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Using AI to Communicate Design Ideas in High School Theater

Design and Construction
September 04, 2025•4 min read

You’ve got the vision. The big, bold idea. But when it comes time to show your team what you mean? That’s when you blank.

Not every high school theater director has a design or art background. And that’s okay. Your strength is storytelling, collaboration, and creating safe, magical spaces for students to shine. But when you need to explain your idea for a set, costume, or lighting look and you just can’t articulate the image. Or, the person you are communicating to isn’t turning your words into the image in their own brain. They ask you for a sketch. Or a Pinterest board. Or something. 

AI can help.

I know. You just clutched your pearls. This is a very techy topic in artistic communities, and I completely understand why. My sons (both artists in their own fields) and I have passionate discussions about this. 

Let’s talk about how to use AI responsibly not to design your show, but to bridge the communication gap and help your team bring your vision to life.

What AI Can Do (and What It Can’t)

We know that AI pulls from the information it’s been trained on, millions of images and patterns it has analyzed. When you ask it to create something visually, it doesn’t paste together pieces of existing images. Instead, it uses what it has learned about shapes, colors, textures, and styles to generate a new image, pixel by pixel.

Think of it as a kind of super charged collage. Not in the sense of cutting and pasting old magazine clippings, but in how it assembles digital influences into a fresh visual. Sometimes the result is brilliant, sometimes not so much, but it’s always fast.

Tools like DALL·E, Canva AI, and others can produce style inspiration from just a prompt. You type in a description (“a small-town diner with neon signs and chrome counters”), and out comes an image. That image isn’t an original design, it’s an amalgamation of patterns learned from other images.

That distinction matters. Ethically, I wouldn’t take an AI image and call it a finished design. But, just like pulling out my Klimt book and saying, “I want it to have this feel,” generated visuals can help communicate ideas. They’re not the end product, they’re a conversation starter. Something your team can react to, refine, and build into a real design.

AI won’t (and shouldn't) replace your designers. But when you're a one person department, it can help you get your Pinterest board together so your team can use their skills to deliver your vision. 

For Directors Who Say, “But I’m not an artist”

You don’t need to be. You just need a tool that speaks in images, not just words. Here’s how to get started:

Use Descriptive Prompts
Think about mood, time period, color, and size. “A gloomy Victorian parlor with velvet curtains” will get you closer than “spooky set.”

Generate Options, Not Answers
Try three versions of a prompt. Compare them. Ask your team, “Which one feels closest?” Use these tools as a springboard, not a script.

Collaborate with Designers
Share your AI-generated images with students or team members. Ask them what works, what doesn’t, and what they’d change. They will see things you don't. Let that happen.

Teach the Process
Let your students see how you arrived at a visual. Show them it’s okay to experiment. That’s part of the process. As a director friend of mine says, if you end up with the design you started with, you don't have a design process.

Keep the Ethics in Sight
AI is a tool, and like any new tool, it has drawbacks and considerations. Talk to your students about how AI generates images, who owns them, and how to credit visual inspiration responsibly. It isn't a replacement for their own creativity (or yours!). Nurture that first.

Real-World Theater Uses

For me, the biggest use of AI isn't images, it's organization. Dropping information into tables, organizing calendars and schedules, and training it to recognize time sensitive tasks that can be ordered into a to do list has saved me hours. 

I've also used it to create forms specific to our program, I use Gemini (google's built in AI) to proof emails, and I've even used it Chat GPT to practice an ad pitch I was planning. It told me when my words were muffled, when I unintentionally repeated myself, and timed me so I didn't ramble. Not bad for when you don'\t have a human around to help you.

Final Notes

Using AI for theater directors isn’t about replacing artists or artistry. It's about unlocking communication and using tools to make your job smoother. So don’t worry if you can’t draw a straight line. You can use these tools to make your vision visible.

Want to discuss with us? Join the Backstage AIC community or visit the website. backstageaic.com

References:


AI set design, theater director toolsvisual aids for directorsstage design communication
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