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The Mason Gross School of the Arts
 
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  Mason Gross School of the Arts 2004-2006 Graduate Programs in Theater Arts Members of the Faculty Design and Costume Technology  

Design and Costume Technology

R. Michael Miller (head of design and production/scenic design) has designed for theaters across the country including the Guthrie Theater, American Conservatory Theater, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Philadelphia Drama Guild, the Berkshire Theater Festival, the George Street Playhouse, Crossroads Theater Company, Arizona Theater Company, Hartman Theater Company, Virginia Stage Company, Syracuse Stage, Williamstown Theater Festival, Intiman Theater, A Contemporary Theater (Seattle), and others. For Circle in the Square on Broadway, he designed Eminent Domain and The Boys in Autumn. For Shochiku Company in Tokyo, Japan, he designed The Miracle Worker, directed by Terry Schreiber. Mr. Miller was the scenic supervisor for the American Ballet Theater's production of The Sleeping Beauty, choreographed by Sir Kenneth MacMillan and designed by Nicholas Georgiadis. He was the American associate designer for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Broadway musical Aspects of Love, designed by Maria Bjornson. He has worked as an assistant art director for the feature films Falling in Love, Shadows and Fog, and Bullets over Broadway. Mr. Miller has an M.F.A. degree from the University of Washington and is a member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829.

Evan Alexander (photo shop) is a set designer and multimedia developer working in New York City. Through evanalexander.com, he runs a digital design shop, specializing in digital media for theater designers including composite imaging, animation, and web site development. He has also worked as a scenic assistant for numerous Broadway productions, including Baz Lurhmann's La Bohème, The Producers, The Green Bird, The Music Man, and Contact, among others. He has also produced his own regional theater and opera design work. Recently, he completed work on the new Broadway shows The Boy from Oz, and Never Gonna Dance and worked for MTV Special Events. His design for Romeo and Juliet will open at the Skylight Opera in February of 2004.

Christine Barnes (properties supervisor) has been a properties master for over 15 years. She has worked for the Florida Grand Opera, several off-Broadway tours, Rutgers Opera, and Wayside Theatre. She has done work as an artisan for George Street Playhouse, Florida Shakespeare Theatre, NJPAC, and the Coconut Grove Playhouse. She continues to do prop work for short films and has worked with various puppet, clown, and magic shows.

F. Mitchell Dana (lighting design) has lit over 550 professional productions in his career. He has worked as a technical director, head electrician on industrials and in television, head prop man on Broadway and on tour, stage manager on and off-Broadway, and production manager. He received his M.F.A. degree from the Yale School of Drama. His lighting experience includes Dance, LORT, industrials, tours, television, off-Broadway, and Broadway. His many Broadway credits include The Suicide, Freedom of the City, Mass Appeal, Monday after the Miracle, Once in a Lifetime, Man and Superman, The Inspector General, and Oh Coward. His opera credits include La Rondine for the NYC Opera; Turandot for the Royal Opera/Covent Garden and Wembley Arena, London; The Magic Flute and The Merry Widow for the Cleveland Symphony; La Traviata for Barcelona's Gran Liceu; Carmen conducted by Placido Domingo with Jose Carraras and Teresa Berganza to open Expo '92 in Seville; and close to 75 others in the United States and Canada. He has lit over 200 productions in the LORT system at theaters including the San Francisco's ACT, Mark Taper Forum, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Goodman Theatre, McCarter Theatre, BAM, MTC, and the Roundabout. He is the national vice president of United Scenic Artists, Local 829, and is listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the Theatre, Who's Who in the East, Who's Who in Entertainment, and other biographical listings.

Vickie Esposito's (head of costume design/associate head of design) Philadelphia credits include King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, The Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet, Much Ado about Nothing, and The Merchant of Venice for the Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival. Other credits include Tin Pan Alley, Indiscretions, and The Ruling Class for the Wilma Theater, Major Barbara and Henry V for the Arden Theater and Inspecting Carol for the Philadelphia Drama Guild. She was the primary costume designer for the Philadelphia Festival Theater for 13 seasons and premiered over 50 productions including seven of Bruce Grahm's plays. Regional work includes Charley's Aunt at the Olny Theater; Belmont Avenue Social Club for Capitol Repertory, Albany; Petticoat Lane, Candida, Streetcar Named Desire, and Slow Dance on the Killing Grounds for George Street Playhouse, New Brunswick; and the touring production of Banjo Reb and the Blue Ghost. She has designed costumes in New York for People Who Could Fly, Town Hall; Are You Now or Have You Ever Been a Member of the Communist Party? for Century and Promenade Theaters; Deer Season, St. Clement's Theater; Mo Tea Miss Ann, Amas Theater; Charlie Pops, Cubiculo Theater; and Rosmersholm, Spectrum Theater Company.

Louise Grafton (properties) has been making props for many years. She has worked for regional theaters, the New York Shakespeare Festival, the Old Vic in London, the Oxford Playhouse, a number of Broadway shows, and the Big Apple and the Hanneford Circuses. She has built historical reconstructions for the New York Public Library, the Princeton history department, and PBS. She also lent her talents to the Academy Award-winning film A Beautiful Mind. She has been the prop artisan for the Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival for four years and the Westminster Opera Company for eight. She taught prop construction for Mason Gross School of the Arts in the 1980s and returned to teach again in 1998.

Catherine Homa-Rocchio (costume shop supervisor) has worked with costumes for 20 years. Before joining Rutgers she was costume shop supervisor and draper at the McCarter Theater. While at McCarter, she designed Emily Mann's Greensboro: A Requiem and several new play festivals. She was a draper at The Juilliard School and has worked at other regional theaters across the country.

Virginia Johnson (costume technology) spent eight years at The Juilliard School, with three years as costume shop supervisor. She has assisted costume designers on many productions on and off-Broadway, including Tintypes, Mass Appeal, The 1940's Radio Hour, and Driving Miss Daisy. Her many freelance costume construction credits include Nine, Other People's Money, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, Funny Girl, and Mixed Emotions. Ms. Johnson has constructed costumes for the Roundabout Theater, Lincoln Center, the Acting Company, Playwright`s Horizons, Manhattan Theater Club, Philadelphia Drama Guild, and Second Stage. She previously has taught at Simpson College in Iowa and Baldwin-Wallace College in Ohio. She holds a B.S. degree from Moorhead State University and an M.A. degree from Bowling Green State University.

Jerilyn Jurinek (drawing) is a painter of figurative art built on an architectural use of color. Eschewing commercial exhibitions in favor of human development and meaning in artistic language, Ms. Jurinek is represented in private and public collections. She studied at the Art Institute of Chicago (B.F.A.), the University of Chicago, and Columbia University (M.F.A.). She has worked extensively using Hans Hofmann School drawing methods, Albers, and other color theories. She has also worked directly with Esteban Vicente, Meyer Shapiro, and Margaret Mead.

Joseph Miklojcik, Jr. (set design) designed the sets for Are You Now or Have You Ever Been at the Promenade Theater in New York. Off-Broadway, he designed A Most Secret War and What's a Nice Country Like You Doing in a State Like This. He created sets for the original productions of Extremities and the Woolgatherer. As director of production for opera at Rutgers, he designed the American premiere of Donizetti's Bellasario and received first prize from the National Opera Association for Best Production for Cosi Fan Tutti and La Bohème. Most recently, he designed the settings for the Lyric Theater Summer Season in Boulder, Colorado.

Peter Miller (scene painting) was the resident scenic artist of the Wolftrap Opera Company and The Juilliard School for many seasons. Since joining Local 829 of United Scenic Artists, he has worked on the paint crews of numerous Broadway shows, including Ragtime, The Lion King, The Seagull, St. Joan, Footloose, Grease, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Goodbye Girl, and many productions of Beauty and the Beast. Recent jobs include The Crucible, Mornings at Seven, The Boys from Syracuse, Amore, and Dance of the Vampires. Films include Unfaithful, Changing Lanes, and the upcoming remake of The Stepford Wives. Mr. Miller graduated from Harvard in 1984 with a concentration in visual and environmental studies.

David Murin (costume design) is serving his 13th consecutive year on the Mason Gross School of the Arts design faculty. He has over 250 costume design credits for Broadway, off-Broadway, regional theater, and television. Broadway credits include Ned and Jack, A Talent for Murder, Mixed Emotions, Devour the Snow, and Gorey Stories. Regional theaters include Seattle Repertory Theatre, George Street Playhouse, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Long Wharf Theatre, Philadelphia Drama Guild, Actor's Theater of Louisville, Cincinnati Playhouse, Cleveland Playhouse, Arizona Theatre Company, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Papermill Playhouse, Huntington Theatre Company, Missouri Repertory, Williamstown Theater Festival, Berkshire Theater Festival, Westport Playhouse, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Virginia Opera. While working for Ryan's Hope, the long-running ABC soap opera, he was garnered with an Emmy Award. Made for television movies include Sherlock Holmes, Maid in America, and Dreamhouse. Mr. Murin has served on the faculties of both Temple and Boston University. In fall 2003, he will work simultaneously on a new play, Wilderness of Mirrors by Charles Evered at George Street Playhouse, directed by David Saint, and Misalliance for Seattle Repertory Theatre, directed by Sharon Ott.

Tim Pickens (technical director) has been associated with the theater arts department for the past 18 years. He spent his professional career in regional theater, including stints as technical director at GEVA Theater and the Portland Stage Company. He also served as assistant technical director at The Juilliard School, Hartford Stage Company, and Minnesota Opera Company. He received his M.F.A. from Temple University.

James L. Sargent (lighting supervisor) served as the master electrician for the national tour of Grease and assistant carpenter/automation operator for the national tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He has worked as electrician and technician for the McCarter Theater and the Opera Festival of New Jersey. In addition, he has served as assistant production manager for the Opera Festival of New Jersey.

C. Rudy Veltre (sound supervisor) began his career in the nation`s roadhouses working with national and international music acts such as Cheap Trick, Count Basie, and The Kinks. In addition to his credits in theatrical design, he also serves as designer and consultant for corporate clients and special events, such as political appearances for senators and congressmen, vice presidents, and the last three governors of New Jersey.  


 
For additional information, contact RU-info at 732/932-info (4636) or colonel.henry@rutgers.edu.
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