A graduate of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts founded by Sir Paul McCartney, Olga Skumiał has learnt the ropes of lighting design in north England's and London's theatres. She worked with Liverpool's Unity and Everyman and Playhouse, Manchester's The Lowry, and Sadler’s Wells in London.
In the course of her career, she has collaborated with Peter Mumford and Lucy Carter, winners of the Lawrence Olivier Award, and reached the semifinals of the Limbury Prize, a prestigious biennial set design competition held by the National Theatre in London. She has designed lightning for plays, dance pieces, and musicals, including Absolute Dance (directed by Lissie Perry; Unity Theatre), Snowbound (directed by Dan Bird, Sennheiser Studio), INNIT (directed by Mike Dacks, The Lowry), Breaking Boundaries (directed by Lissie Perry, Jacqueline Jones et al., Paul McCartney Auditorium, Liverpool), Judy & Liza (directed by Rita Handerson, The Capston Theatre, Liverpool), and Seven (directed by Jacqueline Jones, Paul McCartney Auditorium, Liverpool; Art Depot, London), for which she also devised the set design.
She designed the installation The Wave shown at Tate Liverpool as part of an exhibition marking the Turner Prize competition. Back in Poland, she acted as assistant to Felice Ross when developing the operas Don Giovanni (directed by Mariusz Treliński), The Flying Dutchman (directed by Mariusz Treliński), and Halka (directed Natalia Korczakowska) for the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera.
Ms Skumiał designed the set and lighting of a brithday gala of the Fabryka Trzciny Art Centre in Warsaw and collaborated with Chasper Bertschinger on Rene Pollesch's play Jackson Pollesch at the Rozmaitości Theatre, Warsaw. She lives in Manchester, working as lightning and set designer for theatre and TV (including the BBC).
