Mac Young is an actor, director, and scenic designer who delights in creating innovative performance spaces. His design work is an attempt to create distinct visual worlds with minimal means, and dynamic arrangements of space that create rich possibilities for performers.
Mac has a background in construction, graphic design, and technical drawing going back to his teenage years, when he learned carpentry on the job with his father. A graduate of Bennington College, where he studied directing and performance, his early work with collaborative ensembles led him to apply his construction background to stagecraft. He has made his living since then as a scene-shop carpenter, scenic designer, and technical director, alongside his other work on stage.
Mac has acted, built, designed, and directed (though rarely all at once) with such Boston-area companies as Imaginary Beasts, Whistler in the Dark, New Rep, Huntington Theatre company, Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Fiddlehead Theatre, Lyric Stage, Wheelock Family Theatre, Magnificent Bastard Productions, and the Martha's Vineyard Playhouse.
He loves designing and performing in found spaces, unique audience layouts, integrating projection in multi-layered ways, and sets that unfold through time.
"The theatre’s essential need was for a defined and permanent artificiality that shall give the actor scope... This splendid room does not obtrude with its mirrors and its tapestries. Always the living actor, driving his message directly at the spectator, dominates them all.” -Lee Simonson
OUTSIDE THE THEATER
Outside the theater, Mac’s interests mirror the same sense of craft and storytelling that defines his stage work. A skilled builder and designer, he approaches construction with an artist’s eye and a historian’s respect—honoring the integrity of past materials, craftsmanship, and architectural forms. Each project becomes an act of preservation and reinterpretation, blending traditional methods with sustainable practices that respect both heritage and environment.
This balance between artistry and responsibility guides his approach beyond the stage. Whether restoring an old structure or experimenting with reclaimed materials, he brings the same creative curiosity and discipline that shape his theatrical world—ensuring that every space, much like every scene, tells a story rooted in authenticity, purpose, and care for the world it inhabits.
