What draws me to theater is the chance to improvise with a director, designers, a script, or an idea—to contribute to the creation of a living, breathing work of art that is immediate and inescapable. Theater-making is the process through which words become image and then resolve to something in between. A successful piece of theater does not rely exclusively on any one component of the effort required to create it. Success is when the glue overtakes the material—when the space between becomes more interesting than the container. My work strives to travel that in-between space: to layer, connect, and expand. To shift perspective and throw into relief. To create space for people to tell stories.

Oona Curley is a lighting and scenic designer from New York City. Their work has been seen in New York (NYTW, BAM, The Public, ArsNova, Atlantic Theater Co., SohoRep, The Vineyard, The Cherry Lane, Clubbed Thumb, LCT3, Joe's Pub, JACK, La MaMa, The Bushwick Starr, The New Ohio, PlayCo), Philadelphia (The Arden Theatre, Opera Philadelphia, Curtis Opera, The Bearded Ladies Cabaret, Team Sunshine Performance Co., Theater Horizon, FringeArts), and regionally (The Guthrie, Long Wharf, Trinity Rep, People’s Light, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas). Oona received their MFA from NYU/Tisch, where they were awarded the J.S. Seidman Award for Design Excellence, and was NYU's nominee for a Princess Grace Award. They hold a BA from Brown University, where their designs earned the Zonta Award for Theatre Arts and the Weston Award for Theatre Design. In 2019, they were a recipient of the Lotos Foundation Prize. Oona is an associate artist with the Bearded Ladies Cabaret in Philadelphia and a company member of Lightning Rod Special, creators of the multiple-award-winning Underground Railroad Game, which they designed. Oona is also a proud member of USA 829.