Biography

Kendall Bas Sison is a multidisciplinary scenographer, set, and costume designer currently undertaking a postgraduate MFA in Scenography at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, London. Formerly based in Dubai, he served as Resident Designer at La Perle by Franco Dragone, where he led the artistic redesign of the production. He brings strong expertise in project management, theatrical discipline, and creative leadership, guiding complex creative teams through high-level, large-scale productions. Kendall is an International Associate of the Society of British Theatre Designers (SBTD) and a member of the International Organisation of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians (OISTAT).

He is a graduate of Production Design from the School of Design and Arts at De La Salle–College of Saint Benilde, where he developed a rigorous understanding of scenography across theatre, film, and live performance. His creative language is rooted in visual narrative, spatial discipline, and material precision—elevating each production through a deeply considered design process.

Kendall’s professional trajectory began with his appointment as Resident Head Scenographer for theatre productions under the Office of Culture and Arts (2014–2018). His practice soon expanded into film, where his scenographic work reflected both technical mastery and strong conceptual clarity.

His work has received international recognition. In 2019, he represented the Philippines at the World Costume Design Exhibition in Moscow, Russia.

Despite his early career stage, Kendall has trained and worked within leading institutions. He completed an apprenticeship at the Production Design Centre of the Philippines, and his work with Ballet Philippines during its 47th to 49th seasons further established his reputation as a disciplined and forward-thinking creative voice in contemporary scenography.

La Perle is Dubai’s first permanent, large-scale immersive live production, created and directed by Franco Dragone and staged in a purpose-built 1,300-seat circular theatre in Al Habtoor City. Designed to run hundreds of performances annually, the production functions as a long-term repertory work in which scenography, technical systems, and performance elements are subjected to constant use and extreme physical conditions.

As Resident Designer, Kendall Bas Sison was responsible for the artistic stewardship and redesign of the costume production. He safeguarded the original visual language while adapting design systems to meet the demands of continuous performance, aquatic staging, and evolving operational requirements. His role spanned cross-departmental coordination, design development, material and technical testing, long-term planning, and quality control across the show’s visual world. Working closely with creative, technical, and production teams, he ensured the production remained visually coherent, operationally sustainable, and artistically rigorous over multi-year repertory runs.

Luminescent Flight begins with an even pulse that repeats itself – sound, image and legend share one beat. The layered rhythm of the Singkil passes through the fire of Stravinsky, not to flee but to come back – it lifts, it falls, it lifts once more.

Branches reach out like copies of that beat – they are wild, unknown lines that break, form patterns and recall. Their motion takes shape in the Okir carvings of the Torogan – those are not ornament, they are memory cut into wood, lineage kept in movement.

Because those rhythms meet, Luminescent Flight turns into a calm reflection on starting again. Repetition turns into new birth – sound turns into holy space – legend rises through light, through nature plus through the ancestral pulse that never stops.