A.R.T./New York is proud to announce the FY25 recipients of the Edith Lutyens and Norman Bel Geddes Design Enhancement Fund! The following seven companies received a total of $53,250 for their productions.
Cellunova Productions // Error: Destination Undefined
Design Enhancement: Puppet Design
Error: Destination Undefined” is a sci-fi family drama that explores the loss of memory within humanities as artificial general intelligence emerges. The design involves the usage of fine-tuned GPT models embedded in a hand-made speaking robot. The funds will support designers Qingan Zhang and Changshuo Liu’s vision to realize a robot puppet.
Epic Theatre Ensemble // Antigone
Design Enhancement: Projection Design
Epic Theatre Ensemble’s production of Antigone is an adaptation of Sophocles’ classic Greek tragedy, translated directly from the Ancient Greek but then reimagined with a trans-languaged script featuring French, Spanish, and English. The funds will support Projections Designer Cinthia Chen’s use of technology throughout the production to support the theatricality of the trilingual adaptation.
Hoi Polloi // Family
Design Enhancement: Sound Design
Hoi Polloi will present the New York premiere of Celine Song’s play, Family, in a site-specific production staged in a Brooklyn neighborhood home. Funds will support an enhanced version of Steven Leffue’s sound design to support the illusion that the house is “alive” –- with effects, soundscapes, and live music emanating from the basement, upper floor, and the heating vents – in an effort to establish an atmosphere of mystery.
notAmuse Theater // Dead Awaken
Design Enhancement: Scenic Design
Dead Awaken uses Butoh, Bouffon, and Puppetry to create a fantastic world made of animals, goddesses, and flying genitals. Pulling from ancient myths, this hybrid movement piece brings laughter and profundity to imagine beyond our current world. This grant would allow scenic designer Katerina Marcelja to bring this strange world to life in a visceral, fully-realized and powerful way.
The Drunkard’s Wife // All Trees Are Hardest To Feel Terrible
Design Enhancement: Sound and Scenic Design
All Trees are Hardest to Feel Terrible is an experimental opera about opera, the horrors of nostalgia and the pleasures of the handmade. It is scored for classical voices and strings as well as generative electronic music from modular and custom built synthesizers. Funds will support sound designer Craig Flanagin’s creation of 8 mobile “sound stations” which can be controlled together or individually.
The TEAM // RECONSTRUCTING (STILL WORKING BUT THE DEVIL MIGHT BE INSIDE)
Design Enhancement: Costume and Scenic Design
Created by the TEAM, RECONSTRUCTING (STILL WORKING BUT THE DEVIL MIGHT BE INSIDE) is a new work of theater that weaves dramatic text, historical artifacts, and transcripts to explore how white, Black, and POC artists might “move through American history together in the aftermath of slavery” (Eric Berryman). The funds will support the reimagination of the costume and scenic design that centers around a collective quilting practice.
The Trojan Women Project // Sur
Design Enhancement: Scenic Design
The Trojan Women Project’s Sur, is a new multi-media theater presentation based on a short story by feminist science fiction writer Ursula K. Le Guin. Funds will support designers Erato Tzavara and Leah Ogawa in adding depth and texture to the scenic design of ice in Antarctica.
FY25 Edith Lutyens & Norman Bel Geddes
Design Enhancement Fund Panelists
- Joshua Dumas, Composer and New Media Artist
- Nishina Loft, Costume Designer
- Sara Pereira Da Silva, Executive Director/Producer at Big Dance Theater
- Barbara Samuels, Lighting Designer & Producer
- Normandy Sherwood, Costume and Set Designer, Writer, Director
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