Winners Announced of 2022 Michael Merritt Awards

The 2022 Michael Merritt Awards for Excellence in Design and Collaboration will be held, in person, on May 23 at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago. The Michael Merritt Awards and Endowment Fund honor the memory of the late designer. It is a national award, unique in its emphasis on excellence in both design and collaboration; it has been presented annually since 1994 to outstanding professional theatrical designers. The endowment fund recognizes and encourages the work of young professionals and students through a national design exposition and prizes to promising theatrical design students.

Receiving the Michael Merritt Award this year is scenic designer Takeshi Kata. Based in Los Angeles, he has worked on over 200 plays, musicals, opera, and dance productions across the country and abroad. Recent Projects include Broadway productions of Clyde's and Derren Brown's Secret. Other projects include Bug (Steppenwolf), Until the Flood (FIND festival, Schaubühne, Berlin), Prayer for the French Republic (Manhattan Theatre Club), Cymbeline (American Players Theatre), Angels in America (Berkeley Rep), Man from Nebraska (Second Stage), Cambodian Rock Band (Signature, South Coast Rep, OSF, La Jolla), and Gloria (Vineyard, Goodman). Kata has won Obie and Jeff Awards and has been nominated for Drama Desk, Ovation, San Francisco Critics Circle, TBA and Barrymore awards. He is an associate professor at University of Southern California, School of Dramatic Arts, where he currently serves as chair of design.

The Robert Christen Technical Collaborator Award will be given to theatre sound specialist Martha Wegener. She has led the sound department at Steppenwolf Theatre since 1991 as it expanded its performance spaces, calendar, reach, and ambition. Before that, she had considerably shorter stints at regional theatres around the country, most notably the Goodman Theatre. Her proudest achievement is 30 years mentorship to apprentices who now span the country in positions as sound supervisors, theatrical designers, college professors, and audio engineers.

The Arts Advocacy Award goes to For the Group, an anti-racist collective of Chicago-based theatre professionals working to break down the barriers to equitable employment for BIMPOC designers, technicians, staging practitioners, and other production professionals. The group's goal is to uplift theatre practitioners from historically marginalized groups by providing a web-based platform to make their names, experience, and work known to hiring managers; to promote better hiring practices; and provide resources for anti-racist education.

There are two recipients of the Michael Maggio Emerging Designer Award:

Costume designer Raquel Adorno is based in Chicago and Puerto Rico. In Chicago, her selected credits include Wife of a Salesman (Writers Theatre); The Tragedy Of Othello, The Moor of Venice (Court Theatre); I, Banquo (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre); Intimate Apparel (Northlight Theatre); Plano (First Floor Theater); Top Girls (Remy Bumppo Theatre Company); Mies Julie (Victory Gardens Theater); Unelectable You (The Second City); D.O.A., The Long Christmas Ride Home, Desperate Dolls (Strawdog Theatre Company); Murder Ballad, Princess Mary Demands Your Attention, Carrie: The Musical (Bailiwick Chicago); Angry Fags (Steppenwolf Garage); The Submission, Songs from an Unmade Bed (Pride Films and Plays); Barefoot in the Park, Crimes of the Heart, Dead Accounts (Step Up Productions); A Number, Scenes from an Execution (Runcible Theatre). Regional credits include Intimate Apparel (Utah Shakespeare Festival); Taming of the Shrew, Cymbeline, A Doll's House, A Doll's House, Part 2 (American Players Theatre); Small Mouth Sounds (UCCS Theatreworks).

Scenic and projection designer Yeaji is based in Chicago where her credits include White (Steppenwolf Theatre LookOut Series), In Every Generation (Victory Garden Theater), Passage, The Year Of Magical Thinking (Remy Bumppo Theatre), Solaris (Griffin Theatre), The Secret Council (First Folio Theatre). Future projects include Fences (American Blues Theatre), Dear Jack Dear Louise (Northlight Theatre), Fun Home (Paramount).

Receiving the Emerging Technical Designer Award is props designer Rowan Dow, a transplanted Oregonian who graduated from De Paul University in 2021 with a BFA in technical direction and a minor in film production. Recent credits include props design for Passage (Remy Bumppo), Once Upon A Mattress (Theo Ubique), SPAY (Rivendell Theatre Ensemble), My Way (Metropolis Performing Arts Centre), props assistant for When Harry Met Rehab (Greenhouse Theatre), and Little Shop of Horrors (Metropolis Performing Arts Centre). Technical direction credits include Tragedy of King Christophe (House Theatre) and The Bluest Eye (Chicago International Puppet Theatre Festival). Dow also works as a freelance props maker, artist, production designer, carpenter, and electrician. Current projects include The Chinese Lady (TimeLine). Dow is also on the advisory board of Turn the Pages.

The John Murbach Columbia College Chicago Prize goes to scenic designer Shayna Patel a graduating theatre design and technology student with a focus in scenic design. From England, Patel has worked on numerous shows at Columbia College Chicago including Head Over Heels, Contact: A case study, American Menu, 4.48 Psychosis, Dog, and How I Learned to Drive.

The Theatre School at DePaul University Prize goes to sound designer Forrest Gregor. From Portland, Oregon and currently pursuing a BFA from The Theatre School at DePaul, his recent design credits include The Chinese Lady (co-sound design) at Timeline Theatre; Top Girls (co-sound design), Peerless, Bajo Las Estrellas, V.I.P., Barbecue, God of Carnage, Love and Information, and Marisol at DePaul University. This past summer he was associate sound designer and A2 for Sanctuaries: A Jazz Chamber Opera produced by Third Angle New Music in Portland where he is also an assistant audio engineer at Open Field Recording.

The Loyola University Chicago Prize goes to costume designer Maegan Elizabeth Pate. From Boston, her recent credits include Into the Woods, Everybody, Radium Girls, and Fun Home. She is a recent graduate of Loyola University with a BA in theatre and performance and a minor in film and digital media. She has worked in many different avenues of costuming including stitching, pattern making, and design.

The Northwestern University Prize goes to scenic/costume designer Nora Marlow Smith. Based in Chicago and New York, she is about to graduate with her MFA from Northwestern University. She will also complete the Searle Center Teaching Certificate Program at that time. Past Northwestern design credits include Peerless, In His Hands, Last Stop on Market St, and Fun Home. Other professional credits include Grand Rounds at LaMama Experimental Theater Club, Wake...Sing at IRT NYC, and Antigone at Amherst College. Future projects include Water by the Spoonful, Marisol, and Dance Nation.

The University of Illinois at Chicago Prize goes to sound designer Nathan LaBrance. A graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago with a BA in theatre design, production, and technology, LaBranche, known as, WNDRZ is always pushing himself to achieve more in his sound design and video editing career. He receives his best inspiration from his favorite genres of music, as well as channeling and using his personal life experiences to implement into his artwork.