Paul Tate dePoo III, Set and Production Designer

Arts Unscripted with Monica Holt · Mar 5, 2026 · 37m · transcript

Before audiences fall in love with a story, they fall into a world—one shaped by the unseen artistry that turns empty space into something alive.

Set and production designer Paul Tate dePoo III has built a career shaping the physical environments that hold our favorite stories. From intimate stages to large-scale productions, his work lives at the intersection of architecture, storytelling, and psychology, where space itself becomes a character.

In this episode, Paul reflects on how ideas move from sketch to stage, the collaborative nature of his work, and the responsibility designers carry…