Scenic Designer

Job Duties

The Set Designer, also known as Scenic Designer, works closely with the technical team to conceptualize and design the set and scenery for a given production. It is the job of the Scenic Designer to evaluate the written text and design the world of the play or musical within the confines of the stage. The art of scenic design is called scenography.

The Scenic Designer reports to the Director and works closely with the Technical Director. The Scenic Designer works with the other designers to create a cohesive visual world for the production. They work to guide the designs towards the overall artistic goals of the production.

Most of the work of the Scenic Designer is done in pre-production. The Designer reads the script, looking for details that the set and scenery must have, while using research, creativity, and skill to determine the needs and wants of the production. They will spend time talking to the Director to determine the director's concept. It is important that they take into account any physical limitations of the actual theatre where the show will be produced.

Scenic Designers take many paths to reach their final designs. Most start with drawings and sketches as they read and re-read the scripts. Sketches can be very basic or elaborate. Designers then take the sketches and turn them into color renderings and models of the design. As they create they have to take into account the space they are designing for. The size, shape, and color for each item is painstakingly analyzed to ensure the artistic goals are being met. Scenic Designers work in scale and create final drawings. Originally these were all done on paper, in fact, some designers still do hand-drawn designs. Today, most designers produce drawings in CAD (Computer Aided Design) software. There is really no need to know how to draw by hand any longer, but it helps.

Often the Scenic Designer will create scale (miniature) working models of a production. This is particularly important for shows that require elaborate scene changes. The models provide a visual of the final production. They ensure the designs will work in the theatrical space and that the moving parts will work together.

Through this process of design the Scenic Designer is focused on the goals of the production. They create a full set of design drawings for the production that includes:

• basic ground plan showing all stationary scenic elements;
• composite ground plan showing all moving scenic elements, indicating both their onstage and storage positions;
• section of the stage space incorporating all elements;
• front elevations of every scenic element, and additional elevations or sections of units as required.

It is important that the drawings are accurate and detailed as they are used by the scene shop to create the scenic elements in the drawings.

This process takes an immense amount of time and starts months or years before the production is scheduled to take place. Once rehearsal starts there may be edits and adjustments to the set design to fit an actor or scene change.