The Design Program

Theatrical designers use the magic of sound, lighting, costume, scenic and projection design to transport audiences into new worlds. From kitchen-sink interiors and starlit skylines to surreal dreamscapes and epic journeys through space and time, the theatrical designer builds a universe that becomes the world of the production.

Carnegie Mellon’s Design Program is conceived to produce the leaders and inventors of the future of live storytelling. Our program promotes the art of the innovative theatrical experience with unique curriculum in creative problem solving, boundary blurring collaboration, story-construction, skill building and well as a rigorous immersion in the literature, history and criticism of the theater. Students engage with a large array of collaborators, including cutting-edge international companies, installation artists, professional theaters, roboticists, architects and other celebrated professionals.

Undergraduate Design Program

The renowned Undergraduate Design Program at the CMU School of Drama fosters the evolution of the student’s creative pathways with a serious study of design elements and careful honing of creative design skills. Students actively apply their skills in classroom projects, workshops, unconventional collaborations and full productions. Undergraduates at the School of Drama will engage in projects from many genres from installation to extravagant musicals to devised work to television workshops to the development of new work.

Graduate Design Program

For the graduate student, CMU’s School of Drama offers practiced designers the opportunity to further their creative growth as artists in a fast-paced and stimulating environment. The graduate design program offers a highly focused curriculum that combines advanced, inventive design techniques with the opportunity to collaborate on multiple levels of production within the School’s three performance venues and beyond.

Faculty

20 working professional artists comprise our outstanding faculty and staff.

• 2 Lighting Design Faculty
• 1 Lighting Technologist
• 2 Costume Design Faculty
• 1 Costume Technology Faculty
• 3 Costume Technology Staff
• 1 Sound Design Faculty
• 4 Scenic Design Faculty
• 1 Scene Painting Instructor
• 1 Properties Master
• 2 Technical Direction Faculty
• 2 Scene Shop Supervisors

Careers

One-hundred percent of our graduating students find jobs in their field. Our alumni are leaders in the entertainment industry.

In the last three years, recent CMU design graduates have won earned positions in the following areas:

• Designing for experimental theaters in Chicago, San Francisco, New York, LA, Philadlephia, Minneapolis and Pittsburgh.
• Designing and assisting on Broadway
• Designing and assisting on regional productions
• Designing for commercial design firms, including architectural lighting companies and theatrical consultants
• Art department professionals for feature films sitcoms, network news and major awards shows
• Creative professionals for themed entertainment

Questions? Contact Coordinator of Design Program
Anne Mundell
412.268.7218
amundell@andrew.cmu.edu

Questions about the School of Drama's undergraduate program, or admissions?

Questions about the School of Drama's graduate program, or admissions?