director’s choice / rhythm of the heart

Caroline Shaw is a musician who moves among roles, genres, and mediums, trying to imagine a world of sound that has never been heard before but has always existed. She works often in collaboration with others, as producer, composer, violinist, and vocalist. Shaw is the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in Music, an honorary doctorate from Yale, four Grammys, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. She has written and produced for iconic artists and ensembles across the musical spectrum, including Rosalía, Renée Fleming, Yo-Yo Ma, Tiler Peck, Nas, Kanye West, the LA Phil, the NY Phil, and others. Recent tv/film/stage scoring projects include “Leonardo Da Vinci” (Ken Burns/PBS), “Julie Keeps Quiet (Leonardo Van Dijl), “Fleishman is in Trouble” (FX/Hulu), “The Sky Is Everywhere” (Josephine Decker/A24), vocal work with Rosalía (MOTOMAMI), “The Crucible” (Lyndsey Turner/National Theatre), “Partita” (Justin Peck/NYC Ballet), “Moby Dick” (Wu Tsang), and “LIFE” (Gandini Juggling/Merce Cunningham Trust). Current touring projects include shows with Sō Percussion, Ringdown, Attacca Quartet, Roomful of Teeth, Graveyards & Gardens, Gabriel Kahane, and Kamus Quartet. Her favorite color is yellow, and her favorite smell is rosemary.

Harriet Jung and Reid Bartelme met in 2009 while pursuing fashion design degrees at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. They started designing collaboratively in 2011 and have focused their practice primarily on costuming dance. They frequently design costumes for works by Justin Peck, Pam Tanowitz and Kyle Abraham. They have devised costume centric performances for commissions from the Museum of Art and Design and the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. In 2023 they made their Broadway design debut with Bob Fosse’s Dancin’ and followed it up in 2024 with Justin Peck’s Illinoise. They worked with Mona Fastvold, contributing designs to her film Discipline, starring Amanda Seyfried as part of Miu MIu’s Women’s Tales series in 2026.

Reid and Harriet have completed research fellowships at NYU Center for Ballet and the Arts and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. They continue designing costumes and sets for dance productions around the world while expanding the scope of their practice outside the theater.

Patrick and Holly Crowley / DDP Productions – Fabrication and Design Company
These two Austinites have graced many stages together designing and building sets for more than fifty companies over the past 17 years. Known for their professionalism and perseverance, this dynamic duo will leave you awestruck with their grace and simplicity. They have been nominated for several B. Iden Payne and Austin Critics Table Awards over the years for Set Design and Prop Design. Their selected credits include- Ballet Austin: The Nutcrackers (Fabrication), Grimm Tales (Fabrication/Scenic Art Supervisor), Exit Wounds (Fabrication/Scenic Art Supervisor), The Sleeping Beauty (Caraboose Sleigh), POE/A Tale of Madness (Design/build of the pendulum) Ballet Austin TWO: Donde van las Mariposas (Set Fabrication); Maria and the Mouse Deer (Set Designers/Fabrication) Long Center for The Performing Arts: Greater Austin High School Musical Theatre Awards 2014 (Grand Staircase/Podiums/Step & Repeat); Summer Stock Austin 2016 /Set Fabrication- The Addams Family Musical, Carnival!, and The Steadfast Tin Soldier Austin Opera: Fidelio (Backdrops and Portal); Sweeney Todd – (Passerelle/Scenic Charge) Austin Symphony: Leonard Bernstein’s Mass 100th Celebration (Technical Director/Fabrication/Painting Supervisor). Other companies/clients: Beyond Exhibitions/Paquin Entertainment USA – Beyond Van Gogh USA Tour/The Normal Studio (Turn-key build/ 9 Sets), The Alchemy Theatre, Penfold Theatre, The Aurora Arts Theatre, The Frank Erwin Center, Austin Playhouse, Southwestern University (The Outdoor Stage 2021 build out), The Fairmont Hotel, Theatre en Bloc, Salvage Vanguard Theater, Pollyanna Theatre Co., Street Corner Arts, KLRU, PSAV, Corpus Christi Ballet, and more.

In the nineties, Holly spent her summers up north working for Maine State Music Theatre as a carpenter and doing internships for Broadway tours. During the year, she performed at Fort Worth Opera as a chorus member. By 1999, she transferred to Southwest Texas State University, graduated, and moved to Austin. Over the years, she lived and worked in many cities throughout the United States auditioning at Austin Musical Theatre, teaching high school, working as a lighting technician, scenic charge, carpenter, and dresser for Broadway tours, Rock and Roll, Ballet, and Opera companies. In 2009, she met the love of her life, Patrick, and the DDP venture began. Holly holds a BA in Music-Vocal Performance and a BA in Theatre-Design. Holly is a member and trainer with I.A.T.S.E. #205, USITT, and has served as a member of The B. Iden Payne Council. Holly is currently CEO/Director of Production for DDP Production Services.

Born and raised in Austin, Patrick started his career at Zach Scott Theatre in 1976 taking his first theatre class at 9 years old with Don Day. By the time he was 19, he was hired as Master Carpenter for Zilker Summer Musicals and Props Construction for Austin Lyric Opera under the tutelage of Steve Parks at the University of Texas. In his free time, Patrick taught Technical Lab for Theatre at the ACC Rio Grande Campus. In 1989, he started rigging at the Frank Erwin Center, and within a year hired on as the Touring Manager with a local Austin band named Near Dark, moving him to New York City and living on St. Mark’s Place. In 1992 he started touring professionally with Adam Ant. Other tours included ZZ TOP, Bob Dylan, The Wallflowers, Slipknot, Jay-Z, Smoke Out Festival w/Snoop Dogg and Cypress Hill, and many more artists. In 2003 he was hired as General Manager for Spectrum Production Services and both toured and oversaw the Rental and Touring branches of the company. Over the years he traveled coast to coast setting up both hydraulic and conventional staging, managing logistics and maintenance of the trucks, and overseeing all production riders for both the Minnesota and the Las Vegas offices. After touring, Patrick returned to Texas to finish his degree. While attending classes, he was hired on as the Technical Director/Shop Foreman/Lab Instructor for the Department of Theatre and Dance at SWT. In 2009, he met the love of his life, Holly, and they started DDP at The Aurora Arts Theatre. Patrick holds a BFA in Directing-Summa Cum Laude. Patrick is currently a Production Supervisor at The Long Center for The Performing Arts. He is also a member and trainer with I.A.T.S.E. #205, and Artistic Director/Technical Director for DDP Production Services.

A textile artist and designer, Monica Guerra comes from a fashion design background. She is very excited about collaborating with Garrett Smith on such a dynamic project. In fact, the two have also previously worked together on “Celestial,” a re-creation for the National Opera of Bordeaux, which was scheduled to come to life at the end of 2020.

Her previous works include Reverberance for Pennsylvania Ballet, Resonance for Den Norske Ballet & Opera, Celestial for Mariinsky Ballet, Reveal for Houston Ballet, Fading Figures for Tulsa Ballet and In Touch for the NYC Dance Alliance.

Recently, Guerra collaborated with dancer/choreographer Oliver Halkowich for their unique disco ballet premiere of Following for Houston Ballet. She has also had the pleasure of working closely with Ballet Austin’s director, Stephen Mills; works include Fields, Kai, Belonging and CARBON53.

At the start of Ms. Guerra’s career, Artistic Director Stanton Welch commissioned her to co-design A Doll’s House for Houston Ballet in 2008. She later had the opportunity to work with Norwegian National Ballet dancer and choreographer Melissa Hough in designing costumes and textiles for her provocative piece; The Third Kind [is] Useless, also for Houston Ballet.

As a Textile Artist, Guerra has created hand-painted and specialty dyed fabrics for productions including The Rite of Spring, Romeo and Juliet, Giselle, The Nutcracker, and Marie. She has also created textiles for Houston Grand Opera’s The Ring Cycle’s: Die Walküre, Carmen, Peter Grimes and Zandra Rhodes’ critically acclaimed Aida.

Michael B. Raiford is a Production Designer from Austin, Texas. For Ballet Austin: POE/A Tale Of Madness, Magic Flute, Mozart Project, Exit Wounds. Additional Ballet: Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Colorado Ballet. Upcoming: Oklahoma City And Nevada Ballet. His Designs for Septime Weber’s “Wizard of Oz” Ballet were honored by the “Benois de la Danse” at the Bolshoi Ballet. “Oz” will be soon be seen at the Hong Kong Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet and Pittsburgh Ballet. In Austin: ZACH Theatre, Rude Mechanicals, Hyde Park Theatre and Zilker Summer Musical. Additional Credits: Opera Boston, Central City Opera, South Coast Repertory Theatre, The Alliance Theatre ( Atlanta), City Theatre (Pittsburgh), Cleveland Playhouse, Geva Theatre Center, Playmakers Repertory Theatre, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Ford’s Theatre (Washington, D.C.), New Victory Theatre (New York), Merrimack Repertory Theatre, The Lyric Theatre (Oklahoma City), Antaeus Company (LA), Shelter VG4 Theatre (San Miguel de Allende, Mexico ) and Actors Theatre of Louisville: 20 productions, twelve world premieres for the Humana Festival. Director of “Blast: The Music of Disney,” Tokyo. M.F.A. :The University of Texas at Austin, where he taught for 10 years. He is a Member of United Scenic Artists. Visit: michaelraiford.myportfolio.com

Tony Tucci, former resident lighting designer for Ballet Austin, has created lighting design for the company’s repertory for over 34 years, lighting designer/director for Ben Stevenson’s Texas Ballet Theater and Bruce Wood Dance. Recently designed Flemming Flindt’s Phaedra Ballet for the Mariinsky Theatre in Vladivostok Russia. Tucci created the lighting designs for Bernstein’s Mass at the Long Center in June 2018. In September 2018, Tucci designed a new production of Cinderella, choreographed by Ben Stevenson for the National Ballet of China. Tucci and has created designs for national and international dance companies: Washington Ballet, Houston Dance Salad, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Colorado Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Ballet West, Cirque Ziva-Golden Dragon Acrobats, Royal Danish Ballet, Winnipeg and Swedish Ballets, Hong Kong Ballet, Singapore Dance Theatre, Ballet Contemporaneo de Caracas, Christopher Bruce’s Kingdom- Geneva Ballet, Flemming Flindt’s Caroline Mathilde and Lucifer’s Daughter-Royal Danish Ballet. Tucci has designed for musical theater, including Austin productions of Damn Yankees, Carousel, West Side Story, Annie, Gypsy, Jesus Christ Superstar, Music Man, Oklahoma, A Chorus Line, Carousel and Sound of Music as well as Charles Duggan’s productions of Dames at Sea in San Francisco and at the Goodspeed Opera House. For 1996 Summer Olympics, Tucci designed for the Cultural Olympiad, showcasing national and international companies. He is the recipient of two Iden Payne Awards and Critics Table awards for lighting in Austin.

Known for his innovative and collaborative choreographic projects, Stephen Mills has created over 60 premieres for Ballet Austin and has works in the repertoires of companies across the United States and around the world.

His inaugural season as artistic director in 2000 attracted national attention with his world-premiere production of Hamlet, hailed by Dance Magazine as “… sleek and sophisticated.” The Washington Post recognized Ballet Austin as “one of the nation’s best kept ballet secrets” in 2004 after Mills’ world premiere of The Taming of the Shrew, commissioned by and performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The Company’s first Kennedy Center invitation in January of 2002 was to perform Mills’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  Ballet Austin presented a variety of Mills’ works at The Joyce Theater (NYC) in 2005 and returned to the Kennedy Center in collaboration with The Suzanne Farrell Ballet in 2008 and for the Ballet Across America Festival in 2013.

In 2005 after two years of extensive research, Mills led a communitywide human rights collaboration that culminated in the world premiere work Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project (Light). In 2006 Light was awarded the Audrey & Raymond Maislin Humanitarian Award by the Anti-Defamation League. The work made its international debut in September 2013, with performances in three cities across Israel and is the subject of the award-winning documentary film, FINDING LIGHT. In October 2016, Mills led the company through a 16-city tour of the People’s Republic of China, concluding in China’s largest city, Shanghai.

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