2018 Burry Fredrik Design Fellowship Announced

The Burry Fredrik Foundation has announced Frederick Kennedy as the recipient of the 2018 Burry Fredrik Design Fellowship, which was established in 2017 as a collaboration with Yale School of Drama and the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference to help launch the careers of graduates from the School of Drama's Design Departments.

Frederick Kennedy, a sound designer who will receive his MFA in May, will receive a $20,000 award and will participate in this year's National Playwrights Conference as a design responder, along with set designer Claire DeLiso, the Foundation's inaugural recipient of the award.

"The Design Fellowship perfectly epitomizes Burry Fredrik's lifelong commitment to theatre, to design, and to helping young professionals in the field. We are delighted to honor that legacy as we acknowledge Frederick Kennedy with this honor in Burry's name," said Barbara Pearce on behalf of the Burry Fredrik Foundation.

"All of us at Yale School of Drama, including Stephen Strawbridge and Michael Yeargan, Co-chairs of the Design Department, and David Budries, Chair of Sound Design, are deeply grateful to the Burry Fredrik Foundation for their visionary leadership in supporting theatre designers at the start of their professional careers," said James Bundy, Dean of Yale School of Drama. "The Design Fellowship is a significant investment in an individual artist that will be felt throughout the field for years to come."

Frederick Kennedy said, "I'm incredibly honored to have been selected as this year's recipient of the Burry Fredrik Fellowship. This award, as well as the opportunity to spend a month developing new works at the O'Neill provide an amazing chance to meet new collaborators and introduce myself to the wider Connecticut theatre community. Honestly, it's hard to express what a boost it is to feel the support of one's teachers and mentors. I am grateful to everyone at Yale School of Drama and to the Burry Fredrik Foundation for their commitment to advancing early-career theatre artists."

A theatre 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 theatres in Connecticut. To fulfill its mission, the Foundation provides support for developing new works and audiences for Connecticut professional producing theatres with national import, and fosters the development of young theater designers.

Each year, the Yale School of Drama Design Department faculty selects one graduating scenic, costume, lighting, projection, or sound designer as the Burry Fredrik Design Fellow, who will receive a $20,000 award and will be asked to participate in the National Playwrights Conference as a design responder. In addition, if the Fellow is hired as a designer at Goodspeed Musicals, Hartford Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, or Westport Playhouse in the two years following the award, the Foundation will make a grant to that theatre in an amount equal to the fee paid to the designer.

FREDERICK KENNEDY is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where his credits include If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhfucka, 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, and Othello. Other credits include Father Comes Homes From the Wars, Parts 1, 2 & 3 and Native Son (Yale Repertory Theatre); The Trojan Women, Adam Geist, Alice In Wonderland, Envy: the Concert (Yale Summer Cabaret); Re:Union, Débâcles, Lake Kelsey, Vignette of a Recollection, The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant, And Tell Sad Stories of the Death of Queens, How We Died of Disease-Related Illnesses, and I'm With You in Rockland (Yale Cabaret). In addition, he recently wrote, co-directed, and performed in Collisions, also at Yale Cabaret, and was the associate sound designer and music coordinator for Yale Rep's Scenes from Court Life, or the whipping boy and his prince. Prior to Yale, Frederick worked full time as a musician, producer, and educator in New York City, where he taught music production at City University of New York and appeared as a drummer on more than 50 albums. His diverse musical career has taken him on tours throughout North America and Europe, as well as to parts of South America, the Caribbean, and the South Pacific.

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