Whisper House
By Duncan Shiek and Kyle Jarrow, The Old Globe, dir: Peter Askin

"There's the lighthouse, a place perched on the boundary of two worlds, a kind of way station (or purgatory) both for the ghosts who never finished their business in life, and the living who haven't figured out what their purpose is. The weathered surfaces and rusted towering spiral stairs of Michael Schweikardt's dramatic cutaway set emphasizes the porous boundaries between the humans' refuge and the great beyond (the ocean or otherwise); given the ghostly content his lighthouse is aptly skeletal"
-James Herbert. San Diego Union Tribune.

"Michael Schweikardt's set is an expressionistic wonder: the lighthouse stripped of it's walls, topped by a huge light and anchored by a large spiral staircase."
-Paul Hodgins, The Orange County Register



Bloodsong Of Love A Rock And Roll Spaghetti Western
By Joe Iconis, Ars Nova, dir John Simpkins

"The director, John Simpkins, effectively manages the traffic in the confined space of Ars Nova. One amusing touch: the small treadmill built into the nifty set, by Michael Schweikardt, on which the Musician and Banana troop with grim determination in their quest for revenge."
-Charles Isherwood, The New York Times.

"Director John Simpkins deploys his ensemble...ably, and the action unfolds with flair and rapidity, thanks in no small part to Michael Schweikardt's clever set design."
-Andy Probst, Backstage.



Talley's Folly
By Lanford Wilson, Pittsburgh Public Theater, dir Pamela Berlin
"They share a magnificent world; scenic designer Michael Schweikardt has constructed a breathtaking set, one of the finest of the year."
-Robert Isenberg, Pittsburgh City Paper

"Talley's Folly, Lanford Wilson's Pulitzer Prize winning play, is an intimate, touching and humorous piece and a perfect play for the O'Reilly Theater. The set that has been built per Michael Schweikardt's design is detailed and realistic, depicting a 1944 boathouse/gazebo and dock, complete with bobbing rowboat, that have seen better days. If a set could be described as "full-bodied" it would be this one, as it fits snug and compact, but not crowded, on the O'Reilly's thrust stage. This setting, along with the fourth-wall-breaking introduction by Matt, one of the play's two characters, draws the audience in like a friendly embrace. It's clear from the start that, serene though this setting is, there's a rocky road to be traveled over the next 97 minutes."
-Ann Miner, Talkinbroadway.com



1776
By Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone, Goodspeed Musicals, dir: Rob Ruggiero

"Goodspeed Musicals’ revival of 1776 was the first time I’d seen Peter Stone’s rousing salute to the Founding Fathers onstage since the original road-show version came to St. Louis 35 years ago. That production was a spectacular piece of work whose quick-change set (designed by the legendary Jo Mielziner) is still clear in my mind’s eye. I wondered how Goodspeed could squeeze the whole show onto the tiny stage of it’s 130-year-old theater without breaking something, but no sooner did the red-white-and-blue curtain go up on Michael Schweikardt’s handsome-looking version of the Chamber of the Continental Congress than I knew I was in good hands. Goodspeed’s 1776 is a masterpiece of compression, a production that more than makes up in stylishness for what it lacks in costly gimmickry."

-Terry Teachout, The Wall Street Journal


"When the curtain rises on Michael Schweikardt’s stunning diorama of a set for 1776, it’s like seeing a living portrait of a great moment from history."

-Frank Rizzo, Variety


"1776 is a bracing, perfectly pitched production at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam. Michael Schweikardt turns the theater’s small, Victorian-era stage into a terrific asset, concentrating the action and the emotions within a Wedgwood-blue backdrop of federal columns, cornices and pediments."

-Sylviane Gold, The New York Times



Big River
By Roger Miller and William Hauptman, Goodspeed Musicals, dir: Rob Ruggiero

"There’s no way to get to the Goodspeed Opera House from any direction without coming face to face with the grandeur of the Connecticut River, broad and beautiful as it passes the theater’s boat dock and the town of East Haddam. So pity the set designer Michael Schweikardt. With all that scenery right outside the door, he had to somehow conjure up the mighty Mississippi on Goodspeed’s small, 19th-century stage, so that those two all-American runaways, Jim the slave and Huckleberry Finn, could float their raft downstream to the music of Roger Miller. He did it. After the rough boards that serve as backdrop for the opening scenes of Big River fall away, a luminous expanse of meandering stream, grassy mudflat and open sky materializes on the stage. As lighted by John Lasiter, the painted landscape takes us through days and nights on the Mississippi that might seduce Mark Twain himself."

-Sylviane Gold, The New York Times



Barnum
By Cy Coleman, Michael Stewart, Mark Bramble, Asolo Repertory Theatre/Maltz Jupiter Theater, dir: Gordon Greenberg

"But it is the entire production package, designed by Michael Schweikardt, that is the most memorable aspect of the evening. The circus will have a hard act to follow the next time it comes to town."

-Hap Erstein, TCPalm News