Fostering Opportunity for Communities
Underserved on the Stage (FOCUS)
ABOUT
The FOCUS Program aims to provide exposure, training, mentorship, networking, and direct paid professional opportunities for early-career theatre designers, technicians, and stage managers from underserved and underrepresented communities including BIPOC, LGBTQ+, Disabled, Deaf, and Neurodivergent theatre practitioners. Apprentices are paired with a mentor in their design department of interest, given opportunities for design on a variety of productions, and are connected with other theatres in the region to expand their network and potential future employment prospects. During each year-long session, each designer or theatre technician receives compensation for all onsite training and production work. Every apprenticeship is curated for the individual artist or technician. FOCUS apprenticeships can last multiple years, and apprentices can explore more than one aspect of technical theatre by working with more than one department.
For more information, email Artistic Director Nathan Motta at nmotta@dobama.org
24/25 SEason APPLICATION DEADLINE: April 15, 2024*
2024/25 FOCUS APPRENTICES
Josy jones
lighting Design
Josy Jones (she/her) is a theatre artist and arts administrator whose work focuses on providing a platform to amplify community voices, shifting power structures in the arts, and challenging the theatrical artform, all while honoring the sacredness of art practice. Jones founded the Chameleon Village Theatre Collective in 2015 to use site-specific theatre to activate underutilized space in Macon GA and throughout Northeast Ohio. Her work in the arts has been recognized by 880s Cities through the Emerging Cities Champions Fellowship (2018), through acceptance for publication as a “Promising Practices Case Study” (2022) by the Arts and Creative Placemaking (WE-Making) Repository at the University of Florida’s College of the Arts, through the 2022 Arts Alive Award for Outstanding Artist in Theatre, and through 30 for the Future by the Greater Akron Chamber. She has utilized her skills in playwriting, directing, dramaturgy, creative community building, site-specific work, art administration, performance and more to build community in Northeast Ohio. She currently serves as the Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Center for Applied Theatre and Active Culture (CATAC) and the Associate Producer and Director of Community Building for the BorderLight Theatre Festival! Now, she finds herself interested in the art of lighting design and how she can utilize the artform to deepen her relationship with artists and her community.
EMMETT SCOTT
SCENIC DESIGN
Emmett Scott is an artist and theater technician from Cleveland, Ohio. He is recent Kent State University graduate with a B.A. in Theater Studies. During his time at Kent, he gained experience as a house management lead, and a stage manager. Emmett also has credits scenic painting, as well as props artistry and stitching. The joy and process of creation is a feeling that he is always chasing.
BELLA BREHM
SOUND Design
Bella Brehm is a 2024 Kent State University graduate with a B.F.A in Theatre Design, Technology, and Production with a concentration in Sound Design. Bella discovered her love for theatre at a young age and from there grew a passion for sound design. Some of Bella’s recent design work includes: Cabaret (Kent State University), The MouseTrap (Weathervane Playhouse), and Murder on the Orient Express (Arena Fair Theatre). In her free time outside of the theatre, Bella enjoys bird watching and painting.
WAYNE Smith III
Projection Design
Wayne Smith III is a filmmaker, entrepreneur, and artist born and raised in Cleveland
Ohio. A life-long storyteller, Wayne wrote and produced his first play at the age of seven
and graduated from Syracuse University in 2015.
Wayne’s artistic body of work explores themes of identity, community, science fiction,
history, the Black experience, disability, loss, and surrealism. With much of his work,
narrative storytelling comes first.
In 2016, he founded Liaison Media LLC, a strategy-driven video production agency. For
almost a decade, countless clients have partnered with Liaison Media LLC for its
professional cinematography, commitment to storytelling, and ability to pull on viewers'
heartstrings.
In 2021, Wayne established his creative venture, Narrative Roux, and in that setting, he
experiments with expanded cinema and interdisciplinary artistic expression. In 2023,
Wayne premiered his documentary Where We Overlap at the 47th Annual Cleveland
International Film Festival to a sold-out crowd. He also premiered his first expansive
cinema art installation, No Two Flowers, at Ingenuity Fest 2023.
His current artistic vocation consists of developing experiential art installations and
expanded cinema experiences in galleries, theaters, and other third spaces. His goal is to
continue to push the boundaries of filmmaking into new dialogues, understanding, and
dimensions.
FOCUS Program Apprentice Alumni
Jasmine Golphin
(Projection Design)
E.J. Buckner
(Sound Design)
Cam Henderson
(Stage Management)
Want to inquire about working with a FOCUS Program Apprentice or alumni?