David Zinn

David Zinn is a costume and scenic designer based in New York, New York. He has been nominated ten times for Tony Awards for both his costume designs and scenic designs. He has won two Best Scenic Design for a Play awards (The Humans in 2016 and Stereophonic in 2024), and one Best Scenic Design in a Musical award (SpongeBob SquarePants in 2018). He has over 80 Off-Broadway credits in his lifetime.

Early life Zinn was born on Bainbridge Island, near Seattle, Washington. He wanted to be an actor and then moved backstage to start designing in middle school. After using his high school career at Bainbridge High School to work in and around Seattle and Bainbridge Island, Zinn decided to move to New York City. Zinn attended New York University's (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts for his MFA in Design for Stage and Film, where he said he was most influenced by musicals and by avant-garde theatre like the Wooster Group.

Career Soon after leaving NYU, Zinn went to work as a costume designer for regional theater. After a big break at Santa Fe Opera, which featured his scenic and costume designs, he became known for both aspects of his work. He then went on to work in several Off-Broadway theater for years. He also worked closely with Target Margin Theater Company, headed by David Herskovits and graduate school friend Lenore Doxsee.

In 2010 Zinn worked on Broadway with his costume designs for Xanadu. He then went on to design costumes on Broadway for A Tale of Two Cities, In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play), Good People, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Other Desert Cities, The Other Place, Picnic, Rocky, Airline Highway, and An Act of God as well as scenic designs for The Realistic Joneses, Violet, The Real Thing, The Humans, and Present Laughter, and scenic and costume designs for Seminar, The Last Ship, Fun Home, Amélie, and SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical.

Awards and nominations

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