Class of 2025

Ruichen Bai

Ruichen is a production designer based in New York and Beijing, holding an MFA in Design for Stage and Film from NYU Tisch. With a strong background in graphic design, she brings a distinctive visual perspective to her work across various platforms. Ruichen has worked on films, commercials, set design, experimental short films, and animated shorts in both the US and China. Her experimental film work has been showcased at the Shanghai Biennale, and the recent film she designed was selected for the New Hampshire Film Festival, the 25th Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival, the 2024 Columbia Film Festival, and the 2025 First Run Festival and received the ‘Craft Award in Production Design.’

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Jacob Bers

Jacob Bers is a New York City based scenic designer. Outside of his work in theater, Jacob has a passion for photography and astronomy. Recent Credits: Outrage (The African Grove Theater, NYU), Nyro-Max (Short Film), Fabulation (Shubert Theater, NYU), Abraham’s Land (Kirkland Performance Center), Alone/Together (Brandeis University), The Tempest (Brandeis University). Jacob holds a BA in Theater Arts from Brandeis University, and is the recipient of the Herbert and Sandra Fischer Award for Exceptional Achievement in The Creative Arts. Jacob’s space photography has received numerous awards, including NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD), and has had his photographs displayed in the Royal Albert Hall in London.

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Vicky Butler

Vicky Butler is a multi-disciplinary artist working in costume design, game design, and the occasional charcuterie board. Born and raised in southern Louisiana, Vicky received her B.F.A. in Theatrical Production from the Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Purchase College. After working in and around NYC, completing a design fellowship at the Hangar Theater in Ithaca, and surviving a global pandemic, Vicky returned to the world of academia and will receive her M.F.A. in Design for Stage and Film from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in May 2025. Vicky is deeply passionate about storytelling in all forms. In theatrical productions, she seeks to create inclusive and accessible spaces for audiences and theater makers alike.

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Sim Carpenter

Simean “Sim” Carpenter is an award-winning scenic, lighting and production designer from Baltimore, MD currently based in New York City. Sim holds a deep passion for social equality. His goal as a designer is to use his many mediums to captivate the audience, craft environments that elevate storytelling and reveal the, far too often, disregarded truths of marginalized groups. From intimate black box theaters to large-scale national tours, Sim has brought visionary designs to life on stages across the country. Sim is a recipient of the 2024 Princess Grace Theatre Honoraria Award. Selected credits: Long Way Down (Olney Theatre/Apollo Theater); Tiny Beautiful Things (Baltimore Center Stage); The Folks at Home (Baltimore Center Stage); Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (Marriott Theatre Chicago); D.R.E.A.D. (New York University); FLEX (New York University); Hoodoo Love (Raven Theatre).

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Paul Jonathan Davis

As a Theater Maker, Paul Jonathan Davis is compelled to tell stories that have the potential to deeply move audiences. He believes that theater allows people to experience the lives of others in intimate detail, provides space to release emotions held deep inside, and charges audiences with a call for justice in an unjust world. Paul Jonathan Davis began his professional career as the Founder/Artistic Director and resident Director of a non-profit theater company in Monterey, CA from 2015-2020. It was there that he fell in love with lighting design. He found that lighting design scratched the same itch as directing—showcasing the collaborative efforts of a team while offering a unique perspective to guide the audience. He moved to NYC in 2021 with his husband, Andrew Marderian-Davis, and has been deepening his roots in New York theater since. Paul aspires to tell important stories to audiences large and small, collaborate with talented artists, and continue to immerse himself in this rich industry.

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Siddharth Dutta

Siddharth Dutta is a New York based Scenic designer with a background in Dance and Architecture. He recently graduated with an MFA in Scenic Design from the NYU Tisch Department of Design for Stage and Film. As a Movement Artist, and having a deep understanding of Architecture, he is inspired by the way built structures frame our perception of space. Siddharth is originally from Bangalore, India and his interest in architectural forms began as a way for him to find an alternative art form and explore new dimensions in creative space.

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Annie Garrett-Larsen

Annie Garrett-Larsen (she/her) is a New York based lighting designer for live performance. Annie is passionate about creating art that gives voice to people who are too often silenced, explores humanity at its core, and speaks to the deeply hurting world we are living in today. Annie’s recent designs include: Queen, The House That Will Not Stand, and Fabulation (all New York University). Annie’s design work has been seen in New York at: Ars Nova, HERE Arts Center, Judson Memorial Church, Atlantic Acting School, The Flea, The Tank, Dixon Place, The Chain, The Gallery Players, The Secret Theater, Theaterlab, Pregones PRTT. Her work has also been seen regionally/non-NYC at: Cleveland Play House, Chautauqua Theater Company, Detroit Public Theater, and The Peterborough Players. Annie holds a BA from Bard College and MFA from NYU Tisch.

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Micaela Hecht

Micaela Hecht is a New York based Costume Designer for stage and screen. She is passionate about storytelling and is particularly interested in stories that center women and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. She knows that telling these stories is important, now more than ever. Her work aims to add color, hope, and wonder to the world by grounding her designs in the beautifully diverse and creative people she interacts with everyday. Recent projects include: Flex, Fifth of July (NYU Tisch Graduate Acting); Crossing Over, Get It At The Top, A Pigeon Story, Shorebirds (Short Films). She has a BA in Theatre with a Costume Design concentration from Barnard College, an AA in Theatre Arts from MiraCosta College in California and, most recently, she earned her MFA in Design for Stage and Film at NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

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Alexandra Janowski

Alexandra Janowski is a French and Canadian costume designer based in New York City. She holds an MFA in costume design from NYU and a BFA in fashion design from Parsons. Growing up in Paris with a Polish father and a French-Iranian mother, she was exposed to numerous cultures that have had a lasting impact on her imagination and creativity. Alexandra’s designs and interests explore the beauty in the passage of time and how this is reflected in characters and their clothing. She loves designing theater and film productions with themes of family dynamics, specifically focusing on history and its effects on people. Her love for embroidery and exploring a variety of decorative fabrications has always been a crucial part of the way she tells a story.

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Joseph Jin

Joseph is a set designer. His work expands from stage performance to immersive experience and themed entertainment. Working across cultures and languages, Joseph aims to discover refreshing journeys along with the audience.

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Kaia Merrell

Kaia L. Merrell (she/her/they/them) is a New York based Lighting Designer for theatre, opera, and dance. They are interested in telling stories that push the envelope, and lead audiences to a catharsis through rich, compelling text or music, and striking visual composition. They are excited by the idea of ghost stories – that all theater is a kind of ghost story – and hauntings as the things we carry with us. Recent productions with NYU Tisch Grad Acting include: Robert Icke’s Oresteia, Dread/D.R.E.A.D., and The Fifth of July. Other recent projects include Hudson Guild Operas: Program A (American Opera Projects and NYU Tisch Opera Lab), and multiple showings at Second Avenue Dance Company – where they have been a resident designer since the 23/24 season. They have assisted at the San Fransisco Opera, Barrington Stage Company, and Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival to name a few.

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Lauren Nychelle

Lauren Nychelle is a New York-based lighting and projection designer working across film, theatre, dance, and other live events. Her designs are driven by the emotional storyline of the characters in the pieces she works on. She loves to explore negative space with the absence of light and the use of shadows. Breathing life into world through through lighting and projection invigorates her whether it’s a well known work or a piece being presented to audiences for the first time. When she’s not playing with light, you can find Lauren outside, hiking with her Shadow, a 7 year old German Shepherd Labradoodle, or moon bathing with Luna, her 9 year old cat. Recent designs include: We the People of the 50 Acre Woods* (Columbia University); Itamar Moses’ Outrage, Clare Barron’s You Got Older (NYU Tisch Graduate Acting); Hudson Guild Operas: Program B* (American Opera Project and NYU Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program); Ladies’ Lady: A New Musical* (Vino Theatre); Home Planet* (University of Oregon); Family Affair*, Notes On: Nudes* (Big Red Films Studio); and several dance pieces with Second Avenue Dance Company. She also designed multiple productions for Studio Tisch and NYU Tisch Graduate Acting classes including two holiday cabaret shows. *New / Original Work

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Alex Peña

Alex Peña is a production designer with a background in architecture. He brings a unique visual approach to storytelling by blending his passion for film and architecture to craft engaging, visually distinct worlds rooted in character and space. Originally from Mexico, he has worked as a production designer for film and has experience in television commercials. He holds an MFA in Production Design from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

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Xorlali Plange

Xorlali Plange is a New York University Tisch-trained costume designer whose work spans theatre, opera, dance, and film. With over 30 production credits across Ghana and New York, his designs have been featured in: Queen (African Grove Theatre, NYU), The House That Will Not Stand (Walker Theatre), Aya (Ghana National Theatre), and Broken Walls (Tisch Dance). He has collaborated with notable directors such as Rakesh Palisetty, Teresa Cruz, Sam Helfrich, and Sena Atsugah. Xorlali’s design practice involves craftsmanship, dramaturgy, and storytelling. In addition to his design work, he has taught courses in theatrical production and fashion design. He is also the founder of his eponymous fashion brand, which has served over 1,400 clients across five countries. With a commitment to mentorship, visibility, and interdisciplinary collaboration, Xorlali’s work bridges innovation and global artistic dialogue.

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Sandrina Sparagna

Sandrina Sparagna is a multidisciplinary artist and costume designer based in New York. Her background in fine arts, along with her studies in scenic and lighting design during her BFA at Concordia University, continues to shape the way she approaches fabric, space, and character. With a strong focus on character-driven storytelling, collaborative process, and sustainable theatre-making, she is also passionate about building global artistic communities. Currently completing her MFA at NYU Tisch, Sandrina has designed for theatre, dance, film, and opera.

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Emily Nicole Tucker

Emily is a multidisciplinary production designer for film and scenic designer for live performance. Prior to design Emily spent over a decade performing internationally as a trapeze artist on numerous stages including Cirque du Soleil’s big-top. Her approach to world building is fueled by her passion for character driven aesthetics, collaborative creation, and long time love affair with transformative stage magic. While completing her MFA, Emily has designed nine short films, six original operas, two plays, one dance piece, and the genre-defying contemporary circus show PlayDead which is currently on its second international tour. She is a recipient of the Concordia University Student Research Award for Sustainability in Theatre and a design fellow of the Great Plains Theatre Conference.

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Fan Yu

Fan Yu is a New York-based production designer and scenic designer working across film, theatre, opera, and live events. Her work is driven by spatial storytelling, and she’s passionate about exploring the boundaries between dreams and reality. Recent credits: Queen, DREAD/D.R.E.A.D., Hudson Guild Operas (American Opera Projects/NYU), Till The Dead, Pedigree (Brooklyn Film Festival), Rooster Will Crow Again (New Hampshire Film Festival), Flake (Out On Film, Atlanta’s LGBTQ Film Festival). Fan holds a Bachelor of Architecture, and her design work has been featured in Deep Green at Olivolo Gallery, a parallel exhibition to the 2023 Venice Biennale. In 2024, her collaborative installation design was presented at the Valmiera Theatre Festival in Latvia.

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Hanxiao Zhang

Hanxiao Zhang is a Chinese costume/fashion designer currently based in New York. Her work incorporates a variety of garment construction techniques, including draping, pattern making and zero waste design methods. Her costumes root from historical research, but were intertwined with her otherworldly imagination. Using her fashion design experience, she is able to bring the designs to life with masterful execution.

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