How to Get Started in Scenic Design
Make it Sparkle Video with Rachel Hauck
Set Designer
4:57 (runtime)
Director’s Notes
Rachel Hauck advises aspiring set designers to immerse themselves in theater and to identify what aspects of it excite them the most. It's not about perfectly copying another designer's work, but figuring out your own approach.
She highlights that there's no one set path to becoming a successful set designer. It's a process of exploration, trial, and error, which involves a shift from thinking and talking about designs to actually creating them.
Rachel emphasizes the challenges of beginning a design, where the limitless possibilities can be daunting. Yet, this uncertainty also offers a unique opportunity for creativity and imaginative expression in theater.
The choice of props and how they're used on stage is a crucial aspect of scenic design. The power of suggestion is a key tool, allowing simple objects to transform based on how they're utilized in the performance.
Rachel encourages beginning designers not to be discouraged by initial failures or challenges, especially in the technical aspects like model making. She asserts the importance of communicating one's ideas, which can be done through various methods such as drawings, renderings, or even using pictures to represent ideas.
About Rachel Hauck
Rachel Hauck is a set designer based in New York. She designs new plays and musicals on Broadway, Off Broadway and for regional theater, frequently working on world premiere productions.
Rachel recently designed the Broadway production of Latin History for Morons written by and staring John Leguizamo, Hadestown for the National Theater in London, and Othello and Twelfth Night for the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park. She also regularly designs for such Off Broadway theaters as the Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Playwrights Horizons and the Signature Theatre as well as for ground breaking downtown companies such as Ars Nova and Soho Rep. Ms Hauck has also designed extensively for regional theater including an extended relationship with the Oregon Shakespeare festival and the Mark Taper Forum, and work at the Guthrie Theater, Arena Stage and the McCarter Theater among many, many others.
Rachel was the Resident Set Designer at the O’Neill Playwrights Conference for ten years. As such, she worked with more than 70 playwrights, focusing on their work dramaturgically from a design perspective. For many years, she was also a regular designer at the Mark Taper Forum’s New Work Festival in Los Angeles. She has taught at Brown University, Vassar College, NYU, Cal Arts and currently teaches at Princeton University. She remains dedicated new play development and the education of young artists, and continues to work with students at the National Theater Institute at the O’Neill whenever possible.