Cyber Apocalypse

As guests entered, they were greeted by elemental deities rising from a balcony engulfed in flames. These creatures summoned immense dancing lights and sound from the four-story jungle beneath the bridge the guests crossed. Inside, guests faced an ever-changing Mayan pyramid topped with a reigning DJ, and surrounded by elemental deities dancing and reveling in the apocalyptic events. Those curious enough to slip away found themselves in an observatory gallery featuring ultraviolet art and space projections. Other explorable areas included a cyber grid patio, an intimate venue for bands, and corridors lit by glitching fluorescent data streams.

Publicity: Projection, Lights and Staging News: Showtime

The Magic Patio

San Francisco’s only outdoor magic theatre and best-kept secret. Unless you know where to look. You might have seen our spread in SF Magazine’s “Hidden SF” issue of the best speakeasies in San Francisco, or when Ideo Labs wrote a feature on the design of the patio.

The Magic Patio is an immersive experience from the moment of invitation: a secret address leading to a box office of wonders to explore, a bar with themed beverages (the absinthe & mezcal Smoke & Mirrors, or reimagined Moscow Mule named for Morritt’s Disappearing Donkey), homemade seasonal baked goods, and of course, a wondrous magic show. The production value far exceeds what one would expect for a secret backyard in the Mission, and the illusions are built by the Magician himself. After three seasons of completely sold out shows (some sold out in under 60 seconds!), we are starting our fourth in June 2018.

Flight

An original Circus Opera, Flight tells a story in two chapters: In the first chapter we visit a magical orchard whose trees grow women. When a lustful King discovers it, the women attempt to escape. All but one succeeds. The second act shows the arc of the relationship of his now-Queen and a bird she captures. Captivity and Freedom twist for power in Flight.

I met Flight‘s Creator Katie Gardner and Co-Producer Marissa Galin on an immersive theatrical concept project in one of my favorite classes at CalArts, The Art of Themed and Immersive Entertainment. After the course, we harnessed that collaborative energy to create Flight, and built an inter-disciplinary team including students of CalArts’ schools of Music, Theater, Dance, and Film/Video.

Long Day’s Journey Into Night

This abstracted incarnation of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night attempted to highlight the disintegration of the pretense of sobriety in to a family drowning in their intoxication.

self-reflexive

self-reflexive was a collaboration with Andrea Gise of agise & dancers. Exploring online self representation vs the non-digital self, our soloist danced with a projection of the digital representation of herself. Her digital self was enveloped in many layers of ethernet cables, glistening silver and glass, and a key light from the left. She was a mirror of the digital self, slicing through from a world of saturation and fragments into a strong, crisp light from the right.

In the same vocabulary of the iridescent costuming and mirrored sequin makeup, my sculpture, Icarus staged numerous appearances as the source of the abstract reflections and lens flares.

Circus

The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s graduation showcase of Technical and Production Arts includes a costume and fashion show, portfolio exhibition, temporary architectural lighting installation for a theatre-turned-bar, and student-led technical demonstrations of automation, performer flying, sound and lighting consoles.

My personal highlight of the event was creating a circus performance with Glasgow-based aerial acrobatics troupe Spinal Chord, which detailed both the splendor and unsettling underbelly of circus performance.

The Daedalus Project

During my assistantship at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, after serving as the assistant lighting designer for nine productions and multiple designers, I took on the lighting design and programming of the their annual AIDS/HIV benefit extravaganza, the Daedalus Project.