Using a variety of materials and methods to create bold and distinctive visuals, Lena collaborates with ensembles and communities to investigate bodies, histories, and the divine. Her most recent projects include Four Larks’ Hymns, a visual album of contemporary telling’s of Homer’s hymns, SITI Company’s Bacchae, which portrayed androgynous anarchy in battle with male hierarchy, and the world premiere of The Fig and the Wasp, a meditation on loneliness and motherhood in a world of conflict. She also designed the Ovation-winning costumes for Four Larks’ Frankenstein, which premiered at The Wallis in Beverly Hills and the Ovation-nominated costumes for Critical Mass Performance Group’s AMERYKA. In 2021, Lena was a CTG Sherwood Award Finalist. Her work on violin virtuoso, Jennifer Koh’s Everything Rises will show at The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in Fall 2022.
Lena has designed for companies including SITI Company, Deaf West Theatre, Critical Mass Performance Group, Naked Empire Bouffon Company, East West Players, Cornerstone Theatre Company, The Equus Projects, and Watts Village Theatre Company, and her work has been seen at venues including The Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Guthrie Theater, The Wallis, The Kirk Douglas Theater, The Getty Villa, The Skirball Cultural Center, and REDCAT.
Her designs for Venus by Suzan-Lori Parks were displayed at the State Historical Museum in Moscow as part of the exhibition “Innovative Costume of the 21st Century: the next generation.”
Lena’s work in film and television has been seen on Amazon Prime, Refinery 29, Shatterbox, Level Forward, the HOOKED app, LMVH’s online magazine nowness.com, the Lifetime Chanel, LIVE with Regis and Kelly and at REDCAT, The Nantucket Film Festival, Bentonville Film Festival, Maryland Film Festival, Holly Shorts and the LA Women’s International Film Festival.
Lena has worked with and learned from diverse artists including Anne Bogart, David Zinn, Christopher Barreca, Janie Geiser, Ellen McCartney, Nancy Keystone, Mat Sweeney, Alexander Gedeon, Rachel Kauder-Nalebuff, Deena Selenow, Shannon Scrofano, Stephanie Havey, Elizabeth Hope Clancy, Rachel Schragis, Claudio Valdéz Kuri, Brooke O'Harra, Kay Maschullat and Guillermo Gomez- Peña. She also studied Narrative and Immersive Environments with Joe Rohde, the creator of Animal Kingdom, as part of her explorations on activating publics in performative contexts.
Lena holds her MFA in Design for Performance from California Institute of the Arts.