Yale School of Drama Student Wins 2014 Technical Production Award from USITT, KM Fabrics

	C. Nikki Mills

C. Nikki Mills, a production manager and technical director about to receive her MFA from the Yale School of Drama, has won the 2014 KM Fabrics Technical Production Award from USITT, the United States Institute for Theatre Technology.

She has served as associate production manager, technical director, and props master, and worked with the Yale Repertory Theatre, the National Symphony Orchestra, La Jolla Playhouse, and Opera Theatre of St. Louis, among other world-class organizations.

Mills is among 11 winners of USITT's 2014 Young Designers & Technicians Awards (YD&T), which include the KM Fabrics Award. The awards will be presented at USITT's annual Conference & Stage Expo March 26-29 in Fort Worth, Texas, which draws 5,000 people from the world of theatrical design and technology.

The YD&T Awards are sponsored by industry leaders to recognize excellence among young designers and technicians in production, sound, lighting, costumes, makeup, stage management, set design, and scenic technology. Winners are nominated by USITT members and chosen by a panel of experts in each field.

Mills submitted budgets, production notes, manuals and schedules, safety plans, and other materials illustrating her technical management work on such shows South Pacific for Wolf Trap and A Streetcar Named Desire for Yale Rep.

"I was elated to hear I had been chosen for the KM Fabrics Award," Mills said. "I put a good deal of myself into my portfolio. It is a great honor and I am very humbled to be named the recipient for 2014."

Mills will receive her MFA in technical design and production from Yale in May. She received her bachelor's in technical theatre from the Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Prof. Ben Sammler, chair of Yale School of Drama's technical design and production department, nominated Mills for the award. "Nikki's personal warmth, her devotion to excellence, and her unending patience mark her as one of the most polished department heads I have known," Sammler wrote.

Her recommenders included Ann McPherson McKee, senior vice president at the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia.

McKee told how Mills expertly handled the cancellation of a production of The Pirates of Penzance after a thunderstorm caused extensive power outages. "Nikki far exceeded her responsibilities by assisting in any area we needed," McKee wrote. "She helped call patrons to inform them of our unprecedented show cancellation; she worked with catering to salvage and donate perishables, and she helped colleagues after the storm."

Mills' USITT award was established in 1994 by Richard K. Heusel, founder of KM Fabrics of Greenville, South Carolina, a manufacturer of flame-retardant fabrics for the stage curtain industry.

Mills will receive a $1,000 cash prize and free registration to the USITT Conference & Stage Expo, where she and the 10 other YD&T winners will be honored on opening night. During the four-day event, she will be able to meet with award sponsors, network with industry leaders and peers, and participate in some of the 200 workshops, meetings, and activities in Fort Worth.