Todd Rosenthal is a Chicago based set designer and educator. Broadway credits include: August Osage: County (Tony Award), The Motherfucker with the Hat (Outer Critic’s Circle Award nomination and Tony Award nomination), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Tony Award for Best Revival), Of Mice and Men (filmed by National Theatre Live), This is Our Youth, Fish in the Dark, Straight White Men and Linda Vista. Select Off-Broadway: Red Light Winter (Barrow Street), Domesticated (Lincoln Center) Close Up Space (Manhattan Theatre Club), The Qualms and Downstate (Playwrights Horizons). Todd was the set designer for The Big Apple Circus for six years. International credits: August: Osage County (National Theatre of Great Britain, London and Sydney Theatre Company, Australia), The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Waterford, Ireland), Madama Butterfly (Irish National Opera, Dublin/Cork), Nice Fish (London’s West End), and Downstate (National Theatre of Great Britain, London). Regional work includes Steppenwolf Theatre Company (Over 30 productions), Goodman Theatre (Artistic Partner), Guthrie Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, American Repertory Theatre, Arena Stage, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Alliance Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theater, La Jolla Playhouse and many others.
Todd started the exhibition design firm XL Scenic with designer Kevin Depinet. Museum exhibitions include Mythbusters: The Explosive Exhibition, The International Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes, Victoria the T-Rex, Crayola Ideaworks: The Creativity Exhibition, and The Magical History Tour: A Beatles Memorabilia Exhibition. He has received many other accolades including the Laurence Olivier Award (first American set designer), the Helen Hayes Award, the LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award, the Backstage Garland Award, Suzi Bass Award, the Joseph Jefferson Award, the Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Award, the 2019 USITT Distinguished Achievement Award and the Michael Merritt Award for Excellence in Design and Collaboration. He has been nominated for 4 American Theater Wing Henry Hewes Design Awards for best set design. He exhibited at the Prague Quadrennial in 2007 and 2019. Todd is a Full Professor at Northwestern University and a graduate of the Yale Drama School.
Personal Website: toddrosenthalstudio.com.
Education
- MFA, Set/Lighting Design, Yale University
- BA, English/ Theater, Colgate University
Recent Awards and Honors
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2019 DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARD (United States Institute for Theatre Technology USITT)
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2018 JOSEPH JEFFERSON AWARD FOR BEST SET DESIGN
- 2009 LAWRENCE OLIVIER AWARD FOR BEST SET DESIGN for August Osage County, London, 3/2009. First American to win this award.
- 2008 ANTOINETTE PERRY AWARD (TONY AWARD) FOR BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A PLAY for August: Osage County, 6/2008.
- 2008 AMERICAN THEATRE WING HENRY HEWES DESIGN AWARD NOMINATION for< August Osage County, New York City, 2008.
- BEST SCENIC DESIGN NOMINATION (SUZI BASS AWARD) for Doubt, The Alliance Theatre, Atlanta, 3/08.
BEST SCENIC DESIGN AWARD for August: Osage County by the Joseph Jefferson Award Committee, Chicago, IL, 2007. - 2006 AMERICAN THEATRE WING HENRY HEWES DESIGN AWARD NOMINATION for Red Light Winter, New York City, 2006.
- AFTER DARK AWARD (BEST SET DESIGN) for The Clean House, Chicago, IL, 2006.
- BEST SCENIC DESIGN NOMINATION for The Clean House by the Joseph Jefferson Committee, Chicago, IL, 2006.
- BEST SCENIC DESIGN NOMINATION for Take Me Out by The Barrymore Awards Committee, Philadelphia, PA, 2005.
- AFTER DARK AWARD (BEST PRODUCTION) for A Skull in Connemara, 2002.
- BEST SCENIC DESIGN NOMINATION for The Weir by The Joseph Jefferson Award Committee, 2001.
- BEST SCENIC DESIGN NOMINATION for Experiment with an Airpump by The Joseph Jefferson Award Committee, 2001.
- AFTER DARK AWARD (BEST SET DESIGN) for An Experiment with an Airpump, Chicago, IL, 2001.
- NEW CITY "SET DESIGN OF THE YEAR" for Schoolgirl Figure, Chicago, IL, 2000.
- BEST SCENIC DESIGN NOMINATION for The Barber of Seville by The Joseph Jefferson Award Committee, 1997.
- AFTER DARK AWARD (BEST SET DESIGN) for The Barber of Seville, Chicago, IL, 1997.
Courses
- 240-2: Stagecraft: Scenery
- 241-1: Design Process: Scene design
- 343-0: Scene Design II
- 356-1,2,3: Graphic Arts for the Stage Designer
- 442-0: Studies in Theatre Practice: Research for Designers
- 463-1,2,3: Advanced Studies in Scenic Design