Lyric Opera 2022-2023, Issue 7, Factotum

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 22 ROMA FLOWERS | VIDEO DESIGNER Lyric debut Flowers has designed for such diverse performing artists as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Dark Circles Contemporary Dance, The Dance Theatre of Harlem, DanceExchange, the Doug Elkins Dance Company, and Doug Varone Dance, among others. She is a recipient of the prestigious New York Dance and Performance Award (a.k.a. Bessie) for lighting, the KOI-USA Knight of Illumination Projection Design Award for A Bon Coeur , an evening-length work created by Helanius J. Wilkins. Flowers was nominated for the Houston Press Lighting Design Award for The Catastrophic Theatre Company’s production of Toast . Her latest screendance collaboration with Helanius J. Wilkins, Dirt , was recently awarded Best Experimental lm in both the New YorkWorld Film Festival and the Fine Arts Film Festival. Her work has been seen throughout the United States and Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the UK, Europe, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia. Flowers is currently a faculty member of TCU’s School for Classical & Contemporary Dance in Fort Worth, Texas. MIKAELA FRASER | SOUND DESIGNER Lyric debut Fraser’s previous work includes Red Speedo , Lizzie , and Sunset Baby at Actor’s Express; Book Eating Boy at Alliance; Once at Horizon Theatre; The Drowsy Chaperone , Addams Family, and Beehive at Atlanta Lyric Theatre; Ella Enchanted and Bluest Eye at Synchronicity Theatre; Stew and Fires in the Mirror at Theatrical Out t; Good Bad People and Marie & Rosetta at True Colors Theatre; Shutter Sisters at The Old Globe Theatre; and Wrong River at Flint Repertory Theatre. At Kennesaw State University, credits include Bring it On: The Musical ; Grace, or The Art of Climbing ; Water by the Spoonful ; Thumbelina ; and The SpongeBob Musical . She is a co-founder of Multiband Studios. MALEEK WASHINGTON | CHOREOGRAPHER Lyric debut The performer, choreographer, and teaching artist began his professional career with CityDance Ensemble in Washington, D.C. His choreography and commission credits include work for the musical artist Big Nas (commercial and video), Abraham.In.Motion by Kyle Abraham, New York Live Arts/Fresh Tracks Program, Gibney, Movement Research at Judson Church, and Pepatian/BAAD! He danced at Lyric in Les Troyens (2016/17), and his work has been seen internationally in Australia, Jordan, Mexico, and Sweden. For Camille A. Brown, he served as associate choreographer for For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ When the Rainbow Is Enuf (Broadway) and Porgy and Bess (Metropolitan Opera), and as assistant choreographer for Spike Lee’s “Mont Blanc” commercial, City of Rain (Alvin Ailey), and Fire Shut Up in My Bones (Metropolitan Opera). Performance credits include Jesus Christ Superstar Live (NBC), Porgy and Bess and Fire Shut Up in My Bones (Metropolitan Opera), 2018 TED Conference in Vancouver (with Camille A. Brown & Dancers), The White House, The Kennedy Center, Jacob’s Pillow, The Joyce, The Apollo, Abraham.In.Motion by Kyle Abraham (4 seasons), and musical artists Sia, Phish, and Rihanna. Washington was the rst African American male to perform in Punch Drunk’s Sleep No More . He was the 2022 Princess Grace Award Winner in Choreography, a 2021 Bessie nominee as an emerging choreographer, and co-curator of the 2019 Bronx APAP dance festival at Hostos. SARAH HATTEN | WIGMASTER & MAKEUP DESIGNER Lyric’s wigmaster and makeup designer has worked in a wide repertoire at Des Moines Metro Opera, Detroit Opera, Columbus Opera, Toledo Opera, the Cabrillo Music Festival, and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She has also worked at The Glimmerglass Festival and the major opera companies of Los Angeles, Omaha, Cleveland, Sarasota, and Central City, as well as Wisconsin’s American Players Theatre and, in Los Angeles, the Pantages Theatre and the Geffen Playhouse. Sarah Hatten is supported by the Marlys Beider Wigmaster and Makeup Designer Endowed Chair. KYMBERLE GAMELL | BEAUTY CULTURIST CONSULTANT & LOBBY INSTALLATION DESIGNER Lyric debut Gamell is a beauty culturist, practitioner, and consultant with 35 years of experience across the arts, entertainment, and beauty elds. Her consulting practice helps organizations establish equitable and inclusive cosmetology and barbering practices for BIPOC artists. She previously served as key stylist and industry consultant at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, establishing salon protocols as well as hair and culture best practices. She is currently the Director of Borner’s Barber College, in Pasadena, California. Gamell’s front-of-house engagement is a view into the culture, community, and connection of Black barbershops, intended to highlight the legitimacy of the craft, sanctuary of the space, support of the community, and the shared resources that have been the hallmark of Black barber and beauty salons for generations.