Our team has been integral to the development of SZLA.
Meet the designers, storytellers, partners, and leaders who have made it all possible.
Leadership Team
Paula Cizmar
Co-Creator/Producer
Michael Bodie
Co-Creator/Producer
Ann Closs-Farley
Costume Designer
Fran de Leon
Director
Olfactory Designer /Researcher
Elizabeth Ramsey
Chad Smith
Technical Director
Program Manager
Long Beach Alliance for Children with Asthma
Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach
Campaign Coordinator for Environmental Justice
People Not Pozos
Esperanza Community Housing
Sylvia Betancourt
Hugo Garcia
Sibyl Wickersheimer
Luke Quezada
Interactive Designer
Scenic Designer
Production Team
Assistant Director - Matilda Schulman
Stage Manager - MJ Adamson
Assistant Stage Managers - Naayah Bailey, Cherise Clough
Associate Set Designer - Aarti Patel
Set Fabrication - Pfinix Creative Group
Interactive Map Design - Cole Slater
Associate Costume Designer - Anna Pollnow
Diorama Fabricator - Arabella McClure
Lighting Design - Oleyar Oleyar
Lighting Technician - Xandur Reed
Sound Design - Amelia Anello
Video Production - Nicolas Diaz-Magaloni
Animation and Video Editing - Zi Zhang, Mika Panahon
Scent Design - Nikia Fenix
Website + Graphic Design - Nikhita Rao
Lead Writers - Eliza Kuperschmid & Alessandra Viegas
Writing Team - Claire Bernstein, Cynthia Ochoa, Eliza Kuperschmid, Joseph Valdez, Marilyn Schotland, Steven Vargas, Alessandra Viegas
Educational Toolkit Design - Joseph Valdez
Additional Spanish Translation - Amaya Cervino
Performers - Leandro Cano, Claudia Elmore, Xol Gonzalez, David Huynh, Ella Rao, Alejandra Villanueva
Members of the Community -Maria Climaco, Kirk Davis, Pat Diaz, Aaron Eshman, Theral Golden, Javier Martinez, Ana Hernandez, Eric Kearney, Marta Linares, Andy Lipkis, Ashley Lazaro, Victoria Mercel, Teresa Mendoza, Evangelina Ramirez, Herendira Razcon, Maria Reyes, Alicia Rivera, Marlene Sanchez, Sandra Serrano, Katherin Velazquez, Selene Zazueta
Community Organization Partners - Sylvia Betancourt and Marlin Dawoodjee Vargas, Long Beach Alliance of Children with Asthma; Hugo Garcia, People Not Pozos/Esperanza Community Housing
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles Team - Laurel Robinson, Ebony Mills, Chris Weisbart, Chris Candelaria, Liam Mooney
USC School of Dramatic Arts -
Phil Allen, Els Collins, Leia Crawford, Michael Lattimer
USC School of Cinematic Arts, Media Arts + Practice -
David Lopez, Stacy Patterson, Sonia Seetharaman, Holly Willis
USC Visions & Voices Marketing and Design Team -
Hector Catalan, Eve Naranong, Martin Wong
Special Thanks -
Lucy Zepeda, Communities for a Better Environment, Tree People, Dr. Rob McConnell, Dr. Jill Johnston, Kate Vavra-Musser, An-Min Wu, Laura Flanagan, Colin Cox, William Warrener, Marlene Forte, Crissy Guerrero, Edgar Landa, Claudia Dolph, Nicole Appleby, Bob Bailey, David Jacobs
Extra Special Thanks to Our Sponsors -
USC Arts in Action; Arkay Foundation; USC Institute for Theatre and Social Change; USC Equity Research Institute; USC Center for Children’s Environmental Health Research Translation; Will and Company; the MAP Fund; USC Advancing Scholarship in the Arts and Humanities program; and USC Undergraduate Research Assistant Program
USC Student Artist Activists -
2023—Karen Abe, Defne Aslan, Sherry Bao, Venssa Cheng, Marissa Fine, Isa Johnson, Irene Kim, Chutong Liu, Katie Liu, John Miranda, Alessia Mont’Alto, Tamanna Sood, Alejandra Vasquez-Lamadrid, Grace Whitman, Hana Zhao, Yinfei Zhong, Yi Zong
2022—Uma Chatterjee, Grant Cosko, Livan Felix, Endiya Griffin, Ashwan Kadam, Saleen Lee, Lillian Lin, Dede Louis, Alex Mercado, Gitika Pahwa, Luke Quezada, Brian Smith, Ting Su, Danielle Takahashi, Natassja Tidal, Valerie Wang, Ally Wei, Claire Wong
2021— Jelina Liu, Jaime Lopez, Juan Lobo, Zharia O’Neal, Katrina D. RiChard, Dolores Rodriguez, Shaina Franks, Peren Yesilyurt, Jenny Weiske, Maria Barseghian, Tara Lederman, Gabriela Bonet, Bianca Pompa, Wendy Hui, Jade Wolff, Naveen Bhatia, Isabella Gomez, Dom Vacca, Emi Yoshino, Morgan Whittam, Lizzy Lourenco, Emily Billow, Tia Kemp, Christina Carrafiell, Grafton Doyle, John Reyes Doyle, Adi Eshman, Carlyn Flint