Performance is a process of creation whether it’s theater or cinema or television frame images and other media; what ultimately brings life to performance is creating a world that takes shape for the audience. If we consider writers as designers of this world on paper and directors and actors as visual narrators of this world, then without doubt stage designers are creators of location and geography in this world of display. No visual narrative has the possibility to occur in a vacuum—every story needs a place to come alive—and stage designers are both designers and creators of this space. Stage designers are poets who connect location with narrative; they are writers who instead use tools, elements, and images; they are directors who build image by image, brick by brick; they are performers presenting location against viewership through their portrayal. Stage designers create locations for theatre, cinema, and visual narratives—a place that although always present because we’re used to its existence often goes unnoticed but without which no story would take shape.

Skill Area

A bachelor’s degree in stage design as part of performing arts education introduces students not only to theatre, directing, acting, playwriting, theory, history, literature, and criticism but also how to design space in an architectural sense, construction, how to use scenic tools, as well as costume sewing and application.

Career Field

Stage design is one field within today’s economy for performing and visual arts that plays an essential role. Graduates, especially those proficient in design and modern software, will have opportunities in various branches from stage design for theater, cinema, and other media to interior design and decoration.