Scenic and Costume Designer Showcase Presented by New York City Center
New York City Center presents the 2024 Roger Rees Awards Scenic and Costume Designer Showcase, an opportunity to highlight talented students with an interest in designing for the stage. Up to five students will be selected as winners from each design category to showcase their unique scenic and costume designs inspired by New York City Center’s upcoming Encores! performance of Titanic.
ELIGIBILITY
Open to students attending high schools in the Greater New York City area.
SELECTION PROCESS
A panel of esteemed costume and scenic designers will review submissions and select the winning entries based on attention to detail, creativity in design, and depth of concept.
KEY DATES
- Thursday, February 1: Open for Applications/Submissions
- Monday, April 8: Deadline for Applications/Submissions
- Friday, May 3: Finalists Announced
- Sunday, May 19: The Roger Rees Awards Showcase
THE INSPIRATION FOR THE 2024 DESIGNER SHOWCASE
The 2024 inaugural Scenic and Costume Designer Showcase will take inspiration from New York City Center’s Encores! production of Titanic. Students may use the resources below to develop their showcase.
Directed by Anne Kauffman (The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window), this nearly sung-through show from creators Maury Yeston (Grand Hotel) and Peter Stone (1776) remains a musical theater revelation, painting a heartrending portrait of the individuals whose dreams of America were dashed in the Atlantic.
Operatic in its style, historical inspiration, and ambition, Titanic may have seemed unlikely material for musical drama when Yeston and Stone began work. But by the time the show premiered on Broadway in 1997, cultural fascination with the “ship of dreams” had reached a fever pitch, and Titanic received critical and audience acclaim, as well as five Tony Awards including Best Musical. Pared down to its essence and highlighting the majestic score, our Encores! production meditates on the nature of ambition and the human scale of this epic tragedy, focusing on the class divides both illuminated and transcended by the ship’s inexorable sinking.
Winners will receive:
- $200 Honorarium
- One on One Mentor Session and/or Portfolio Review with Purchase College
- Showcase of Designs and recognition during the Roger Rees Awards on Sunday, May 19
- Two tickets to Titanic Invited Dress Rehearsal on June 10, 2024.
RESOURCES
- Titanic Script, Act 1 Scene 1
- New York City Center
- New York City Center, Technical Information Packet
- Career Spotlight: Scenic Designer
- Career Spotlight: Costume Designer