Natalie Taylor Hart designs Off-Broadway play “Tech Support”

Prof. Hart is designing scenery for two plays in New York and was accepted into the professional designer's union.

Associate Professor of Performing Arts Natalie Taylor Hart has designed scenery for the Off-Broadway premiere of “Tech Support,” a play that opened at 59E59 in Manhattan on Sept. 4, 2019. The play was written and directed by Debra Whitfield and produced by Chatillion Stage Company. Hart worked with Whitfield previously on Slave Shackat the Algonquin Theatre.

“Tech Support” follows technophobe Pamela Stark as she accidentally travels through time while staying in her own apartment near the South Street Seaport. She stumbles into a quest for authentic connections and a simpler life.

Hart’s design accommodates several decades from 1919 to the near future, all set within a world suggestive of the technology that has connected us throughout these time periods. Reviewers called the scenery “stunning” and said the scenery was “clever and really uses the space perfectly.”

During summer 2019, Hart was accepted by exam into IATSE Local USA 829, the professional union of theatre and film designers. The union provides collective bargaining for professional design contracts and many support services.

Hart will return to New York in October to design an Off-Off-Broadway production of “Tartuffe” featuring an all-female cast. It will be produced by Titan Theatre Company at the Queens Theatre. Tamir Eplan-Frankel ’20, who is majoring in theatrical design and technology, will design the music and sound effects for the play.