Course Foundation: Theatrical Design Meets Themed Entertainment
I created Entertainment and Collaboration during my first year as a full-time professor at Stephens College, and it remains one of the highlights of my teaching career. The course emerged during the College’s transition to a Conservatory model, and I saw an opportunity to address a meaningful gap in traditional theatrical design education. With a background in both academia and professional design, I wanted to give students an honest window into the broader design industries—spaces where theatre artists could thrive, but were rarely taught to see themselves.
The course was built to bridge the rich storytelling of theatrical design with the demands and opportunities of commercial entertainment. I wanted students to apply their skills to areas like theme parks, immersive dining, film and television, and brand-based experience design. I knew that many students had never considered these paths as valid or accessible, and I wanted to change that.
The class alternates annually between a focus on Themed Entertainment and Film & Television Design, giving students a well-rounded set of tools and exposure to multiple formats. It's specifically designed for second- and third-year production students and encourages repeat enrollment: first in a support role, then in a leadership role. This cycle simulates the kind of progression they’ll experience in a creative career.
Depending on the year, students explore how scenic design, costume, branding, and visual storytelling apply within either a themed entertainment or a film/TV context. Themed entertainment years focus on environmental storytelling, branding, spatial design, and immersive narrative environments. In film/TV years, students concentrate on cinematic design principles, script-based analysis, and production workflows specific to media and screen-based storytelling processes.
More than anything, I built this class to empower students. To show them that the work they do in a theatre classroom has value far beyond the black box. That with the right mindset, collaboration, and a few new tools, they can shape the future of storytelling environments—not just react to them.
Structured Learning Path: From Theory to Practice
The structure of Entertainment and Collaboration adapts each year depending on whether the course focuses on themed entertainment or film/TV. What follows reflects the structure used during the themed entertainment iteration—the one that produced the Ghibli restaurant project highlighted in this post.
The course is divided into four interconnected phases:
- Contextual Grounding: Students begin with lectures on the history and theory of experiential design.
- Industry Perspective: Guest speakers from theatre, film, and themed entertainment join via Zoom to offer professional insight and portfolio critique.
- Independent Project: A short individual assignment bridges lecture content and collaborative practice.
- Collaborative Studio Simulation: The class operates as a design studio team tasked with a professional-scale final pitch project.
Historical and conceptual topics included ancient Roman and Baroque garden design, medieval fairs and pageant wagons, World’s Fairs and early amusement parks, Disneyland, and the emergence of narrative environments. These discussions introduced environmental storytelling, audience interaction, multisensory design, and the cultural roles of themed space.
In the final phase, students self-organized into specialized leadership roles including art director, project manager, interior designer, uniform designer, menu developer, and presentation lead. Together, the group set internal milestones, delegated work, and delivered a fully imagined final presentation modeled after an industry pitch.
Featured Project: Studio Ghibli Immersive Restaurant
Concept Development Process
This showcase project simulated real-world entertainment design challenges within a condensed five-week timeline. The all-costume design major student team approached the assignment with minimal previous spatial modeling experience, highlighting the course's focus on adaptability and cross-disciplinary application.
Project parameters established deliverable requirements without dictating creative direction:
- Brand identity system
- Comprehensive menu design
- 3D scenic modeling and layout
- Staff uniform designs
- Video walkthrough presentation
Students independently generated all spatial and narrative decisions by starting with an empty SketchUp file representing a blank restaurant shell. After concept exploration, they selected Studio Ghibli films as their thematic foundation.
Market research led to the selection of Atlanta, Georgia, as the ideal location, citing a strong local anime fan community, a vibrant food culture scene, demographic alignment with the target audience, and growth potential in the themed entertainment market.
Spatial Design and Narrative Integration
The team transformed the blank model into a fully realized themed restaurant with a main dining area inspired by My Neighbor Totoro, five side rooms tied to individual Ghibli films, and a themed retail space extending the guest experience.
- Main dining area inspired by My Neighbor Totoro, with natural textures and dappled lighting
- Five themed side rooms representing Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and My Neighbor Totoro
- A themed retail space extending the guest experience
Each area featured custom scenic treatments, atmospheric lighting design, and character-specific environmental storytelling elements.
Brand Extensions and Guest Experience
The immersive concept extended beyond spatial design to include film-inspired uniforms, a custom menu with playful dishes like Soot Sprite Macarons, themed cocktails, and branded merchandise concepts for the retail space.
Students learned to use SketchUp for spatial modeling and Twinmotion for animated walkthroughs with integrated lighting effects, building a presentation language that felt much closer to professional themed entertainment pitching than a standard classroom project.
Skill Development and Professional Applications
The five-week project yielded measurable growth across technical proficiency, professional practice, transferable design skills, and leadership development.
Technical Proficiency
- Rapid acquisition of 3D modeling and visualization software skills
- Translation of 2D design principles into spatial planning concepts
- Implementation of environmental storytelling techniques
Professional Practice
- Development of industry-aligned project management workflows
- Creation of client-ready presentation materials and pitch techniques
- Collaborative problem-solving under realistic timeline constraints
Transferable Design Skills
- Application of costume design principles to branded uniforms and environmental aesthetics
- Adaptation of narrative structure to physical space progression
- Integration of sensory design elements into cohesive guest experiences
Leadership Development
- Implementation of studio-style role specialization and accountability
- Peer-to-peer feedback integration and design iteration processes
- Cross-disciplinary communication and collaborative decision-making
This comprehensive simulation prepared students for diverse career paths in themed entertainment firms, immersive dining concepts, museum exhibition design, and environmental storytelling practice.
Visual Showcase
Main Room
Ghibli’s Delights invites guests into a fully realized storybook setting, where the boundary between dining and narrative dissolves. At the heart of the space stands a monumental weeping willow tree, its canopy transforming the room into a lush, animated forest. Lanterns glow softly over curved wooden booths, while hand-crafted props—miniature planes, ribbons, and characters—float above, evoking the wonder of Studio Ghibli films. The visual layering and organic materials create a welcoming environment that feels both fantastical and grounded.
The experience extends beyond architecture to include costume and graphic design. Staff uniforms echo the restaurant’s nature-forward palette, and the illustrated menu reinforces the tone with items like No Face Sushi and Kiki’s Chocolate Cake. Together, these elements build a cohesive, multisensory environment that blends hospitality, animation, and themed entertainment design.
My Neighbor Totoro
The My Neighbor Totoro room is an intimate, forest-nestled hideaway designed to transport guests directly into the rural charm and magical realism of the film. Anchored by a life-sized Totoro holding a leaf umbrella, the space uses warm wood textures, mossy green walls, and a ceiling of interwoven branches to evoke the enchanted woods of the story.
The experience is brought to life through more than décor. Staff uniforms echo the film’s warm palette, directly referencing Mei’s yellow and orange outfit and Totoro’s soft grey tones. On the menu, Grandma’s Ohagi Mochi and Soot Sprite Macaroons continue the world-building through food.
Princess Mononoke
The Princess Mononoke side room immerses guests in a forest sanctuary that honors the spiritual and environmental themes of the film. Natural textures define the space—from stone flooring and tree trunk columns to vine-covered walls and forest canopy lighting. A life-sized Forest Spirit sculpture watches over the room while Kodama figures observe from surrounding shelves.
The themed experience is supported by costuming and cuisine that reinforce the film’s reverence for nature. Uniforms draw on Ashitaka’s palette and San’s tribal earth tones, while menu items like Tree Spirit Cake Balls and the Spirit of the Forest cocktail extend the story into the guest experience.
Ponyo
Bright, buoyant, and overflowing with childhood whimsy, the Ponyo side room plunges guests into an underwater fantasy teeming with charm. Rock formations, fish tank columns, suspended sea creatures, and playful bubble details evoke the film’s aquatic sequences, while a raindrop-inspired chandelier lights the vivid blue walls.
Costumes and menu design extend the tone. The Bucket Dirt Cake and Essence of the Sea drink turn the dining experience into a playful extension of Ponyo’s world, keeping the space accessible to families while maintaining a strong visual identity.
Spirited Away
Inspired by the mysterious bathhouse of Spirited Away, this side room becomes a dimly lit lounge where guests can unwind in the ambiance of the spirit realm. Deep red walls, glowing lanterns, cherry blossom branches, and No-Face masks shape a space that feels both elegant and uncanny.
Uniforms nod to Chihiro’s transformation, and the menu features Steam Buns and Sponge Cake as modest but iconic references to her journey. The room functions as a quiet portal into the world of spirits, where a meal becomes part of the story.
Howl's Moving Castle
The Howl’s Moving Castle room captures the enchanting clutter and romantic mystique of Howl’s traveling home. Deep red wallpaper, eclectic wall art, ornate masks, chandeliers, stained glass details, and velvet upholstery create a richly layered interior inspired by the film’s balance of opulence and chaos.
Staff uniforms echo Howl’s palette and Sophie’s hat shop aesthetic, while themed menu items like Sophie’s Hat Cookies and Turnip Head Skewers extend the room’s nostalgia and wit into the guest experience.
