Spectrum Dance Theater presents
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The Race & Climate Change Festival

World Building Team Principals
Show Bios

DONALD BYRD

Donald Byrd has been the Artistic Director of Spectrum Dance Theater since December 2002. Formerly, he was Artistic Director of Donald Byrd/The Group, a critically acclaimed contemporary dance company, founded in Los Angeles and later based in New York, that toured both nationally and internationally. He is a Tony-nominated (The Color Purple) and Bessie Award-winning (The Minstrel Show) choreographer.

Throughout the 40+ years of his choreographic career, Mr. Byrd has created over 100 works for his companies as well as works for many leading classical and contemporary companies. Mr. Byrd’s many awards, prizes, and fellowships include the Doris Duke Artist Award; Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, Cornish College of the Arts; Masters of Choreography Award, The Kennedy Center; Fellow at The American Academy of Jerusalem; James Baldwin Fellow of United States Artists; Resident Fellow of The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center; Fellow at the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue, Harvard University; and the Mayor’s Arts Award for his sustained contributions to the City of Seattle.

JACK MEHLER

For over twenty five years, critically-acclaimed, international award-winning theatrical lighting and scenery designer Jack Mehler has been creating unique performance environments for dance, theatre, and related events. Rather than having a signature style, he develops specific designs which support the intentions, needs and aspirations of each individual client or project and integrate with his collaborators to create environments that transport an audience. His work has been recognized by The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe, New York Magazine and many others. In 2012 and 2013, he received the Korean Musical Theatre Award for Lighting Designer of the Year (The Korean version of the Tony). jackmehlerdesign.com

DORIS BLACK

In her 10 seasons designing for Donald Byrd at Spectrum Dance Theater, Doris has collaborated on many productions including Strange Fruit, A Rap on Race, SHOT, the Minstrel Show Revisited, and Carmina Burana. She has also designed costumes for Donald Byrd at PNB, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and Dayton Contemporary Dance Company.

THOMAS F. DEFRANTZ

Believes in our shared capacity to do better, by affirming shared beliefs in an anti-racist, proto-feminist, queer-affirming future. slippage.org

EGAN KOLB

Egan is an all around filmmaker with cinematography, editing, sound design, and motion graphics experience. He has lived and worked in the Philippines, Seattle, and currently lives in Austin, Texas. elranchopro.com

ROB WITMER

Rob is a native of Seattle, where he works as a musician, composer, and sound designer. His sound designs have been heard at Seattle Rep, Village Theatre, Spectrum Dance Theater, WET, and Teatro ZinZanni.

Website Experience

3D Artist

Stories of the Shucks

Rituals
(POOL/After)

Narratives

POOL/After - Production Crew

Humanities Nodes

Black Women Speak: Afrofuturistic Visions and Climate Change

Youth Engaging with Climate Justice

Afrofuturism: The Changes of the Air

Altered-Worlds: Black Utopia and the Age of Acceleration

Afrofuturism and the Myth of Drexciya

Credits