Professional Resumé
On set for Episode 5: "Terrible People" from the show 'It Could Be Worse'.
"My designs are created through an intense study of the text. I listen to the actors and combine that with my knowledge of history and textual information. It has been said by many actors that I helped provide them with their character through my designs."
-Arthur Oliver
Proficient in design for the performing arts, Mr. Oliver has contributed his talents to Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theatre, opera, ballet, short film, television and academe. His work has been praised by critics Ben Brantley of the New York Times and Terry Teachout of the Wall Street Journal, as well as The Huffington Post, The Boston Globe and The Boston Herald.
He has taught at Harvard University, NYU/Tisch, The Boston Conservatory, Trinity College and many flagship universities including Louisiana State University.
His body of work includes, but is not limited to:
International: Concert Theatre Works, London, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Tropicana Film Festival (Sydney, AU), The Stratford Festival of Ontario
NYC/Broadway/Off-Broadway: The New Victory, 59E59 theatres, The Roseland Ballroom, Laurie Beechman, Bronx Opera, The Century Club, Kings Theatre, Hammerstein Ballroom, 54 Below
Regional theatre and opera: American Repertory Theatre (ART), The Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Children's Theatre Company, Shakespeare & Company, Berkshire Theatre Group, Chester Theatre Company, Merrimack Repertory, The Atlanta Opera, Connecticut Opera, Bardavon Opera, Tanglewood, Virginia Arts Festival, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival
Television/Film: It Could be Worse, PBS (Evening at POPS), ESPN and numerous short films
Most recently Mr Oliver designed for Academy Award Winner, Olympia Dukakis, in her performance of the iconic Mother Courage and Her Children. He has also worked and designed for Christopher Ashley, Karen Allen, Claudia Weill, Claire Bloom, James Taylor, Debra Jo Rupp, Keanu Reeves, Raquel Welch, Carly Simon, Liza Minnelli, Alicia Silverstone, Marge Champion and Maureen Stapleton.
In the sphere of Broadway, his work includes many productions for two-time TONY winner Jerry Mitchell via their collaboration with Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, two-time TONY nominee Alison Fraser, Capathia Jenkins, Chip Zien, Ned Eisenberg, John Douglas Thompson, Kerry Butler, Diedre Goodwin, Gary Halvorson, Gabriel Barre.
He has been published seven times, most notably in Imagining Shakespeare, Backstage Pass: 18 Years of Broadway Bares, Shakespeare Festivals around the World and Shakespeare: The Seven Major Tragedies by Harold Bloom.
Since 2011, each November his production Nutcracker! Magical Christmas Ballet tours North America via two touring companies.
