Biography

Professor Katakalos has been a freelance scenic designer for over 25 years, combining the art of storytelling with a compelling environment, collaborative processes, and the dynamics between collaborators, and is a lover of making new plays. She is a proud member of IATSE’s USA Local 829 Designers.

Professor Katakalos has designed over 100 productions on a variety of stages including the Arden, La Jolla Playhouse, Dallas Theatre Center, SF Mime Troupe, California Shakespeare Theatre, and LA’s Cornerstone Theatre. In NYC, she has designed off-Broadway at the Clurman Theatre Row, ART/NY, HERE, La Mama, 45^th St. Theatre, and the Triad. Internationally, her work has been produced at the Beijing and Singapore International Fringe Festivals where she was a designer and deviser. She was the director of the New Play Design Lab at the Bay Area Playwrights Foundation and is a co-founder and former core artist of Crowded Fire, San Francisco, which has been producing and commissioning new works for over 20 years.

She has the honor of having her work chosen to represent the United States at the 2019 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space, the largest performance design event in the world. Among her many nominations and awards are two San Diego Playbill Awards, two Bay Area Critics Circle nominations, two Barrymore nominations, and the honor of Best Set Designer from The East Bay Express.

At Lehigh University, Professor Katakalos was appointed the Class of 1961 Professor, is the Artist-in-Residence at Lehigh@NASDAQ, and is the Mentor to the POSSE Foundation’s Cohort 4 Scholars. She has served as the leader of the Arts Entrepreneurship Track for the Baker Institute’s Lehigh Silicon Valley Program and has been the Creative Inquiry Program’s Silicon Valley Arts & Social Impact Advisor. She has served as an adjudicator for KCACTF (Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival) Region 7 Scenic Design awards, a senior design portfolio adjudicator for Philadelphia’s University of the Arts, and has been invited as a guest lecturer to many campuses including Temple’s Theatre MFA program, Humboldt State’s Theatre Design MFA program, and University of the Arts’ Theatre program.

Currently she is a CITL Faculty Fellow for her History of Interior Design & Decor class where her students are creating visual timeline websites and exploring VR inside historic sites and buildings. She serves on the advisory boards of both the Marcon Institute and Creative Inquiry, and is on the Tenure Committee. She is a former 2-term Faculty Senator and has served on several committees at all levels of service at the university.