2023

Theatre Professor Is a Model for Aspiring Designers

Since joining Muhlenberg in 2021, Assistant Professor of Scenic Design You-Shin Chen has continued her award-winning off-Broadway freelance work while heavily involving students in her work on campus productions.

By: Meghan Kita  Thursday, November 9, 2023 10:42 AM

Assistant Professor of Scenic Design You-Shin Chen. Photos by Marco Calderon

This story originally appeared in the Fall 2023 issue of Muhlenberg Magazine. See the complete digital edition here.

In recent months, Assistant Professor of Scenic Design You-Shin Chen has been juggling two major projects. She designed the sets for ...And Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi, a story that takes place during the Civil War, in Trexler Pavilion’s Studio Theatre and for Mary Gets Hers, a new play that premiered in September at The Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space in New York City. She’s often balancing projects on campus and in the city, and to bridge the 100-mile gap, she relies on assistants — professionals in New York and students at Muhlenberg. She had her student assistant for ...And Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi doing things like researching props and lighting solutions to help convey the mid-1800s setting.

“I want my design students to be able to be hands-on,” says Chen, who started teaching at Muhlenberg in 2021. “Observing is nothing, if that’s all they do. They really need to get their hands dirty.”

Prior to joining the theatre faculty at Muhlenberg, Chen spent seven years as a freelance scenic designer in New York City. She had moved to the city from Taiwan to earn an MFA in design for stage and film from the New York University Tisch School of the Arts. After graduation, she began assisting more senior designers, the majority of whom were women and nonbinary.

“I was trying to figure out how they navigate this predominantly male world,” she says. “When you do a design, there is a scene shop that builds your sets, and in those shops, the majority are male. How do you negotiate that? How do you make them understand your intentions, so they [build a set] the way you want it to get done?”

“I want my design students to be able to be hands-on. Observing is nothing, if that’s all they do. They really need to get their hands dirty.”

As Chen gained experience, she began working as the main designer on various projects, most of them off-Broadway productions. Budgets tended to be low — “the pay is always really sad,” she says — so she frequently juggled multiple projects to pay the bills. Some of the projects that came her way through her network involved working with college students, and she found she enjoyed teaching.

It wasn’t until the pandemic hit and theaters shut down, though, that she found the time to compile the materials required to apply for teaching jobs. The break also gave her the opportunity to consider whether she wanted to continue the rat race of being a full-time freelancer.

“The reflection during that time got me thinking that maybe I can have more presence and take more space as an immigrant [by teaching],” she says. “Maybe I will inspire some people who would join me in this theatre journey as a female-identifying artist and also as an immigrant and as an Asian.”

Chen’s work at Muhlenberg has included scenic designs for The Threepenny Opera, Local Girls, Miss You Like Hell and the world premiere of Call Me by Any Other Name … Just as Sweet, all of which have provided experiential learning opportunities for her student assistants. In the classroom, she routinely teaches Scenic Design I, Exercises in Visual Experience (a course in which students analyze the design choices of taped productions) and Creativity & Collaboration (C&C). The idea of that course is to bring together students interested in all kinds of design (set, costume, lighting, etc.) as well as actors, directors, choreographers and others to teach them how to work together to make design choices.

She’s found success as she’s continued her freelancing: She earned the 2023 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Scenic Design for her work on Wolf Play. Given annually, the prestigious Lucille Lortel Awards recognize outstanding achievements in off-Broadway theatre. She previously earned a Lucille Lortel Award in 2020 for her work on Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie.

“I always feel a mix of feelings when receiving this kind of award,” she says. “Part of the C&C class I try to emphasize is that you all have a team together, that you feed ideas to each other … Being recognized for [Wolf Play] is really the recognition for all departments, even though it’s under scenic. If I could change it, I would rather have the award for the design team as a whole.”

“Maybe I can have more presence and take more space as an immigrant [by teaching]. Maybe I will inspire some people who would join me in this theatre journey as a female-identifying artist and also as an immigrant and as an Asian.”

Though balancing her freelance work and her work at Muhlenberg can be a challenge, Chen feels it’s important. Her students can learn from the experiences she’s having in New York as she’s having them, and she can ensure they’re aware of the similarities and differences between designing for campus productions and designing for off-Broadway ones.

“As someone constantly talking and teaching about design, it is important to demonstrate the ‘doing’ part,” Chen says. “I feel privileged to share my design process and design philosophy with students who are earlier in their theatre journey.”