School Notes: David Geffen School of Drama
May/June 2020

Graduating lighting designer receives fellowship

Lighting designer Evan C. Anderson ’20MFA has been named recipient of the 2020 Burry Fredrik Design Fellowship and its $25,000 award.

The Burry Fredrik Design Fellowship was established in 2017 to help launch the careers of graduates from Yale School of Drama’s design departments. Each year, YSD design department faculty select one graduating scenic, costume, lighting, projection, or sound designer as the Burry Fredrik Design Fellow, who will receive a $25,000 award. In addition, if the Fellow is hired as a designer at any professional theater in Connecticut in the two years following the award, the foundation will make a grant to that theater in an amount equal to the fee paid to the designer.

Evan C. Anderson said, “It is a tremendous honor to receive the Burry Fredrik Design Fellowship. I greatly admire the work of the previous recipients and it is a privilege to join their ranks. I look forward to meeting new collaborators and forging new artistic partnerships with the Connecticut theater community with the support of the Burry Fredrik Foundation. I am incredibly grateful to Yale School of Drama and the faculty and my classmates in the design department, and to the foundation for their continued investment in early-career designers.”

A theater trailblazer, Tony Award–winning producer, and Broadway director and stage manager, Burry Fredrik established the Burry Fredrik Foundation to promote the development of new work and the fiscal health of professional theaters in Connecticut. To fulfill its mission, the foundation provides support for developing new works and audiences for Connecticut professional producing theaters with national import, and fosters the development of young theater designers.