Broadway Designer Alexander Woodward To Join Dartmouth College Faculty

Scenic and Costume Designer Alexander Woodward has joined the faculty of Dartmouth College as Associate Professor of Theater, beginning a new chapter that brings together his professional design practice, teaching, and ongoing work in performance design.

Woodward's work spans Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theater, opera, and dance. His credits include the world and Broadway premieres of The Sound Inside, directed by David Cromer and starring Mary-Louise Parker, which premiered at Williamstown Theatre Festival before transferring to Studio 54, as well as the world premiere of the ballet Their Eyes Were Watching God. His work has been seen at the Kennedy Center, Yale Repertory Theatre, Geffen Playhouse, Alliance Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Studio Theatre, Dorset Theatre Festival, Northern Stage, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Heartbeat Opera, Colt Coeur, and the Mint Theater Company, among others.

At Dartmouth, Woodward's teaching centers on design for live performance, new-work development, design communication and representation, and sustainable theater practices.

Woodward begins his first year at Dartmouth not only in the classroom, but also in the design studio, serving as scenic designer for the Department of Theater's fall MainStage production of Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard. The production uses Benedict Andrews's contemporary adaptation of the play, a new version that premiered at London's Donmar Warehouse in 2024 before the original production transferred to St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn for its American premiere in 2025.

The production is directed by Carol Dunne, Producing Artistic Director of Northern Stage and a longtime member of the Dartmouth faculty. During her tenure at Northern Stage, Dunne has overseen an ambitious period of growth that has included world premieres and Off-Broadway transfers. She is also the founder of the BOLD Theater Women's Leadership Circle, a national initiative supporting women artistic directors and theater leaders.

The Cherry Orchard will be staged in the new Daryl Roth Studio Theater at Dartmouth's recently reimagined Hopkins Center for the Arts. Named for Dartmouth alumna and 13-time Tony Award-winning Broadway producer Daryl Roth, the flexible new venue was conceived as a laboratory for experimentation and new relationships between performers and audiences. For The Cherry Orchard, the company will configure the theater fully in the round for the first time, surrounding Chekhov's rapidly changing world with an audience on all sides.

"There is something especially exciting about working in a field built around tangible, in-person exchange," Woodward said. "Theater asks people to gather in a room, encounter ideas together, and sometimes sit with subjects that are new, difficult, or unresolved. At a moment when so much of our experience is mediated through screens and increasingly individualized, that kind of collective encounter feels incredibly vital. I'm excited to join a community at Dartmouth that sees live performance not simply as something we make for an audience, but as a place for curiosity, conversation, experimentation, and genuine human connection."

Woodward comes to Dartmouth from the University of Connecticut, where he served as Area Head of Design and Technical Theatre and Associate Professor of Scenic Design, teaching across the university's BFA and MFA programs. He continues his longstanding relationship with the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University as a Lecturer in Design. Woodward holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama and a BFA from Ithaca College.

Woodward continues an active professional design practice alongside his work at Dartmouth. His recent work includes Berkshire Theatre Group's production of Abi Morgan's Lovesong, directed by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright David Auburn and starring Karen Allen and David Garrison. Reviewing the production this summer, The Boston Globe described Woodward's scenic design as "stunningly realistic," noting that the setting transformed the couple's home into "a flexible container for the expanse and limits of their lives."

His upcoming professional work includes Wine in the Wilderness at Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C., and The Weir at Northern Stage in White River Junction, Vermont.