Design Honors for Students, Faculty and the Program

Professor Nic Ularu has been appointed the leading designer and the curator for the scene design of the National USA exhibit at the Prague Quadrennial Scenography Exhibition, Prague 2007. And his designs for Belize (LaMaMa ETC., NY) and Ondine (USC ballet) were selected for this exhibit.

An image from Belize at LaMaMa ETC.

A national jury selected the works of our former students Kimi Maeda, Selena Kong and Robert Eubanks for the USA National exhibit. The student design for the USC production of Polaroid Stories will be displayed next to the best designs produced in the last four years on Broadway, Off- Broadway, regional theatres, university theatres, etc., in the USA.

USC's are the only students accepted in the National exhibit, to appear among professionals such as: George Tsypin, Julie Taymor, Paul Steinberg, Ming Cho Lee, Jennifer Tipton, etc.

The Prague Quadrennial is the pre-eminent scenographic exhibition in the world, and one of the theatre community's most important international events. As the PQ is staged every four years and draws participation from all areas of the world, it has been considered the Olympics for theatre designers. The Quadrennial has served as a meeting point for artists from every continent, exhibiting thousands of designs from dozens of countries, and by bringing together designers, directors, and students, as well as the general public, there is an unprecedented exchange of ideas that goes well beyond the narrow confines of theatrical style. With three major categories of exhibits, National, Architectural, and Student, the PQ has been a major factor in shaping the direction of world theatre, and hence world culture, for the past thirty years.

A National jury selected our MFA Design Program to be included in the USA Students Exhibit at PQ, with peers programs such as: Yale School of Drama, NYU, Carnegie Mellon University, etc.

More important, the National jury awarded our program with a “Certificate of Excellence” for the quality of works presented and for the excellence of the MFA design program at USC. The Certificate of Excellence will be officially presented at the USITT Conference in Phoenix, AZ, March 14-17, 2007.

Kimi Maeda’s installation submitted for the exhibit includes models and photos from different USC productions designed by students such as: The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer, Trojan Women, and others.

Professor Ularu says, "The participation at the USA National and Student’s exhibitions at PQ ’07, and the United States Institute of Theatre Technology Certificate of Excellence, demonstrate that the MFA Design Program at USC is one of the best design programs in the country. I want to congratulate all the faculty members and staff that support the MFA Design Program. A strong MFA program in design cannot exist without a strong MFA program in directing; I want to thank Jim O’Connor for his artistic collaboration and support. I want to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues Lisa Martin-Stuart and Jim Hunter for being great and dedicated team members, and to Jim Hunter for his support as a Chair of the Department."