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Daniel Conway

Daniel Conway Profile Photo

Professor Emeritus, Dance/Theatre Design and Production
School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies

(301) 405-6680

2747 The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center
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Research Expertise

Scenic Design

Recent projects include: Penn and Teller on Broadway, directed by John Rando;  The Tempest for American Repertory Theatre, South Coast Repertory and The Chicago Shakespeare Theatre; the premiere of No Sisters by Aaron Posner and  Chekhov’s Three Sisters directed by Jackson Gay presented as companion productions  for The Studio Theatre; the premieres of  Queens for a Year for Hartford Stage and Love in Afghanistan, directed by Lucie Tiberghien for Arena Stage; The Diary of Anne Frank for Milwaukee Rep, directed by KJ Sanchez; End of The Rainbow, directed by Mark Clements for Milwaukee Rep; the premiere of Ken Ludwig’s new play, The Games Afoot for the Cleveland Playhouse, directed by Aaron Posner; the American premiere of Sucker Punch, directed by Leah C. Gardiner and The Secret of Sweet for Studio Theatre, directed by Timothy Douglas; Company, Hairspray, Chess, and Sunset Boulevard for The Signature Theatre directed by Eric Schaeffer; Sabrina Fair for The Ford’s Theatre directed by Stephen Rayne; The Merry Wives of Windsor for The Shakespeare Theater, directed by Stephen Rayne; The Adventures of Homer P. Figg for The Kennedy Center Family Theatre, directed by Gregg Henry; The Aliens directed by Lila Neugebauer for The Studio Theatre and August Osage County for The Arden Theatre Company directed by Terry Nolen. Current and upcoming productions include: By The Way Meet Vera Stark for The Juilliard School at Lincoln Center directed by Lucie Tiberghien; Vanya, Sonya, Masha and Spike for Arena Stage;  Sunday in the Park with George directed by Matt Gardiner for Signature Theatre; the premier of I and You for GEVA theatre, directed by Eleanor Holdridge; Water by the Spoonful, directed by KJ Sanchez for The Studio Theatre and a new production of A Christmas Carol, written and directed by Aaron Posner.

Nominated for Washington, D.C’s Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Set Design fourteen times, he received the award in 2000 , 2009, 2014, and 2017 for Stunning, for Woolly Mammoth Theatre, directed by Anne Kaufmann. Professor Conway was the Head of Design and Production from 1994-2014.

In 2017, Professor Conway became the first designer to receive The Anderson-Hopkins Award for Outstanding Contribution to Washington, D.C. Theatre.


Professor Conway’s work on the Chicago Shakespeare Festival’s production of The Tempest  among others, led to his selection as a featured designer by The United States Institute for Theatre Design and Technology to represent the United States at The 2019 Prague Quadrennial. 

Education/Training:

M.F.A. Design, The George Washington University, 1982; B.S., Theatre, The State University of New York, Brockport, 1978.

Areas of Specialization/Interest:

Scenic Design, Lighting Design, Computer Assisted Design.

Professional Affiliations:

United Scenic Artists; Art Director /consultant to Hillman and Carr, Washington D.C. for permanent collection films for The Smithsonian Institution, The Cleveland Science Museum, The Carnegie Science Center, and The National Civil War Museum.

Representative Productions:

Scenery and lighting design for more than 250 productions Off- Broadway and at regional theatres, including: Berkshire Theatre Festival, Cleveland Playhouse, (premiere: Reynolds Price’s New Music), New Theatre of Brooklyn (premiere: Brecht’s Conversations in Exile), Manhattan Class Company, Harold Clurman Theatre, Samuel Beckett Theatre; (premiere: Horton Foote’s Lily Dale), Home for Contemporary Theatre, Soho Rep, Chelsea Theatre, Circle Repertory Lab, Syracuse Stage, Wilma Theatre, Arden Theatre Company, Boston Lyric Opera, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, The Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, The Shakespeare Theatre,The Studio Theatre, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre. Designer of Industrial shows for Icon Communications 1985-89, NYC. Assistant designer at Caribiner, NYC, for State Farm, IBM, and McDonald’s. Assistant to Circle Repertory designers John Lee Beatty, David Potts and Hariton/Baral on a dozen Broadway and Off-Broadway productions.

Honors and Awards:

Tweleve-time nominee of the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Scenic Design and winner of the award in 2000 for Ambrosio at Rep Stage and in 2009 for Stunning at The Woolly Mammoth Theatre; Individual Artist Fellowship, D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, 1997.