2024 Jack King Award

Announcing the

2024 Jack King Award

The Associated Designers of Canada is thrilled to announce Sebastian Marziali as the 2024 recipient of the $3,000 Jack King Award.

The selection committee was thrilled to select Sebastian, noting:

Sebastian has captured the heart of what the Jack King award can offer, a period of exploration that serves to enrich the artist within the designer. We think they’ve identified very clearly the environment they need to charge and expand their creative capacity and how this journey will have lasting impacts on their practice and identity as an artist.

The Jack King Award is presented biennially to a Canadian live performance designer in a pursuit of personal artistic development.

About Sebastian Marziali

Sebastian Marziali is an award-winning Uruguayan-Canadian performer, designer, and creator based in T’karonto. Sebastian has worked with and learned from Masters across the Americas such as Grupo Yuyachkani, La Pocha Nostra, and Teatro La Candelaria; as well as performing in and designing shows across five continents. Sebastian was the lighting designer for the 2018 & 2019 Toronto International Burlesque Festivals, 2019 Vanguardia Dance Festival, and venue designer at Factory for the 2022 RUTAS Festival. They starred in, designed,and choreographed for Sold-out T.O. Fringe hits Lysistrata, Carmilla, and Mayhem at Miskatonik; blending burlesque and immersive theatre. They were Lighting Designer of the acclaimed world premiere of Homelands for Kaha:wi Dance, set to tour to the NAC, and Prismatic Arts Festival in Halifax. Sebastian designed Sets & Lights for Theatre Francais de Toronto’s Convictions and Les Zinspiré.e.s. touring the former to Limoges, France, and garnering a Dora nomination for the Latter. With their collective Other Hearts they’ve created a variety of works that exist between theatre, performance art, and installation with a focus on new creative methodologies for access measures. Other Hearts’ most recent production Quartet starred Sebastian and saw them Co-design Set, Lights, and Projection receiving critical acclaim and a 2024 Dora nomination for Set and Projection design. Sebastian is always striving to use their varied skills and interests to create performance works that challenge traditional structure and aim to treat design elements as characters/ collaborators in the creation process.

This Year's Selection Committee

Carmen Alatorre

Set and Costume Designer

Originally from Mexico, Carmen has a Licenciatura (BFA) degree in Art History and earned her MFA degree in Theatre Design at the University of British Columbia (2010). She is currently based in lək̓ʷəŋən and WSÁNEĆ Territories (Victoria, BC). With over 90 design credits, some of her recent costume designs were seen in companies such as: Arts Club Theatre Company, Bard on the Beach, Globe Theatre Regina, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Citadel Theatre, Milwaukee Rep Theater, Chicago Shakespeare Theater and Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. Carmen is an Assistant Professor in Performance Design at the University of Victoria. She is also a recipient of four Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards. For more information visit: carmenalatorre.com

T. Erin Gruber

Set, Lighting, Projection and Costume Designer

T. Erin Gruber is an award-winning set, lighting, costume, and projected media designer. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Alberta and works professionally across Canada. In June 2019 her work was featured at the Prague Quadrennial International Design Exhibition. In 2021 during COVID-19 lockdowns she conceived of, project-managed, and co-curated the Level Up Symposium which comprised of 40 free online events with more than 50 international presenters. Select award-winning projects: Métis Mutt (One Little Indian Productions, Sterling Award for Outstanding Production), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (Citadel Theatre and RMTC, Sterling Award for Lighting Design). Online at: eringruber.com, levelup.designers.ca

Leigh Ann Vardy

Lighting Designer

Leigh Ann is a lighting designer from Nfld, currently living in Nova Scotia. She has designed lights for theatre and dance across Canada. Recent credits include Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead (Neptune/Mirvish), Guilt, A Love Story (Tarragon/Centaur/MTC), Fall on Your Knees (Can. Stage/NAC/Neptune/Grand), Richard II (Stratford), Between Breaths (Artistic Fraud), Come From Away (Nfld A&CCs, Michael Rubinoff). Her work has been seen in the US, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. Upcoming projects include Noli Timere, a dance piece in which she’s collaborating with Rebecca Lazier (choreographer) and Janet Echelman (sculptor).

Rachel Forbes

Set and Costume Designer

Rachel is an award-winning set and costume designer creating for theatre, dance and film. Her work has been seen across the country on stages including at the Shaw Festival, Buddies in Bad Times, Obsidian Theatre, Neptune Theatre, YPT, Centaur Theatre and many more. She has designed, mentored and taught at Ryerson University. Rachel is currently serving on the board of directors of the Associated Designers of Canada. Rachel received a Dora Mavor Moore award for her costume design for The Brothers Size (Soulpepper 2019) and a Merrit Award for her set design for The Bridge (2B/Neptune 2019). She is particularly interested in the development of new works and interdisciplinary explorations. Rachel has been experimenting with designer-led theatre projects and is keen to integrate design into the text creation process. Rachel is invested in exploring the artistic expressions of the African diaspora in North America and beyond. Much of her work has focused on creating worlds for these stories on stage.

Cory Sincennes

Set and Costume Designer

Cory Sincennes is an International Scenic and Production Designer. His Set, Costume, Lighting designs have been seen throughout Canada, Europe and Russia. He has garnered both National and International recognition for his design work Beginning his education In Ontario, Cory earned a degree in Architectural Studies and later received an MFA in Theatre Design from The University Of Alberta. Outside Theatre, Cory continues to enjoy work as a freelance Stylist, Visual Merchandiser, Event Designer for various companies and events, both large and small. He currently resides in Charlottetown, Canada. http://www.corysincennes.com/

Shawn Kerwin

Set and Costume Designer

Shawn is an award-winning set and costume designer who has worked across Canada as well as in the US and England. Her most recent work includes The Goat (Stratford Festival, set & costumes), The Trials of Maggie Pollock (Blyth Festival, set design), Come From Away (Gander, NFLD, set design), and The Lehman Trilogy, (Belfry Theatre, set, projections & costumes). She is currently working on Playing Shylock for Canadian Stage. She recently completed 20+ years of teaching in the Department of Theatre, Dance and Performance at York University, where the most recent course she developed was an introduction to virtual costume design. She served as Chair of Theatre from 2003-2009.