FREDERICA NASCIMENTO works in theatre, film and multidisciplinary design in the US and internationally. Being an architect informs her work with a focus on materiality, storytelling and conceptual thinking, creating spaces and environments that are alive and empowered by collaboration. Born in Mozambique, Frederica has lived in Lisbon, Portugal, and New York, and is now based in Los Angeles.
Throughout her collaborative career she has had the honor of working with directors and artists including Pina Bausch, Robert Wilson, Wim Wenders, José Álvaro Morais, Manoel de Oliveira, João César Monteiro, Ruben Polendo, Bart DeLorenzo, Chris Fields, Simon Levy, Laurie Woolery, Johannes Wieland, Edison Woods, Annie Kaufman, Will Pomerantz, Abraham Celaya, Ron Sossi, John Lawler, Anthony Dolan, Shishir Kurup, Jonathan Fox, Denise Blasor, Larry Biederman, Christine Menzies, Shirley Jo Finney, Jessica Kubzansky, Geoff Elliott, Julia Rodriguez-Elliott, Stephanie Shroyer, Judith Moreland, Steven Robman, Armin Shimerman, Nike Doukas, Rogério de Carvalho, João Canijo, Paulo Ribeiro, Paulo Lages, João Mota, Nuno Carinhas, António Pires, Nuno M. Cardoso, among others.
She is a Resident Artist at A Noise Within and collaborates with several theatre companies. Recent designs: The Skin of Our Teeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Book Of Will, All’s Well That Ends Well, Alice in Wonderland, Argonautika, Henry V, Othello, Wilderness!, The Maids, Arcadia, Six Characters in Search of An Author, All My Sons, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Antigone, Julius Caesar, The Threepenny Opera, The Tempest, Tartuffe (ANW); The Winter’s Tale, Love And Information, Measure for Measure, The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Antaeus Theatre); Design for Living, Picnic, Ghosts, Fefu and Her Friends, The False Servant, Ivanov, and Passion Play (Odyssey Theatre).
She is faculty at Los Angeles Pierce College, Los Angeles Southwest College, and CSUN, where she collaborates as scenic and costume designer with Larry Biederman and Christine Menzies. She was a guest scenic designer in a new production of In The Red And Brown Water by Tarell Alvin McCraney, directed by Shirley Jo Finney at the Department of Theater and Dance - UC Santa Barbara. She was faculty at Los Angeles Film School, and is the Production Designer for Resound Inc developing visual content for companies’ ethics and compliance programs for which she received a Communicator Award and the Telly Award for Art Direction.
Frederica earned her MFA in Scenic and Production Design for Film at NYU with a Tisch School of The Arts Scholarship, and was awarded the Seidman Award for Excellence in Design. Graduated from the Superior School of Theatre and Cinema in Lisbon, IFICT Theatre Institute, and Faculty of Architecture at the Technical University of Lisbon. She is a scholar with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Luso-American Foundation, member of the Portuguese Architects Association, Usual Suspect at New York Theatre Workshop, and a member of the United Scenic Artists USA 829, IATSE. Nominated for a NAACP Theatre Award in Scenic Design - Equity: The Road Weeps, The Well Runs Dry by Marcus Gardley, Ovation Award in Scenic Design for Henry V, and a LA Drama Critics Circle Award in Scenic Design for Argonautika.
Frederica was part of the team bringing live theatre back at the Fountain Theatre during the summer 2021 as scenic designer of the play An Octoroon, by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by Judith Moreland, for which she received the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award 2020-2021 in Best Set Design.
IG:@fredericanascimentodesign
NEWS
2024 Nomination - Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award 2023 for Theatrical Excellence in Best Set Design for A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, directed by Julia Rodriguez-Elliott and Geoff Elliott at A Noise Within.
2024 Stage Raw Theatre Award for Love and Information by Caryl Churchill at the Antaeus Theatre Company - Distinguished Revival Production.
2022 Recipient - Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award 2020-2021 for Theatrical Excellence in Best Set Design for the play An Octoroon, by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by Judith Moreland at the Fountain Theatre.
UPCOMING PROJECTS
Scenic Design - The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder, directed by Julia Rodriguez-Elliott and Geoff Elliott (A Noise Within) - Fall 2024
Scenic Design - Clyde’s by Lynn Nottage, directed by Esdras Toussaint (Dow Arena Theatre/LAPC) - Fall 2024
Scenic Design - Jane Eyre by Elizabeth Williamson, adapted from the novel by Charlotte Brontë, directed by Geoff Elliott (A Noise Within) - Spring 2025
MASTER CLASSES | WORKSHOPS
- MASTER CLASS. Cycle TOOLBOX. ESAP Auditorium 18 March 2024 at 6PM. CEAA (Arnaldo Araújo Research Center) Rute Figueiredo, Maria Helena Maia (CEAA Director), Research Line COMMONPLACE, Cluster ARCHMEDIUM. This event is supported by FLAD and co-funded by FCT and ESAP..
PERFORMATIVE ARCHITECTURE
THE (SUBLIME) OBJECT OF THEATRE -
POETIC TRANSFORMATIONS
- WORKSHOP. Frederica Nascimento, Luísa Pinto, Luís Ferreira Rodrigues, Paolo Marcolin work with students from both architecture and performing arts. Students will be challenged to dramatize the scenic and theatrical space based on the reading and discussion of the plays Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett and Pass Over by Antoinette Nwandu. ESAP 19 March 2024 from 9AM to 5PM. This event is supported by FLAD and co-funded by FCT and ESAP.
EMPTY SPACE(S)
FULL OF MEANING
RECENT PROJECTS
Scenic Design - Design for Living by Noël Coward, Directed by Bart DeLorenzo (Evidence Room + Odyssey Theatre Ensemble) - Spring 2024
Scenic Design - The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare, Directed by Elizabeth Swain (Antaeus Theatre Company) - Spring 2024
Scenic Design - A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, directed by Julia Rodriguez-Elliott and Geoff Elliott (A Noise Within) - Fall 2023
Scenic Design - The Book of Will by Lauren Gunderson, directed by Julia Rodriguez-Elliott and Geoff Elliott (A Noise Within) - Spring 2023
Scenic Design - Picnic by William Inge, Directed by John Farmanesh-Bocca (Odyssey Theatre Ensemble) - Spring 2023
Scenic Design - Love and Information by Caryl Churchill, Directed by Emily Chase (Antaeus Theatre Company) - Spring 2023
Scenic Design - Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen, Directed by Bart DeLorenzo (Evidence Room + Odyssey Theatre Ensemble) - Fall 2022
Frederica Nascimento’s profile photo by Graça Sarsfield
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