Lauren M. Nichols is a Chicago-based scenic designer, scenic artist, and educator whose work is rooted in a lifelong foundation in the visual arts. She began painting at the age of three and has spent more than fifteen years bringing that fine-art sensibility to theatrical design, creating environments that are richly detailed, grounded, and deeply connected to storytelling.
She first discovered theatre in middle school, volunteering backstage as a way to experiment with painting on a larger scale. In a performing arts high school program, she continued studying visual art while spending all four years working on technical crews and painting scenery. What began as an extension of her studio-art practice quickly became a passion for transforming space and using the physical world of a production to tell a story.
Lauren began her undergraduate studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, studying drawing, painting, and interior architecture before transferring to The Theatre School at DePaul University, where she earned her BFA with a concentration in Scenic Design. After several years working professionally throughout Chicago, Lauren returned to school and earned her MFA in Set and Costume Design from Northwestern University in 2017.
Since beginning her professional career, Lauren has contributed to more than 125 shows, from intimate Chicago storefront theatre to university productions and large-scale plays and musicals at regional theatres. Her designs are driven by the belief that successful scenery is not defined by scale or budget, but by clarity of intention. She approaches each script by identifying what is essential and finding a distinctive visual language through which the story can live.
She believes in doing a few things exceptionally well rather than filling a stage with elements that lack purpose or great craftsmanship. While she enjoys the scope and spectacle of musicals and large productions, she has a particular love for creating intimate, naturalistic environments in which even the smallest detail contributes to the world of the play. At its best, her scenery becomes another character in the story—inviting the audience into a place that feels specific, authentic, and fully inhabited.
Her background in painting, drawing, and interior architecture continues to shape her approach to design. An understanding of composition, material, architecture, color, and realistic representation allows her to create theatrical spaces that balance visual impact with authenticity and human scale.
Previous credits include designs for Writers, Paramount Theatre, Drury Lane, Renaissance Theaterworks in Milwaukee, Olney Theatre in Maryland, Village Theatre in Seattle, Kentucky Opera, Marriott, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Court Theatre, The Gift, Rivendell, Raven Theatre, Shattered Globe, Penninsula Players, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, A Red Orchid, Teatro Vista, Jackalope, Firebrand, and Bohemian Theatre Ensemble among many others. She is an artistic associate with Remy Bumpoo.
"In a world where you can be anything, be yourself."
In addition to her own design work, Lauren has worked as an associate/assistant designer to Andrew Boyce, Collette Pollard, John Culbert, and Cameron Anderson, contributing to projects produced at institutions including the Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Court Theatre, Paramount Theatre, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, The Old Globe, The Kennedy Center, Alliance Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Asolo Repertory Theatre, American Players Theatre, Curtis Institute of Music, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Minnesota Opera, and The Juilliard School.
Lauren is equally committed to training the next generation of theatre artists. She currently teaches hand drafting, AutoCAD, and digital rendering at The Theatre School at DePaul University, and digital modeling for MFA designers at Northwestern University. She has also taught at the University of Florida and the University of Illinois Chicago.
She's is a proud member of United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829, the 2024 recipient of the Michael Maggio Emerging Designer Award and a 2025 Equity Jeff Award winner for her work with Teatro Vista. She also hold 4 additional nominations for her work with Remy Bumpoo and Writers.
Whether designing an expansive musical or a room small enough for an audience to notice every object on the shelf, Lauren approaches scenery as more than a backdrop. Her goal is to create a visual world that draws audiences into the story—one that feels as though it existed before the curtain rose and will continue to exist after it falls.
Guys and Dolls 2026
A Streetcar Named Desire 2009