Department of Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance

Spencer Donovan is a fourth-year scenic design graduate student. His past credits at IU include Carrie, Jump, Twelfth Night, The Servant of Two Masters, and Ascendant. This past summer, he acted as projection designer for the IUST season on both Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and The 39 Steps. Before coming to IU, he spent a season acting as Resident Designer and Head Scenic Charge at Timberlake Playhouse in Mount Carol Illinois, where he designed Forever Plaid, Beehive, Hounds of the Baskerville, and Born Yesterday. He received his undergraduate degree in theatre from Loyola University Chicago, where he acted as scenic designer on the jukebox musical Tin Types, and the play Eurydice. While in the windy city, he also did some associate design work for The Chicago Children’s theatre on the touring production of Red Kite, Green Mountain, a show that was geared towards children on the autism spectrum.
While he considers himself to be a scenic designer first and foremost, he has also found himself acting as scenic charge and props master/designer on several productions including She Kills Monsters, Water by the Spoonful, The Threepenny Opera, By the Bog of Cats, Sueño, and IUST’s production of Closer Than Ever. He has also been privileged enough to stretch his projection design abilities with the Bloomington Playwrights Project on the show Modern.
When Spencer is not designing, he is spending time with his partner Daniel and his dog Deeogie. He enjoys playing Dungeons and Dragons, creative writing, and putting his prop skills to work making crafts and cosplay. He also has a YouTube channel, where he creates videos that focus on educating audiences about queer history, transgender health, and LGBT rights. He plans to move back to Chicago after graduating this spring.