Page 23 - Lifestyles in Palm Beach Gardens- November '23

Lifestyles in Palm Beach Gardens, Page 23
Palm Beach Dramaworks

Names Anne Mundell Resident Scenic Designer

Pa l m Be a c h “We’re thrilled that Anne accepted our invitation,” amazing community of people with incredible ideas,” she
Dramaworks (PBD) is said PBD Producing Artistic Director William Hayes. said. “That’s one of the reasons I was thrilled when Bill
delighted to announce that “She is a pleasure to work with, and has a wealth of asked me about this job. I’m looking forward to working
Anne Mundell, an award- experience and a rich imagination. She’s also very with another brilliant artistic community.”
winning scenic designer forward-thinking and has an invigorating approach to Palm Beach Dramaworks is a professional, nonprofit
and distinguished professor scenic design. She simply has so much to offer PBD.” theatre company founded in 2000 and located in the
emeritus, has been named Mundell, who grew up in and around Washington, heart of downtown West Palm Beach. Each season, the
the company’s new resident D.C., did her undergraduate work at Kenyon College in award-winning company produces five mainstage shows
scenic designer, effective Ohio, and received a master of fine arts in scenic design and offers a wide variety of programs for students at
immediately. from Brandeis University. She went to Pittsburgh to work the theatre and in schools. Committed to fostering the
Mundell made her PBD debut in 2017 with Tom at Pittsburgh Public Theater just after grad school; her future of theatre, PBD has become a hub for playwrights
Stoppard’s Arcadia, and subsequently designed the plan was to remain there for two years and then head to in Florida and around the country to nurture their work
sets for Peter Shaffer’s Equus in 2018, and Tennessee New York. “That didn’t work out, because I kept finding through initiatives including The Dramaworkshop and
Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire in 2019. This season, interesting things to do in Pittsburgh,” she said. the Perlberg Festival of New Plays. PBD is a member of
she is designing the world premieres of Jenny Connell One day, a theatre colleague who also taught at Theatre Communications Group, Florida Professional
Davis’ The Messenger and Christopher Demos-Brown’s Carnegie Mellon University asked Mundell to substitute Theatres Association, the Cultural Council of Palm Beach
The Cancellation of Lauren Fein, as well as Arthur for him in a class. She had no desire to teach, but she County, and NNPN. www.palmbeachdramaworks.org.
Miller’s seminal Death of a Salesman. She is scheduled agreed to do it. “I was terrible,” she said. “I told the
to do at least two shows a year at PBD. students everything I knew about a particular topic, and
“I’m very excited to have this opportunity,” said I was exhausted. I thought, ‘Oh, it’s the end of the class,
Mundell. “Everybody made me feel so welcome from the I wonder if there’s time for questions.’ Then I looked at
first time I worked here, and I love the family atmosphere. the clock and only 10 minutes had passed. But they kept
I just retired from my professor job at Carnegie Mellon, asking me back.” She served briefly as the interim head
where I’ve been for 30-plus years, and it’s nice to have of the School of Drama, spent a decade as coordinator
another artistic home. And Dramaworks is such a good fit. of design, and was associate professor of scene design
I really enjoy what the company does – you know, ‘theatre from 1988 until her retirement. Throughout her career in
to think about.’ That’s the kind of work I love to do. I feel education, Mundell continued her design work in theatres
like we’re at a point in history where artists have to bear around Pittsburgh and various parts of the country,
witness and tell stories that matter in ways that matter. including Pittsburgh Public Theater, Maltz Jupiter
That’s something that Dramaworks does. And everyone Theatre, Pittsburgh City Theatre, Utah Musical Theatre,
here is willing to take risks with ideas, which is always Carnegie Museum of Art, Quantum Theatre, Hangar
fun for me. I come from a poetic, gestural tradition and Theatre, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, St. Michael’s
like to explore the world of the play in a way that isn’t Playhouse, Tennessee Repertory Theatre, Black Hills
necessarily reproducing the actual physical space that the Playhouse, and Players Theatre Columbus.
story takes place, like a living room, for instance. I’m “Teaching and design became a feedback loop,” she
also very interested in what theatre is going to be as we said. “I would hear myself say something and think,
move into a new generation of artists who think and tell ‘I better go practice what I preach.’ And students are
stories in an aggregate way instead of a linear way, which phenomenal teachers.”
is very different from how I grew up. I’m fascinated to Mundell took early retirement in order to seek out
see what’s next.” new challenges. “When I was teaching, I was part of an

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