Julia Hayes Welch is a freelance scenic designer based in Seattle, Washington. Her passion for theatre is fueled by a desire to constantly be learning and a need for rigorous collaboration. She enjoys using an evocative visual vocabulary to get at the heart of what it means to be human.
In the Seattle area, Ms. Welch has worked with ACT Theatre, Intiman Theatre, Seattle Shakespeare Company, Book-It Repertory Theatre, Seattle Opera, 5th Avenue Theatre, ArtsWest Playhouse, Seattle Public Theatre, Village Theatre, Washington Ensemble Theatre, Ghost Light Theatricals, 14/48, Centerstage Theatre, Live Girls Theatre, and others. She is a founding member of Handwritten Productions and was their resident scenic designer from 2010-2013.
Regionally, she designed at Theatreworks UCCS, helping to bring Book-It's Pride and Prejudice to Colorado under the direction of Kelly Kitchens.
She is a guest lecturer at the University of Washington, teaching a theatrical design survey course. She also teaches a scenic design class as a guest faculty member at Pacific Lutheran University.
Welch's 2017-2018 season involved the design of three new plays (Alex and Aris at ACT Theatre under the direction of artistic director John Langs, Howl's Moving Castle with Book-It Repertory Theatre, and Big Rock by local playwright Sonya Schneider), three productions with Seattle Opera (An American Dream, The Three Feathers, O+E: a new adaptation of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice), an all female production of Shakespeare's Coriolanus (Rebel Kat Productions), the classic The Government Inspector (Seattle Shakespeare Company), and three contemporary plays focusing on complex and present social issues (An Octoroon at ArtsWest, HIR directed by Intiman Theatre's artistic director Jennifer Zeyl in collaboration with ArtsWest, and Ironbound at Seattle Public Theatre).
The season also saw the culmination of a year long collaboration with dancer and performance artist Peggy Piacenza. The residency program worked to develop The Event, an evening of contemporary dance, short film and song tackling the meaning of life, the inevitability of death, and how we experience everything in between. Welch's ongoing work with Verlane & McCann present was seen in the burlesque productions Land of the Sweets and Through the Looking Glass.
Ms. Welch received both a Seattle Times Footlight Award as well as the Gypsy Rose Lee Award in 2016 for her set design of The Things Are Against Us with Washington Ensemble Theatre. Her design for Rebel Kat Productions' Coriolanus: Fight Like A Bitch was nominated for the 2017 Gypsy Rose Lee Award.
In 2015, Julia received her Masters of Fine Arts in Scenic Design from the University of Washington.
While attending the University of Washington she designed scenery for William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (Thesis Production), Cold Empty Terrible (directed and devised by Whit MacLaughlin of Philadelphia's New Paradise Laboratories), The Real Inspector Hound by Tom Stoppard (directed by Desdemona Chang), Stop Kiss by Diana Son, and Cowboy Mouth by Sam Shepard and Patti Smith (directed by Jeffrey Frace). She designed costumes for William Inge's Bus Stop.
During her course of study, she had the honor to learn from and be mentored by Thomas P. Lynch, one of the theater industry's most prolific scenic designers. Her master's thesis, Nights One Through Eleven: The Creation of Twelfth Night, seeks to explain her experiences, growth, and design process which developed during her time in graduate school.
As a requirement for his graduate degree Julia spent ten weeks interning with noted designers in the Seattle community. She assisted scenic designer Walt Spangler on the The 5th Avenue Theater's new musical production A Room with a View and acted as a scenic design intern to Matthew Smucker on The Invisible Hand at ACT Theatre.
Prior to studying at the UW, Julia was chosen to participate in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's FAIR program where she served as a scenic apprentice during the 2012 season. Additionally, she was part of the Seattle Children's Theatre Education Internship program in 2009.
Julia received her Bachelor's of Arts in 2009 from the University of Puget Sound in Theater Arts, studying under local designer Kurt Walls. While at UPS she designed scenery for The Woman in Black and Beyond Therapy.
She lives in Seattle with her husband, Walter, and their growing collection of house plants.
In the Seattle area, Ms. Welch has worked with ACT Theatre, Intiman Theatre, Seattle Shakespeare Company, Book-It Repertory Theatre, Seattle Opera, 5th Avenue Theatre, ArtsWest Playhouse, Seattle Public Theatre, Village Theatre, Washington Ensemble Theatre, Ghost Light Theatricals, 14/48, Centerstage Theatre, Live Girls Theatre, and others. She is a founding member of Handwritten Productions and was their resident scenic designer from 2010-2013.
Regionally, she designed at Theatreworks UCCS, helping to bring Book-It's Pride and Prejudice to Colorado under the direction of Kelly Kitchens.
She is a guest lecturer at the University of Washington, teaching a theatrical design survey course. She also teaches a scenic design class as a guest faculty member at Pacific Lutheran University.
Welch's 2017-2018 season involved the design of three new plays (Alex and Aris at ACT Theatre under the direction of artistic director John Langs, Howl's Moving Castle with Book-It Repertory Theatre, and Big Rock by local playwright Sonya Schneider), three productions with Seattle Opera (An American Dream, The Three Feathers, O+E: a new adaptation of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice), an all female production of Shakespeare's Coriolanus (Rebel Kat Productions), the classic The Government Inspector (Seattle Shakespeare Company), and three contemporary plays focusing on complex and present social issues (An Octoroon at ArtsWest, HIR directed by Intiman Theatre's artistic director Jennifer Zeyl in collaboration with ArtsWest, and Ironbound at Seattle Public Theatre).
The season also saw the culmination of a year long collaboration with dancer and performance artist Peggy Piacenza. The residency program worked to develop The Event, an evening of contemporary dance, short film and song tackling the meaning of life, the inevitability of death, and how we experience everything in between. Welch's ongoing work with Verlane & McCann present was seen in the burlesque productions Land of the Sweets and Through the Looking Glass.
Ms. Welch received both a Seattle Times Footlight Award as well as the Gypsy Rose Lee Award in 2016 for her set design of The Things Are Against Us with Washington Ensemble Theatre. Her design for Rebel Kat Productions' Coriolanus: Fight Like A Bitch was nominated for the 2017 Gypsy Rose Lee Award.
In 2015, Julia received her Masters of Fine Arts in Scenic Design from the University of Washington.
While attending the University of Washington she designed scenery for William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (Thesis Production), Cold Empty Terrible (directed and devised by Whit MacLaughlin of Philadelphia's New Paradise Laboratories), The Real Inspector Hound by Tom Stoppard (directed by Desdemona Chang), Stop Kiss by Diana Son, and Cowboy Mouth by Sam Shepard and Patti Smith (directed by Jeffrey Frace). She designed costumes for William Inge's Bus Stop.
During her course of study, she had the honor to learn from and be mentored by Thomas P. Lynch, one of the theater industry's most prolific scenic designers. Her master's thesis, Nights One Through Eleven: The Creation of Twelfth Night, seeks to explain her experiences, growth, and design process which developed during her time in graduate school.
As a requirement for his graduate degree Julia spent ten weeks interning with noted designers in the Seattle community. She assisted scenic designer Walt Spangler on the The 5th Avenue Theater's new musical production A Room with a View and acted as a scenic design intern to Matthew Smucker on The Invisible Hand at ACT Theatre.
Prior to studying at the UW, Julia was chosen to participate in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's FAIR program where she served as a scenic apprentice during the 2012 season. Additionally, she was part of the Seattle Children's Theatre Education Internship program in 2009.
Julia received her Bachelor's of Arts in 2009 from the University of Puget Sound in Theater Arts, studying under local designer Kurt Walls. While at UPS she designed scenery for The Woman in Black and Beyond Therapy.
She lives in Seattle with her husband, Walter, and their growing collection of house plants.