Steven Koop first completed an apprenticeship as a cabinetmaker before studying architecture. His diploma thesis already focused on the design of a theater. He was raised in Germany, with family roots in Scotland. From this combination of craftsmanship and architecture emerges a scenographic practice that connects space, body, and costume.
This approach shaped his early professional work and led him to the State Theater Karlsruhe, where he worked for several years as an assistant stage designer, contributing to numerous productions in drama, opera, dance and musical. During this time, he also created his first own stage designs and designed twelve productions for the Schlaglichterfestivals, a platform for contemporary international drama.
The German-language premiere of ALLES (Todos) by Argentine playwright and director Rafael Spregelburd received nationwide attention and marked an important step in his ongoing exploration of virtual and mediated space on stage. This research led to a collaboration with South African director Kobie van Rensburg. For opera houses in Chemnitz, Krefeld/Mönchengladbach, and Oviedo, he developed productions using live-camera and bluescreen technology, including La Cenerentola, The Barber of Seville, The Magic Flute, and Rinaldo by George Frideric Handel.
Alongside his artistic work, he curated the lecture series BACKSTAGE – Theatre / Stage / Film at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, focusing on the relationship between video and space in performance. Guest speakers included the media artists Adrien M & Claire B (Lyon) and the opera video collective fettFILM (Leipzig).
In MUSICAL theater, he has designed more than twenty productions, including Cabaret, My Fair Lady, The Rocky Horror Show, Chicago, Sunset Boulevard, Sweeney Todd, and Jesus Christ Superstar, as well as lesser known works such as Next to Normal, Rent, Lucky Stiff, and The Drowsy Chaperone.
In the field of DANCE, he worked at the State Theatre Karlsruhe with dancer and choreographer Terence Kohler, assisting the development of his early works. Anna Karenina marked his first full-length narrative ballet, followed by La Bayadère (design: Jordi Roig). He was also responsible for the technical realisation of Swan Lake(choreography: Christopher Wheeldon, design: Adrian Lobell) in a production of the Philadelphia Ballet at the State Theatre Karlsruhe under the direction of Birgit Keil.
From 2012 to 2023, Steven Koop held a lectureship in Stage Design / Scenography and Building in Existing Structures, with a focus on cultural buildings, at the Faculty of Architecture at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences.
Since the 2025/2026 season, Steven Koop has been working as Head of Stage and Costume Design at Stadttheater Pforzheim alongside his freelance work.
https://www.operabase.
www.musicalzentrale.de
www.unitedmusicals.de/person/steven-koop
OFFICE FOR EMOTIONAL DESIGN
steven koop
bachstraße 4
76185 karlsruhe
m +49 (0) 179 77 59 65 2
info@steven-koop.de
logo and title OFFICE FOR EMOTIONAL DESIGN is a hommage to the multimedia artist
