Alumni

Ji Hyun, who goes by Ahnji, is a sophomore majoring in Drama and Marketing.
She first became involved with PAD shows when she assistant stage managed Betrayal (Spring 2014) during her freshman year. She is now working as assistant stage manager for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Fall 2014) and is looking forward to getting involved in more shows during her years at WashU.​

Insatiably curious and stubbornly independent, Siena spent her early years wielding scissors and snipping everything from napkins to wooden nativity scene animal ears. Her desire to make her mark has led her to create murals, memory quilts, theatre costumes, and many a mess. She applies her love for umbrellas and spider webs to create chaotic yet controlled visual mazes. Siena has won awards at local and national art shows and her work has notably been exhibited in Florence, Italy and the US Capitol. She worked with Olafur Eliasson as part of an HBO documentary series called Masterclass where student artists engaged with contemporary art stars.
Recently, Siena has started a community arts non-profit called MITCH Collective with the mission to promote creativity and sustainability in the Ohio Valley.

Justin is a freelance Scenic Designer and theatrical technician based in Minneapolis/St. Paul. His designs include musical theatre, drama, and opera productions. Justin began his professional career in St. Louis and quickly became an in-demand artist, designing with several local professional theatres including (Mostly) Harmless Theatre, New Line Theatre, HotCity Theatre, and Historyonics Theatre Company. He proudly served as Resident Lighting Designer with Historyonics for three years. As a founding member of the International Theatre Collective, he has worked with fellow ensemble members to produce the original work “Saltwater;” he then toured with the company to Montana, St. Louis, Seattle and British Colombia.
Justin spent a busy year in Chicago working for a number of companies including Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre and The House Theatre of Chicago. During the summer of 2006, he worked with Union Avenue Opera, acting as Scenic Designer and Technical Director for three productions.
Justin completed his MFA in Scenic Design from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in 2010. His designs for CCM have been recognized with multiple Cincinnati Acclaim Awards, a Peggy Ezekiel Award for Outstanding Achievement (USITT/Ohio Valley), and a Cincinnati Entertainment Award nomination.

Justin designed Anatol for the PAD in the fall of 2011.

Scott is the president and creative director for Design 500 Inc. He has extensive experience in design, art direction, and creative development.

Ryan Blumenstein graduated from Washington University in 2015 with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Drama, focusing on lighting design. WashU lighting design credits include Sky, sky, sky, If I Were You, and Lunar New Year Festival 2013. Ryan also served as board member and president of Thyrsus. Ryan currently works as an aerospace engineer near San Francisco, CA.

Diana specializes in cartooning, figural illustration, brand-standard development, collateral creation, and costume design with an emphasis on modernized period-styles. In November, 2010, she was awarded the 2010 Fashion Group International Scholarship.  Diana designed costumes for the Nov, 2010 production of Curse of the Starving Class and designed costumes for the PAD production of As You Like It.

http://www.dianahchu.com

Adam is a PNP major with a creative focus on design and film production. He did the lighting design for the Spring 2013 Thyrsus student theater production of 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche and recently co-wrote, co-directed, and co-starred in a site-specific performance art piece in Utrecht, The Netherlands, which included projections and audio work, as well. His film credits include writing, directing, editing, and scoring several short films, one of which screened at the Phoenix Film Festival. Adam was also the supporting lead in the Fall 2013 PAD production of Spring Awakening, a principal in Oedipus at Colonus and an ensemble member in the PAD rendition of Cabaret. Adam is very much looking forward to doing the set design for Telegraph in the Spring.

I am a free-lance theatrical costume designer in the Litchfiled Hills of Connecticut.
I have been designing costumes since 1990 in a variety of theaters, ranging from community theater to small Equity houses.  I have also worked as a draper, first hand, stitcher and milliner.
I received my BA in theater from Washington University in St. Louis, and my MFA in costume design from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
These days, I am usually designing for the Warner Theatre in Torrington, Connecticut.  It’s a community theater with facilities that rival many small professional theaters.

http://mattdettmer.com/

Paul Dillinger received his BFA in Fashion Design from Washington University in St. Louis. He attended the Domus Academy in Milan as a Fulbright Scholar where he received his MFA. He has worked as a fashion designer for 16 years at a variety of fashion houses in New York, including Calvin Klein and DKNY. This past December, Paul relocated to San Francisco to join the team at DOCKERS as Senior Director – Global Design. In this capacity he has been able to partner with the Social and Environmental Sustainability group at Levi Strauss & Co, working to further develop front-end methods for applied sustainability in the design process. In addition to his work as a designer, Paul is faculty and a Beaumont Fellow at the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.

Paul has been featured in the following articles:
http://magazine.wustl.edu/2014/june/Pages/Outfitted-for-Sustainable-Future.aspx
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/print-edition/2011/11/11/levi-ships-millions-of-sustainable.html?page=all
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/22/LVGB1L5MLI.DTL&ao=all

Alexis Distler is a set designer based in New York City. Recent credits include “In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play” (2011 Barrymore Award) directed by Blanka Zizka at The Wilma Theater, “For a Barbarian Woman” directed by Niegel Smith at Fordham University, “Post Office” directed by Josie Whittlesey at The New Ohio Theatre, “Eccentricities of a Nightingale” directed by Jonathan Rosenberg at Bard College, “Clybourne Park” directed by Hal Brooks at The Juilliard School, “Boston Marriage” directed by Lucie Tiberghien at The Juilliard School, “Lucy” directed by David Stradley at Delaware Theatre Company. Her work was exhibited at the 2011 Prague Quadrennial. She loves brass bands and harmonicas, is an amateur gourmet chef and has bungy jumped twice. Member of USA 829. MFA: NYU

http://www.alexisdistler.com/

Sally Dolembo is a costume designer based in Chicago.  Sally’s design credits include Life and Limb, The Glass Menagerie (Steppenwolf Garage Theatre), The Little Prince, Never the Sinner, Brighton Beach Memoirs, The Goat or, Who is Sylvia?, The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Northwestern University), Evita (Dunes Summer Theatre), Kokoschka: A Love Story, Bloody Poetry, Chopin’s The Awakening, Kid Peculiar at the Coral Court Motel, and several designs for dance (Washington University in St. Louis).  She received a BA in Design/Technical Theatre from Washington University in St. Louis and is currently completing her MFA in Stage Design at Northwestern University.  Sally was a 2007-2008 Fulbright Scholar to Italy, where she studied and worked at Tirelli Costumi, a renowned costume atelier in Rome.  Sally was recently named NU’s 2012 Michael Merritt Scholarship Award Recipient for Excellence in Design and Collaboration. 

http://www.sallydolembo.com

Tracy is originally from Nashville, Tennessee and earned her BFA from Washington University in St. Louis where she first became involved in theatre.  After attending NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she was an Ettinger Award winner, she began freelancing and worked for several years as a design assistant on numerous Broadway shows, most notably as an assistant designer to Julie Taymor on The Lion King.

While working on her own designs for theatre and opera, she also began to design for independent films and to do freelance work for the television shows, All My Children and As the World Turns.  In 2005 she took a full time job as associate costume designer on As the World Turns, while continuing to design for regional theatre.  In 2007 she was awarded a Daytime Emmy for her work on the show.

She lives in Brooklyn with her husband James Yates, a television production designer, and her daughter, Phoebe.

http://www.tracydorman.com

Alani Douglas is a Junior with an Engineering major and Costume Design minor. She first became involved with the PAD during freshman year by working in the Costume Shop as an independent study, and is looking forward to helping design the costumes for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson this season.

Lindsay Eisold is a Wisconsin native and a junior at WashU, majoring in Drama and minoring in Ancient Studies.
She finds it particularly satisfying to help take the world of the play from paper to reality. Finding the delicate balance between practical considerations and aesthetic ones is a challenge Lindsay particularly enjoys. It is satisfying for her to offer solutions to construction problems and to help create the actors’ environment so that the audience can more easily believe the stories they tell. She is currently the scenic designer for The Misanthrope.

A St. Louis native, Catherine moved to Los Angeles two weeks after graduation to pursue her dreams of designing for film and television. Within her first year of professional Costume Design, she had a Western feature film and numerous shorts on her CV as Costume Designer and department head. She worked on a half dozen indie features, several dozen shorts, a stupid amount of Youtube/web projects, and commercial and industrial projects in only five years before stepping away from the film world to pursue her next passion: Geek Fashion. She started working for licensed geek fashion manufacturers before breaking off on her own. She founded her company, Elhoffer Design LLC, and creates higher-end apparel for high quality geeks. She creates hand-made pieces alongside her factory-run designs, and is constantly growing her audience and reach for world domination.

http://www.elhofferdesign.com

Alex is an electrical engineering and computer science double major and drama minor with a strong interest in lighting design and technical theater.  He has been lighting performances since 2006 including the PAD performance of The Night Season and the dance Echo in the PAD’s 2012 WUDT production.
Alex designed lighting for ‘Night Season‘ in 2012. 

After graduating from WashU with a BSBA in Economics & Strategy and Operations & Supply Chain Management with a minor in Drama, Seira has moved back to her home country of Japan to pursue a career in pharmaceutical consulting. While she has become more of a spectator in all things theatre, the love is still there! Feel free to reach out any time for recommendations on things to do in Japan 🙂

Jen Goldstein has worked with Radiance Lightworks since 2008. As president, she manages client relationships and supervises the design and project management teams for live events, trade shows, architectural projects, and themed installations. Prior to taking on the role of President, Jen served as Senior Lighting Designer, managing the growth of the company and design team over the past two years. She also led the project management and control system design for Dancing with Light in 2013 – a large scale and technically challenging project.
Jen received her MFA in Lighting Design from UC Irvine. Prior to joining Radiance, she worked as a designer for architectural projects and themed installations at Visual Terrain and Walt Disney Imagineering.
Check out this ETC blogpost about Radiance Lighting.

Salina is originally from Newark, Delaware and earned her B.A. in Drama from Washington University in St. Louis. During her time at WashU, she honed her costume design skills in the PAD costume shop. She has served as a stitcher, wardrobe stylist, supervisor, theatre technician and costume designer for over 15 years. In St. Louis, Salina has worked for several University costume shops including a season at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. In the summer of 2001, Salina was privileged to travel to Cyprus with a theatre group to participate in, and design, a Greek-inspired production of Medea. She has also served as the Delaware Theatre Company’s Assistant Costume/Wardrobe Manager for 2 seasons. Salina’s other design credits include: Keely and Du, Henry IV, Pt. 2 (St. Louis Shakespeare Company), Six Seconds into Charlack (Washington University in St. Louis), Hooch and Daddy-O (costumer-Independent film), Kisses and Swords (Set Designer-Independent film), Liz Hope music video (Asst. Wardrobe Stylist), and Bloody Poetry (Hair & Makeup Designer).

Salina has also worked in the film and television industry in multiple production capacities, including a role as an actress for MTV Networks series: High School Stories, Pranks, and Controversies.

Salina currently lives in Chicago, Illinois with her beloved cat, Princess.

My first job was on the oldest ship in the fleet, the Century as an “AV Light Operator.”  The intelligent lighting rig consisted of 24 Cyberlights and 30 Colorram scrollers.  Half of the ship’s lights did not work when I got on board and the Cyberlights had been neglected, with rampant overheating and ballast power issues.  In addition, a Catalyst Media Server was not talking to two DL 1’s so I helped restore that system.  The Production Company saw my work and allowed me to restore their shows which had been on the ship for four years and had been badly overwritten in some sections.

This work was recognized by the office who sent me to one of the newer ships, the Equinox.  The chief challenge there was that the cast kept getting injured and on ships, we do not have understudies.  So my chief duty was to subtly alter the lighting for the production shows so the lighting made sense.  In addition, a repaired DL1 arrived from the office and I restored the projections.  In addition, during my time there, the toplight system of scrollers was replaced with LED Pars.  Two months into my contract, I filled in as a temporary scheduler when the AV Manager went home.  My contract was cut short and I was promoted.

In July of this year, I started my first contract as an “AV Manager.”  This position is roughly equivalent to “Technical Director of Entertainment.”  My job responsibilities include managing the AV Team, repairing and maintaining equipment, keeping inventories of disposables stocked, and monthly inspections.  In addition, I am the ship’s human flying operator, and I inspect and operate the flying hoist while working with a pair of acrobats, of whom I am very fond.

I have worked with the following production companies: Mike Moloney Entertainment, Poet Productions, and Qdos Entertainment aboard the Celebrity Century, the Celebrity Equinox, and the Celebrity Summit, respectively.  Entertainers include: Noel Paul Stookey, Michele Balan, Craig Dahn, Gary Arbuthnot, Bande Artistique, and many others.

I have traveled to Istanbul, Sydney (in Australia and Nova Scotia, Canada), five islands in Hawaii, Hubbard Glacier in Alaska, San Francisco, St. Martin/St. Maarten, Bermuda, Cartagena and Barcelona Spain, Rome, Athens, and several other wonderful places.  My favorite place, so far, is Portland, Maine.

Ben Harvey is a senior in the Drama department, also pursuing a minor in Anthropology. He has worked a stage manager and assistant director  (Almost, Maine 2014), and a lighting designer (“Shattered Self,” a modern ballet piece from 2015’s Student Dance Showcase). He is currently assistant light designing the PAD production of The Misanthrope.

David Ingraham was a December 2016 graduate, finishing with a Master’s in Project Management and a Bachelors in Systems Engineering with a minor in Operations & Supply Chain Management. As an undergrad David was involved with the PAD as both a lighting and sound designer. David was an assistant lighting designer for Spring Awakening (Fall 2013), the lighting designer for two pieces in WUDT 2013, and the sound designer for Betrayal (spring 2014). David has also worked with the student theater groups All Student Theater and Thyrsus. After graduation David moved to Chicago to start work with a consulting firm. Although no longer involved behind the scenes, David still goes to shows as often as he can.

Artem is a lighting designer, actor, and statistician.  He began lighting design as an experiment because he knew absolutely nothing about it.  For the Performing Arts Department, he has done lights for Radio Free Emerson, Anatol, Wash U Dance Theatre in 2010 and 2011, Dance Close-Up 2010, Young Choreographers’ Showcase 2010, and the Senior Honors Thesis Reclaiming the Courtesan.  He is also involved in student theatre with Thyrsus.  Professionally, he designed CARAVAN for The Slaughter Project, and then remounted one of the pieces at the 4th Annual Emerson Spring to Dance Festival.

Photos of Artem’s work:
Anatol:  http://pages.wustl.edu/paddesign/anatol
Radio Free Emerson: http://pages.wustl.edu/paddesign/radio-free-emerson
WUDT 2011: http://pages.wustl.edu/paddesign/kinetic-field-work-wudt-2011
WUDT 2010: http://pages.wustl.edu/paddesign/living-momentum-wudt-2010
CARAVAN: http://pages.wustl.edu/paddesign/caravan-slaughter-project

http://www.artemkreimer.com

Robert Landis is a senior from The Woodlands, TX studying drama and human resources. Besides the occasional foray into acting, he stage manages for the department and is excited to be working on the musical this year (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson). His previous work includes the Spring 2014 production of You Can’t Take it With You, as well as assistant stage managing for The Night Season (2012), as well as various student theatre productions.

David Levitt is a Drama major with a Des-Tech concentration. He has been active in all manners of technical theater during his time at Wash U and works both for the P.A.D. scene shop, and on crew for Edison Theater. He has a focus in Lighting Design. He has designed lights for YCS (2013), Zipless (2013), WUDT Run! (2013), and LNYF (2014). He designed the lighting for Betrayal (Mar. 2014), sound for Twelfth Night (Apr. 2014), and Anon(ymous) (Oct 2014).

Qiyuan is a senior majoring in Art with a concentration in painting and
minoring in Art history & Archeology and Marketing. She was introduced
into theater productions as an assistant stage manager and has been
writing and directing Chinese theater productions at WashU. Starting from
last year, she has been working for the PAD as a makeup artist, designing
the makeup for Spring Awakening (Fall 2013) and Anon(ymous) (Fall 2014).
She is excited to move to the nest show, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
(Fall 2014).

Abby Mros is a senior from Washington, DC majoring in Psychology and Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies.  Abby began stage managing with the PAD her first semester with The Night Season (2012) and has since worked as an Assistant Stage Manager for Spring Awakening (2013) and as the Stage Manager for Twelfth Night (2014), Anon(ymous) (2014), and Company (2015). She was President of All Student Theatre from 2014-2015, the Stage Manager for their 2013 production of Our Town, and the Production Manager for Young Frankenstein (2015).

Kerith Parashak received her BA in Art History and Archaeology from Washington University in St. Louis and her MFA in Scenic Design from University of Missouri-Kansas City. She is currently the Master Scenic Artist at Music Theatre of Wichita. Past design credits include The Winter’s Tale at UMKC Theatre, Billy Bishop Goes to War at the National World War 1 Museum co-produced with Kansas City Actor’s Theatre, and The Salvation of Iggy Scrooge at the Unicorn Theatre. She also served as the assistant scenic designer for Kansas City Repertory Theatre’s production of The Whipping Man.

Kellie Spano is thrilled to be the first ever projection designer for Washington University in St. Louis. M.F.A. 2015 Candidate in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, Kellie Spano, designed the projections for the Fall 2014 production of Anon(ymous). Spano has a background in performance, photography, film and projection design. Selected regional exhibitions include: Des Lee Gallery, “Beyond Violet with the Emperor Scorpion,” 2014 and Please Hold Magazine, Annual Juried Show, “Somebody’s Reality,” 2014.

Justin Wardell began his career as a freelance Lighting Designer and Technical Director, based in Chicago, but working across the country designing for theater and dance.  Some many wonderful organizations that Justin has designed for include Theatre Seven of Chicago, Springfield Municipal Opera, Porchlight Music Theater, The Building Stage, Clinard Dance Theater, Compania Aparicio, Las Guitaras de Espana, Live Bait Theater, and many other talented companies that there is not space to list here.
While Justin still designs for theater from time to time, his focus has shifted to commercial lighting, where he has had the opportunity to design in non-traditional spaces, historic venues, iconic Chicago landmarks, and contribute to art installations, TV, Film, trade shows, branded events, and more.
Currently Justin is a Sr. Account Executive at Intelligent Lighting Creations, where he collaborates with producers, designers, architects, and event professionals to develop creative lighting solutions for concerts, galas, fundraisers, live events, televised events, feature films, experiential marketing campaigns, trade shows, and permanent installations.  He has also been invited as a guest lecturer to institutions that include Columbia College, Northern Illinois University, North Park University, Roosevelt University, and the Illinois High School Theater Association.

http://intelligentlighting.com/

Sibyl Wickersheimer is a set designer, artist, and Assistant Professor in the USC School of Theatre. Her set designs for the Actors’ Gang productions of 1984 and The Trial of the Catonsville 9 have traveled across the U.S. and to Hong Kong, Australia, Greece, Spain, and Mexico.
Regionally, Sibyl’s set design credits have included productions at South Coast Repertory, The Kirk Douglas Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre, The Berkeley Repertory, and at sea on the Disney Cruise Ship, ‘The Wonder’. At the Geffen Playhouse, she designed the sets for Some Girl(s) and Wrecks, both written and directed by Neil Labute.
Bridging the gap between installation and performance, Sibyl recently designed a modular stage for the Dinosaur and Sabertooth Cat ‘Encounters’ performances at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. These incredible large scale puppet performances directed by Jennifer Bloom play to hundreds of visitors weekly.
Sibyl has exhibited photography and installation art in Gallery 825, Bergamont Station, Andrew Shire Gallery, and the Pacific Asia Museum among other galleries in Southern CA. Currently Sibyl is co-creating a mixed media, 4-part installation series entitled Big Haul with Janne Larsen.

http://www.sawgirl.com

Formerly known as Elizabeth Shaffer, she has designed over 100 shows and built more than 50 productions in the Chicago area in collaboration with many of the prevailing theaters, opera companies and local universities. Elizabeth graduated from Washington University in St. Louis, BA/BFA, cum laude, and earned an MFAin Costume Design and Technology from Pennsylvania State University. She spent 5 years (1996-1999, 2002) as the Assistant Designer/Head Draper for the annual Baroque Handel Opera Festival in Göttingen, Germany. She is the 2004 recipient of the Michael Maggio Emerging Designer Award, A Chicago After Dark Costume Design Award for Design for Living and a Joseph Jefferson Award for An Ideal Husband, both with Circle Theater, and another for Queen Lucia with Lifeline Theater, as well as multiple nominations