2025 Michael Merritt Awards

The Michael Merritt Award for Excellence in Design and Collaboration

Christine Pascual

Christine Pascual is a costume designer based in Chicago since 1994. She was born in New York City and grew up on Long Island in Dix Hills, New York. She is the oldest of of seven children whose parents immigrated to the US from the Philippines. She graduated from SUNY at Stony Brook with a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree and earned a Master of Fine Arts in Costume Design from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Christine began her career in costume design with daring innovative storefront theaters including Defiant Theatre and Onyx Theatre. Since then she has been working with storefront, midsize, and large regional theaters. Recent productions include: East Texas Hot Links, Lion In Winter at Court Theatre, Twelfth Night at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Black Sunday, Relentless, Notes From The Field, Trouble In Mind, Oslo at Timeline. Other theaters she has designed for include A Red Orchid Theatre, Goodman, Steppenwolf, Teatro Vista, Congo Square Theatre, Victory Gardens, Writers Theatre, Northlight, Remy Bumpo, Centerstage in Baltimore, American Players in Spring Green, McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton and Second Stage Theatre in NY.

In 2010 she was a nominee for a Hewes Design Award for notable effects in costumes for The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity at Second Stage. In 2022 Christine was nominated for a Jeff Award  for Relentless at Timeline Theatre. In 2018 she became a 3Arts Awardee. She is a proud member of United Scenic Artists Local 829.

The Robert Christen Award

JR Lederle

JR Lederle is a Lighting Designer/Technician who came to Chicago from a small town in Ohio in 1985 and never looked back. He spent ten years with Briar Street Theatre in various roles, where he was introduced to the fine Steppenwolf folks on FRANK’S WILD YEARS. In 1991, Steppenwolf hired JR to work on the first show in their new space then again as the Master Electrician on THE RISE AND FALL OF LITTLE VOICE in 1993. He took a full-time staff position at Steppenwolf in 1995, starting with BURIED CHILD. He’s been there ever since as head of the Lighting Department. His tenure has included multiple international tours, including trips to theatre festivals in Galway, Dublin, Toronto, and Melbourne and the run of AUGUST, OSAGE COUNTY in Sydney. He has designed more than 100 shows at Chicago theatres, most frequently at Northlight where his most recent work can be seen in PRAYER FOR THE FRENCH REPUBLIC. JR has had the privilege of working with an extraordinary array of actors, directors, designers, technicians, apprentices, administrators, and all the people who make theatres work, who taught him more than they’ll ever know.
Website: jrlederle.com

The Arts Advocacy Award

Albany Park Theater Project

Albany Park Theater Project was founded in 1997 with a mission to expand who creates theater, who thinks of themselves as artists, whose stories get told, who is in the audience, and how theater can play a meaningful role in community life. APTP makes its home in the Albany Park neighborhood on Chicago’s northwest side—a port of entry for immigrants from across the world and one of the most diverse communities in the United States. APTP’s Youth Performing Ensemble devises world-class original theater performances that illuminate the experiences of immigrant and first-generation Chicagoans. The ensemble’s performances have been experienced by more than 100,000 audience members and been broadcast to another 50,000 viewers on WTTW. In 2023, APTP opened Port of Entry, an immersive performance that places guests within a re-created courtyard apartment building where they experience the stories of immigrant and refugee families from around the globe, now living side by side. Created over five years by more than 300 youth and adult artists, Port of Entry has had 141 sold-out performances, welcoming guests from 25 states and 7 counties. The open run of Port of Entry will continue in October, 2025. APTP@School, our school-based program, brings the company’s philosophy and creative methods to more than 700 students at six Chicago partner schools every year. APTP@School establishes creative spaces within schools where young people affirm who they are and empower themselves to shape who they will become. Through ensemble theater-making, APTP@School students nurture the courage to take creative and emotional risks, the skills to lead and problem-solve in community, and the confidence to express their identities, stories, and perspectives. As they devise performance pieces, they learn to celebrate differences, challenge dominant narratives, and see their voices as vital to shaping their schools, neighborhoods, and futures. Ultimately, APTP’s Youth Performing Ensemble and APTP@School both cultivate new leaders who know they matter and who move through their education—and into their futures—with vision, voice, and purpose.
Web sites: aptpchicago.org, portofentrychicago.com
Instagram: @aptpchicago
Facebook: Albany Park Theater Project

The Michael Maggio Professional Designer Award

Lonnae Hickman

Lonnae Hickman (she/her) is a graduate of DePaul University with a double major in Theatre Arts (BFA) and American Studies. She’s passionate about all forms of theatre and entertainment, but specifically, those that elevate Black, Queer, and Indigenous voices. She’s honed her skills in prop design and creation, puppetry, and immersive forms of theatre; working with companies such as Chicago Children’s Theatre, Albany Park Project, Theo Ubique, About Face, Theatre Wit, Timeline Theatre with Broadway in Chicago, Northlight Theatre, Teatro Vista, and Milwaukee Chamber Theatre. Lonnae also is an adjunct faculty at University of Chicago – IL, where she works designing on shows and mentoring students on props and collaboration. 
My Website: https://lareyboy.wixsite.com/lonnaesportfolio
My Linked-in (more updated): https://www.linkedin.com/in/lonnae-hickman/

The Early Career Technical Collaborator Award

Tuesday Thacker

Tuesday Thacker (They/Them) is a freelance Stage Manager originally from Ohio who is extremely passionate about the power of good communication, strong collaboration, and equity in the arts. Working in Stage Management has provided the perfect home for each of these passions. Tuesday graduated from Columbia College Chicago in 2024 with a Theatre BA, concentration in Stage Management, and a minor in Performing Arts Management. During their education, some of their most treasured projects included Pippin, On the Town, and Language of Angels. Since graduating, they have been privileged to work on a number of Stage Management teams around the city including that of Lord of the Rings: a Musical Tale (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre), She’s Alive! (Mercury Theater) Betrayal (Goodman Theatre) and most recently, 42 Balloons (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre). This first year post-grad has been a wonderful experience, and they are extremely grateful for the many people that have helped them to grow into the person and professional they are today. They are very thankful to be at the Merritt Awards this year, and are eager to see what the future holds! They are reachable via website at tuesdaythacker.com

2025 ACADEMIC PRIZES

Dylan Hirt

Dylan Hirt (she/her) is a Senior Stage Management major at Columbia College Chicago. Some previous productions include Rent ‘25 (Stage Manager), Hair ‘24 (Assistant Stage Manager), Hamlet ‘24 (Assistant Stage Manager), The 24-hour Play Festival ‘23 ( Stage Manager), Creature D3 (Stage Manager). She would like to give a special thanks to her Mother and to all the mentors who assisted her through her college career. “The opposite of war isn’t peace, It’s Creation” – Rent.

Erinn Grendahl

Erinn Grendahl is a costume designer and recent graduate of Loyola University Chicago’s Theatre Program with a minor in Shakespeare Studies. In the course of her time at Loyola, she has served as the costume designer of Orange Julius, Associate Costume Designer of Once, and Costume Coordinator of Cafecito, a student written and produced play. In addition to her realized design work, Erinn was recently awarded Honorable Mention for the Award For Theatrical Design Excellence in Costume Design at the Regional Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. This coming fall, she will be attending Boston University in pursuit of her MFA in Costume Design. 

Isa Pardilla

Isa Pardilla is a graduate of UIC’s School of Theatre and Music, earning a BA in Theatre Design, Production and Technology with a focus in stage management and props.
Her credits in stage management include Ioneu (Athenaeum); Peter Pan Jr. and The Marvelous Wonderettes (Schaumburg Park District); Urinetown, Fefu and Her Friends, Yerma, the strangers, Gloria, and Passage (UIC); as well as Suessical Kids! and Willy Wonka Kids! (Metropolis). Her prop credits include Ioneu (Athenaeum); Peter Pan Jr. and The Marvelous Wonderettes (Schaumburg Park District); as well as Not About Nightingales, Smart People and Devotion (UIC).
She studied stage management, crafts, costume construction, scenic design and script analysis with years of experience in painting, sewing and crafting.
She enjoys working with young artist who are discovering their love of the arts. In her free time she enjoys reading, painting and crocheting.
Website: isapardilla.wixsite.com/theatre

James Doolittle

Born and raised in Denver, Colorado James started working in the technical production realm in middle school. He has worked in several productions as a technical director, carpenter, and rigger. He has worked as a technical director for shows such as The Seagull and The Chronicles of The Kalidescope Visitors. As an Assistant Technical Director forChristmas at DePaul and Alls Well That Ends Well. He also worked as a fly operator, ground rigger and board operator for various other productions. When James isn’t working, he is an avid fan of SCUBA diving, Tiki cocktails, and mischief. He loves tackling each new challenge with a smile and growing his skill set.

2025 EXHIBITION PRIZES 

The Michael Philippi Prize for Best Exhibit: Professional Designer

Finnegan Chu

Finnegan is a Chicago-based costume designer, technician, wig technician, and multimedia artist. She is a graduate from the Costume Design BFA program at The Theatre School at DePaul University, while having also pursued minors in Animation, and Media and Cinema Studies. Recently, she has been the wardrobe supervisor and second ASM at Port of Entry, an immersive theatre experience created by Albany Park Theater Project and Third Rail Projects for a year.

As an artist, she loves to work on projects that allow holistic world building by the entire team. Having the ability to collaborate freely and fluidly is an environment in which she particularly thrives.

Finnegan prides herself in being a queer BI(M)POC artist, and strives to maintain an atmosphere of respect, dignity, and maturity to empower the voices she supports. She takes particular care in uplifting marginalized voices, and has a personal love for social justice and activism theatre.

Prize for Best Exhibit: Student Designer

Event Photos

Held on Monday, May 19th 2025 at Black Ensemble Theater