(© Joseph Marzullo / WENN)
Robert Falls will lead a panel discussion at the 17th Annual Merritt Award for Excellence in Design and Collaboration program, to be held at the Goodman Theatre on Monday, May 3;
The ceremony will posthumously honor and celebrate the work of lighting and set designer Michael Philippi. Falls will talk about the Goodman’s experiences working with Philippi in recent times and during his past tenure as fledgling artistic director of Chicago’s Wisdom Bridge Theatre Company. Nathan Allen, Artistic Director of The House Theatre of Chicago, along with House Designer and this year’s Emerging Designer Award Recipient, Collette Pollard, will join him to bring a more contemporary perspective of creating and sustaining a new theatre company in Chicago.
At the awards ceremony, scenic designer Collette Pollard will receive The Michael Maggio Emerging Designer Award, and there will also be a presentation of three student scholarship recipients representing The Theatre School of DePaul University (scenic designer Williams G. Wever), Northwestern University (costume designer Jeremy Floyd) and from Columbia College Chicago for The John Murbach Scholarship for Collaborative Design (lighting designer Wade Holliday).
The doors will open at 5pm, with a viewing of the fourth annual ‘Theater Design Expo’, showcasing the works of over 50 Chicago-area emerging theatrical designers and a portfolio review of graduating design students from some of the finest programs in the country. The awards presentation will begin at 8pm.
