Arnel Sancianco

Arnel Sancianco is a Filipino-American award-winning set and production designer originally from San Diego, CA and currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Arnel received his MFA in Stage Design from Northwestern University and his BA in Drama with an honors in design from UC Irvine.

Arnel has designed at regional theaters across the country including Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, McCarter Theatre Center, Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf, Muny, Goodspeed Musicals, Lookingglass, Writer’s Theatre, Drury Lane, Timeline, Woolly Mammoth, Baltimore Center Stage, American Players Theatre, The Rep at St. Louis, Milwaukee Rep, Asolo Rep, People’s Light, and the Kennedy Center.

His designs have been nominated for multiple awards in Chicago, including the Jeff Award for Best Scenic Design which he won in 2019 for his production of Photograph 51 at Court Theatre, directed by Vanessa Stalling. And in 2023 Arnel was nominated for the Elliot Norton Award for his design for Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, at Huntington Theatre Company, directed by Lili-Anne Brown.

Previously Arnel was a professor of scenic design at Arizona State University. He has hosted special master classes for Steppenwolf’s Young Adults Council, and the National High School Institute at Northwestern. He currently teaches scenic design at UC Berkeley. Arnel is a proud member of United Scenic Artists Local 829.