Matthew Antaky

Since 1985 Mr. Antaky has created and collaborated on both scenic and lighting designs for the performing arts including Dance, Opera, Music and Theater. His designs and projects have been presented though out the United States and internationally with various companies at many venues and festivals.

His history of dance includes stage and lighting designs for ODC Dance Company, Smuin Ballet, Liss Fain Dance, Mark Foehringer Dance Project SF, Lily Cai Dance Company, Robert Moses Kin, Fellow Travelers Performance Group, Lines Ballet, Caminos Flamencos, Flyaway Productions, Stephen Pelton Dance Theater, La Tania Flamenco and Chitresh Das Dance Company among many others.

Mr. Antaky's stage designs for opera include La Boheme with Opera Pacific, La Cenerentola for the Utah Opera and multiple productions with Opera San Jose including The Barber of Seville and The Crucible, Festival Opera's Our Town, Don Giovanni, Candide, Il Torvatore and Un Ballo de Maschera, productions for The Cabrillo Music Festival include The Photographer Lou Harrison's Repunzel and The Tender Land also Ensemble Parallel's production of Young Caesar.

In Addition to many years as resident designer for the World Music Festival, he has created visual designs for numerous productions of Bernstein's MASS including productions with The Promusica Chamber Orchestra in Columbus, Ohio, The St. Luke's Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, The Dallas Symphony Orchestra's production and the Cabrillo Music Festival.

He has also designed several concert productions with the Utah Symphony, Oakland East Bay Symphony and New Century Chamber Orchestra.

Theater designs include stages for Karen Finley, A Traveling Jewish Theater, Word for Word Productions and in 1993 he became a founding member of Shadowlight Productions, a theater company pioneering new techniques and designs dedicated to the exploration and performance of shadows. The company has produced, taught and performed many projects around the world and has garnered a highly respected reputation for its innovation and presentations.

Mr. Antaky is a six-time nominee and two-time recipient of the Isadora Duncan award for outstanding visual design.

For more information about any of these projects please visit Matthew Antaky Scenic and Light Design

Drew Takahashi

Mr. Drew Takahashi's extensive filmmaking career includes work with George Lucas, Francis Coppola and John Korty on such films as American Graffiti, The Conversation and Who are the Debolts?; and advertising spots for Coca-Cola, Honda, Nike, Budweiser, BarnesandNoble.com and GO Networks. He is the former chairman and chief creative officer of (Colossal) Pictures, a company he founded with Gary Gutierrez in 1976.

Richard Kizu-Blair

Mr. Richard Kizu-Blair studied the art of commercial filmmaking at the creative soup that was (Colossal) Pictures, from the eighties into the nineties and has spent the better part of 15 years directing TV commercials for various production companies. He won an Emmy award for his set design for the pilot of the PBS comedy series Dead Pan Alley. In collaboration with artist Elizabeth King, and Mr. Takahashi and other animators, he created a short animated piece of haunting beauty, and has done other short film work as well.

James Meyer

James Meyer is originally from Syracuse, NY. He has a BA in Art History from SUNY Potsdam and a MFA in Surface Pattern Design from Syracuse University. He spent 11 years working in Europe with several different dance companies performing, teaching, and costuming - as well as choreographing when possible. After retiring from performance work, he moved to the Bay Area in 1998. Maintaining a strong desire to remain involved in the dance world, James worked from 2000 to 2002 at the San Francisco Dance Center as their Director and met many individuals in the local dance community. Since moving to San Francisco, he has collaborated as a costumer with Liss Fain and Liss Fain Dance; Deb Slater and the Art of the Matter; Cheryl Chaddick and Co. Chaddick; Alonzo King's Lines Ballet; Stacey Printz and the Printz Dance Project; Robert Moses KIN; Susan Donham and Spinning Yarns Dance Collective; Janice Garrett and Janice Garrett Dancers; St. Mary's College Dance Dept.; and SFUSD School of the Arts Dance Dept., among many others in the Bay Area. He is a co-recipient of the 2006 Isadora Duncan Award for Visual Design.

Eimaj Design

Under the direction of Jamielyn Duggan this is Eimaj Design's second season designing costumes for Liss Fain Dance. Eimaj Design is a multifaceted design company created in 2004 as a way to present cutting edge design through commissioned costume construction and fashion design, as well as fashion show production, art direction, visual design, art installation, and graphic design. Other costume credits include: Urban Pointe Evocation, Zooz Middle Eastern Dance, and Aerial Assault: Aerial Dance Theatre. In collaboration with Urban Pointe Evocation, Eimaj Design develops innovative performance pieces by combining contemporary ballet and couture fashion presented in non-traditional spaces. For more information please visit: www.eimajdesign.com.