2026 Fall Conference Presenter Bios

Kent Barrett (Greener Scenery, Getting Below the Low Hanging Fruit) is a multidisciplinary designer and artist who has developed a wide-ranging body of work that spans collaborative, contemporary performance, experimental theater, and new media. Kent is currently an Associate Professor of Scenic Design at Carnegie Mellon, A former company member with The Wooster Group and recipient of an NEA grant, Kent often engages in long-standing collaborations with a variety of ensembles and artists such as the devised theater maker Charlotte Brathwaite, installation artist Abigail DeVille, and the musician Meshell Ndegeocello. His designs and creative work have been featured at venues throughout the United States including The Park Avenue Armory, The Whitney Museum of Art, The Public Theater, La MaMa, La Jolla, Harlem Stage, Signature Theatre, The Hippodrome, Geva Theatre, and The Kennedy Center, as well as internationally in multiple festivals and performance spaces around the world. Beyond live performance, Kent’s interdisciplinary work extends to independent films, gallery installations, and with architectural lighting firms. He is a founding member and Co-Artistic Director of Valley Traction Arts Collective, a contemporary performance group dedicated to producing radical, design-driven, new work.

David Boevers (Greener Scenery, Getting Below the Low Hanging Fruit) is an ETCP recognized rigging instructor, a certified rigger (theatre), and Subject Matter Expert for the formulation of the certification program. He is also a member of the ESTA Technical Standards Program Rigging Working Group. David has been featured at USITT and KCACTF as a presenter, an author in Stage Directions and Lighting and Sound America, and is the blogmaster for the News From the Real World blog (cmuptm.blogspot.com). He holds OSHA 10 and OSHA 30 certifications.

Jonathan Bucci (Introduction to Digitally Painted Projections) is a creative technologist who operates Jonathan Bucci Productions in Western PA. His work includes design, management, integration, and education. Through his education work, he and Greta Paulding have refined techniques to digitally paint, layer, and program impactful projections at all levels of theatre and performing arts.

Kathleen E. DeVault (Understanding Color With Light and Pigment) is in her 26th season at Ohio Northern University and is currently the Department Chair of Performing Arts and resident lighting designer/production manager. She earned a BA in theatre & English from The Ohio State University and an MFA in lighting and sound design from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. At ONU, DeVault has designed lights and sound for many productions, including Elysium, Picnic, Magic Flute, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Tommy, The Thanksgiving Play and Carousel. She has lit all of ONU’s International Play Festivals and served as scenic and sound designer for a few. She has presented at the World Stage Design 2022, the Prague Quadrennial 2023 and the USITT national conference. Her main research focus is in the differences among technical processes between different countries/cultures. She received a Fulbright Teaching Grant for the Academy of the Arts, Cairo, Egypt which she completed in Spring 2025. She is currently chair of the Ohio Valley Section of USITT.

Katherine Garlick (Design Markers for Costume Rendering) is an Associate Professor of Costume Design and Technology and resident designer at Youngstown State University. She holds her MFA from Indiana University, Bloomington. Previous teaching experience includes Kutztown University and Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Her professional work spans both technical and design roles across the Mid-Atlantic, with favorite theaters including the Weston Playhouse, West Virginia Public Theater, The Contemporary Theater Company, Columbus and Unseam’d Shakespeare in Pittsburgh. She is an active member of the United States Institute of Theatre Technology and the Costume Society of America. Her design work has been recognized on both a regional and national level by the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival and United States Institute for Theatre Technology.

Hugh Hanson (Digital Pattern Development: CLO 3D and Costume Making)

lisa leibering (Creating Dynamic and Expressive Rod Puppets) is an Assistant Professor of Costume Design and Technology at Seton Hill University and a freelance theatrical designer/builder. She holds a BFA in Puppetry/Children’s Theatre from West Virginia University, an MA in Theatre for Youth from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an MFA in Costume Design from the University of Idaho. In addition to designing/building puppets and costumes for theatre and dance shows at Seton Hill University, lisa also works locally and nationally focusing on puppetry. Some of her recent credits include designing/building puppets for Pittsburgh CLO’s productions of Seussical and Into the Woods, and Ohio Northern University’s production of 9 to 5; serving as production and puppet designer for Weber State University’s touring production of Peter Rabbit; and designing/building puppets for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, and Tarzan at Tuacahn Center for Arts.

Greta Paulding (Introduction to Digitally Painted Projections) Greta Paulding is a senior Marketing major at Grove City College and a multidisciplinary artist specializing in digital painting, graphic design, photography, and theatrical projection design. She currently serves as Grove City College Theatre's lead student projection designer, where she has helped develop and implement digital painting as a central part of the theatre program's approach to projected scenery. Greta's intricately hand-rendered projections retain the character of traditional painted scenery while pushing the creative potential and flexibility of digital media. She has worked on many productions for Grove City, including Fiddler on the Roof, The Wind in the Willows, and this Fall, and currently, How to Succeed in Business (Without Really Trying), which is running from November 4-7. In addition to her theatrical work, Greta works as a graphic designer, digital artist, and photographer for both on- and off-campus clients.

Nica Ross (Using your Phone - Live Video Performance) is an artist, educator, and cultural producer based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Through humor and play, their research develops social machines: participatory, technology-mediated systems that generate ephemeral social phenomena through interaction and performance. Nica holds a B.A. in Cinema from San Francisco State University and an M.F.A. in Advanced Photographic Study from The International Center of Photography-Bard College program. Nica has worked in a wide array of expanded media, theater and event production on both commercial and artistic projects. They have worked with 3-Legged Dog Media & Theater Group, The Joshua Light Show along with many individual artists. From 2022 until Fall 2026 they directed the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry and they are currently an Associate Professor of Video and Media Design in Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama.

Brian Russman (Paint, Polish, Rubber) is in year 18 on the faculty of CMU as a Teaching Professor in the Costume Production program. His work has been seen on Broadway, regional and international stages as well as on screens large and small.

Dr. J Scheier (The History Behind SM Paperwork) is an Assistant Professor of Stage Management at Point Park University in Pittsburgh. She is also a freelance AEA and opera stage manager and stage management historian. Her historical research focuses on reclaiming stage management history while investigating the field’s current challenges through a historical lens. Several of her research articles have been published in Stage Directions Magazine. Her past stage management credits include: Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Knoxville Opera, La Jolla Playhouse, Lamb’s Players Theatre, Long Beach Opera, San Diego Repertory Theatre, and Tennessee Repertory Theatre. She earned her MFA in Stage Management from the University of Iowa and her PhD in Theatre at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Jennifer is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association and the Stage Managers’ Association.

Tina Shackleford (Would you like to call some cues?) is a long-time professional stage manager and educator. Her credits include productions at theatres across the country, with a focus on new works and musicals, recently Out of Character at Berkshire Theatre Group and A Christmas Story at Pittsburgh Public Theater. Tina is Teaching Professor of Stage Management at the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama, leading its BFA and MFA programs in Stage and Production Management. She is a former Board member and Regional Chair for the SMA. For USITT she is on the Board of Directors and heads the Human Issues Caucus. Additionally, she was previously Management Commissioner and Coordinator for the SMMP. Tina holds an MFA from the University of California-San Diego and is a proud member of Actors Equity Association.

Mandalyn Stevens (Theatre Adjacent Jobs and How to Use Your Production Toolbox) teaches stage management at Case Western Reserve University. She has over 20 years of experience in educational, regional, and professional theatre. She has taught at Cleveland State University, Cape Fear Regional Theatre, and Florida Atlantic University. She holds a BA in Theatre from The Ohio State University and a Master of Fine Arts in Technical Theater and Design Technology from Florida Atlantic University. Currently she is one of the resident Stage Managers at Near West Theatre. She spends her days at Vincent Lighting Systems as an Account Executive. Mandalyn has traveled to work in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida and finally again in Ohio.

Susan Tsu (Costume Rendering for the Stage, a Lifetime of Exploration and Creation/Keynote Speaker) has been a Costume Designer since she was thrust into the profession at the tender age of 18 with Godspell- her first undergraduate show at our host institution, Carnegie Mellon University. Since then, she has designed internationally and at over 45 Regional Theatres in the USA. A passionate curator of international costume design, her own work may be seen in a dozen books on design. As a Professor who daily wrestles with how to train the next generation in an increasingly forbidding world, Tsu will share ruminations on theatrical styles that- when morphed with today’s technology- could provide a way forward.

Kristin Ward (Storytelling with Props) is Assistant Props Manager at Carnegie Mellon University and has been working in props in educational settings for over 25 years, helping students explore the creation of everything from topiaries to taxidermy. Beyond Carnegie Mellon, Kristin serves as Head of Props for the Pittsburgh Opera and is an active member of IATSE Local 3 (Pittsburgh Stagehands) and the Society of Prop Managers. In front of the curtain, Kristin is a storyteller and dancer who has performed self produced works around the Pittsburgh area and up and down the Eastern United States, including Charleston, VA Piccolo Spoleto Festival and the Rochester, NY Fringe festival. Kristin's performance skills often flow into her prop work, whether whether dressing a set that tells multitudes before a character even walks onstage or in building a custom prop that just needs to move a certain way.

Cat Wilson (Introduction to GrandMA) she/her- Cat is a lighting and projection designer for theatre, dance, opera, and events. She has worked nationwide with companies such as Goodman Theatre, Drury Lane Theatre, Paramount Theatre in Aurora, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, TheatreSquared, Laguna Playhouse, Portland Stage Theatre of Maine, City Theatre in Pittsburgh, The Joffrey Ballet Academy, Civic Light Opera of Pittsburgh, and many other wonderful collaborators. Cat, originally from Seattle, WA, enjoyed an extensive freelance design career in Chicago, IL, before finding herself back in Pittsburgh, PA where she is currently the Associate Professor of Lighting Design and Technical Production at Point Park University. She is a proud member of USA 829 and received her MFA in Lighting Design from Carnegie Mellon University. She has received several Jeff Awards for Best Lighting Design, the USITT Lighting Design Award sponsored by Barbizon Lighting Company (2012), and was the Live Design Magazine Young Designer to Watch in 2015. This summer her design for A Streetcar Named Desire with Paramount Theatre will be included in the United States exhibit at the Prague Quadrennial. Examples of her work can be found at www.catwilsondesigns.com.

Caila Yates (Bouncing Ideas! Brainstorming Roundtable) received her BFA from Point Park University in 2011, concentrating in Carpentry & Technical Direction. She immediately went to work for West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV as the Scene Shop Manager, as well as an instructor of Stagecraft until 2018. At that point, she came back to Pittsburgh to work for Seton Hill University. While at WVU Caila was the technical director for The New - West Virginia Public Theatre for three seasons before leaving, including; Young Frankenstein, A Hatful of Rain, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, A Christmas Carol, Peter & The Starcatcher, and Sylvia. She has also worked for the WVU Children's Hospital Gala as a Scenic Contractor for four years. Caila is First Aid, CPR, & AED certified and has received her OSHA 10 in 2018. She is also a member of USITT, and a Board Member at Large for USITT OVS.