Set Designer Artist Categories

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Andrea Bechert

Performing Artist: Set Designer

Andrea Bechert has designed over 350 productions and numerous world premieres at theatres across the country. Companies she has designed for include TheatreWorks, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, The Cleveland Playhouse, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Musical Theatre of San Jose, Opera San Jose, Center Repertory Theatre, the Magic Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Peninsula Youth Theatre, San Jose Children’s Musical Theatre Company, the Stardust Casino in Las Vegas, and many others. Her designs have been included in the 2005 World Design Expo and her designs for Mad Forest were selected for the 1996 Prague Quadrennial exhibit. Her numerous awards include Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards (most recently for Fun Home), and more than 20 other regional design awards. Andrea currently teaches design for Theatre & Film at San Jose State University, and has taught at and been a guest at several other universities. Andrea is a proud and active member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829.

Julie Engelbrecht

Performing Artist: Costume Designer, Set Designer

I am a profesional freelance Theatrical Scenic and Costume Designer with 35 years experience designing for Theatre, Opera, Musicals and Dance. I also create many of my costume designs in my own workshop studio. I have worked as a professional cutter for more than 35 years and have taught and worked in the fashion industry as well. I often work as the production designer, envisioning not only the sets and costumes but also all of the props, wigs and make-up. I find creating every aspect of the stage picture to be very rewarding. It has also given me the opportunity to hone my skills in scenic painting as well is many costume and prop craft areas. I have taught at the college level for 30 years and have taught children’s art classes for the last 15 years. My children’s art program called The Art Box, explores creativity and media by looking at other artists and through the guise of many core education concepts that include math and language.

Ron Gasparinetti

Performing Artist: Set Designer, Stage Director

Hailing originally from Newark, New Jersey, Ron Gasparinetti has been a resident of the Bay Area for 19 years. Ron graduated from Montclair State University in New Jersey with a BFA in scenic design. Currently, he is the production manager, technical director, and resident scenic designer at City Lights Theater Company in San Jose. To address the needs of smaller theatre companies in the Bay Area, Ron and business partner Charles McKeithan created THRUST Scenic Design and Construction, providing services to dozens of productions. He has been nominated for three Theatre Bay Area (TBA) Awards for Outstanding Scenic Design and in 2015 received the TBA Award for his set design of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf produced at Los Altos Stage Company. Also in 2015, he became involved with the College of Adaptive Arts in San Jose, an organization that affords differently abled people the opportunity to audition and perform theatrical pieces.

Kevin R. Hauge

Performing Artist: Producer, Set Designer, Sound Designer, Stage Director

Kevin R. Hauge has served as Artistic Director at Children’s Musical Theatre San Jose (CMT) for the past 20 years. Kevin’s artistic vision and commitment to the arts community in Silicon Valley has helped create an organization that is inclusive and strives for excellence in all they produce. Kevin’s innovative approach to productions includes incorporating modern techniques and technology, culminating in recognition of artistic excellence from the National Endowment for the Arts for nine consecutive years. Kevin’s passion, vision and spirit are a dynamic engine that inspires and motivates not only those who work with him but the community he serves. His work creates lasting bonds between people, creates a sense of community, and encourages a strong sense of engagement rooted in the place he lives and works. Over the past two decades, Kevin has worked with more than 10,000 young performers and reached more than 50,000 audience members. Some of Kevin’s most recent and noteworthy productions from CMT include American Idiot, Ragtime, Les Miserables, Rent, Miss Saigon, Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida, Disney’s Mary Poppins and The Little Mermaid, among others, many of which CMT was the first amateur theater company to receive rights to produce. This season, he will direct the regional premiere of Billy Elliot. A recipient of the prestigious Lin Wright Special Recognition Award by the American Alliance for Theater and Education, Kevin has been the guest speaker at the International Association of Theater Educators Conference in Washington D.C., and the Education and Technology conference in New York City. He has collaborated on productions in a variety of venues all over the world.

Richard Orlando

Performing Artist: Producer, Set Designer, Stage Director

Richard Orlando founded the Northside Theatre Company in 1978 as a city-run youth theater and took it to independent, non-profit status as an arts education resource in the aftermath of Proposition 13 budget cuts. In 2002, Northside Theatre Company became a fully professional theater. Richard directed and designed over 150 plays, including the world premiere of Nathan Sanders’ The Sugar Witch, which was published by Samuel French Inc. He was a mentor to dozens of young artists and impacted hundreds of lives. From 1990 to 1992, he served as a California Artist in Residence for the San Jose Unified School District. He was a leader in the local arts community and an active San Jose resident. He served as a consultant to the San Jose 2020 Task Force for Mayor Tom McEnery, the San Jose Youth Service Committee for Mayor Susan Hammer, and the Arts Council of Santa Clara County for Germaine Cummings. Orlando was awarded the Certificate of Excellence from State Senator John Vasconcellos in 1990.

Joe Ragey

Performing Artist: Lighting Designer, Set Designer; Visual Artist: Painter

I paint “alla prima” working on location and in the studio. My work centers on creating the effects of light found in nature. I paint landscapes and seascapes capturing the scenic vistas of the California west coast. In the studio, I work on larger salon sized paintings, from small ‘alla prima” studies done on location. The paintings of French, Russian, American Impressionists, and in particular, the early California Impressionists influences my work. Some of the artist’s that I admire include, Joaquin Sorolla, John Singer Sargent, Charles Hawthorne and Guy Rose. As a painter it is important for me to capture the unique California light at various times of the day and year, under a variety of lighting conditions.

Michael F. Ramsaur

Educator; Performing Artist: Lighting Designer, Set Designer

Michael Ramsaur is a professor of lighting design at Stanford University. He also serves as an Honorary Professor at the Central Academy of Drama, Beijing and has taught regularly at the Bavarian Theater Academy Munich and as a Guest Professor at the University of Arts Belgrade in the Interdisciplinary Program in Theater Design and at Trinity College, Dublin. Professor Ramsaur was awarded a Fulbright Grant and has given lectures or workshop in 19 countries. He has had a 40-year career in theater including owning and operating San Francisco Theatrical Supply, a stage lighting sales and rental company. He has served as Lighting Designer, designing over 200 productions for many theater companies in the San Francisco Bay Area, including Berkeley Repertory Theater, San Jose Civic Light Opera, West Bay Opera, Scholar Opera, Lamplighters, TheatreWorks, and the Broadway by the Bay where he is the resident lighting designer having designed over 70 productions. He has been awarded Outstanding Lighting Design awards from the San Francisco Bay Area Critics, Dean Goodman Award, and Drama Logue Awards. His articles on lighting techniques have been published in three countries and he has created a computerized software program to aid lighting designers.

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