Artists & Designers
NAOMI IZEN (Costume Designer) is the creative visionary of Naomi Azriel Lifestyle Design. She focuses her work mainly on local and seasonal floral artistry and event decor, however her background is in fashion design and merchandising. She was the Editor-in- Chief of a twice award winning magazine D&M for her University and since then has held stints with Lonny Magazine, Country Living and the Editor-at-Large. Naomi is in her final year of training to become a Hebrew Priestess through the Hebrew Priestess Training Institute called Kohenet. When she is not crafting beautiful rituals, inspiring spirited community or designing zero-waste parties and weddings, you can find her creating adventures out of the ordinary and chasing the next big food trend!
CAROLYN KRAFT (Set Designer) is an Expressive Art Therapist, received her M.A. in Counseling from Lesley University, in 1994; in private practice for 25 years, provided counseling to youth and their families in Boston, Chelsea and Revere for 20 years. Carolyn created programs and spaces for after-school programs for youth and their families in public housing developments using holistic approaches in the late 80’s and throughout the 90’s. While Carolyn raised her children for the past twenty years, she established a non-profit organization, Friends of Kennard Park, to support the use and care for open spaces in Newton. Through this non-profit, she produced The Friends of Kennard Park Sculpture Trail in collaboration with Newton Parks and Recreation where she hired a curator to bring 18 international artists to Kennard Park in Newton, to be inspired to create on-sight specific sculptures for an 8-week show in the fall of 2016. Carolyn created “Sacred Space”, to inspire the public to receive themselves more deeply by being in nature.
BECKY MARSH (Lighting Designer) is a freelance lighting designer, master electrician, and programmer based out of Boston. Design credits include shows with The Winnipesaukee Playhouse, Watertown Children's Theatre, Flat Earth Theatre, LSU Opera, Wellesley Repertory Theatre, Concord Academy, Wellesley College Theatre, The Tara Little Dance School, and Terpsicore Dance. Becky is the master electrician for the New England Conservatory Opera Department and the lighting programmer for Boston Lyric Opera.
ALISHA PANJWANI (Projection Specialist) is a designer and educator interested in exploring experiential and experimental ways of integrating storytelling, craft, wellness, play, and interactive technologies to create participatory learning practices. Her practice centers on nurturing children’s creative confidence with new technologies and encouraging their involvement in creative acts within their communities. She is the co-author of the book StartMaking!: A Guide to Engaging Young People in Maker Activities, the founder of SEEDS (Science, Engineering, Esthetics, Design and Storytelling) interdisciplinary Studiolab and the cofounder of the Duct Tape Network. She completed her master’s degree in Media Arts and Sciences at MIT and worked as a research assistant in the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab. Before coming to the MIT Media Lab, she worked as a design and research associate at Project Vision, an international research initiative based in India that focuses on developing appropriate instructional strategies and technology-related tools that foster creative cognitive architectures in young children from urban poor communities.
ANTHONY R. PHELPS (Set Designer) currently teaches in the theatre program at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He holds an M.F.A. in Scenic and Lighting Design for Theatre from Minnesota State University, Mankato and a B.A. in theatre from St. Cloud State University. Anthony has taught for over 10 years at several universities including Emerson College, University of Kentucky and Bradley University. While teaching Anthony has remained active as a freelance scenic and lighting designer and scenic artist, his work has been seen at The Nora Theatre, Boston Playwright’s Theatre, Boston Children’s Theatre, The Publick Theatre in Boston, New England Conservatory, Providence Black Rep, Central City Opera, and Theatre L’Homme Dieu in Alexandria, MN. In addition to theatre, Anthony’s film credits include: Here Comes the Boom, Donny’s Boy, The Departed, The Women, and My Best Friend’s Girl. Anthony is a member of United Scenic Artists, I.A.T.S.E. and is the current Commissioner for Lighting at USITT.
PAMELA SHANLEY DAUBE (Production Designer) has worked with Deborah Abel for over 25 years on sets and costumes for both her professional dance company and School of Dance. She has also worked with the Underground Railway Theater, Cambridge, MA, Little Theater for the Deaf, O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT and the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, CA on sets, murals, and puppets. In addition, she is the Operations Manager and Events Facilitator at the Arlington Center for the Arts, and the Director of Arlington Open Studios for the past 21 years. Commissions for community mural work, funded in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Her paintings and drawings have been exhibited and collected in private collections in California, Connecticut, and Massachusetts." Check out her website at www.pamshanley.com.
VIRGINIA WHITE (Costume Painter/Designer) is a recent graduate from Wellesley College. Her previous experience with fashion design includes working on the Wellesley production of Aristophanes' Lysistrata and the 2015, 2016 "Trashion" Shows for Sustainability at MIT. Aside from costume design, Virginia is hoping to become a children's book illustrator, building off her joint Classical Studies and Printmaking background.
DAVID WILSON (Lighting Design) has designed lighting or sound for over 350 productions of opera, theater, concert and dance. He has served on the faculty of Brandeis University, teaching
lighting design and heading the graduate program in sound design. He has also
designed and taught at Boston College, Boston Conservatory of Music, Bowdoin,
Emerson, Harvard, New England Conservatory, Tufts, Suffolk and UMASS-Lowell. His
designs for theater at other companies include Actors Shakespeare Project, Central
City Opera (resident lighting designer), Commonwealth Shakespeare, Company One,
Dibble Dance, Gloucester Stage, Lyric Stage, Merrimack Rep, Moonbox, New Rep,
Nora, North Shore Music Theater, Reagle Music Theater (resident lighting designer),
Speakeasy, Stoneham, Shakespeare and Co, WHAT and Wheelock Family Theater. He
has received multiple nominations and awards for his work, most recently the Elliot
Norton award for Edward II at Actors Shakespeare Project. You can find more of David's work at dw-design.com.
PAUL COGGINS (Set Designer) has been designing and building scenery for over 30 years in the UK , Australia and here in the US. In London he had the opportunity to work with Manuel Puig on “The Kiss Of The Spiderwoman” stage production in Covent Garden, as well as several BBC productions. In Australia he ran the props department for the University of Melbourne which was comprised of three theaters. Before working on the movies “Mad Max” and “Gallipoli." In the US he has worked at Huntington Theater Company as well as on several Hollywood movies including “The Departed," and “The Town." He currently runs a set design and construction company “Anthill Scenic Studios” in Canton, MA.
RICHARD KIZU-BLAIR (Filmaker) has won numerous awards for his film work, including an Emmy, a Clio, and multiple Belding Bowls for his automotive spots. His work has been recognized in Creativity Magazine. Richard is currently an independent director living in Northern California with his wife, a textiles artist. After studying at the San Francisco Institute of Art, Richard began working in film as an animation background painter, then later as a designer and art director for live action film commercials at Colossal Pictures in San Francisco, a seminal film and animation studio. Richard did work for MTV, PBS, The Disney Channel, and many more national clients, as well as music videos for Thomas Dolby, Bobby McFerrin and The Kronos Quartet. His commercial work ranges from humorous to technically challenging effects spots, primarily in the automotive field. Besides his commercial work, Kizu-Blair has produced a number of personal artistic projects. His art film created in collaboration with sculptor Elizabeth King. (What Happened) was selected for the Black Maria Film Festival in 2006. In 2007 Richard collaborated with Liss Fain Dance in her work Flood, creating a video that was projected behind the dancers, combining abstracted elements of ordinary life with stormy flooding imagery to fuse the ominous with the beautiful.