Rachel Robinson

About Me

Rachel Robinson is a stage designer, artist, technician, production manager, and educator from Dayton, Ohio. Her theatrical design career started at the first Technical Theatre CTE program in Ohio at Centerville High School, where she was the first student to graduate from the program, and won the 2009 Critic’s Choice Award at the International Thespian Festival for her design of A Doll’s House. She went on to earn her B.F.A, with a concentration in scenic design, at Carnegie Mellon University.

During her career in Dayton, she has worked with several local companies, including the Human Race Theatre Company, Dayton Live Creative Academy, University of Dayton, TheatreLab Dayton, Magnolia Theatre Company, Town Hall Theatre and Heidelberg University, filling a variety of roles including scenic designer, scenic artist, lighting designer, props/puppet designer, stage manager and technical director. During this time, she also worked with students at local schools, including Chaminade-Julienne High School, Centerville High School and Alter High School to teach stagecraft skills and create scenery for their productions. She spent five years at Stivers School for the Arts, as the Career Tech Education teacher for the Theatrical Design and Production program, during which time she also earned her M.A. in Workforce Development Education at the Ohio State University. She most recently was the Faculty of Practice in Theatrical Design at the University of Dayton’s Theatre, Dance, and Performance Technology Program. She is a Board Member and Treasurer for Magnolia Theatre Company in Dayton.

Scholarly Interest

My areas of interest in theatre development and practice are focused on designing for performance in non-traditional spaces, as well as using flexible spaces in non-traditional ways, growing stronger youth theatre experiences, and exploring ways of adapting theatrical practices and performance styles to suit neurodiverse workers in this industry, as well as audiences’ sensory experiences.

Education

• M.A. in Workforce Development Education, the Ohio State University
• B.F.A in Theatrical Design and Production-Scenic Design, Carnegie Mellon University