Amith Chandrashaker and Jared Mezzocchi Nominated for Lucille Lortel Awards

The prestigious awards recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway theater.

By ARHU Staff 

Assistant Professor Amith Chandrashaker and Associate Professor Jared Mezzocchi have been nominated for the prestigious Lucille Lortel Awards, which recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway theater. 

Chandrashaker, a lighting designer for theater, dance, opera, television, concerts and events, received a nomination for Outstanding Lighting Design for  “The Comeuppance,” which is set on a suburban porch cloaked in twilight and shadows. Directed by two-time Pulitzer prize finalist and MacArthur “genius” fellow Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, “The Comeuppance” was also nominated for the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play. 

Mezzocchi, a two-time OBIE Award-winner who works as a director, multimedia designer, playwright, and actor, previously received the Lucille Lortel and Henry Hewes Award in 2016 for his work in Qui Nguyen’s “Vietgone” at the Manhattan Theatre Club. This year, he was nominated for Outstanding Projection Design for “Poor Yella Rednecks” and “Russian Troll Farm.” 

In 2020, his work on Sarah Gancher’s online “Russian Troll Farm” was praised for being one of the first digitally native successes for virtual theater. In 2023, that production of “Russian Troll Farm” won Mezzocchi his second OBIE as director and multimedia designer. (It was the first OBIE ceremony after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic.) 

Several UMD alumni collaborated with Mezzocchi on the nominated productions, including Paul Deziel M.F.A. ’19, Andrés Poch M.F.A. ’22 and Taylor Verrett M.F.A. ’22. 

The Lucille Lortel Award celebration will take place May 5, 2024, at 7 p.m. at NYU Skirball in New York City. Learn more here.