THE ARTISTIC STAFF

MICHAEL E. DOWNS (Scenic Designer) is back at MTWichita adding to his 43 years as Production Designer for over 1100 Productions in 49 of these United States, as well as 46 foreign countries. Locally: Jersey Boys, Crazy for You, (MTW), Assassins (WSU), Complete Works...Shakespeare, Wait Until Dark, Bus Stop (Center for the Arts), The Play That Goes Wrong, The Color Purple, Young Frankenstein (Roxy’s Downtown), Shrek: The Musical, Sweeney Todd, Godspell, and A Chorus Line (Crown Uptown). Others: Jonah (NYC’s Public Theatre) and Hello Mudduh, Hello Faddah (Roundabout NYC). Tours of Snoop Dogg, Alice Cooper, Cher, Fifth Harmony, Halsey, Khalid and Cypress Hill; Int’l Theatre Tours: Wild Women Rules, Crazy For You, Fame the Musical, Grease, and My Fair Lady Others: Founding Day (Saudi Arabia) The Bacchae (Dionysus Festival, Greece). Broadway Coordinator: Roza, Fair, Play On, Peter Pan, and Our Country’s Good. TV: Wonderland (MTV), Virgin Galactic’s Unity 22 Space Flight w/Stephen Colbert, Super Bowl XXXIX Halftime Show, 2010 Vancouver Olympics Medals Plaza, Democracy Plaza (NBC). Vancouver Olympics Medal Plaza, Democracy Plaza (NBC). Nominations: Emmy & Reggie (Awards): Adrian (1), After Dark (1), Roxy (3) Mary Jane Tealls (3) Sarahs (3). He’s SO LUCKY to be Rachel Downs’s Husband and father to our best work: Olivia, Isabella, and Jackson and glad to be back at MTW.

Designer) Originally from Rhode Island, Michael currently lives in Chicago, IL with his amazing wife, Katie, and their lovable cats, Sebastian and JJ. Past MTW productions include The Wizard of Oz, Grease, An American in Paris, and Freaky Friday. Michael works all over the country as an independent designer at places like Arizona Opera, The Great Northern Festival, Spoleto Festival, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, The Public Theatre, Music Theatre Wichita, Portland Stage, Yale Repertory Theatre, DePaul University, Colgate University, Williams College, SUNY Stonybrook, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Emerald City Theatre, Vancouver Fringe Festival, and more. He also has had the opportunity to work on shows at Juilliard, Carnegie Hall, Miami Ballet, Houston Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Steppenwolf Theatre, Goodman Theatre, and The Lincoln Center Theater. Michael holds an MFA in Design from Yale School of Drama. Please visit his website to see more. michaelcommendatore.com