Best Shaper of New Worlds
Bonnie Cullum
Seeing a new play at the Vortex isn't like seeing one anywhere else in town. You don't just hear the dramatist's words given voice, you're taken to the places they're spoken. That's because Vortex Artistic Director Bonnie Cullum takes pains to realize a new script's setting. Collaborating with exceptional designers -- e.g., Jason Amato on lights, Kari Perkins on costumes, and Ann-Marie Gordon on sets -- Cullum will transform her entire theatre into an environment that lets us breathe the air the characters breathe, which, of course, helps us feel what these characters feel. From the deck of a 19th-century whaler, as in Kirk Smith's adaptation of Moby Dick, to the organic-mechanic cyber-landscapes of ethos, Cullum fashions brave new dramatic worlds that are thrilling to visit.