LEX MARCOS
About
MARCOS, LEX (Felixberto Dulay Marcos) Seattle-based practicing scenic designer/visual storyteller born and raised in Manila, Philippines. He enrolled in the Certificate in Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines Diliman with a major in painting completing it in 2004, then pursued a Bachelors Degree in Art History. While in school he joined the UP Artist’s Circle. He also auditioned and got accepted to the UP Concert Chorus performing with the group on national tours and to the Aberdeen, Scotland Festival and the Millennium Tour of the US, Europe and Scandinavia.
He has participated in group exhibits including the Visual Arts Exhibition of the ASEAN-JAPAN Youth Camp at the National Museum, Vientianne, Lao People’s Democratic Republic in 2004. In 2010 he had an exhibition of his paintings at Gallery Anna entitled EL ECO: Solo Exhibit I: A tribute to Miguel Hernandez with the cooperation and support of the Instituto Cervantes de Manila.
His introduction to theatre was as an actor. The visual artist in him got him to set his eyes into the area of designing sets for theater productions. Upon the encouragement of Jose Estrella he enrolled in the theatre design class of Amiel Leonardia at the Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts of UP. This led to his first set design assignment: Ang Birheng Matimtiman (2006), a Filipino translation of Nicolo Machiavelli’s Mandragola, directed by Amiel Leonardia at the Teatro Hermogenes Ylagan.
As a newly fledged practicing designer, he worked with a Japanese lighting designer, Naomi "Shoko" Matsumoto, who invited him to join her lighting workshop, Awareness of Light. Matsumoto mentored him in creating sets which focussed specifically on lighting as a primary element of set design. Lex then went on to collaborate with Matsumoto in a Broadway premiere of Next to Normal in Manila. He designed sets in Manila for eight years, working with acclaimed Filipino directors, designers, visual artists, and playwrights. A turning point came when Lex assisted David Gallo who visited Manila to design the Manila premiere of Nine the Musical. Gallo, together with University of Washington School of Drama Professor Tom Lynch and NYU Tisch School of the Arts Design Chair Susan Hilferty, all made it possible for Lex to journey to the United States to join the MFA Program at the University of Washington, School of Drama. He finished his MFA in Scenic Design March 2017 and assisted his mentor Skip Mercier for several shows. He started designing productions in town and other parts of Washington. For Intiman Theatre, ArtsWest, Sound Theatre Company, Seattle Public Theatre, Theatre Battery, ACT, Tacoma Arts Live, Portland Center Stage, Oregon Children’s Theatre, Portland Opera to Go, Washington Ensemble Theatre, The 5th Avenue Theatre among others.
His works Ang Post Office ng Hari and Umaaraw Umuulan KInakasal Ang Tikbalang have been selected for Philippines exhibit in the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space in 2011 and 2015. Lex was recently inaugurated by Village Theatre as one of the invited residents of the new BIPOC Northwest creator residency program.
