Based primarily in New York, Sarah Lambert has designed over 160 productions in the last 30 years. Though primarily a set designer, she has long been involved in the development of new work, as designer and as a dramaturg.
Recent collaborations with Writer/Director Leigh Fondakowski include design and dramaturgy for SPILL (EST in NYC, TimeLine Theater in Chicago, Swine Palace at LSU, Naropa, NOCCA, and Wesleyan) and The People’s Temple (commissioned by Z-Space and produced regionally by Berkeley Rep, Perseverance Theatre, The Guthrie and ACT, Chicago) as well as her current work-in-progress, Casa Cushman (Tectonic Theater Project). Previously with Tectonic Theater Project, she designed multiple workshops and productions of Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, written and directed by Moisés Kaufman, (in New York: the world premiere at Greenwich House and the subsequent transfer to the Minetta Lane, in San Francisco: at the Theater on the Square, in Los Angeles: at the Mark Taper Forum, in Toronto: at Canadian Stage, in Plymouth, England: at the Theater Royal, the subsequent London transfer to the Geilgud Theater, in the West End and more recently, her design was used in a restaging of the piece in Caracas, Venezuela and was going to be used in the quashed Moscow production.) Previously, with Moisés and Tectonic, she designed Marlowe’s Eye by Naomi Iizuka in NYC. She also was a company member and dramaturg on The Laramie Project, recently revived at BAM.
Sarah is also an Artistic Associate with Theater of Necessity in NYC. Dramaturgy and designs include Playing Alexina (workshopped in NYC and Orlando, Shakespearefest Playfest '07) Stunt Man, Mephisto and Measure For Measure for Measure (all produced in NYC). She was also resident set designer for The National Asian American Theatre Company in NYC, designing productions of Falsettoland, The House of Bernarda Alba, Ivanov, Tales of Unrest, Air Raid, Fuenteovejuna, Othello, Long Day's Journey into Night, Ah Wilderness!, The School for Wives, and The Cherry Orchard to name a few favorites.
Other design credits include Spectators at an Event (a dance piece for Susan Marshall and Company, Brooklyn Academy of Music Next Wave Festival & tour.) For Lincoln Center Institute and Crossroads Theatre, she designed Fly, developed and directed by Ricardo Khan and The Adventures of Fishy Waters: In Bed with the Blues, created and performed by Guy Davis and directed by Ricardo Khan. Additional regional credits include: Seattle Rep, George Street Playhouse, Crossroads Theater, Playmaker's Rep, Perseverance Theatre, Yale Rep, Passage Theatre, Simply Classic Theatre, Penguin Rep, Barrington Stage, and Cape May Stage. She has designed for numerous Off and Off-Off Broadway companies in NYC (including Ma-Yi, Second Generation, The Pearl, The Mint, Watermark, Cucaracha, New George’s, Soho Rep, Theater Asylum, and NADA) and many colleges (including Yale, Cornell, Barnard, NYU, University of Michigan, Naropa, East Stroudsburg University, The University of New Haven, Hunter College, City College, Queens College, and Marymount Manhattan.) She has taught design at Cornell University, Hunter College and Queens College (CUNY), and has been a visiting artist at Naropa University. In addition to theater, she also worked as an event designer for The Herson Group/Ideas Inc. on capital campaign events for Texas A&M, Ithaca College, and the University of Chicago.
Many years ago, she assisted lighting designer David Hersey on Les Misérables and Starlight Express (Broadway), Chess, Made in Bangkok, and Woman in Mind (London), and Cats (Hamburg). She worked as a draftsman and model builder for many Broadway shows including Sunset Boulevard, The Lion King, Aida and Beauty and the Beast.
She has a BA from Cornell (’85, College Scholar Program, magna cum laude) and a MFA from Yale (’90, the Donald M. Oenslager Stage Design Scholarship, and the Micunis/Kobrin Design Scholarship). She is a member of United Scenic Artists, IATSE local 829