Nic Ularu
Professor of Theatre, Author, Scenographer, Director
Dr. Nic Ularu is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of South Carolina (USA), where he headed the MFA Program in Theatre Design from 2001 to 2024. He is the founder and Artistic Director of UniArt Theatre Company (USA, since 1995) and Vice-President of the OISTAT Romanian Center.
He holds a Ph.D. summa cum laude in Theatre, with an emphasis in theatre direction, and an MFA in Scenography from the University of Arts in Bucharest. In Romania he was a scenographer at the National Romanian TV Studios (1980–1988), Artistic Director of Solaris Film (1990–1992) and Head of Scenography at the National Theatre Bucharest (1992–1994). He taught at the University of Theatre Arts and Film in Bucharest, the Danish National Theatre School in Copenhagen and Smith College before joining the University of South Carolina, and has been invited to teach and lead workshops at LaSalle College of Art in Singapore, the Academy of Performing Arts in Hong Kong, the New Zealand National Theatre School, DAMU in Prague, Central Saint Martin’s College of Arts and Design in London and many other schools in Europe, the USA and Asia.
Since 1980 he has designed more than 120 theatre and dance productions in Europe, the USA and Asia. As a playwright, director and designer he has created his own productions, among them The Cherry Orchard Sequel, The System, Hieronymus, The Switch and Fusions, presented at La MaMa ETC in New York and at the national theatres of Cluj and Iași, as well as The Other Death of Joan of Arc and The Last Night of Socrates by Stefan Tanev. Since 1998 he has been resident designer of The Talking Band Theatre Company in New York. As a film production designer he worked on Dan Piţa’s films, including Hotel de Lux, awarded the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival (1992).
His awards include an OBIE Award for outstanding achievement in Off-Broadway productions (2003), the Grand Prix of the Slavija International Theatre Festival for The Other Death of Joan of Arc (2014), Doctor Honoris Causa of the Arts University of Târgu Mureș (2024), the OISTAT Lifetime Contribution award (2025) and Fulbright Senior Specialist Awards (2013, 2026). He was the curator of the Romanian national exhibition (1995) and the leading designer and curator of the USA national exhibit (2007) at the Prague Quadrennial, and the curator and designer of the international costume exhibition Costume in Action in Bucharest (2024).
He is the author of the books Off-Off Broadway Phenomenon and the novel Hieronymus (2023), as well as numerous articles on scenography and design.
At MasterLab 2026 he gave lectures and masterclasses in directing and scenography.