Alan E. Schwanke
SCENIC DESIGNER
Alan is a Professional Freelance Scenic Designer for Theater, Opera, Live Performance, and Entertainment Industries. He has also worked as a Set Designer and Concept Artist for Film, Television, Museum/Gallery Exhibition, and Theme Parks.
Currently he is the Assistant Professor of Scenic Design in The Department of Theatre at The University of Alabama Birmingham.
He joined the Faculty in the Fall of 2022 where he teaches Scenic Design, Introduction to Theatrical Design, and Drafting for Theatrical Design, and Collaboration.
Upcoming Projects Include:
Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812 - UAB Department of Theatre (Birmingham, AL)
Sunday In the Park With George - Terrific New Theatre (Birmingham, AL)
Freaky Friday - a collaborative production for the UAB Department of Theatre and Red Mountain Theater
Some of Alan’s favorite recent collaborations of note include Dreamgirls (Red Mountain Theatre) directed by Vasthy Mompoint, The Play That Goes Wrong (Oregon Cabaret Theatre) directed Valerie Rachelle, the World Premiere of Something In the Game (American Music Theatre Project - Northwestern University) directed by David H. Bell, The Little Foxes (Asolo Repertory Theatre - Sarasota, FL) directed by Frank Galati and Hair (Northwestern University - Evanston, IL) directed by Matt Hawkins.
Alan is also partnered with Tony & Olivier Award Winning Designer Todd Rosenthal as his Scenic Design Associate. Recently they designed Downstate for Playwrights Horizons (Off-Broadway) directed by Pam McKinnon and King James for The Manhattan Theatre Club (Off-Broadway) directed by Kenny Leon. Other Associate Design Credits include 2nd Stage Theater on Broadway, The Royal National Theater of Great Britain internationally, The Goodman , The Alliance, Arena Stage, The Guthrie, and the Mark Taper Forum.
Other favorite collaborations include Charm (Northlight Theatre & Steppenwolf Theatre - Chicago, IL) directed by BJ Jones, The Road to Mecca and Buried Child (Profile Theatre – Portland, OR) directed by Artistic Director Adriana Baer, The Conference of the Birds (Willamette University – Salem, OR) directed by Shana Cooper, the world premiere of Shakespeare’s Amazing Cymbeline (Portland Center Stage – Portland, OR) directed by Artistic Director Chris Coleman, the world premiere of Knute Rockne: All American (Theatre at the Center – Munster, IN) directed by David H. Bell, Willy Wonka The Musical (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre – Chicago, IL) directed by Joe Leonardo, and Pippin (Northwestern University Theatre) directed by Dominic Missimi.
Additional Theatre Companies with which Alan has collaborated include Artists Laboratory Theatre (Fayetteville, AR), Artists Repertory Theatre (Portland, OR), Bag&Baggage Productions (Hillsboro, OR), Broadway Rose Theatre (Tigard, OR), Chicago Fringe Opera (Chicago, IL), CoHo Theatre (Portland, OR), Lakewood Theatre Company (Lake Oswego, OR), Marriot Theatre (Lincolnshire, IL), Milwaukee Repertory Theatre (Milwaukee, WI), Oregon Cabaret (Ashland, OR), Poor Theater (Chicago, IL), Portland Playhouse (Portland, OR), Salem Repertory Theater (Salem, OR), Spokane Opera (Spokane, WA), TheatreSquared (Fayetteville, AR), Third Rail Repertory Theatre (Portland, OR), and Western Oregon University (Monmouth, OR).
Alan earned his MFA in Scenic Design at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and in 2008 was a participant in both the USITT Young Designer’s Forum as well as Ming Cho Lee’s Clambake Portfolio Review in New York City.
For a complete list of theaters and directors with which Alan has collaborated, please visit the "Resume" portion of this website.
To contact Alan regarding his design work, please visit the "Contact" portion of this website and send him a message.