Will Steven Armstrong designs

1946-1967

Stage designer Will Steven Armstrong (1930-1969) was born in New Orleans. He was a graduate of Louisiana State University and served in the U.S. Air Force in Korea. Armstrong received a Master's Degree from Yale University in 1957. After working as production designer for the Williamstown Summer Theatre (now Williamstown Theatre Festival) from 1955 to 1957, Armstrong came to New York to work under Boris Aronson, Jo Mielziner and Donald Oenslager. The American Shakespeare Festival (Stratford, Connecticut), Long Wharf Theatre, National Repertory Theatre, the Phoenix Theatre, and the New York City Opera were among the companies for which he designed sets, lighting, and costumes. His Broadway design credits include over 40 productions, winning a Tony award in 1962 for his set designs for Carnival! (Imperial Theatre, 1961). Armstrong also received an Obie award for his set designs for Ivanov (Renata Theatre, 1958). He was married to Jo Grady and they had a daughter, Sloane. Armstrong died while on vacation in New Mexico at the age of 39. Original costume and set designs by Will Steven Armstrong. American Shakespeare Festival Theatre productions included in the collection are Coriolanus (1965), Julius Caesar (1966), The merry wives of Windsor (1959), and Romeo and Juliet (1965). National Theatre productions represented are Mourning becomes Electra by Eugene O'Neill (1967) and The rivals by Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1965). There are also costume designs for The beaux stratagem by George Farquhar (1959) and a set and costume design for Lysistrata by Aristophanes (1959), both produced by the Phoenix Theatre. Other Broadway productions include The lion in winter by James Goldman, Ambassador Theatre (1966), Tchin-Tchin by Sidney Michaels, based on Francois Billetdoux's play, Plymouth Theatre (1962), and The wayward stork by Harry Tugend, Forty-sixth Street Theatre (1946).