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  • entertainment technology
    • virtual worlds
    • robot hall of fame
    • get in line
    • evil genius designs
  • graphic design
  • fine art
  • theatre
    • scenic design
    • lighting design
    • scenic art
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I'm interested in what goes into creating the 'total guest experience' in venues like museums and theme parks. What makes an experience fun, exciting, educational or inspirational? More importantly, what makes people want to come back?!

My undergraduate work at SUNY Fredonia focused on manipulating traditional scenic design to create encompassing, 'environmental' storytelling experiences: many of my black box theatre designs involved surrounding and immersing guests with scenery, lighting and characters to eliminate the 'audience' and 'stage' to help create 'an experience'. These studies expanded into traditional proscenium-style spaces as well, where I would utilize the walls and aisles of the space to help bridge the guest and the story.

My undergraduate studies were punctuated with work at regional theatres across the country, including the Tony Award-Winning Utah Shakespearean Festival and Texas Repertory Theatre in roles as varied as a Properties Master, Scenic Artist and Scenic Designer. My final semester of undergrad was spent with a team of designers and programmers as a design intern for Disney Worldwide Consumer Direct Sales based out of the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. There, I was able to apply my skills on real-world deliverables at Disney Parks and Resorts around the world.

In the fall of 2007, I enrolled as a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center, where I dove further into the field of 'Location Based Entertainment' and discovered new ways of telling stories. While there, I created dynamic virtual worlds, created an interactive museum installation featuring R2-D2 and C-3PO, and developed my own idea of bringing interactivity to queues as a university-funded project.

Upon graduation, I formed a company with colleagues from grad school called Evil Genius Designs. The company focuses on bridging real-world entertainment experience (like theme parks and museums) with video game technology and principles. We're based in Pittsburgh, PA.