Professional Designs (please click on image to expand)
Henry IV Part 1 for the Orlando Shakespeare Theater, Orlando Florida
Directors: Carolyn Howarth
Scenic Design: Burt Scott
Lighting Design: Philip Lupo
Sound Design: Britt Sandusky
Henry IV, Part 1 is an epic tale with both historical characters as well as some of Shakespeare’s most beloved comic characters. It features some of the funniest scenes Shakespeare ever
wrote as well as some very dynamic battle scenes, but at the end of the day I also think it is a story about families—those we are born into as well as those we gather around us. All of this family drama spans from the epic to the common and is a wonderful exercise in character work. This production also was a part of the Orlando Shakes’ series called Fire and Reign, an exploration of the History Plays that cover the War of the Roses. A large part of my work here was to help the audience know who they were rooting for and who was on which team. I did this mostly through color (greens and blues were used for
the rebels, reds and golds were used for Henry IV’s forces), but I also researched the family crests for all of the historical characters and then made simplified streamlined versions of those coats of arms. These were then printed onto fabric through Spoonflower and appliqued onto tunics, collars and capes.
This research and design work will be used throughout the rest of the Fire and Reign series, which I will be designing over the next few years with Orlando Shakes.
Nicolas Nickelby for the Orlando Shakespeare Theater, Orlando Florida
Directors: Jim Helsinger & Christopher Niess
Scenic Design: Burt Scott
Lighting Design: Kevin Griffin
Sound Design: Britt Sandusky
Adapted from Charles Dicken’s novel by David Edgar, this epic production featured a cast of 27 actors playing more than 150 characters. The story tells of young Nicholas Nickleby whose father’s death left him and his mother and sister destitute. Nicholas has a series of adventures that place him in the company of fools, lechers, innocents, selfless benefactors and even some actors.
In total, I created over 200 renderings, worked with three shops, 4 stocks and over 30 costume technicians. We went through hundreds of yards of fabric, countless hours of meetings and tech rehearsals and in the end created theater magic. Terry Teachout of The Wallstreet Journal said, “Jack A. Smith's period costumes are just right…but why go on? Everything about this production is right!”
The Buddy Holly Story for Maples Repertory Theater, Macon Missouri
Director: Tim Seib
Scenic Designer: Ali Strelchun
Lighting Design: Jess Fialko
Sound Designer: Sky Aguilar
This production is really a celebration of the incredible music of Buddy Holly and how he changed the face of music and popular culture in the 1950s. My focus here was to keep the show moving at a rapid pace, to work with Tim Seib (the director) to keep the look of the show as clean as possible. We worked to keep the iconic look of Buddy Holly as the most important focus using original source materials as our guide.
"With a spectacular number of costumes from that decade, the music of the era, and even the dances that were so popular then, Orlando Shakes does an excellent job putting the audience right into the summer of 1922."
Michael W. Freeman, Freeline Media Orlando
"Though the aesthetic elements of this production are immensely successful, it is ironically the humanity and realness of the characters that make this adaptation just as compelling as the original novel."
Kelli McGurk, Broadway World