common among educators working to develop, implement or evaluate computing programs, curricula, and courses. The Symposium and series of workshops offers a forum for sharing new ideas for syllabi, laboratories, and other fundamentals of teaching and pedagogy, at all levels of instruction.

And in late February, Romney traveled to Texas State University in San Marcos, TX where he was invited to attend the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (Region VI) which included participants from Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. Romney served as a guest artist and as a Design Respondent for the student sound design competition. In addition, he taught a master class.
Several D&P faculty and students took part in the Piedmont Opera’s recent production of The Marriage of Figaro, presented at the Stevens Center. Dennis Booth (technical direction faculty) served as the production’s technical director, Norman Coates (lighting design faculty) designed the lighting, and Martha Ruskai (wig and makeup faculty) designed the wigs and makeup. Brad Peterson (4th year lighting design) served as assistant lighting designer, and Tai Renfrow (4th year stage management) served as assistant stage manager. Student stagehands for the production included Eric Gerard, Jon Arras, Laurel Blaine, Tom Campbell, Dan Martell, Jeremiah Lamm, Chris Taylor, Wade Jolly, and Sarah Ramos. Eric Rimes (lighting technology faculty) also served as a stagehand. The following wig and makeup students assisted Martha Ruskai on the production: Isaac Grnya (4th year), Tiffany Bolick (3rd year), and Necole Bluhm (2nd year).
Joe Tilford (Dean, School of Design and Production) is designing the set for Around the World in 80 Days at the Westport Playhouse in Westport, CT. This is his third set design for Around the World in 80 Days. He designed the set for the hit off-Broadway production last summer and the earlier production at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. The production is directed by Michael Haney and will open on April 24th.

Thirteen D & P faculty and some twenty D&P students, along with Dean Joe Tilford recently attended the 49th annual United States Institute of Theatre Technology (USITT) conference in Cincinnati, OH. The 4-day conference, which attracted some 4,000 participants this year, is the largest gathering of theatrical design and technology students, faculty and professionals in the nation. The conference provides opportunities to attend workshops and seminars in a variety of design and technology disciplines, as well as the chance to learn from and meet with respected leaders and top industry professionals.
This was an especially valuable conference for UNCSA faculty and students this year, as a host of awards were brought home. Franco Colavecchia (set and costume design faculty) was honored with the Distinguished Achievement Award in Scenic Design. Students Ming-Yen Ho and Ryan Wineinger were honored with awards for Excellence in Makeup and Design and Excellence in Scenic Design, respectively. In addition, Ryan Wineinger and Dwayne Burgess participated in the Young Designers Forum and Angela Friedman and Holly Griffin participated in the Young Technicians Forum. These forums are adjudicated and extremely competitive, and feature the work of a select group of emerging undergraduate and graduate designers and technicians from around the nation.

Also at the conference, USITT sponsors the ever-popular “Tech Olympics,” where students display their technical skills in stagecraft, lighting and costumes, competing individually and in teams. This year’s team consisted of Jeremiah Lamm, Gabe Felkel, Tim Sanford, Rob Virzera, and Leo Martin. Kudos to this UNCSA team, who retained their national championship title from last year, once again taking home first place. Individual event winners included Tim Sanford (3rd year, technical direction) - 1st place in wiring a stage pin connector and 3rd place in knot tying; Jeremiah Lamm (4th year, technical direction) - 3rd place in wiring a stage pin connector; Gabe Felkel (2nd year MFA, stage automation) - 2nd place in knot tying and 3rd place in costume quick change; Leo Martin (2nd year, sound design) - 2nd place in hooking up a sound system; and Rob Virzera ( 3rd year, lighting technology) - 2nd place in cable swaging and 2nd place in hanging and focusing a lighting instrument.