World Stage Design (WSD) is an international quadrennial festival of OISTAT to connect creators, practitioners, artists, and audiences in celebration of the work of performance designers, theatre architects, and technicians in the context of theatre, performance, and live events. WSD has become a big umbrella undertaking OISTAT World Congress and four distinct events, International Theatre Design Exhibition, Scenofest, Theatre Architecture Competition (TAC), and Technical Invention Prize (TIP).
Since WSD’s first establishment in Toronto, Canada in 2005, WSD has taken place in a different city/country/continent every 4 years bringing together international practitioners, professionals, and students to meet and exchange work and research practices, promote collaboration, and expand networks across the world. WSD occurs at two-year intervals with the Prague Quadrennial (PQ), an important exhibition of performance design and theatre architecture in the world. As separate international organizations, OISTAT and the PQ complement each other’s efforts and inject new energy into the fields of performance design, theatre architecture, performance research, and stage technology.
The exhibition is co-organized by OISTAT and an OISTAT Centre every four years in different countries and regions. The next WSD will be held on October 18-25, 2025 in Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates.
