About Arthur Oliver

About Arthur Oliver

Arthur Oliver is an internationally recognized costume designer with a career that has presented his design work to the world via Internationally broadcast television and designs for theatre, film, dance, and opera on four major continents. 

He began his career in 1986 studying under the mentorship of Alan Armstrong (Professor Emeritus, UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television) and continued his studies at the Stratford Shakespearean Festival (Stratford, Ontario) under master designers Desmond Heeley and John Pennoyer.  In 1991 Arthur Oliver had his professional debut at the acclaimed Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts, under the Artistic Direction of Founder Tina Packer. 

His freelance career features work for multiple Tony award winner Jerry Mitchell, Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis, Karen Allen, John Douglas Thompson, Debra Jo Rupp, multiple Grammy winner James Taylor, two time Tony nominee Alison Fraser, and many others.  He has also designed for the American Repertory Theatre (A.R.T.), Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Stratford Shakespearean Festival, Shakespeare & Company, Berkshire Theatre Group, At Last Theatre of San Francisco, 59E59 Theatres, The New Victory Theatre, The Laurie Beechman, Roseland Ballroom, and numerous Regional Theatres and Opera companies in the United States. 

His production of Giselle is currently in repertory for the National Opera and Ballet of Lviv, Ukraine.  His fifth year of the North American tour of The Moscow Ballet's Great Russian Nutcracker has just expanded to tour with three companies spanning lower Canada and the entire United States.  

Arthur Oliver is refreshingly easy to work with. He is a highly collaborative designer with a unique style and ability to provide costumes which support the story, as well as the performer.
— Olympia Dukakis