Poor Judge was a door opening—a reminder of why I wanted to design for theater in the first place.
It was a radical collaboration, a sweet creative room, and a beautiful conversation about things left unsaid, spy stories, and how breakups often leave us guessing in the dark.
Pig Iron is a school, a place, a way of creating. For me, it was a breath of hope.
Eva Steinmetz, the director, is a mastermind who pulled the best out of me and brought it into that humble and complex scenery.
Dito van Reigersberg, a beautiful creative genius who made everything and everyone feel true, humble, and meaningful—and made us all feel at home.
Alex Bechtel, a musical genius. One of the best moments I have experienced in a theater room was watching him lie back on the floor, playing the keyboard upside down.
And all the Amys—and the real one too—thank you for decades of music that make me want to lie on my back, stare at the ceiling, and sing your songs with the CD on repeat.
I studied for an MFA in Scenic Design for Theater and Film at Tisch NYU from 2016 to 2019.
I arrived to the big apple with a big portfolio of work I had created by making up my own stories and imagining creatures that could inhabit public spaces. For three years, I devoted myself to learning the art of creating spaces whose purpose was storytelling.
I had to let go of who I thought I was, and through so many stories from so many different times, places, and people, I slowly found myself falling in love with the art form. I learned to see creation as a form of collective empowerment: sitting around tables where conversations unfolded, ideas flowed, and eventually manifested into their own worlds.
It was also a healing process. I began to understand the profound meaning of the power we have through the lens we choose to look through—the point of view we take when listening to someone else's words, stories, and meanings.
My first production was a collaboration with the Dance Department. I believe the choreographer chose to work with me after seeing my recurring interest in repurposing trash. Through that process, I learned to see these materials differently—not only for what they were, but for their potential to hold movement and transform through the body and light.
The second production was Imaginary Cuckold and The School for Husbands, by the great Moliere, both performed sequentially with swift changes between the two worlds and a lot of laughter. This was a collaboration with the Drama Department.
Directe by Marc Vietor, costumes by Corina Chase and Lighting design by Jenn Burkhardt.
Directe by Marc Vietor, costumes by Corina Chase and Lighting design by Jenn Burkhardt.
And last but not least was The Book of Lucy, where I truly came into a deeper relation to the subject of light.
The Book of Lucy was written by Ngozi Anyanwu and directed by Lou Moreno for the Drama Department at Tisch NYU back in 2019.
Before having a script, I was assigned a concept: The Devil.
I researched its meanings and representations throughout the Americas and thought about the concept as portrayed by Bosch portrays good and evil through a hierarchical, layered world, that divide good from evil. Yet, in the syncretisms of the Americas, the Devil takes on a much more complex meaning.
I began thinking about perspectives.
I’ve included here a bit of my thought process and design exploration (there is more in the "process section"), as I very much enjoyed the concepts we played with throughout the design collaboration with my dear classmate and lighting designer, Rachel Fea.
An MFA in New York, and especially at Tisch, was both humbling and empowering. The tools I gained there were game-changing, but perhaps more importantly, I discovered that storytelling is a resource I deeply cherish—and one that I continue to carry with me and incorporate into everything that has come since.
In 2019 Mid Summer Nights Dreams, for the stage at Lehman Collage, NYC
Directed by Richard Desroche, Costumes by Anthony Paule Cavaretta, Projection Design by Monica Duncan and Light Design by Miriam Crowe, special thanks to Chris Higgins TD.
Directed by Richard Desroche, Costumes by Anthony Paule Cavaretta, Projection Design by Monica Duncan and Light Design by Miriam Crowe, special thanks to Chris Higgins TD.
Broken April
Co-Scenic Design with my dear Friend Kalvin Pater.
This play, Directed by Arthur Makaryan, based on one of those surreal novel where, regardless if it is fiction, you can say "reality exceed fiction" about the Albanian Blood feueds.
This play, Directed by Arthur Makaryan, based on one of those surreal novel where, regardless if it is fiction, you can say "reality exceed fiction" about the Albanian Blood feueds.
It was played in 2018 in Lenfest Center for the Arts, NYC.
2017
Sunset Park at Theater Lab, co-designed with Kelvin Pater.
Maljut
A surreal and imaginative children’s play that was winner of the XIV National Playwriting Showcase at Matucana 100 in Santiago de Chile.
The making of it was just as surreal as the play itself. Along with my friend Macarena Ugarte, we took the script very literally.
There was a giant cardboard refrigerator falling from the sky, from which a forest would grow. There were underwater submarines, a school, and bears.
It was a first-time experience for me, coming from having no previous experience in theater production. We made everything ourselves and ran everything ourselves backstage.
“Hallucinante,” the critics called it. There were lines of children, laughter, and a feeling that we had accomplished the impossible. A surreal reality had definitely come to life.
Directed by Rodrigo Canales and written by Eduardo Pavez Goye.
In summary, I've had the privilege of spending more than ten years sitting around a table with a story and a group of creatives, working together to bring those stories to life.
Most of this experiences have taken place in New York. Among the many projects that have filled my days over the years, I would also add (picture below): Lost in Translation, directed by Maridee Slater for Long Island University’s theater company.
Simple solutions using scenic elements activated by light, creating pockets of moments where the story becomes intimate and occupies a space of words were the subconscious can float.
