Rowan Doyle is an Experiential Designer and Creative Director with a special interest in audience interaction and immersive environments.  ​She has worked with The Museum of Ice Cream, Meow Wolf, GES, Thinkwell Group, Indiana Repertory Theatre, The Rude Mechanicals, The Stella Adler Studio of Acting, Great Small Works, New York Theatre Workshop, Bread and Puppet Theater as well as on numerous Film, TV and photo shoots. She is a co-founder of the theater collective The Duplicates. Achievements include Austin Critics Award for Best Set Design for The Poison Squad and the USITT Award for Outstanding Design for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.   She holds an M.F.A in Theatrical Design from The University of Texas at Austin, a B.F.A. in Theater from Concordia University as well as a B.A. in English Literature and Professional writing also from Concordia University.  Her favorite jobs involve paper crafting, collaboration and anything miniature.

Projects

Museum of Ice Cream NYC

I worked  as the lead designer on this 25,000 Sq. Ft. permanent installation.  This project involved a complete renovation of a 3 story landmark building in the Soho district of Manhattan that included exhibitions, retail, cafe, a full service kitchen and a three story slide! My role included leading a team of in-house designers from concept through install as well as managing outside contractors and all architectural coordination.  When in doubt - make it pink!

Christmas in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter 

I was the lead designer on this christmas activation created by GES. This was an incredibly dynamic project that was part retail, part live-performance and part interactive exhibit.  My role was multi-faceted and included planning, designing window displays, drafting, rendering and on-site art direction.  I absolutely loved working with the Harry Potter brand and was able to tap into my past life as a scenic painter to make the distressed and layered nature of Hogsmeade come to life.

Game of Thrones:
​The Touring Exhibition

I was lucky enough to work as a designer with the talented team at GES on this 16,000 Sq. Ft touring exhibition that highlights the craftsmanship and artistry involved in creating the HBO series.  As a huge fan of the show, I was thrilled to help design the content, narrative and overall elements as well as overseeing much of the fabrication process.  One of the highlights of this project was travelling to Belfast to meet the HBO team and tour the shooting locations. #dreamjob!

Avatar: Discover Pandora

I worked  as a designer on this 16,000 Sq. Ft. touring exhibition created by GES.  For this project I did everything from concept illustrations through fabrication as well as managing the graphic production and digital assets and even dabbled in some costume design for the Na'vi characters.  The entire exhibit turned out really beautiful and is an amazing combination of interactivity, world building and educational content. 

Meow Wolf: Kaleidoscape

I helped design this dark ride at Elitch Gardens in Denver.  For this project, I worked as a conduit between creative direction and fabrication, helping to translate sketches and ideas into buildable fabrication drawings.  It was a thrill to work with the innovative team at Meow Wolf and the end result is a psychedelic, trippy experience, unlike any other dark ride on the planet!

Nixon Presidential Library and Museum

I worked  as a show set designer with an amazing team at Thinkwell Group on the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum re-design.  I loved working on a more traditional exhibition, designing cases and displays that highlight historical artifacts.  Have you ever designed a display case for a moon rock from the apollo 15 lunar landing?  I have!

Warner Brother's World Abu Dhabi

I worked  as a show set designer with Thinkwell Group on this 1.65 million sq. ft theme park in Abu Dhabi.  On both the attractions and the facades teams,  I helped design and coordinate details across departments and worked with a large multi-disciplinary team to create the final drawing package. It was incredibly fun to take the iconic Warner Brothers Cartoons and turn them into buildable sets.  It was recently voted one of the top 5 theme parks in the world!

And Then They Came For Me

I was the set and projection designer for this play at Indiana Repertory Theatre.  Written by James Still and directed by Courtney Sale, this play centers around interview recordings of two holocaust survivors and real-life friends of Anne Frank.  I felt strongly about presenting the weight and importance of the subject matter in the scenery. I also created video that was a combination of live interviews and motion graphics that ran throughout the performance. The end result was a moving and powerful piece of theatre that feels especially pertinent today.

The Fictional Life of Historical Oddities

I created this site-specific performance with The Duplicates that told the story of the Dionne quintuplets. At just four months old, the quints were placed in the custody of the Canadian government and became the country’s most significant tourist attraction. Told through a mash-up of mediums including puppetry, projection, and sound, it was performed at the 2011 Austin New Works Festival.  Growing up in Canada, the quints were a well known story - and I was excited to bring their history to an American audience.

Poison Squad

I created this performance with The Duplicates about Dr. Harvey Wiley, a chemist with the Department of Agriculture who was convinced that the preservatives and dyes added to foods were dangerous.  The story was told through a vaudevillian style performance that included performing objects, dance and magic.  This team was an absolute dream to work with, and I was especially thrilled that I was able to work in a kabuki drop and a picnic table pyramid!

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

I was the set designer for this play by Jeffrey Hatcher and directed by Will Davis.  I was lucky to work with an amazing team to create this dynamic stage set with moving pieces that shifted and morphed as the story progressed.  Inspired by the etchings of Gustave Dore, it was a fun challenge to re-conceptualize the iconic streets of victorian london. 

Septemberplay

I created Septemberplay with The Duplicates, focusing mainly on set, costumes and projections but also dabbled in writing and directing.   In the 24 hours leading up to the performance, we solicited help from the community to make a 40' x 40' mosaic out of 1x1 inch pieces of paper.  See the making of it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Fmaex9fvpU

Expo 2054

I was one of five co-creators for this project that was workshopped with student's from Bates College in Lewiston Maine. Expo 2054 documents an imagined future history: the building of mankind’s last World’s Fair before the end of the world. The show intersects miniature object performance with confessional, salient storytelling. Using an assemblage of small-scale models, Expo 2054 tells the story of procuring and refining artifacts for the last exhibition of humanness.