Palm Beach Dramaworks Names Anne Mundell Resident Scenic Designer

Palm Beach Dramaworks has announced that Anne Mundell, an award-winning scenic designer and distinguished professor emeritus, has been named the company's new resident scenic designer, effective immediately. 

Mundell made her PBD debut in 2017 with Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, and subsequently designed the sets for Peter Shaffer's Equus in 2018, and Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire in 2019. This season, she is designing the world premieres of Jenny Connell Davis' The Messenger and Christopher Demos-Brown's The Cancellation of Lauren Fein, as well as Arthur Miller's seminal Death of a Salesman. She is scheduled to do at least two shows a year at PBD.

“I'm very excited to have this opportunity,” said Mundell. “Everybody made me feel so welcome from the first time I worked here, and I love the family atmosphere. I just retired from my professor job at Carnegie Mellon, where I've been for 30-plus years, and it's nice to have another artistic home. And Dramaworks is such a good fit. I really enjoy what the company does – you know, ‘Theatre to think about.' That's the kind of work I love to do. I feel like we're at a point in history where artists have to bear witness and tell stories that matter in ways that matter. That's something that Dramaworks does. And everyone here is willing to take risks with ideas, which is always fun for me. I come from a poetic, gestural tradition and like to explore the world of the play in a way that isn't necessarily reproducing the actual physical space that the story takes place, like a living room, for instance. I'm also very interested in what theatre is going to be as we move into a new generation of artists who think and tell stories in an aggregate way instead of a linear way, which is very different from how I grew up. I'm fascinated to see what's next.”

“We're thrilled that Anne accepted our invitation,” said PBD Producing Artistic Director William Hayes. “She is a pleasure to work with, and has a wealth of experience and a rich imagination. She's also very forward-thinking and has an invigorating approach to scenic design. She simply has so much to offer PBD.”

Mundell, who grew up in and around Washington, DC, did her undergraduate work at Kenyon College in Ohio, and received an MFA in scenic design from Brandeis University. She went to Pittsburgh to work at Pittsburgh Public Theater just after grad school; her plan was to remain there for two years and then head to New York. “That didn't work out, because I kept finding interesting things to do in Pittsburgh,” she said. 

One day, a theatre colleague who also taught at Carnegie Mellon University asked Mundell to substitute for him in a class. She had no desire to teach, but she agreed to do it. “I was terrible,” she said. “I told the students everything I knew about a particular topic, and I was exhausted. I thought, ‘Oh, it's the end of the class, I wonder if there's time for questions.' Then I looked at the clock and only 10 minutes had passed. But they kept asking me back.” She served briefly as the interim head of the School of Drama, spent a decade as coordinator of design, and was associate professor of scene design from 1988 until her retirement. Throughout her career in education, Mundell continued her design work in theatres around Pittsburgh and various parts of the country, including Pittsburgh Public Theater, Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Pittsburgh City Theatre, Utah Musical Theatre, Carnegie Museum of Art, Quantum Theatre, Hangar Theatre, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, St. Michael's Playhouse, Tennessee Repertory Theatre, Black Hills Playhouse, and Players Theatre Columbus.  of Scene Design

“Teaching and design became a feedback loop,” she said. “I would hear myself say something and think, ‘I better go practice what I preach.' And students are phenomenal teachers.” 

Mundell took early retirement in order to seek out new challenges. “When I was teaching, I was part of an amazing community of people with incredible ideas,” she said. “That's one of the reasons I was thrilled when Bill asked me about this job. I'm looking forward to working with another brilliant artistic community.”

Palm Beach Dramaworks is a professional, nonprofit theatre company founded in 2000 and located in the heart of downtown West Palm Beach. Each season, the award-winning company produces five mainstage shows and offers a wide variety of programs for students at the theatre and in schools. Committed to fostering the future of theatre, PBD has become a hub for playwrights in Florida and around the country to nurture their work through initiatives including The Dramaworkshop and the Perlberg Festival of New Plays. PBD is a member of Theatre Communications Group, Florida Professional Theatres Association, the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, and NNPN.

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