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

Supporters & Partners