Design and Costume Technology

R. Michael Miller (head of design, head of production) Mr. Miller designed the Broadway, off-Broadway and Los Angeles productions of Stephen Temperley's Souvenir, directed by Vivian Matalon. In addition, he designed regional productions of Souvenir at The Berkshire Theatre Festival, Arizona Theatre Company, Westport Country Playhouse, Center Stage, and The Asolo Theater. For Circle in the Square on Broadway, he designed Eminent Domain and The Boys in Autumn. For the Shochiku company in Tokyo, Japan, he designed The Miracle Worker, directed by Terry Schreiber. He has designed scenery for theaters across the country including The Guthrie Theater, The American Conservatory Theater, The Berkshire Theater Festival, The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Syracuse Stage, Virginia Stage Co., The Arizona Theater Co., and others. Mr. Miller has a long association with The George Street Playhouse. Recent designs include "The Seafarer," "The Sunshine Boys," "Lips Together, Teeth Apart," and many others. He was the U.S. Associated Designer for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Aspect of Love, designed by Maria Bjornson. He was an Assistant Art Director on 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 the United Scenic Artists, Local 829. 

Edward Coco (computer graphics) holds an M.F.A. degree in scenography (scenic and lighting emphasis) from Arizona State University. Currently, Edward is a senior designer for MTV Networks in New York, where he has designed productions and events for channels such as Comedy Central, MTV, MTV2, CMT, Nickelodeon, VH1, SPIKE and many others. He was the associate scenic designer for the Tony Award winning Spring Awakening as well as the national and international tours of the show. As a frequent scenic designer for the video production company Art & Industry, Edward has designed comedy productions feature on DVD and aired on Comedy Central. He is also a Graphic Designer for the company Wallcandy Arts. In New York, Edward has contributed to a number of Broadway and off-Broadway productions for companies such as Playwrights Horizons, Signature Theatre, and New York Theatre Workshop; and including the Broadway productions of Assassins and Laugh Whore. He has worked across the country in numerous major regional theaters over the last 16 years, including Hartford Stage, the Guthrie Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, and the American Repertory Theatre. In addition to his five years at Rutgers, he has taught at New York University, Arizona State University, Stephens College, and Princeton University. He is a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829.

F. Mitchell Dana (lighting design) has lit over 575 professional productions in addition to working as a technical director, head electrician on industrials and for television, head prop man on Broadway and on tour, stage manager on and off Broadway, production manager, and show tent rigger. His many Broadway lighting 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. He was also set and lighting associate designer to Jo Mielziner on the original Broadway production of 1776. Off-Broadway credits include Pete 'N' Keely, Other People's Money, Papa, Daughters, and several productions for the Manhattan Theatre Club and the Roundabout Theatre. Mr. Dana has lit almost 100 operas in Canada, England, Spain, and the United States, including La Rondine for the New York City opera; Turandot for the Royal Opera at Covent Garden and Wembley Arena; The Magic Flute and The Merry Widow for the Cleveland Symphony; Carmen conducted by Placido Domingo with Jose Carraras and Teresa Berganzo for Open Expo '92 in Seville; La Triaviata for the Gran Teatre Liceu in Barcelona; and a dozen for the Los Angeles Opera. He has just under 200 regional theater credits at theaters like the American Conservatory Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Goodman Theatre and Seattle Repertory, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, MTC, Roundabout, McCarter Theatre, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and others. He has lit well over 100 musicals in venues ranging from 12,000 seats to those off Broadway. He has worked as a consultant and also designed for industrials, ballet, opera, television, and award shows. He is the national vice president of United Scenic Artists Local 829 and a trustee to its Pension and Welfare Fund. He is listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the Theater, Who's Who in the East, Who's Who in Entertainment, and several other biographical listings. He received his M.F.A. degree from the Yale School of Drama.

Louise Grafton (properties) has been making props for more years that she cares to admit. 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 Hanneford circuses. She has built historical reconstructions for the New York Public Library, the Princeton History Department, and PBS. She worked on the Academy Award winning film, A Beautiful Mind. She has been the prop artisan for the Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival for nine years and the Westminster Opera Company for twelve and Opera New Jersey for three. She taught prop construction for Mason Gross in the 1980s and returned to teach again in 1998.

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 1940s 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 taught at Simpson College in Iowa and at 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 American history of the Revolutionary era.  The first exhibition of one of these, a Betsy Ross subject, was hung prominently at Broome Street Gallery in January 2009.  At an Open Studio event in June 2009, five pieces sold, and a project to mount an exhibition in an historical venue is in the works.  She was published in the bibliography as an American history reference in Concord, Virginia, by Peter Neofotis, Saint Martin Press, in June 2009.  Ms. Jurinek studied at the Art Institute of Chicago (B.F.A. degree), the University of Chicago, and Columbia University (M.F.A. degree).  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.The first solo exhibition of her work took place in November 2005 at Spring Studi.  She teaches classical methods of drawing at Spring Studio and collage techniques at Cooper Union in New York.

Peter Miller (scene painting). For many seasons, Mr. Miller was the resident scenic artist of the Wolf Trap Opera Company and the Juilliard School. 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, Saint Joan, Footloose, Grease, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Goodbye Girl, and many productions of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Recent jobs include The Crucible, King Lear, Mornings at Seven, The Boys from Syracuse, Amour, and Dance of the Vampires. Films include Changing Lanes, Unfaithful, The Stepford Wives (2004), and The Interpreter. Mr. Miller is a member of I.A.T.S.E. and U.S.I.T.T. He studied scenic paining with Lester Polakov at The Studio School of Stage Design and has an undergraduate degree in visual studies from Harvard University. 

David Murin (costume design) was recently represented with his designs for the 137th edition of Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey 2007-2008 Circus. He has designed close to 250 productions for Broadway, off Broadway, regional theater, television, opera and ballet. Broadway credits include the recent revival of Steel Magnolias, Crimes of the Heart (directed by Kathleen Turner), The Foreigner, Blues In The Night, Mixed Emotions, Ned and Jack, Devour the Snow, and Gorey Stories. Off-Broadway credits include The Middle Ages, Ladyhouse Blues, The Common Pursuit, Translations, Jane Avril, Down the Garden Paths, The Baby Dance, Birds of Paradise, The Fourth Wall, and The Custom of the Country. Regional theaters include Seattle Repertory Theatre, The Alley Theatre, the Long Wharf Theatre, George Street Playhosue,  Papermill Playhouse, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Ford's Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Arizona Theatre Company, Missouri Repertory Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Cleveland Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse, Hartford Stage, Huntington Theatre Company, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Westport Playhouse, Pacific Northwest Ballet and Virginia Opera. Television credits include many television commercials, the daytime series Ryan's Hope (Emmy Award), and the television movies Maid in America, Dream House, and HBO's Sherlock Holmes. This is Mr. Murin's 20th year as an instructor of Mason Gross School of the Arts. 

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 Center 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. degree from Temple University.

Shane Rettig (sound technology) is a sound designer, composer, and musician. He has done work in New York for: The Public Theatre, The New Group, Soho Rep., the Summer Play Festival, the New York Musical Theatre Festival, Clubbed Thumb, Mabou Mines, New York University, the Juilliard School, and many off-off Broadway productions. Regional work includes: CENTERSTAGE, Actors Theatre of Louisville, La Jolla Playhouse, Dallas Theatre Center, Yale Repertory Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Triad Stage, Capital Repertory Theatre, and others. Mr. Rettig is an associate artist with the Obie award winning company, The Civilians. He performs around New York in several bands and is a composer, music director, and performer in The Atomic Grind Show. His music and design for Rinne Groff's Orange Lemon Egg Canary was presented at the 2007 Prague Quadrennial. He received his M.F.A. degree from the Yale School of Drama.

Jim Sargent (lighting shop supervisor) has entered his sixth year at Mason Gross School of the Arts. He has been an electrician, stage manager, production manager, carpenter, and technical director for many operas, national tours, and regional theaters. He is currently involved as production manager for Mile Square Theatre Company and the Princeton Festival during the summer. Mr. Sargent has worked with the Opera Festival of New Jersey and the McCarter Theatre. He also nationally toured on productions of Grease and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Robin Vest (computer drafting and set design) has been designing sets professionally for five years with an emphasis on new plays and opera. New York City set design credits include: Hoodoo Love by Katori Hall, directed by Lucie Tiberghien (The Cherry Lane);  A Very Common Procedure by Courtney Baron, directed by Michael Greig (MMC); Pen by David Marshall Grant, directed by Will Frears (Playwright's Horizons); Acts of Mercy: passion-play by Michael John Garces; God Hates the Irish (Rattlestick Playwright's Theater); Mario and the Magician (Center for Contemporary Opera); Get What You Need (Atlantic 453); The Darker Face of the Earth by Rita Dove, Audelco nomination (TWAS); as well as shows with 13P, Clubbed Thumb, and the Drama Loft. Regional set design credits include: Hansel and Gretel (Washington National Opera, upcoming), Ariadne Auf Naxos (Utah Opera and Vancouver Opera), The Little Foxes, The Diary of Anne Frank , Brother Wolf, Dracula, The Rainmaker (Best in the Triad), and Mirandolina (Triad Stage), The Bluest Eye, God's Man in Texas, String of Pearls, Yellowman (Playmaker's Repertory Company), A Servant to Two Masters, and Bluebird (Williamstown Theatre Festival), as well as those at the Dallas Theater Center, Brevard Music Center, and Yale Repertory Theatre. Ms. Vest graduated with a master's degree in set design from Yale School of Drama.