If you go see the Idina Menzel-starring new Broadway musical, Redwood, you’ll be witnessing the Broadway debut of a UMass Theater alum. Sean Sanford ’19, who holds a dual degree in theater and psychology from UMass Amherst, is the Associate Scenic Designer for the production, which began previews on Jan. 24 and officially opens Feb. 13.
He's the right-hand man to Scenic Designer Jason Ardizzone-West. Together they’ve worked on regional theater, TV, and concerts — the set for Dua Lipa’s Saturday Night Live musical appearance is a recent design. Broadway is new territory for both, however.
“Everyone on the team is sort of a Broadway vet,” Sanford said — Redwood’s writer and director Tina Landau has 6 Broadway credits as director, for example. “So, you know, I'm playing it cool, but yes, every so often it’s a ‘pinch me, I'm on Broadway’ moment.”
His UMass Theater mentor, Professor of Scenic Design Anya Klepikov, is proud of his success and at the same time, unsurprised.
“What Sean has achieved in these short 6 years after graduating with just 2 years of scenic design study in a BA program, with an industry-gutting pandemic in the middle, is nothing short of remarkable, and at the same time could not have happened otherwise, considering his drive, work ethic, and the pleasure that he is to be around,” she said.
Redwood began its life at La Jolla Playhouse, a black box-type space, almost a year ago. Ardizzone-West’s design works hand in hand with video content created for the show, immersing the audience in the world of the main character via screens that wrap around the space. Transferring to Broadway meant keeping the immersive intimacy created by that design but adapting it to the proscenium configuration of the Nederlander Theatre.
As an Associate Designer, Sanford works hand in hand with Ardizzone-West to make changes like that work.
“Jason really handles the conceptual idea with the director and with the creative team and then, he shares that with me, and we talk about it. He does a lot of sketches and hand drafting of how he thinks that might look,” Sanford explained. “And then I kind of take the rough idea into Vectorworks and really sort out what that physically means in the 3D space through modeling and detailed drafting.” Sanford sees his job as a big-picture function, with a lot of project management and collaboration.
“I love the logistical problem-solving. I like trying to make the best version of a particular idea, fitting it into each specific venue and figuring out how it's gonna work,” he said.
Having Sanford on his team also enables Ardizzone-West to have multiple projects going at once — Sanford can represent him during technical rehearsals and manage his studio of 3 to 4 assistant designers, for example, while he’s handling meetings for another project.
Finding his passion
Sanford didn’t plan to study scenic design when he first came to UMass. He was a history major but because he enjoyed theater in middle and high school, he auditioned for a UMass Theater production and was cast.
At the urging of Professor of Performance and Directing Gina Kaufmann, Sanford switched to a dual degree in Theater and Psychology. Sanford liked design and architecture, but the Scenic Design faculty position was vacant due to retirement so he didn’t take a scenic design class until his junior year, when Klepikov joined the department.
In her Introduction to Scenic Design class that year, Klepikov asked her students to design a set for Infants of the Spring, one of that year’s mainstage shows. Klepikov was so impressed by Sanford’s assignment that when the original designer left the production, she gave Sanford the opportunity to debut his design in our season as an undergraduate.
“Sean’s self-discipline and extraordinary positive attitude in the face of any setbacks were immediately striking. He never blinked at having to do a lot of work to get to the right solution,” Klepikov said.
“She kind of did pluck me out of the intro class, and was like ‘you should do this’ — and then it was my whole life for every second since then,” Sanford laughed.
In addition to teaching him in classes, Klepikov also connected Sanford with her network by engaging him to assist on professional gigs.
“When Sean demonstrated a serious hunger for learning about scenic design from any available angle and a capacity for showing up during every part of the process, I decided to involve him in my professional projects even though he still had a lot to learn about assisting at the time. He helped me build the physical set model for The Firebird I designed for Miami City Ballet and helped me draw the digital set model for the play Seared, which I designed for the Gloucester Stage Company,” she said.
After graduation, Sanford worked at Big Y for a few months to save up, then moved to New York with his partner and some friends in September 2019. He started to get work: he had a gig with Blue Man Group lined up, and thanks to Klepikov’s professional network, he was working in the props department at Westport Country Playhouse.
Everyone knows what happened next — everything closed down in March 2020 due to the pandemic, and Sanford moved back to New England. Luckily, once theaters started to reopen, he was able to pick up where he left off, including working as props supervisor at Westport.
Ardizzone-West was at Westport as a Scenic Designer. Although Sanford said “I was kind of always scheming to jump from props work to scenic design,” it was his assistant who mentioned Sanford’s qualifications as a scenic designer to Ardizzone-West. Sanford is skilled in Vectorworks, a drafting program, and Ardizzone-West was looking for someone who could do some drafting for him. Originally, it was a part-time gig, but eventually, Ardizzone-West brought Sanford on as his fulltime Associate Designer.
Redwood is demanding most of Sanford’s attention right now, but he and Ardizzone-West have other projects in the works, including Dua Lipa's "Radical Optimism" World Tour Concert and an Immersive "On Broadway: The Experience" in Times Square.
Concluding his conversation, Sanford offered advice he’d give a current UMass Theater student:
“Just try every aspect of production,” he urged. “I came in a little interested in scenic design, but I mostly thought I wanted to perform. So just giving the intro class a chance really set up my whole career.”
You can stay up to date on Sean's work and adventures on instagram @heymynameissean_ and at SeanSanfordDesign.com