Arts Club Theatre - GI Stage / 2024

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Daniel Deorksen, Caitriona Murphy, Patrick Metzger, Devon Busswood, and Tainui Kuru in Ring of Fire, 2024; direction by Rachel Peake; set design by Patrick Rizzotti; costume design by Jessica Oostergo; lighting design by Robert Sondergaard.

A devised work based on the writings of Václav Havel
Scriptwriting and dramaturgy by Christine Aucoin

Barnard College Department of Theatre
Columbia University Major in Drama and Theatre Arts
Václav Havel Library Foundation

by Gian Carlo Menotti / Vancouver Opera / 2020

Amahl and the Night Visitors gives us an opportunity to see the power of optimism and trust in the life of Amahl and those around him. We see a big journey as Amahl understands his own potential and his Mother understands the importance of letting him go. With both majestic and campy moments, this story is beautiful, fun and very human. I’m excited to share the world of a boy who is a bundle of light and goes through the opera spreading that light out. —Sarah Jane Pelzer, Director

Cast: Andreas Dala, Stephanie Tritchew, Henry Chen, Michael Mackinnon, Sergio Augusto, Jason Cook, Karen Ydenberg, Heather Malloy, Tristan Chalcraft, Angus Bell

Arts Club Theatre - GI Stage / 2023

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Cast: John Bews, Ben Brown, Mateo Chavez, Jay Clift, Nick Fontaine, Felix LeBlanc, Emma Pedersen, Stephen Thakkar, Tanner Zerr

by Vincent Delaney / Premiere Stages / 2016 

“Set in the New Mexico desert, this new play by Vincent Delaney is an enigmatic story of buried secrets, improbable friendship, and unexpected redemption. It follows Sheridan, a Connecticut man who has fled his life on the East Coast to escape the fallout of his son being a school shooter, and Soledad, the wisecracking, teenage card player he befriends.” — Official Press Release

The visual design for Las Cruces uses an honest and textured foreground to represent the soiled and stained reality of Sheridan's life as seen against the soft and dreamlike surround of the mountains he hopes to escape to.

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by Sean Quinn / Lion Theatre at Theatre Row / 2014

“First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a messy divorce negotiated in the downstairs party room of a Northern New Jersey pizza joint.” — Official Press Release

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by Dominique Morisseau / Premiere Stages / 2017

“In this compelling portrait of American workers struggling to hold on against the tide of technology, ambitions, secrets and conflicted loyalties threaten to destroy an automotive plant's status as a sanctuary in a rough city. Faye, the matriarch of a small family of line workers, gives her all to keep her team employed in one of the last auto stamping plants in Detroit.” —Official Press Release

by Jennifer Haley / Dobama Theatre / 2019

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“The Nether is a virtual wonderland that provides total sensory immersion. Just log in, choose an identity and indulge your every desire. But when a young detective uncovers a disturbing brand of entertainment, she triggers an interrogation into the darkest corners of the imagination. Both a twisting criminal drama and a haunting sci-fi thriller, The Nether explores the consequences of living out our private imaginings in the age of virtual reality.” — Official Press Release

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by Lissa Levin / Penguin Rep / 2014

"Patrick Rizzotti’s set design is striking, with the linoleum-ugly green-and-white classroom floor curling up and taking off majestically at the upstage end to turn into giant book pages."

-New York Times / July 4, 2014

A teacher who is leaving the profession to sell real estate questions if she has actually made any difference during her long tenure in the class room. The design aims to capture the transitional moment in the two main characters’ lives as they embark on a new journey.

by Peter Hirshbein / New Worlds Theatre Project @HERE / 2014 
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"A provincial girl raised in a small river town by her blind, devout grandfather, Mir'l is on the cusp of womanhood, ready to declare her independence. But when her grandfather dies and she finds herself alone, she doesn't know which way to turn, until she meets a luminous, mysterious stranger who lives On the Other Side of the River." — Official Press Release

The scenic design explores the relationship between movement and stillness. The design builds on the low but wide architecture of the room to create an all encompassing environment that evokes femininity, the movement of water, and memory.

click here for process work (research, rough model, ground plan)

book by Hunter Foster & Ryan Scott Oliver / Music and lyrics by Ryan Scott Oliver / Prospect Theater / 2014

“Once they get to Deadland the underworld, [the actors] and the creative team … unleash their cleverness.”
New York Times. March 26, 2014

A modern day Orpheus story. The scenic design acknowledges the venue, the top floor of an old church in NYC, as an element of the visual story. Inspired by the height of the venue and the history of the walls, the design establishes the vocabulary of using broad visual gestures to heighten the changing mood as we journey through the layers of Deadland.

by David Lindsay-Abaire / Penobscot Theatre / 2019

“How far would you go to win the bed by the window? For rival roommates at the Bristol Place Senior Living Facility, the sky's the limit. Abby has lived a solitary life in her top-floor room at Bristol Place. Her abrasive personality makes sure that every roommate assigned to her leaves within the first month, which is just how she likes it. But Marilyn will be a tougher nut to crack. She's optimistic, happy and unaffected by Abby's attitude. Determined to gain control and win her personal space back, Abby turns up the heat by proposing a bet between the ladies that proves you're never too old to learn new tricks.” — Press Release

Target Margin Theater Lab (at The Brick) / 2012

“First performed in Warsaw in 1925, Dukus is a profane retelling of the old Ger Tzedek legend, which chronicles a Catholic Duke’s conversion to Judaism and subsequent martyrdom at the stake. Kacyzne's text is savagely comic and absurdly epic, featuring man-eating bears, hunchbacked rabbi's, and an auto-circumcision.” — Joshua William Gelb’s Director’s Statement

Pittsburgh Opera / 2012

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by Mark St. Germain / Penguin Rep / 2016

“In Dancing Lessons, a man with high-functioning autism (Asperger’s syndrome) seeks the instruction of a talented Broadway dancer, now sidelined with injuries. As their relationship unfolds, they’re caught off-guard by surprising discoveries – both hilarious and heartwarming. — Official Press Release

by Keith Josef Adkins / Premiere Stages / 2015

“The moving play tells the story of Seneca Village, the 19th-century African-American community removed by eminent domain to create New York City’s world-renowned Central Park..” —Official Press Release

Westchester Broadway Theatre / 2014

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Incubator Arts Project, NYC / 2013
Edinburgh Fringe / 2014

“A rocking take on physical theatre, the economic collapse and the mind-expanding qualities of psychedelic drugs, Party in the USA! is a dynamic satire that manages to maintain a coherent narrative while jumping around between times and places.” — Official Press Release

Carnegie Mellon University / 2011

by Marc Camoletti / Penobscot Theatre / 2020

Bernard's plans for a romantic rendezvous with his mistress are complete with a gourmet caterer and an alibi courtesy of his friend, Robert. But when Bernard's wife learns that Robert will be visiting for the weekend, she decides to stay in town for a surprise tryst of her own... setting the stage for a collision course of hidden identities and outrageous infidelities. The cook is Suzette, the lover is Suzanne, the friend is bewildered, the wife is suspicious, the husband is losing his mind and everyone is guaranteed a good time at this hilarious romp through the French countryside.

by Taylor Mac / Pi Theatre / 2018

“Taylor Mac’s timely and darkly comedic interpretation of the classic dysfunctional family—one that’s both conventional in its domestic setting and incendiary in its vibrant theatricality. Somewhere in the suburbs, Isaac, the eldest son of Paige and Arnold, has returned from the wars only to discover a household in revolt. Arnold, the patriarch, has become disabled, leaving Paige liberated from an oppressive and abusive marriage. Isaac’s younger sibling Max, is a newly out transgender teen with a thing or two to teach the world. And Isaac? He has to come to terms with where his loyalties really live.” — Press Release