MFA in Design Alumni Bios
Shelley Barish
Scene Design, 2006
Shelley Barish is an Associate Professor at The University of Massachusetts, Lowell where she is the coordinator of the Theatre Arts Program. Shelleydesigns actively in Boston and New York. Recent scenic designs include The Wolves, Hold These Truths, Camelot, Becky’s New Car and Dear Elizabeth and Murder for Two (Lyric Stage Company of Boston), Pipeline (Co-Production: WAM Theatre, Lenox, MA/ Center Stage Theatre, Cambridge, MA) The Irish and How They Got That Way (Greater Boston Stage Company); Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, Top Girls, The Real Thing (Bad Habit Productions, Boston MA); Mr. Burns (Northeastern University) and EEP! Show (New Exhibition Room). Other design credits include Mare In The Men’s Room (Off-Broadway Premier); Boom!, Barefoot In The Park, Private Lives, Next Fall, Art (Bristol Valley Theatre), The Addams Family, Cards on the Table, Newsies, Legally Blonde and Rough Crossing (Cortland Repertory Theatre); Assassins (Eastman School of Music), and New Moon, HMS Pinafore,(The Ohio Light Opera). shelleybarish.com
Samantha Bostwick
Lighting Design, 2010
Immediately after graduation, Sam was hired by Arizona School for the Arts (ASA) in Phoneix as teacher and technical director. While teaching at ASA, she developed and expanded their technical classes from a single class into a rotating schedule of seven courses. She also assisted in the expansion of their season, with an emphasis on students designing and running the productions.
In addition to teaching at ASA, Sam designed lights and scenery for theatres around the valley including Space 55, Rising Youth Theatre, and Greasepaint youth theatre in Scottsdale where she also stage managed for several seasons.
After teaching at ASA for seven years, Sam was driven to return to the Midwest to be closer to family. Sam is now the applications manager for Techlite, an architectural lighting company that specializes in design builds. At Techlite, she has applied her skills enhanced by her time at MSU to design and build custom lighting fixtures installed in Indianapolis. She has worked on a variety of Simon Malls across the nation as well as several large hotels, most especially The Ben West Palm. She recently designed the lighting for East Howard High School’s production of Marry Poppins as well as lights for a solo performer for use on various cruise ships.
Amber Cook
Costume and Scene Design, 2010
Amber Marisa Cook is a production manager, costume and scenic designer whose current academic practice includes digital textile design and digital design rendering. Her book, Digital Design for Custom Textiles: Patterns as Narration for Stage and Film (2018) is available through Focal Press.
While at Michigan State University, Amber taught a variety of design coursework and was the recipient of a graduate degree completion fellowship to study fashion history in Europe.
A nominee for the Zelma H. Weisfeld USITT Costume Design and Technology Award, her regional design credits include The New York Theatre Festival, The New York Musical Festival (NYMF), Manhattan Repertory Theatre (NYC), The Black Hills Playhouse (SD), The Ohio Light Opera, The Performance Network, Tipping Point Theatre, Williamston Theatre, Flint Youth Theatre (MI), and many academic institutions. In addition, she has worked as a design assistant/technician in NYC and around the country, including stitching costumes for the Tony Award winning The King and I at Lincoln Center Theatre.
In her free time, she designs food and cocktail-centric textiles on her Etsy site, Chatatomique Boutique and is a member of Alumna Meredith Wagner’s retail collective for theatrical artists, The Mise en Scène (https://www.miseenscene.org/ ).
Amber is a proud member of United Scenic Artists Local 829, Southeast Theatre Conference (SETC), and the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT). She is currently the Coordinator of Design and Technology and Assistant Professor of Costume Design at the Dobbins Conservatory (Southeast Missouri State).
Renée Suprenant Fitzgerald
Scene Design, 2013
Renée Suprenant Fitzgerald is a Set Designer and Scenic Artist based in Providence, Rhode Island. She is currently the Lecturer of Set Design and the resident Scenic Artist at Brown University, and freelances at professional and educational theater companies around the state and country. She is also the Set Designer and Technical Production Manager for La Musica Lirica, an educational opera program based in Novafeltria, Italy. She holds an MFA in Production Design from Michigan State University, and a BFA in Design & Technical Theatre from the University of Rhode Island. www.reneesfitzgerald.com
Eric Franzen
Costume Design, 2012
Eric Franzen graduated from Michigan State University in the spring of 2012 with his MFA in Production Design. Since then, Eric has worked on numerous theatrical experiences starting in Chicago as a freelance artist and stylist of Broadway costumes. Eric would find his way back to upstate New York for a summer at Mac Haydn theater designing and assisting in numerous musical theater productions. From there Eric went on to be assistant to the costume design coordinator for the US tour of Phantom of the Opera in the fall of 2013.
After Phantom, Eric would go on to work for Norwegian Cruise Lines 2014-2016 as Wardrobe supervisor for three Broadway musicals: Rock of Ages aboard the Breakaway, Legally Blonde aboard the Getaway, and opened Priscilla Queen of the Desert aboard the Epic working with academy award winner Tim Chappel.
In spring of 2016, Eric would landed Eastern Kentucky where he was Resident Costume Designer for the Jenny Wiley Theatre, designing numerous costumes for main stage and youth theater productions, while also being an adjunct professor at the University of Pikeville from the fall of 2016 to the spring of 2019.
Eric is currently the Assistant Professor of Theatre, costume design at Tennessee State University.
If you are a student thinking of a great school Eric recommends Michigan State University, not just for the name, but the quality of the professors and the program. It was a next to none experience in leading Eric to have a great and exciting career path!!!! Go Green, Go White!!!!
Christopher Haug
Scene and Lighting, 2015
I am currently an assistant professor focusing on lighting design, projection design, and stage management at Southeast Missouri State University. My design work at SEMO includes lighting and projections for Dance, Jazz, Musical Theatre, Theatre, and Opera. I was the staff technical director/lighting designer at SEMO for two years prior to the development of the faculty lighting design position. Our production of An American Hero, for which I was the technical director and lighting designer, was nominated for best overall design at the New York Musical Festival in 2018. Professionally, I continue to work with the Black Hills Playhouse as a lighting designer, sound designer, media designer, and audio engineer. Previously I had held the positions of technical director and production manager there as well.
Daniel Huston
Lighting Design, 2015
Daniel Huston is a freelance lighting designer, production manager, and educator based out of New York City. Since leaving MSU, he has designed opera, theatre, dance, and event lighting around the country. Daniel spends his summers working at the Ohio Light Opera as the resident lighting designer and production manager. He is also the resident lighting designer for the Annabella Gonzalez Dance Theatre company based in New York City. In addition to his design work, Daniel has taught lighting design and technology at several universities, including the University of South Dakota, the College of Wooster, and Montclair State University. Since 2016, he has also been designing retail and display lighting around New York City. Every Christmas his designs can be seen in the windows of several of the major department stores around the city.
Matthew Imhoff
Scene Design, 2015
Matthew Imhoff is an award-winning freelance artist and educator working as a scenic and lighting designer, stage director, and technical director in New York City. Matthew has worked with Opera Naples, Signature Theatre, Cherry Lane, Carnegie Hall, Gershwin Entertainment, Manhattan School of Music, LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts, and many independent producers. His work has been described by the New York Times as “beautifully designed [and] dreamily evocative” and was featured in the New Yorker Magazine. Favorite projects include Charles Mee’s new musical soot and spit (NYT Critics’ Pick), Rabbit Hole (Nuance Theatre), Stephen Temperley’s new adaptation of A Christmas Carol (Centenary Stage Co.), Anna in the Tropics, and Game of Thrones: The Rock Musical. Maintaining a collaborative partnership that began at Michigan State with guest director Joe Barros, Matthew has designed several new musicals and the national tours of A Charlie Brown Christmas Live!. His design of Frankenstein has been running Off-Broadway since 2017. He served as the lead designer for Hippos, Inc., an immersive performance art installation for the Panorama Music Festival, and for the 2016 Sustainable Fashion Awards hosted at Kenneth Cole’s Garage. As an educator, Matthew designs for various collegiate and high school theatre programs and has been employed by the City University of New York as an adjunct instructor. www.matthewimhoff.viewbook.com
Rainie (Yong) Jiang
Costume Design, 2017
My name is Rainie (Yong) Jiang, I earned my M.F.A in theatre in May 2017. I majored in Costume and focused on costume technology. I am currently the Costume Shop Manager for the Department of Theater at Case Western Reserve University. Right after I graduated from MSU, I returned to work at the Black Hills Playhouse, as a cutter/draper/first hand. Then I moved to Cleveland, Ohio to start my career where I currently work and live. I started this academic job in late August 2017 as a part-time job first. So I spent the rest of my time working in local theaters as a draper, stitcher, and wardrobe until August 2018 when my job position changed from part-time into full time.
G. “Max” Maxin IV
Scene and Lighting Design, 2012
G. “Max” Maxin IV is a full-time Instructor at Northeastern Illinois University & the Stage Center Theatre’s Resident Lighting Designer. In 2019 he received an Instructor Excellence Award for Teaching for the 2017-2018 school year. Since graduating from MSU and moving to Chicago in 2012, Max has created over 200 designs in over 115 professional & educational productions. Of the many Jeff recommended productions that he has been a part of, Max designed Lighting & Projections for the 2020 Non-Equity Winner for Best Musical, BoHo’s Big Fish. in 2019 he received an Equity Jeff Nomination for Best Projection Design for The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey with American Blues Theatre Company and received 2 Non-Equity Jeff Nomination for Best Lighting Design for Cyrano in 2018 and Urinetown in 2017, both for BoHo Theatre. Max was a founding member of Another Door Theatre Project and worked for 3 years as the Head of Production & Resident Scenographer (2016-2018). Before that he spent 2 summers designing lighting for La Musica Lirica, a touring opera company in Novafeltria, Italy. Favorite designs include projects at Mercury Theatre, American Blues Theatre, Theatre at the Center, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, BoHo Theatre, DePaul University, Northwestern University, Steppenwolf Garage, Black Button Eyes Productions, & Kokandy Productions.
Justin A. Miller
Scene Design, 2009
Justin A. Miller graduated from MSU in 2009 with an MFA in Production Design (specializing in scenic design). His titles have included Technical Director, Properties Supervisor, Scenic Charge, and many more. He has scenic designed at The Black Hill Playhouse, The Ohio Light Opera, and many universities. Justin was a Faculty member at Texas A&M University, where he taught technical theater, design, stage management, and theater history. Justin was also the Assistant Professor of Scenic Design at Southeast Missouri State University where he taught design, drafting, and career development. Recently Justin was the Director of Production at the Dallas Children’s Theater and served as the safety program coordinator until COVID-19 forced the company’s shut down. Currently, Justin is the COVID Safety Supervisor for The Dallas Opera.
Matt Reynolds
Lighting Design, 2012
Matt Reynolds serves as Assistant Professor of Lighting, Sound, & Digital Design at The University of Alabama. In addition to UA, New Mexico State University, Michigan State University (M.F.A. ’12), and Indiana University (B.A. ’08), his work has been enjoyed at 59E59 Theatre (Off-Broadway), Red Mountain Theatre Company, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Steel Magic Theatre, Horizon Theatre, American Southwest Theatre Company, Phoenix Theatre, Cardinal Stage, and Brown County Playhouse, among others. Some of his favorite designs include Aunt Raini (directed by Mark Medoff), Far from Finished (starring Jeffrey Tambor and Neil Patrick Harris), and Rent (directed by Scott Burkell). Matt has also designed for fantastic choreographers such as George Pinney, Jin Wen Yu, Bella Lewitzky, Debra Knapp, Sherrie Barr, and Iris Rosa. Matt’s accolades include the Gretel Geist Design Award, multiple publications by the United States Institute for Theatre Technology and Southern Theatre Magazine, and multiple KCACTF Regional Selections for sound and lighting design. Matt strives through theatrical design to amplify marginalized voices and tell compelling stories. As an instructor, Matt encourages experimentation, self-reflection, and most importantly, play. www.MattReynoldsDesigns.weebly.com
Chris Stowell
Lighting Design, 2017
The summer I graduated I went to Trollwood Performing Arts Center in Fargo, ND as the Assistant Lighting Director for Beauty And The Beast. Once the show opened, I moved back to New York and began working as a freelance electrician for corporate and theatrical gigs. I had applied for dozens of jobs and eventually landed at Columbia University as the Student Events Manager where I oversaw/stage managed student events throughout campus for two years. I left that job to go become a full-time freelance electrician. Since then, I have done a few shows as Assistant Master Electrician at the Public Theatre as well as traveled to the Melbourne International Arts Festival as Production/Stage Manager for Grey Rock.
Meredith Wagner
Costume Design, 2019
I received the degree completion fellowship and took summer short courses in Welding, Sustainable Fashion and Architectural Sketching at the University of the Arts, London.
I started a position in the Princeton University Costume Shop in October 2019, where I worked as a Cutter/First Hand and Student Work Manager. During that time, I also freelanced as a teaching artist in the greater metro area of NYC.
I was scheduled to do costume design work with the McCarter Theatre over the summer, but with the onset of COVID, all of that was canceled.
In August, I launched Mise en Scène (https://www.miseenscene.org/ ), a marketplace where theatre designers and technicians can sell their side hustle art and crafts without the administrative burdens of posting/promoting/shipping, etc. – I currently balance Mise artist/administrator work with my job at an organization that helps celebrities/athletes/Broadway stars fundraise for progressive political causes.
Billy Wilburn
Costume and Scene Design, 2007
I graduated in 2007 with an MFA in production design (double focus in costumes and scenery). In the fall of 2007, I started teaching at South Dakota State University as an assistant professor of Theatre, where I still am today. Because of my dual focus, I was very marketable. At SDSU I am head of costumes and teach classes in costume design, costume construction, costume crafts, scene painting, stage makeup, and more. Since graduation, I have designed costumes and scenery for over 100 productions from the academic and professional world. I am also the Chair of Design, Technology, and Management for the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival – Region 5. In that position, I work with faculty and student designers from our seven-state region and the other regions in the US. I am so thankful for the opportunities I received while at MSU. While there I designed costumes, scenery, and lights, worked with faculty on professional jobs and taught courses in my third year. Those opportunities along with the strong net of working alumni across the US set me up for the career I have today. www.billywilburn.com