hello divas…
I’m abby :)
Abby Bilson (she/her) is a scenic designer, multimedia artist and musician based in New York City. She graduated Indiana University (IU) with her MFA in Scenic Design. She graduated from Baldwin Wallace University with a B.M.E. in Music Education, and has taught music, theatre and dance at the middle school and high school level. She’s currently the Technical Designer at Tom Carroll Scenery, where she works with her team to create the drafting and build plans for award winning designers, off-Broadway theatres and venues across the country. Recent venue credits include: The Guthrie Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, New York Theatre Workshop, Park Avenue Armory. When she’s not drafting, she is a freelance scenic designer. Her favorite projects are working on educational theatre projects, any heavily music-based pieces, and new work. She thrives in fast-paced, collaborative environments where she can be scrappy, think outside the box, and focus on creating new, human art.
When she’s not designing, drafting, or painting, you can always find her somewhere near a piano working her way through a large stack of Baroque choral pieces (after all, who doesn’t love a scrumptious little Baroque madrigal?). She currently performs under Mark Shapiro in the Cecilia Chorus of NYC as a soprano, and regularly performs at Carnegie Hall, as well as other historic venues across NYC.
As a life-long student, and lover of learning, she also studies musical comedy and improv at the Upstanding Citizen’s Brigade, founded by Amy Poehler. She one day hopes to help bring the influence of Commedia dell’arte back to the mainstream opera and theatre scene (and design all of the sets, of course). Ever the scenic design professional, maybe one day she’ll even be professionally funny. A girl can dream. But until that fated day, she continues to self-produce her work with a thrift store budget and a million dollar vision.
scenic design philosophy
My goal as a scenic designer is to set the stage for sparking social change, create engaging worlds that encourage audience curiosity, and infuse spaces with the practice of applied theatre. I am inspired by the intersection of aesthetics in music, dance and art history. By blurring the lines between these disciplines in my design, the resulting spaces are liminal and filled with movement, imagination and whimsy. My design process involves thorough dramaturgical research and interdisciplinary collaboration. This allows my designed spaces to be grounded in the heart of story and take on a life of their own that impacts audiences beyond the walls of the theatre.
teaching philosophy
Through creating theatre, I challenge students to see the world through windows and mirrors; Windows allow students to experience stories, cultures and identities that are not their own, and mirrors allow students to see their own identities and experiences reflected. I create a welcoming and accepting classroom-community through strong preventative classroom management and develop curriculum through holistic lesson planning that prioritizes the development of both fundamental technical skills and artistic expression. I encourage student to explore various materials and techniques while scaffolding skills to build on prior learning. I encourage students to experiment through promoting an atmosphere of creativity and open dialogue.