Design

2023 Design Showcase

Presenting the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale Design Showcase for the class of 2023.

WHERE

The Public Theater Studios

440 Lafayette St.

New York, NY

WHEN

Thursday, May 18
11AM–1PM
2PM–5PM

Friday, May 19
11AM–1PM
2PM–5PM

 

Space is limited. To ensure the safety and comfort of all attendees please contact Kate Begley Baker, Senior Administrative Assistant to Design at kate.begley@yale.edu or 203.432.1579 to secure a reservation.

All visitors must be vaccinated with a booster and be able to show proof of vaccination upon arrival.

Meet the Designers

Aidan Griffiths

Aidan Griffiths
(Costume Design)

A graduate of David Geffen School of Drama at Yale and University of North Carolina School of the the Arts. Aidan Griffiths has been working in the field of Costumes for the last 13 years. As a freelance Costume Designer and Illustrator she has designed for theatre, opera and dance. Her work has been seen internationally with The Bang Group. Her most recent credits are The ripple, the wave that carried me home (Yale Rep) Affinity (DGSD at Yale), Rite of Spring (Schwarzman Center), Love Sick: The Rock Opera (National Sawdust), There’s a Strange Thing at the End of the Loop (Yale Cabaret), Radiant Vermin (Yale Cabaret). She has worked with directors such as Gayle Taylor Upchurch, Carl Forsman, Tamilla Woodard, Alex Keegan, James Matthew Daniels, Christina Franklin and Jacob Basri. She has collaborated on dance pieces with David Parker, Jeff Kazin, Emily Coates and Lasso Coulibaly.

Cat Raynor

Cat Raynor
(Set Design)

Cat Raynor is a set and production designer for stage and film from New York, and a fourth-year MFA candidate in set design at David Geffen School of Drama.  Recent design credits include The Brightest Thing In The World (Yale Repertory Theater), Brainsmash (59E59), Affinity, Twelfth Night (David Geffen School of Drama); Iris & Maggie, A Doll’s House, Love Songs (Yale Cabaret); You Don’t Have to Do Anything (IRT Theater), and short films MAJOR and Good Taste.   Cat previously worked in the art department of the The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.  She is a Yale Cabaret Advisory Board member for the 2022-23 season Yale Cabaret 55: Parachute.  Cat holds a B.A. in fine art from Kenyon College.

catraynor.com

 

 

Emmie Finckel

Emmie Finckel
(Scenic Design)

Emmie Finckel (they/them) is a queer, Asian-American scenic and properties designer specializing in new work and immersive design. Emmie is excited by work rooted in community and collaboration that prioritizes inclusivity and challenges traditional uses of theatrical space. Recent design credits include the ripple, the wave, that carried me home (Yale Repertory Theater), Comedy of Errors (The Public Theater: Mobile Unit), As You Like It (La Jolla Playhouse), 53% Of (2nd Stage), In the Southern Breeze (Rattlestick Playwright’s Theatre), The Watering Hole (Signature Theatre), Heart Strings (Atlantic Theater Company), In the Penal Colony (NYTW Next Door), Athena (JACK), Manning (Yale School of Drama), Riot Antigone (La MaMa), Mondo Tragic (National Black Theater), Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie (Props – Ars Nova), Folk Wandering (Props – ART/NY), SHE: A Choreoplay, And It Felt Like A Kiss... (HERE Arts), Loudon Wainwright’s Surviving Twin (Subculture NYC), Eurydice, The Pillowman, Mr. Burns… (Wesleyan University), Oklahoma!, The Armor Plays, The Wolves, Rhinoceros, and The Wiz (Fieldston School). Assistant/associate design credits include productions with David Korins (Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen) and Gabriel Evansohn (KPOP, Empire Travel Agency). Emmie serves as the Associate Creative Director of the Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival, and frequently works on music festivals and other experiential events in collaboration with Iron Bloom Creative Production. Emmie holds a BA from Wesleyan University and is currently on the faculty of the Playwrights Horizons Theater School. Member of Local USA 829 and Woodshed Collective.

efinckel.com

 

 

Evdoxia Ragkou

Evdoxia Ragkou
(Sound Design)

Evdoxia Ragkou (she/her/hers) is a New Haven-based sound artist and composer. She is keenly interested in the nature of sound, using it as her primary medium for composition, and strongly believes in its storytelling powers. She writes all sorts of music and is oriented towards creative ways to tell stories. She has worked in venues such as Rattlestick Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Yale Cabaret, and Yale Repertory Theatre. She has also written music for various dance projects and short films. She also wears the hat of a solo artist, and you can say that she is overall a person of a sound mind.

Graham Zellers

Graham Zellers
(Lighting Design)

Graham Zellers (he/him) is an MFA lighting design student from the David Geffen School of Drama. Originally from Indiana, Graham received his B.A. in Theatrical Design and Technology from Ball State in Muncie, IN. While at the School of Drama at Yale, Graham's design credits include new works The Brightest Thing in the World (2022) and Affinity (2022) as well as an adaptation of Lorca's Blood Wedding called Bodas de Sangre (2021) and Hamlet (2020). Between degrees, Graham held the position of Lighting Director at Gulfshore Playhouse in Naples, FL for three seasons. While at GP, Graham was able to design for their main stage as well as acted as their resident designer for their educational program. This summer, Graham will be returning for his second season to Glimmerglass Festival as one of the Lighting Supervisors. Outside of the theater, Graham likes to play board games and go disc golfing when not spending time with his dog, Charles.

zellersdesign.com

 

 

Hannah Tran

Hannah Tran
(Projection Design)

Hannah Tran is a designer for performance and media. With a passion for new work, she has designed and been a part of the development process for productions such as K-I-S-S-I-N-G (Huntington Theatre Company), The Night Falls (BalletCollective), and Regretfully, So The Birds Are (Ojai Playwrights Conference). Her work has been seen at the Guggenheim as part of their Works and Process series and she has collaborated with Pigment Design Lab and the Broadway Advocacy Coalition. Other design credits include Sound of Music (Utah Shakespeare Festival), Disenchanted, and She Kills Monsters: Virtual Realms (Laguna Playhouse). In her time at the David Geffen School of Drama, Hannah has designed video for Affinity, Bodas de Sangre, Macbeth, little boy/littleman, Color Boy, and Furlough’s Paradise.

hannah-tran.com

 

 

Henry Rodriguez

Henry Rodriguez
(Projection Design)

Henry Rodriguez is a multi-disciplinary Projections and media designer. His recent credits include She Kills Monsters (David Geffen School of Drama); L'elisir d'amore (Yale School of Music), Dragaret (Yale Cabaret); and This Place is a Message (Yale Schwarzman Center). Henry is a Mexican American, Las Vegas Native, and holds a bachelor's degree in projection design from the University of Northern Colorado. In his final year at the David Geffen School of Drama Henry looks forward to future projects including, but not limited to projection design, live media, and virtual production.

henryRdesigns.com

 

 

Jiahao Neil Qiu

邱嘉皓 Jiahao (Neil) Qiu
(Lighting Design)

邱嘉皓 Jiahao (Neil) Qiu is a theatre collaborator and lighting designer who loves to work worldwide. He received his B.F.A. in theatre production and design from Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He moved back to China from 2016 to 2019 as a freelance lighting designer and theatre worker. He is currently a fourth-year M.F.A. lighting design candidate at David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, where his credits include She Kills Monsters, Romeo & Juliet, Measure for Measure, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

neilqiu.com | @neilqiu_design

 

KIMKIM (Juhee Kim)

KIMKIM (Juhee Kim)
(Set Design)

KIMKIM (Juhee Kim) is a fourth-year M.F.A candidate in set design at David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. She received her B.F.A. in painting from Hongik University* in South Korea, where she also worked as a set designer for TV shows and events at CJ ENM*. Recent credits include The Rape of Lucretia directed by Candace Evans (Yale Opera); UDO directed by Bobbin Ramsey (Yale Cabaret); Romeo & Juliet directed by Leyla Levi (DGSD); #4 written and directed by Abigail C. Onwunali (Yale Cabaret); Art directed by Carson White (Yale Production); Brand promotion film for Torre in collaboration with PASOO*. Her interest in body and space led her to also explore choreography, as seen in her work on Over Easy (Yale Cabaret) and her upcoming choreography for The Winter’s Tale directed by Sammy Zeisel (DGSD).

kimkimscenic.com

Kitty Cassetti

Kitty Cassetti
(Costume Design)

Kitty Cassetti (she/her/hers) is a Costume Designer from New York and a fourth- year M.F.A candidate at David Geffen School of Drama. Recent credits include Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles (Yale Repertory Theater), Romeo and Juliet and Manning (David Geffen School of Drama), burnbabyburn, In Between Bitches and Maggie and Iris (Yale Cabaret), and To Be Swallowed Whole and Alice Through the Looking Glass (Hampshire College Productions). Assistant design credits include The Notebook: A New Musical (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), Celebrating the Black Radical Imagination: Nine Solo Shows (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Endlings (ART). She was  a Yale Cabaret Advisory Board member for the 2021-22 season Yale Cabaret 54. Kitty holds a B.A. from Hampshire College.

kittycassetti.com

Kyle J. Artone

Kyle J. Artone
(Costume Design)

Kyle designs costumes and sets for the stage and screen. Select credits include: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Yale Repertory Theatre), the father, the son, and the holy spirit (Yale Summer Cabaret), Gidion’s Knot (Ripple Effects Artists, Theatre Row), Four Meddling Kids and One Dumb Dog (Yale Cabaret), Polkadots: The Cool Kids Musical (Virginia Repertory Theatre), Dr. Ride’s American Beach House (Yale Cabaret), Venus in Fur (Shafer Alliance Laboratory Theatre), The Nightman Commeth (Shafer Alliance Laboratory Theatre) Little Shop of Horrors (Raymond Hodges Theater), and Luther (Life Without Limbs Production).  Collaborators include: Augustine Lorrie Alexandrite, Matthew Elijah Webb, James Bundy, Alexandra Maurice, Alexis Woodard, Rebeca Robles, Sammy Ziesel, James Taylor, Esperanza Rosales Balcárcel, Tyler Cruz, Ashley Thomas, Kikau Alvaro, Kemar Jewel, Phuong Nguyen, Hannah Chalman, Juhee Kim, Neno Russell, Yale Cabaret.

In 2019, his designs for Little Shop of Horrors were juried by decorated costume designer Linda Cho, who awarded him third place in the Southeastern Theatre Conference Design Competition. That same year he won the SALTy Dog Award, Best Costume Design, for Venus in Fur. In 2017, he received the same award, making his debut as costume designer for The Nightman Commeth (Shafer Alliance Laboratory Theatre). Kyle is originally from Richmond, Virginia.  He received his MFA in Design from the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale.

kyle-artone-portfolio.com

 

 

Marcelo Martínez García

Marcelo Martínez García
(Scenic Design)

Marcelo Martínez García (he/him/él) is a proud Mexican Scenic Designer and Architect. His recent credits include Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles (Yale Repertory Theatre), Torera (Alley Theater), Love’s Labor’s Lost and Bodas de sangre (DGSD), BURNBABYBURN: An American Dream (Yale Summer Cabaret), L’Orfeo and La Doriclea (Yale Baroque Opera), Dragaret ‘22, Radiant Vermin, Let’s Go To The Moon, and littleboy/littleman (Yale Cabaret). Marcelo holds a degree in Architecture from ITESM MTY, a specialization in Scenic Design from CENTRO CDMX and is currently finishing his final year pursuing an MFA in Theater Design at DGSD.

marcelomg.com

Miguel Urbino

Miguel Urbino
(Scenic Design)

Miguel Urbino (he/him/his) is a queer, first generation, Filipino-American, designer for the stage, and is a fourth-year M.F.A. Design candidate at David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. Design credits include: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Yale Repertory Theatre); She Kills Monsters (David Geffen School of Drama), more more more, soft apples, The Van Gogh Café (Yale Cabaret); The Motherf**ker with the Hat (T. Schreiber Studios); The Widow of Tom’s Hill (59E59). Associate Design credits include: Cowboy Bob (Alley Theatre - Diggle), A Soldier’s Play (North American Tour - Derek McLane), The Tap Dance Kid (NY City Center - Derek McLane). Assistant Design credits include: The Harder They Come (Public Theatre - Clint Ramos and Diggle), Come Fall In Love: The DDLJ Musical (La Jolla - Derek McLane). Upcoming works include: The Light In The Piazza (NY City Center), Mr. Oatmeal (Fresh Fruit Festival at the Wild Project). Miguel is a proud member of United Scenic Artists Local USA 829, IATSE.

murbinodesigns.com | @murbinodesigns

Travis Chinick

Travis Chinick
(Costume Design)

Travis is a freelance Costume Designer, Painter, and Illustrator based out of New York City. He is a member of USA 829 and IATSE Local 764. Recently, his work on Fellow Travelers was selected for the Robert L. B. Tobin Director-Designer Prize by OPERA America led by Director Ian Silverman. Additionally, Travis has collaborated with Margot Bordelon, Tatiana Pandiana, Paul McGill, Antoinette DiPietropolo, Shannon Lewis, Chris Pederson, Laura Braza, Ed Iskandar, Jacob Basri and others. He has worked with such companies as RWS Entertainment Group, Davenport Theatrical Enterprises, Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS, Manhattan Theatre Club, Yale Repertory Theatre, Atlantic Theatre Company and other companies across the country. On Broadway he was the Assistant Costume Designer on the 2014 revival of Les Miserables and worked for the Metropolitan Opera as a Painter.

tchinick.com