Meet the Designers

Jessie Baldinger
(Scenic Design)

Jessie Baldinger is a third-year Scenic Design M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama. Select previous credits include Hedda Gabler (Yale Repertory Theatre), Metamorphoses (DGSD), Iolanta (Yale Opera) Pride of Doves (Yale Cabaret), As You Like It (Nashville Shakespeare Festival), Homofermenters (ANT Fest at Ars Nova), and Assistant Set Designer on JOB and I Need That (Broadway). Jessie grew up in West Palm Beach, Florida, and is a graduate of Northwestern University.

JessieBaldingerscenicdesign.com
Instagram @jessiebaldinger

Tricie Bergmann
(Costume Design)

Tricie Bergmann is a costume designer from Vienna, Austria, and holds a BA in Fashion and Textile Design from the Amsterdam Fashion Academy. Her work approaches costume as a transformative storytelling device, informed by a passion for speculative fiction. Her design process is rooted in character-driven research, tracing the historical, political, and cultural worlds that shape each production. She is drawn to the extension of the human form through movement, light, and sculptural intervention, and her work often explores the boundary between costume and object through puppet builds and sculptural costume elements. Before coming to Yale, she worked as a costume production manager at Art for Art in Vienna and designed for performance art and film. She is currently a third-year M.F.A. candidate in Costume Design, where her credits include Rhinoceros (Yale Repertory Theater), Silence/The Village (Carlotta Festival of New Plays), and Kilele (DGSD). Additional credits include Pool (No Water) (Yale Cabaret), Kneading (Brut Theatre, Vienna), Voyage dans la Lune (costume production manager, Vienna Volksoper), Tristan und Isolde and Wozzeck (assistant costume production manager, Vienna State Opera), and Anatomyland (puppet creation, Aitor Throup Studio collection).

triciebergmann.work

Emilee Biles
(Sound Design)

Emilee Biles is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, sound designer, and engineer in her third year at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale where she has designed Sort, Ain't No Mo’, Twelfth Night, The Tragedy of Coriolanus, and many shows at Yale Cabaret. Her debut musical-in-progress, rye savior, was presented at Yale Summer Cabaret Season 51: Petri Dish.

Emilee has found a niche in composing and performing live in productions. She enjoys bringing stories to life musically, rhythmically, and sonically.

Select credits include: Broadway: Cost of Living (Assistant Sound Design); Yale Repertory Theatre: Hedda Gabler, Spunk (Associate Sound Design), The Salvagers (Assistant Sound Design); Regional: Into The Woods (Dallas Theater Center, Associate Sound Design), The Manic Monologues (WaterTower Theatre), The Play that Goes Wrong (Stage West), The Elephant Man (Theatre 3). Studio: letters to nowhere EP by e.vangeline (Recording Artist & Producer). @emilee.party

Emilee proudly holds a B.S. in Sound Recording Technology from Texas State University.

emilee.party
Instagram @emilee.party

Jennifer Cao 曹语晴
(Scenic Design)

Jennifer Yuqing Cao (曹语晴) is a scenic designer and third-year M.F.A. candidate in Scenic Design at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. Based between New York City and China, she works across theater and dance as an international artist, with a focus on space as an active, narrative-generating force rather than a static backdrop.

In 2024, she was a Yale–China Association Resident Artist, developing intercultural and site-responsive work. Her practice engages architecture, ritual, and temporality through a cross-cultural lens.

Selected credits include Once 一场 (China National Tour); Rhinoceros (Yale Repertory Theatre); Antony and Cleopatra and You Can Tell a Tree by Its Fruit (David Geffen School of Drama); Here’s a Blue Morpho For You (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater); New York Housing Project (NYU Tisch); and The Mailroom (International Festival of Arts & Ideas, Yale–China Fellowship).

Her work centers on creating immersive environments that activate audience perception and reframe spatial storytelling.

jenniferyuqingcao.com
Instagram @jennyuqingcao_art

Constant K. Dzah
(Sound Design)

Constant K. Dzah is a sound designer and composer, and an M.F.A. candidate at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, graduating May 18, 2026. Originally from Ghana, Constant holds a BFA in Theatre Arts from the University of Ghana. His work spans productions in both the United States and Ghana, with recent design credits including Furlough’s Paradise and Les Liaisons Dangereuses at Yale Repertory Theatre, as well as Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner at Yale Cabaret. His thesis project is an audio play adaptation of In the Chest of a Woman, exploring immersive storytelling and accessible sonic experience.

Constant approaches sound as a narrative and spatial tool, integrating technical systems with storytelling to shape audience perception. His work often engages themes of identity, culture, and memory, with a growing interest in immersive and accessible sonic experiences. Beyond the theatre, Constant loves cooking and sharing meals with friends and family, finding in the kitchen the same joy of layering textures, balancing tones, and bringing people together.

Wiktor Freifeld
(Projection Design)

Wiktor Freifeld is an audiovisual designer and interdisciplinary artist committed to creating memorable experiences. His work spans live sound-responsive projections, projection design for theater and dance, video scenography, and multimedia design, as well as museum exhibition design and art direction. In his practice, he is particularly focused on accessibility and interactivity. Storytelling is at the core of his work. Current and upcoming projects include I no longer believe we are good people (animations for a film short, wip, NYSCA ’26), Sea of Commodities (expanded cinema, Yale CCAM). Recent theatrical projects include Furlough’s Paradise (Yale Repertory Theatre), Bye-bye Butterfly Opera for the Deaf (Warsaw Autumn/Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw), The Tragedy of Coriolanus and Metamorphoses (David Geffen School of Drama at Yale), The Death of Ophelia (Yale CCAM and MacMillan Center), Shadow of memory (Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews). Wiktor was the lead designer for the National Museum of Poland’s Ancient History Wing and an exhibition designer at the Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews. He has also worked with LABA NYC, Poland’s Niepodległa Centenary, H.art Dance Company (Gdańsk), and others. Since 2016, he has collaborated with the percussionist Miłosz Pękała.

Wiktorfreifeld.com
Instagram @Wiktor_freifeld

Gib Gibney
(Lighting Design)

Gib Gibney is a NY based Lighting Designer originally from Long Island. He is a graduating 3rd year M.F.A candidate at DGSD at Yale and has his B.F.A in Lighting Design from Penn State School of Theatre, and his A.S. from Suffolk Community College.

Select previous credits include: Spunk by Zora Neale Hurston at Yale Rep, The Under City (Co-Designer- Yichen Zhou), Silence/ The Village at David Geffen School of Drama, Metamorphoses at David Geffen School of Drama, Into the Woods at Pennsylvania Centre Stage, Blood at the Root at Pennsylvania Centre Stage.

Select Associate Credits include: Chiaroscuro at The Flea (NBT) Designed by Maruti Evans, Invasive Species Play at The Vineyard Designed by Yichen Zhou, Million Dollar Quartet at Bell Works Theatre Designed by David Heguy, West Side Story Phoenix Productions Designed By David Heguy.

Giblighting.com

Xi (Zoey) Lin 林曦
(Sound Design)

Xi (Zoey) Lin 林曦 is a sound designer and composer from Nanjing, China. She holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts and a B.M. in Piano Performance from Lawrence University, and recently completed her MFA in Sound Design at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. Previous theatre credits include sound design and original music for The Far Country (Co-Designer) and Rhinoceros at Yale Rep, Kilele and Macbeth at the Geffen School, sound design for Utopia at the Geffen School, Apologiae 4&5 and Lovesick at the Yale Cabaret, The Mailroom installation with Yale-China at International Festival of Arts & Ideas, and Detroit ’67 at Princeton Summer Theatre. Her additional music credits include compositions for Morpho Studio’s digital fashion collection releases of「CORAL 珊瑚」and VINCENT at Beijing Fashion Week, chamber music composition Hop, hop... ins Wasser — A Sequel to Wozzeck for Yale College New Music Concert at the Beinecke Library, and a programmatic orchestral work for The Reflection by Yoko Tawada. An enthusiast of dance and culinary arts, Zoey composed Nanke Dream for a dance work and Nanjing Duck for a multi-sensory theatrical piece integrating movement, music, and culinary art.

xizoeylin.com
Instagram @silvhanbao

Karen Loewy Movilla
(Scenic Design)

Karen Loewy Movilla she/her/ella is a Colombian multi-hyphenated artist and set designer. She received her bachelor’s degree in Film and T.V. from Boston University and is graduating with an M.F.A from David Geffen School of Drama at Yale.

Her recent design credit include Spunk (Yale Repertory Theatre), Macbeth (DGSD), Kilele (DGSD), Aya Ogawa’s Meat Suit (Mercury Lounge), Nani (Yale Cabaret), Twink Death (Yale Cabaret), New England Summer Storms (Columbia University), Our Bodies like Dams (Mabou Mines, The Brick), and The Night Alive (Chain Theatre).  Select film credits: August at Twenty-Two (dir. Sophia Castuera), And Along Came Lily (dir. Danielle Hope Diamond).

Karen was Artistic Director for Yale Cabaret Season 58’ (PULSE). Focused on new works and community building. She was a performer and co-creator of Tía Talk presented in Ars Nova’s 2021 ANT Fest ’21 and The Tank’s Core Productions in 2023. A member of Object Movement Puppetry Residency in 2023. Her multi-disciplinary approach opens her to new avenues of performance from puppetry to opera and fosters her collaborative theatre-making ethos.

karenloewymovilla.com

Allison Morgan
(Costume Design)

Allison Morgan is a designer who creates costumes for the stage and screen.  

She is completing study for a Master of Fine Arts degree in Costume Design from the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Apparel Design and a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and French Studies from the Brown University/Rhode Island School of Design dual-degree program.  

She is particularly interested in collaborating on music-based works. This spring, she designed costumes for the New Chamber Ballet’s performance of Grieg’s Violin Sonata No.3 in New York, and the Yale Baroque Opera Project’s production of Cavalli’s L’Egisto.  

She has an extensive background in opera, beginning with a Fulbright Fellowship for the Arts in Venice, Italy. While at Yale, she researched archival costume designs as a Graduate Research Fellow at the university’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. During the past two summers, she was the assistant costume designer on productions of Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Verdi’s Rigoletto at the Santa Fe Opera. She will continue her costume archival work as a Houghton Library Visiting Fellow this summer, and this fall, she will embark upon a year-long research project titled “Costuming the Chorus: Lessons from the French Grand Opéra Tradition” in Paris, France on a Fulbright fellowship. 

Additional School of Drama design credits include Matthew Chong’s What Rough Beast, Aleshea Harris’ Is God Is, Ida Cutter’s Sort and Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra.   

Before coming to Yale, Allison worked as a costume production assistant and coordinator for a variety of television shows, including The Deuce, Halston, Bupkis and Only Murders in the Building. She is a member of IATSE United Scenic Artists Local 829. 

 Allison is from Baltimore. She speaks French (DaLF C1 level) and Italian.   

allisonmorgan.studio
Instagram @alice_di_baltimore

Larry Ortiz
(Lighting Design)

Larry Ortiz is a third-year M.F.A. candidate at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, originally from El Paso, Texas. Select lighting design credits include: Hedda Gabler (Yale Repertory Theatre); La Muerte y la Doncella, La Pasion Segun Antigona Perez (El Repetorio Espanol, Off-Broadway); Sort, Kilele, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (the Geffen School); Lepke in the Night, H.E.A.T.T. (Connecticut College); Witch, Can the Peruvian Speak?, Romeo and You-Liet (Yale Cabaret); Let it Be-A Beatles Musical, Promises Promises, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Okoboji Summer Theatre). Shinnyo Lantern Floating Hawaii (Assistant Lighting Designer). Larry Ortiz graduated from The University of Texas at El Paso with a B.F.A. in theater. Special thanks to my family and partner who have inspired me immensely.

LarryOrtiz.com 

Lyle Laize Qin 秦莱泽
(Costume Design)

Lyle Laize Qin is a costume designer and MFA candidate at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University. He received his BFA in Environmental Design from Donghua University, in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh.

His practice is grounded in cross-cultural research, engaging with visual and material traditions across time to construct layered and resonant design languages. Working at the intersection of history and contemporary form, he approaches costume as a spatial and narrative medium—one that shapes the relationship between body, identity, and environment.

Recent credits include Hedda Gabler, Metamorphoses, and Macbeth. He has also designed for film projects, through which he seeks to expand his design language across mediums and extend its application into broader visual and narrative contexts.

Laize’s work investigates how design can articulate presence, tension, and transformation, forming cohesive visual worlds across theatre and film.

lylelaizeqin.com

Anthony Robles
(Scenic Design)

Anthony Robles is a scenic designer whose work gestures toward simplicity and finds what is essential to create visual poetry on stage.  In 2025, he designed the set for the world premiere of Inebria Me, an experimental opera by San Cha at Performance Space New York and winner of the 2025 Music Theatre NOW Award.  In Spring 2026, he designed the set for Furlough's Paradise by a.k. payne, directed by abigail jean-baptiste for the Yale Repertory Theatre.  His upcoming work includes projection design for the world premiere of Ofrenda at Austin Opera, composed by Jorge Sosa and directed by John De Los Santos.  Born and raised in Los Angeles, CA, Anthony earned his BA from the USC School of Cinematic Arts in Film and Television Production.

anthonyroblesdesign.com
Instagram @a.robles_design

Kristen Taylor-Ditzel
(Costume Design)

Kristen Taylor-Ditzel is a costume designer from Orlando, FL known best for her work on Yale Repertory Theatre's production of Zora Neale Hurston's Spunk. Her other credits include Ain't No Mo' (DGSD), King Lear (SRP), Coriolanus (SRP), These Shining Lives (The Studio Theatre Tierra Del Sol), Xanadu (Emerald Coast Theatre Company). She received her BFA in Costume Design and Technology from University of West Florida where she designed Shakespeare in Love (UWF), and Big Fish (UWF). She also designed works with Yale cabaret: Twink Death, Apologaie 4&5, and Pride of Doves. In the summer of 2025 she costumed three plays for the Dwight Edgewood Project.

kristenleahtaylor.wixsite.com/website

Ke Xu 许可
(Projection Design)

Ke is a multidisciplinary stage visual designer. She graduated from Central Saint Martins (UAL) with first-class honors in product design and was working professionally in China before coming to Yale. She has designed scenery and projection for national scale productions and events, collaborating with directors and artists from the National Theatre of China and China Central Television. She works across 2D and 3D animation pipelines, and is passionate about exploring new theatrical language that integrates digital media with physical space.

Recent credits include projection design for Rhinoceros, Spunk (Yale Rep); Silence/The Village, Ain’t No Mo’ (Geffen School); Iolanta, The Turn of the Screw (Yale School of Music); Homecoming: A New Musical, 10:59 (Off Broadway Theater); It’s Not You It’s the End of the World, And the Beetle Hums, Can the Peruvian Speak? (Yale Cabaret); set and video design for Detective Zhao Gan’e (Beijing 77 Theater); projection design for Miss Julie (Beijing Star Theatre).

hugercreative.com
Instagram @ahhake