Scenic Design

Portfolio archive: 2011 - 2017

Tell Me What You Remember

adapted by Gedalya Chinn, Nikki Zaleski, & Brighid O'Shaughnessy
Erasing the Distance at Filament Theatre
November 2015

Tell Me What You Remember is a world premiere production that tells the true story of one family’s life-altering battle with depression, using their distinct journey to illustrate the universal truth of how deeply depression can impact both those who suffer, and those who love them.

Directed by Nikki Zaleski
Scenic design by Jacob Watson
Lighting design by Diane Fairchild
Costume design by Liviu Pasare

Photos: Gretchen Kelley

"Finely acted and evocatively staged by Erasing the Distance, this one-hour play asks some of the hard questions we encounter in the course of growing up and growing old." - Chicago Reader

Melancholy Play: a chamber musical

by Sarah Ruhl
Piven Theatre Workshop
May 2015

Directed by Polly Noonan
Scenic design by Jacob Watson
Lighting design by Rachel Levy
Costume design by Stephanie Cluggish

Photos: Chris Zoubris

"Jacob Watson’s scenic design emphasizes otherworldly beauty: the portal behind the onstage musicians is covered in white curtains, and dim chandeliers dangle over the actors. This is consistent with Ruhl’s original stage directions, which avoid realism, making the space the interior of someone’s mind and a manifestation of Tilly’s liking for simplicity." - Chicago Critic

THE LANGUAGE ARCHIVE

by Julia Cho
Piven Theatre Workshop
February 2014

Directed by Polly Noonan
Scenic design by Jacob Watson
Lighting design by Rachel Levy
Costume design by Skye Geerts

Photos: Chris Zoubris, Jacob Watson

"[The characters] stay in a consistent world under Noonan's direction, which takes place on a simple but very effecive setting from young designer Jacob Watson..."
- Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune

IVANOV

by Anton Chekhov

Translated by Sheldon Patinkin
Piven Theatre Workshop
May 2014

Directed by Joyce Piven
Scenic design by Jacob Watson
Lighting design by Rachel Levy
Costume design by EL Hohn & Hannah Wisner

Photos: Chris Zoubris, Jacob Watson

“The small Piven space has been given a reverse makeover by scenic designer Jacob Watson, with the rear windows stripped of blackout curtains to allow in light, and odds and ends of furniture, packing crates and bare-bulb lamps used as set pieces. […] Though Ivanov describes his own story as ‘good material for a farce but nothing else,’ Patinkin's carefully contemporized adaptation and Piven's loving attention to telling details breathe some lovely life into this challenging piece.”
- Kerry Reid, Chicago Tribune