RECIPIENTS

Ebony M. Burton (she/her) is an Oakland-born, Brooklyn-based artist and lighting designer. She holds a BA in Psychology from Oberlin College and MFA in Design from NYU. Recent projects include the end/the beginning (NYLA), The Book of Lucy (Brown/Trinity), Marie It’s Time (Minor Theater), Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play (Brown/Trinity), and various collaborations with dance performer Blaze Ferrer, including Diamond Desert Cuck and Gusher. www.ebonyburton.com, IG: @thecolorcarmine

Mextly Couzin, Lighting Designer, recent design credits include: Das Rheingold (Seattle Opera); Merry Wives of Windsor (The Old Globe); Incendiary (Woolly Mammoth); West Side Story (Centro de Bellas Artes Puerto Rico); Straight Line Crazy (The Shed); La Belle et la Bête (Opera Paralléle); Tambo & Bones (Playwrights Horizons & Center Theatre Group). MFA University of California, San Diego ’20. mextlycouzin.com

A Maryland native now based in New York, Mika Eubanks received her MFA in Costume Design at the Yale School of Drama. Her theater design credits include King Lear, starring Andre De Shields (St. Louis Shakespeare Festival); Lessons in Survival: 1971 (The Vineyard Theatre); The XIXth (Old Globe); Flex (Lincoln Center Theater); and Twelfth Night (Yale Repertory Theatre/ Classical Theater of Harlem), for which she received the Connecticut Critic Circle Award for outstanding costume design.

Wilberth Gonzalez is a Mexican American costume designer based in NYC. Credits include Costume Designer for “The Tempest” Shakespeare in the Park, and associate costume design on Broadway's Moulin Rouge and Mrs. Doubtfire. He received an Emmy nomination for his ACD work in Marvel's Moonknight, and has designed specialty costumes for HBO's Watchman, Oceans 8, and  Rupaul's Dragrace. Upcoming work includes co-designing Real Women Have Curves at A.R.T. and The Little Mermaid in Sweden. 

Kathy Ruvuna is a New York based sound designer and composer. Recent credits include Bernarda’s Daughters (The New Group), Amani (National Black Theatre), Dark Disabled Stories (Bushwick Starr), Circle Jerk! Live (Fake Friends), In the Southern Breeze, Ni Mi Madre (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater). She holds a B.F.A. in Sound Design from The Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University and an M.F.A. in Sound Design from the Yale School of Drama 

Gerardo Díaz Sánchez (he/they) is a NYC-based scenic designer from Guayama, Puerto Rico. Theater credits include: Notes on Killing… (Soho Rep), La casa de la laguna (GALA Hispanic Theatre), Romeo and Juliet (Two River Theater), Pride and Prejudice (Long Wharf Theatre), El Huracán (Yale Repertory Theater), Twelfth Night (Two River Theater), TJ Loves Sally 4 Ever (JACK). Gerardo received their MFA from the Yale School of Drama, and BA in Design from the School of Architecture at the University of Puerto Rico. gerardodiazsanchez.com

Destinee Steele is an Orlando Based designer who has had the privilege of designing wigs, hair and makeup from coast to coast. With a passion to establish equity in wig and makeup rooms across the country, she passionately serves as an advocate for actors and teaches supplementary skills to working artists. Destinee is the founder and CEO of the Beauty Menagerie LLC and is extremely honored to be awarded this grant.

BRITTANY BLAND is a storyteller who has dedicated her life to the proliferation of empathy. Bland’s work explores emerging media and technology’s role in performance. Originally from Atlanta GA, she holds a BA from Catawba College & MFA in Design from the Yale School of Drama. Her recent design credits include Goddess (Berkeley Repertory Theater), Twelfth Night (Classical Theater of Harlem), A Dozen Dreams (En Garde Arts), and Seize the King (Classical Theater of Harlem).

Everett Elton Bradman’s 2021-2022 composer/sound designer credits include West Coast premieres (Trayf at the Geffen Playhouse), audio dramas (Aurora Theatre’s The Bluest Eye), student productions (UC Riverside’s Red Oleanders), Zoom theater (Actors Theatre’s Romeo & Juliet: Louisville 2020), podcasts (Z Space/Word for Word’s Retablos trilogy), filmed theater (San Francisco Playhouse’s Hieroglyph), hybrid visual/audio (New Conservatory Theater Company’s Interlude), and outdoor performances (Oakland Theater Project’s The Waste Land). Stop by and say hello at eltonsounds.com!

Stefania Bulbarella is a Video and Projections Designer from Buenos Aires, Argentina based in Brooklyn, NY. Off Broadway credits include: Space Dogs (MCC), Semblance (New York Theatre Workshop),  The Watering Hole (Signature Theatre), Will You Come With Me? (The Play Company), Turtle on a Fence Post (Theatre 555), Eva Luna (Repertorio Español). Opera: Letters You Will Not Get (American Opera Project). Regional: House of Joy (St Louis Rep), The Mountaintop (Weston Playhouse). Nominations: Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Video/Projection Design for Space Dogs. www.stefaniabulbarella.com

Jessica Alexandra Cancino Gonzalez is a multidisciplinary Venezuelan artist, with a background in scenic design, scenic art, sculpture, and art installation. She explores how space sculpts our experiences and reframesstories to invite access to other’s perspectives. She was nominated for the Helen Hayes for outstanding Set Design in 2020 and was the Scenic Design Kenan Trust Fellow at the Kennedy Center in 2016. She is a USA829 Scenic Designer and Scenic Artist member based in NYC.  www.jessicacancino.com

Frank Cazares is a costume designer known for his imaginative use of unconventional materials and a fine eye for detail.  Frank has been a finalist in the national Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest for several years (including this year) and was a featured contestant on the Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Challenge on TLC in 2019.  Work experience includes Walt Disney Entertainment, Royal Caribbean Entertainment, independent feature films, and regional theatre companies.

Jordan McCree (he/him) is a percussionist, producer, composer, sound designer, and teaching artist based in Philadelphia. His recent collaborations include: Cherdonna Shinatra, Bearded Ladies Cabaret, Arden Theatre Company, Ninth Planet, Wilma Theater, Theater Horizon, and Care Not Control Campaign. He is also a member of Philly-based hip hop collective, ILL DOOTS. ILL DOOTS’ latest album, The Message, is available now on Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and more! 

Jingyi Johanna Pan is a Costume and Scenic designer for Theatre, Film, Dance and Opera, a textile and visual artist, host and co-producer of the podcast “Dirty Laundry: Unpacking the Costume Closet”. Born and raised in Singapore, Johanna’s artistic practice is centered around decolonizing the imagination, breaking down the notions of feminized labor, and anti-racism. They continue to harbor hope for a more sustainable humankind in the face of adversity and dreams of a future of a better world.