Written by Jenny Lyn Bader

Produced by Luna Stage

Directed by Ari Laura Kreith

Costumes by Deborah Caney

Lighting by Cameron Filepas

Sound by Megan Culley

59E59

“Director Ari Laura Kreith’s physical staging artfully relies on swiftness and realism, as the actors are perpetually moved around the set for visual variance. Scenic designer Lauren Helpern’s airy off-white jail cell is set with a table and chairs; high rectangular windows with shadowy prison bars queasily register the gravity of Arendt’s situation.”

-- theaterscene.org

“Lauren Helpern set strikes just the right chord, its barren simplicity a metaphor for this time in Germany’s history.  A tiny cell with brick walls, two chairs and a clawfoot antique table – a remnant of a more human, rococo world Germany is abandoning – and windows that remain tantalizingly out of reach above.  In its near silent, twilit isolation, Hannah’s cell becomes an unlikely oasis of free thought, away from the unknown change and untold terrors outside.”

-- thefrontrowcenter.com

Written by Leslie Epstein

Produced by Parkman Productions

Directed by Alexandra Aron

Costumes by Oana Botez

Lighting by Zach Blane

Sound by Jane Shaw

Props by Sarah Pencheff-Martin

Here Arts Center

“The new production, directed by Alexandra Aron and designed by a crackerjack team (especially set designer Lauren Helpern), has transformed the theater into the Astoria Café, a Jewish-owned nightclub in 1939…”

-- newyorktheater.me

“The evocative set by Lauren Helpern puts the audience in the middle of the café, the actors milling about, their emotions and frustrations up close and personal.”

-- TheaterScene.net

“King of the Jews’ engrossing immersive narrative device is that the show takes place in Lodz, Poland’s, bustling Jewish-owned Astoria Café. New York City’s HERE Arts Center’s mainstage auditorium has been configured into an expansive playing area set with cabaret-style tables and chairs where the audience sits, experiencing the play in often close contact with the cast. There is a raised stage for musicians and performers, a busy bar and an entrance door with adjacent front windows. Scenic designer Lauren Helpern’s voluminous and finely detailed environmental landscape perfectly realize this pointed presentational concept.”

-- theaterscene.org

Close up photos by Russ Rowland

Written by Neil Simon

Produced by Hartford Stage

Co-Directed by Marsha Mason & Rachel Alderman

Costumes by An-Lin Dauber

Lighting by Aja M. Jackson

Sound by Broken Chord

"Lauren Helpern’s set design is clever. Curving around the back of the raised playing space is a wall covered in green period wallpaper; set in the wall are five green doors, side by side. These give the initial impression of a door-slamming farce, but we quickly understand that they are here to convey a sense of how small and cramped the apartment is. What we see is the one room that serves as a living room (and Jay and Arty’s bedroom, curtesy of a pull-out sofa) and a dining room. We can only imagine the small size of the bedrooms and bathroom behind the doors.”

-- Connecticut Critic’s Circle

“Lauren Helpern’s set design is the best thing about this show. It’s bright and glowing and open and frisky.”

-- Hartford Courant

“It felt as though we were looking in to the Kurnitz family's home and risked being caught, thereby ruining theater magic, which was marvelously produced by Lauren Helpern's scenic design (Broadway: Voices in the Dark, Off-Broadway: Skintight & Bad Jews, 4000 Miles & Disgraced), Aja M. Jackson's lighting design (Off-Broadway: A Commercial Jingle for Regina Comet, Regional: Behold, A Negress; Hear Word), and costume design by An-lin Dauber (Hartford Stage: It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, New York: Paul Swan is Dead and Gone).”

-- Broadway World

Written by George Eastman

Produced by Dennis Grimaldi

Directed by Karen Carpenter

Costumes by David C. Woolard

Lighting by Jeff Davis

Sound by John Gromada

City Center Stage II

"If only sets could talk. Lauren Helpern's stage design for Harry Townsend's Last Stand, the two-hander by George Eastman at New York City Center Stage II, is a marvel of specificity. At first glance, it's just an old man's downstairs kitchen and living room, yes, but this is a home that emanates decades of history. If we could take out each board game beneath the window-seat, if we could peruse each worn book on the shelf, if we could sort through the clutter on the counters, if we could smell Vermont in the leaves seen just outside the windows, perhaps we could really get to know Harry Townsend, the sole resident, piecing together a life prop by prop.”

-- Curtain Up

“Lauren Helpern's set is an overstuffed human habitat brimming with evidence of a fruitful life, with books and board games bulging out of every available storage space. "His" and "her" armchairs sit side by side in front of an ancient television set, offering evidence of the continuing spiritual presence of the family matriarch. Lighting designer Jeff Davis endows this space with a warm glow, and a final sound cue from John Gromada emphasizes the surrounding natural beauty. It seems like a lovely place to live, and anyone would be reluctant to say goodbye.”

-- Theatermania

“The Vermont chalet features outstanding scenic design work from Lauren Helpern, showing us the parts of the life Harry and his wife enjoyed for decades in that home, from board games and a well-placed fireplace, to ice skates and snow shows tucked away in a corner near the front door. Who would want to leave such a comfortable place?”

-- Intermission Talk

Written by Joshua Harmon

Directed by Daniel Aukin

Lighting by Pat Collins

ROUNDABOUT THEATER COMPANY

Costumes by Jess Goldstein

Sound by Eric Shimelonis

Props by Faye Armon-Troncoso

“That living room, perfectly rendered by the set designer Lauren Helpern, is a gray monument to punitive good taste.”

--NYT Jesse Green

“Designer Lauren Helpern’s stylish, bilevel set draws the requisite half-liter of drool from us urban peasants in our dingy studios.” 

-- Village Voice

“On a side note, I wonder if set designer Lauren Helpern can design my next home!”

-- New York City Theatre

“Lauren Helpern's gleaming modernistic set is a pleasure to behold”

-- Hollywood reporter

 “Lauren Helpern’s oh-wouldn’t-you-like-to-live-there set”

-- New York Stage Review

“The split level set by Lauren Helpern is elegantly designed.  It illustrates the heightened sense of style on which the main character built his empire.  It also enhances the theme of the power in the attraction to beauty.” 

-- More than the Play

“We find Jodi newly arrived at her wealthy designer father’s enviable Manhattan townhouse (seriously, I wanted to move in to Lauren Helpern’s gorgeous set)…”

-- South Pasadenan

GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE

Robby Award Nomination

Costumes by China Lee

Sound by Vincent Olivieri

Props by Rich Gilles

“Elliot lives in an amazing four-story Architectural Digest house (amazing scenic design by Lauren Helpern) with a veritable stairway to heaven and perhaps beyond.”

-- Rob Stevens, Haines His Way

“We find Jodi newly arrived at her wealthy designer father’s enviable Manhattan townhouse (seriously, I wanted to move in to Lauren Helpern’s gorgeous set)…”

-- South Pasadenean

Written by Will Powers

Produced by La Jolla Playhouse

Directed by Jaime Castaneda

Costumes by Emilio Sosa

Lighting by Tyler Micoleau

Sound by Mikhail Fiksel

"Lauren Helpern’s glass-floored stage suggests the frail barrier the characters tread between life and death."

-- The San Diego Union-Tribune

“The staging was inventive and complimented the juxtaposed times of Shakespeare’s Richard III and the not so thinly veiled Trump Administration. Steel, wood, glass, inventive lighting, and the audience situated on all four sides of the stage, served the production well. Hat’s off to Lauren Helpern and Tyler Micoleau, scenic and lighting designers.”

-- SD Theatre Reviews

Written by Adam Bock

Produced by South Coast Repertory

Directed by Jaime Castaneda

Costumes by Denitsa Bliznakova

Lighting by Josh Epstein

Sound by Cricket S. Myers

Projections by Yee Eun Nam

"A modern play with contemporary accouterments, this world premiere production is impressive in its minimalist but highly innovative approach, allowing the awesome cast to be the deserved main attractions of the play. Lauren Helpern's encroaching white wall set design that frame the stage serves as a useful blank canvas for Yee Fun Nam's gorgeous, painting-like projections (the back wall occasionally opens up to reveal a clever annex to the set, too).”

-- Broadway World Los Angeles

“The spare physical production needs to accommodate both Manitoba in winter and a cruise ship plying the waters of the Caribbean. Lauren Helpern's scenic design makes white walls, a blue backdrop, and falling stuff (of both the winter and party varieties) work, with cast members rolling on set pieces.”

-- Talkin’ Broadway Regional

Written by August Wilson

Produced by Ford’s Theater

Directed by Timothy Douglas

Costumes by Helen Huang

Lighting by Andrew R. Cissna

Sound by Nick Hernandez

“Lauren Helpern has created a poetic scenic design that melds the imaginative—a graceful, curving tree—with a photographic backdrop of the neighborhood.”

-- Talkin’ Broadway Regional

“The Ford’s Theatre production is graced with marvelous production design. Lauren Helpern’s set is a fine mix of brick rowhouse naturalism upfront and graphic art in the form of a blown-up photograph of the Hill District setting as a backdrop.”

-- DC Theatre Scene

"Lauren Helpern's scenic design combines the real and surreal, with 2-story brick rowhouse and a vivid sepia-tone image of a half-built street from the Hill District across the upstage wall. The tree-where Troy hangs a ragged old practice ball for batting practice-rises naturally but transitions by its peak to the surreal members of an other-worldly body, fingers articulated towards the sky.”

-- Broadway World Washington DC

Written by Mike Lew

Produced by La Jolla Playhouse

Directed by Jaime Castaneda

Costumes by David Reynoso

Lighting by Anthony Jannuzzi

Sound by Mikhael Fiksel

Potiker Theatre

"The design is expert ... with a slick, sleek set (Lauren Helpern), as well as lighting (Anthoni Januzzi) and sound (Mikhael Fiksel) that are as sharp as some of the comic lines."

-- Times of San Diego

"The sets, designed by Lauren Helpern, are versatile and elegant, featuring immaculate decor of a clean and impersonal home that can double as a therapist's office or international air terminal."

-- Fine Magazine

LUCILLE LORTEL AWARD, HEWES AWARD NOMINATION

Written by Amy Herzog

Produced by Lincoln Center Theater

Directed by Daniel Aukin

Costumes by Kaye Voyce

Lighting by Japhy Weidman

Sound by Ryan Rumery

Props by Faye Armon-Troncoso

Mitzi Newhouse Theater and The Duke (LCT3)

"Every aspect of the director Daniel Aukin's production for Lincoln Center Theater's LCT3 program enhances the delicacy and honesty of Ms. Herzog's writing.  The set, by Lauren Helpern, reflects Vera's bohemian past as a classic mid-century liberal in subtle ways, from the ethnic art to the drab filing cabinets used as end tables, a particularly telling touch."

-- New York Times

"Set designer Lauren Helpern has conjured a generic little-old-lady's rent-controlled apartment in the Village and added just the right touches (Mexican pottery, wooden masks, and lot and lots of books) to personalize it as the home of a real person."

-- Variety

"Lauren Helpern's set looks like an actual New York apartment (as opposed to those fantasy apartments you see on television or in the movies.)"

-- Wall Street Journal

Written by Joshua Harmon

Produced by the Roundabout Theater Company

Directed by Daniel Aukin

Costumes by Dane Laffrey

Lighting by Mark Barton

Laura Pels Theater

"On Lauren Helpern's spic-and-span UWS apartment set, which Mark Barton has aggressively lit, they go after each other like cougars settling years-old scores, but never dwelling on their shared past."

-- Talkin Broadway

"Even the mattresses that take up just about every inch of Lauren Helpern's impeccably true to New York's luxury priced teensy apartments, are subject to controversy."

-- Curtain Up

"Director Daniel Aukin uses Lauren Helpern's elegantly confined space to its best advantage.  The battling four must crawl over sofa beds and inflatable mattresses, constantly butting up against each other literally and figuratively."

Theaterlife.com

Written by Halley Feiffer

Directed by Trip Cullman

Lighting by Matt Richards

Sound by Darron L. West

Geffen Playhouse

Produced by Geffen Playhouse

Costumes by David Kay Mickelsen

"The wisecracks continue, but the sorrow, anger and regret fueling them rise to the surface. Genuine emotion sneaks into the antiseptically cheery pink hospital room smartly designed by Lauren Helpern."

-- LA Times

MCC at the Lucille Lortel Theatre

Produced by MCC

Costumes by Kay Voyce

"The set designer Lauren Helpern has provided an unsparingly exact facsimile of hospital decor, starting with its watery Pepto-Bismol walls."

-- New York Times

"Of course Karla and Don loathe each other, at first through the privacy curtains (the painfully accurate set is by Lauren Helpern) and then on sight."

-- The Guardian

"Lauren Helpern's slice-of-life set captures the dusty yet still antiseptic nature of hospital rooms, with faded pink walls and a decent view of the city skyline."

-- Theatermania.com

Photos of MCC production by Matthew Murphy

BROADWAY WORLD SALT LAKE CITY REGIONAL AWARD NOMINATION

Written by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon

Produced by Pioneer Theatre Company

Directed by Julie Kramer

Lights by Michael Gilliam

Costumes by Susan Branch Towne

Sound by Allan Branson

“Lauren Helpern and Susan Branch Towne recreate the atmosphere of early 19th century England with their beautiful and rich scenic and costume designs, respectively.”

— Utah Arts Review

“The scene has only one set, but its detail and elegance are obvious. From the moment audience members first entered the theater, soft whispers of “look at that” filled the air. A cream drawing room complete with icy winters warding off a snowy garden filled the stage. A wooden piano and apparently “alarming” tree fill the space behind a simple parlor set. Off to one side are a cozy library with the whole world on its shelves and a few surprises in store. The effect was spacious, inviting and bright — just in time for Christmas.”

— The Daily Utah Chronicle

“The scenic design by Lauren Helpern (Off-Broadway's SKINTIGHT) is majestic but warm, the lighting design by Michel Gilliam (Broadway's BONNIE AND CLYDE) is nuanced, and the period costume design by Susan Branch Towne is equally as skilled.”

— Broadway World Salt Lake City

Written by David Javerbaum

Produced by Arizona Theatre Company

Directed by Marsha Mason

Costumes by Kish Finnegan

Lighting by David Lee Cuthbert

"Creative elements are sublime with Lauren Helpern's scenic design evoking a heavenly talk show set complete with a large couch that looks like a comfy white cloud and a curved stairway to heaven..."

-- Talkin Broadway

"An Act of God - there's a bit of wordplay going on here - is as cheerful as the vision of heaven that set designer Lauren Helpern has created."

-- Tucson Weekly

OBIE AWARD

Written by Tracy Letts

Produced by Scott Morfee, Amy Danis & Mark Johannes, and Planetearth Partners

Directed by Dexter Bullard

Costumes by Kim Gill

Lighting by Tyler Micoleau

Sound by Brian Ronan

Props by Faye Armon-Troncoso

Barrow Street Theatre

"The play's often violent action, punctuated by long and unnerving stretches of quiet, takes place in a photo-realistically generic motel room outside of Oklahoma City.  (Lauren Helpern is the dead-on set designer.)"

-- New York Times

"Oddness may darken into bloodcurdling maniacal menace in act two, but there's also the giggle inducing battle of the bugs with an armory of bug sprays, old fashioned fly traps and a child's microscope and chemistry set (all vividly evoked as Lauren Helpern's set evolves from shabby haven to horrific hell on earth)."

-- Curtain Up

Written by Ike Holter

Produced by Scott Morfee, Tom Wirtshafter, Jean Doumanian, Patrick Daly

Directed by Eric Hoff

Costumes by David Hyman

Lighting by Keith Parham

Sound By Daniel Kluger & Brandon Wolcott

Barrow Street Theatre

"Lauren Helpern's Christopher Park set establishes the close-knit, occasionally claustrophobic, sense of the village in June."

Talkin Broadway

"...the energy from the cast and the production design are enthralling, and the play certainly draws you in.  It rests on its emotional connection to the audience, which it does a fine job establishing.  Lauren Helpern's set design has the audience in the round (in a symbolic triangle, actually) and the action swirls around in and out of the playing space. "

Theatre is Easy

HEWES AWARD NOMINATION

Written by Marielle Heller

Produced by Aaron Mooney in association with New Georges and The Essentials

Directed by Sarah Cameron Sunde and Rachel Eckerling

Costumes by Emily DeAngelis

Lights by Laura Mroczkowski

Projections by C. Andrew Bauer

3LD Arts and Technology Center

"...aided by sterling technical contributions:  Lauren Helpern's sets and Emily DeAngelis's costumes artfully conjure the period, while C. Andrew Bauer's video designs cleverly incorporate Ms. Gloeckner's drawings."

-- New York Times

"The setting for Minnie's bildungsroman, as designed by Lauren Helpern (set), C. Andrew Bauer (video), and Laura Mroczkowski (lights), is a 360-degree sensorium.  Audiences encircle Minnie's bed, which serves alternately as her refuge and her prison.  The theater is brightly lit, light brown with bright stars on the walls and neon-green pillows on the chairs.  The overall effect is of the strong, blunt colors of a manga cartoon, the paradigmatic aesthetic of teenage girls learning to discern shades of grey."

-- Backstage

"'The Diary of a Teenage Girl' (adapted from Phoebe Gloeckner's graphic novel by Marielle Heller, who also plays the lead) uncannily brings you back to that place - the piece's consciousness and viewpoint, not to mention the physical environment crafted by set design Lauren Helpern and video designer C. Andrew Bauer, take you completely inside the mind of its teenage heroine - but at the same time both Heller and directors Sarah Cameron Sunde and Rachel Eckerling create enough distance from her experience to allow us to understand what's happening to Minnie in ways that she cannot quite yet."

NYtheatre

"The set for the production is a 70s style 'conversation pit' with Minnie's bedroom in the middle.  The design is Sensurround in the best possible sense, with a totally immersive video and audio environment where characters and scenes take place all around and in the audience.  The production level is really great - it makes you feel the dazed and confused slightly out of control boundary dissolving sensibility that was the 70s."

-- Culturebot

Written by Laura Marks

Produced by Women's Project Theater

Directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch

Costumes by Sarah J. Holden

Lighting by Mark Barton

Sound by Leon Rothenberg

City Center Stage II

"Kudos go to scenic designer Lauren Helpern, whose two locations, the grimy kitchen of the abandoned home, and the showroom of the Saturn dealership, underscore the building aura of desperation as Crystal tries to right her sinking ship."

-- NBC

Book and Lyrics by Sandy Rustin

Composed by Britt Bonney, Emily Chiu, and Meg Zervoulis

Produced by Mills Entertainment

Directed by Gina Rattan

Choreographed by Emilie Renier

Props by Faye Armon- Troncoso

Costumes by Andrea Hood

Lighting by Masha Tsimring

Sound by Beth Lake

National Tour

“One of the most delightful parts of the production, besides the engaging scenery, was when one of the American Girl Dolls rode off the stage on her miniature bicycle, but came back on stage on a life- size bike and real girl. A clever treat indeed!”

— Around the Town Chicago

EDDY AWARD

Produced by Blue Man Group

Directed by Blue Man Group

Co-Set Design by David Gallo

Costumes by Patricia Murphy

Lighting by Matt McCarthy

Projections by Caryl Glaab

"IT'S ALL RELATIVE"

Directed and Choreographed by Tracy Straus

Costumes by Tiia Torchia

Lighting by Farley Whitfield

"SAM I AM" & "HIDDEN, FOUND"

Directed and Choreographed by Tracy Straus

Costumes by Karen Lee Hart

Lighting by Kathy Kaufmann

LaGuardia High School

Book by Peter Zinn

Music and Lyrics by JT Harding

Produced by Cape Fear Regional Theatre

Directed by Mary Catherine Burke

Choreographed by Tyce Diorio

Costumes by Jennifer Raskopf

Lighting by Zach Blane

Sound by Bryan Hitzigrath

Adapted for the stage by Michael J. Bobbitt

Based on the story by Cedella Williams

Music and Lyrics by Bob Marley

Additional Music and Lyrics by John L Cornelius II

Produced by Young People’s Theatre of Chicago

Co-Directed and Choreographed by Tuesdai B. Perry

Co-Directed by Randy White

Costumes by Janelle Smith

Lighting by Kevin Rechner

Sound by Kurt Ottinger

Props Design by Nicolas Bartelson

Downstairs Mainstage at the Greenhouse Theater Center

“The production is brightly co-directed by the company’s Artistic Director Randy White and Choreographer Tuesdai B. Perry. Musically Directed by Cameron Tragesser, the production is set on a clever and colorful Scenic Design by Lauren Helpern, and brilliantly Lighted by Kevin Rechner.”

-- chicagotheatrereview.com

“The story takes place in Jamaica on a wonderful set designed by Lauren Helpern.”

-- aroundthetownchicago.com

Directed by Jeff Martin

Lighting by Traci Klainer

Kaufmann Concert Hall