Kate Eastwood Norris as The Librarian and Holly Twyford as The Mother in Bad Books at Round House Theatre. Photo by Margot Schulman.

A rotating set design created by AU Theatre/Musical Theatre Program Professor Meghan Raham allowed Round House Theatre’s world premiere of Sharyn Rothstein’s play Bad Books to be seen from every angle. The set won Raham a Hayes Award for Outstanding Set Design at the Helen Hayes Awards, the region’s top honors recognizing excellence in professional theatre across the Washington, DC, area.

The set featured illuminated bookshelves lined with thousands of currently banned books, all loaned from local residents’ personal collections. Creating the set posed an enormous logistical challenge, but it also became a powerful symbolic expression of the play’s engagement with controversial literature. “I am so grateful to the production team at Round House who took on that challenge, and to all those who loaned their own books,” says Raham. 

About the award: Named for the legendary First Lady of the American Theatre, Helen Hayes, the awards celebrate the artists and companies whose work makes the Washington, DC, area a thriving, nationally recognized theatre community.    

Learn more about the AU Theatre/Musical Theatre Program.