Acclaimed Broadway Set Designer Anna Louizos, Three-Time Tony Nominee, Dies at 69
According to CinemaDrame News Agency, Anna Louizos, the prolific Broadway set designer and three-time Tony Award nominee whose brilliant designs brought to life productions such as Avenue Q, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights, School of Rock, Steel Magnolias, and the 2012 revival of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, passed away on August 25 in New York City from multiple myeloma. She was 69.
Her death was announced by her husband, prominent producer Robyn Goodman. Goodman noted that Louizos’s passing followed a series of health complications originating from a horseback riding accident during a vacation in Greece last year.
Born on June 24, 1957, in Marysville, California, Louizos moved to New York City to study acting at New York University. As her talent for visual arts became apparent, she shifted her focus to scenic design, eventually earning a Master of Fine Arts from the Tisch School of the Arts.
One of her earliest major assignments was art directing the 1993 Tony Awards telecast, which earned her an Emmy nomination. Her early career as an associate scenic designer on Broadway during the 1990s and early 2000s included productions such as The Red Shoes, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and under the guidance of her beloved mentor Tony Walton, Larger Than Life and Uncle Vanya.
She served as the principal scenic designer for the hit 2003 musical and unexpected Tony Award winner Avenue Q. Her designs continued with the show’s transfer to Off-Broadway, London, Las Vegas, and national tours. Her depiction of a run-down New York outer-borough street block became one of the visual hallmarks of Avenue Q and remains part of its ongoing revival staging in London’s West End.
Louizos earned three Tony Award nominations for Best Scenic Design for High Fidelity (2006), In the Heights (2008), and The Mystery of Edwin Drood (2012). For these productions, she recreated, respectively, a vintage record shop, the vibrant modern streets of Washington Heights, and a 19th-century English cathedral town.
Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote in a social media post: “I will never forget the first time my wife Vanessa saw the set of In the Heights; tears welled in her eyes and she said, ‘How did you get my street block onto this stage?’ It was a sentiment I heard again and again from residents of Washington Heights and people around the world: That’s my block, that’s my home. That was the gift of Anna Louizos, our unforgettable, brilliant set designer and friend… She built us a set and a home so authentic that it still echoes in every subsequent production.”
He added: “Looking out my window this morning at the very block where my wife grew up, I am still amazed at how she brought it all to the stage. She built our home. Thank you, Anna. Forever.”
Her extensive Broadway credits also include the fairytale grandeur of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Honeymoon in Vegas, Curtains, White Christmas, Steel Magnolias, High Holiday, Golda’s Balcony, The Performers, Dames at Sea, All About Me, Baby It’s You!, To Be or Not to Be, and It Shoulda Been You, all staged during the first two decades of the 21st century. In 2003, she also served as art director for several episodes of the series Sex and the City.
Louizos was equally active Off-Broadway and in regional theater, designing for Jonathan Larson’s tick, tick… BOOM!, Sons of the Prophet, Charles Busch’s The Olive and the Bitter Herb, Crimes of the Heart, and The Foreigner.
Recently, Louizos designed the set for the Broadway-bound musical Regency Girls, which had its world premiere earlier this year at the Old Globe in San Diego. Other recent regional credits include Fiddler on the Roof starring Jason Alexander, West Side Story, Peter Pan, and 18 productions at the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, Pennsylvania.
In 2011, Louizos founded the Broadway Design Exchange, an online marketplace where artists, designers, and craftspeople from the entertainment community could share and sell their work. The organization paid tribute to Louizos on its Instagram page: “Fifteen years ago, Anna had a dream: to create a space where the incredible artists, designers, and artisans of our entertainment community could share their work with enthusiasts. That dream became the Broadway Design Exchange. But Anna built far more than a marketplace; she built a community. A place where designers could be recognized for the extraordinary work that often happens behind the scenes, where fans and collectors could own a small piece of that magic, and perhaps most importantly, a space that felt like family. Anna was our fearless leader, our champion, our creative force, and our friend. Her generosity, humor, talent, and huge heart touched so many lives. We are devastated by this loss.”
Louizos and Goodman, who were together for 29 years, were married in 2013. In addition to her wife, she is survived by her mother, Diana Louizos; her brother, Nicholas Louizos; her sister, Despina Veltman; her nephews, Nico and Alex Veltman; her brother-in-law, Clyde Veltman; and her sister-in-law, Nancylie Wydra.
