Vincent Olivieri's design for Mother Russia selected for U.S. National Exhibit at 2027 Prague Quadrennial

Design and score from the Seattle Repertory Theatre premiere will travel to Prague

Vincent Olivieri, professor and head of design at UC Irvine Claire Trevor School of the Arts Department of Drama, has been selected for the U.S. National Exhibit at the 2027 Prague Quadrennial (PQ) with his design and score for Lauren Yee's Mother Russia. Olivieri created the work for the play's world premiere at Seattle Repertory Theatre in February 2025 and was directed by Nicholas C. Avila. PQ is the world's foremost theater design event, sometimes called the Olympics of theater design, and the selection followed a highly competitive process.

"Being included in the U.S. National Exhibit for the Prague Quadrennial Design Exhibition is a great honor for any theater designer," said Olivieri. "PQ is an opportunity for countries to recognize the best of theatre design, and it's a chance for designers to meet each other and be inspired by the vast expanse of great theatre work that is being done around the globe. The art of theater involves temporality — no play runs forever — so it's really thrilling to know that my work on Lauren Yee's text will live on in another form."

The selection marks a return to PQ for Olivieri, whose work was part of the 2007 exhibition and whose sound art installation appeared in the 2011 exhibition. The U.S. exhibits will preview in February at Wayne State University in Detroit, where they are being built, and again in March at the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) Conference & Stage Expo in Baltimore before traveling to Prague.

Olivieri also serves as graduate advisor for the M.F.A. sound design program at UCI Arts. He has designed sound and composed music for productions on and off Broadway, at regional theaters across the country and abroad, with his work heard everywhere from Nigeria to South Korea. Recent credits include productions at Gulfshore Playhouse, The National World War II Museum in New Orleans and venues in Poland and Czechia. A specialist in spatial audio, Olivieri is also working with UCI professor Mike Hooker on a university-level textbook for teaching the subject.

For more information about the 2027 Prague Quadrennial, visit here. To learn more about Vincent Olivieri, visit his Department of Drama bio page here.