Laura Carlson-Tarantowski - Scenic Designer

Laura Carlson-Tarantowski is the Resident Scenic Designer and Lecturer in Theater at Oberlin College, where she joined the production staff in 2016, after more than 20 years as a freelance designer and painter and, most recently, the resident set and graphic designer for Near West Theatre. While at Near West, she designed the sets for over 20 large-scale musicals and had a hand in creating the decorative concepts throughout their new building in the Gordon Square Arts District of Cleveland.

She has also enjoyed designing at other Cleveland institutions including Dobama Theater, Beck Center for the Performing Arts, Cesear’s Forum and Cain Park. Carlson-Tarantowski has also worked in educational settings at Baldwin-Wallace University and Case Western Reserve University.

Recent work includes The Moors, Or and Stonewallin’ at Oberlin, as well as Kill Move Paradise, Sunset Baby and Stew for Dobama Theatre, and Everybody for the Case Western Reserve - Cleveland Playhouse MFA Acting Program. She holds an MFA in Scene Design from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.