Theatre Department Faculty

Crystal Tiala

Professor

Department

Theatre

Profile

Crystal Tiala is a scenic designer and Chair of the Boston College Arts Council.

In addition to designing scenery at Boston College, her professional credits include designing at regional theaters such as Stoneham Theater, Emerson Cutler Majestic, the Boston Conservatory, StageWest, The SpeakEasy Theater, Merrimack Repertory Theater, and Worcester Foothills Theatre in Massachusetts; Barter Theater of Virginia; Bristol Riverside Theater in Pennsylvania; Two Rivers Theater in New Jersey, The Rybinsk Theater in Rybinsk, Russia; The American Stage Festival in New Hampshire; the Connecticut Repertory Theater, Connecticut Opera, Trinity College, and the University of Hartford in Connecticut.

As a professional scenic designer and union member of the United Scenic Artist local 829, she has completed over 125 scenic designs in regional and educational theaters on the East Coast and abroad. Various other experiences include: interior design, event design, charge scenic artist, and lead construction on the films Lincoln, Pet Semetary, and Heart of Dixie.
Crystal has served in previous years as the Chair of The United States Institute of Theater Technology/New England Section, Chair of Design and Technology for Region 1 of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival and Advisor for the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry of Connecticut.

She has an MFA in Scenic Design from the University of Connecticut, and a BA in Interior Design from the University of Mississippi.

Research Interests

My primary research is the creative artistry in the field of scenic design that combines visual composition, organizing architectural space and impacting an audience viscerally.

My secondary research explores the formative impact of a college education in the arts. This qualitative study seeks to understand how participating in the arts develops students academically, socially, spiritually and morally.