An exhibit of miniature models of Broadway stages by renowned creative director and designer David Korins opened in the Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures in Tucson, titled “Stages of Imagination: The Iconic Broadway Designs of David Korins.”

“I get a chance to work on projects and help institutions and artists tell the best version of the story that they have to tell,” Korins said. “And those stories often times grapple with some of the most important subjects in all of human existence, like love and loss and trauma and revolution and these big, beautiful topics need to be tackled in a collaborative way.”

The exhibit, running through May, includes 43 displays of models for five productions: “Hamilton,” “Dear Evan Hansen,” “Beetlejuice,” “Here Lies Love,” and “Who’s Tommy.”

Korins leads Korins Studio, which is comprised of designers, artists, builders, and technical crew dedicated to creating sets, immersive experiences, movies, television, branding and more. 

His designs have been used for such Broadway productions as “Here Lies Love,” “Beetlejuice,” “Hamilton,” and “Dear Evan Hansen” among others. The models at the Mini Time Machine museum include sets from those plays. 

Korins said he grew up in the arts and also participated in sports, which has led him to where he is in his career.

“I find that working in the arts, in collaborative art forms, is like being in a band or a sports team. I love the idea of playing a role and being part ofa team and executing a joint vision for the common good,” Korins said. “The call came to me because I was part of all these things as a young person and found, eventually, that I didn’t want to be a performer but I found this niche in the industry that really embraced this idea that every team member matters and ever team member’s output is added to the common goal.”

Korins was also behind the immersive art experiences “Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit” and “Cannabition,” which will be heading to Las Vegas, Nevada. He decided to have a project originate in Tucson.

“Part of the reason why I agreed to do this exhibition in Tucson was because I really felt like not a lot of things start in Tucson,” Korins said. “A lot of things go through Tucson but not a lot of things are born in Tucson,” Korins said. “This exhibition was created specifically for the people of Tucson and my hope is that not this exhibition will go to other places and baked in the DNA of this project will be the fact that it was created in Tucson.”

“There is a passion that exists in the city that I thought would be able to understand the efforts of putting this together. I feel like the feedback that I got in the two and a half weeks that I was there is that it’s a community based on people who want to learn. They are motivated to go out to see things, to experience things and I got that back in bucketfuls,” Korins added. “There are so many offerings in other cities, it’s sometimes hard to not get jaded in a way, or kinda get blinded by the fact that every single week there is a new thing opening that is supposed to be cool.”

The museum’s executive director William Russo had worked with Korins in the past in Off Broadway productions, and years later, Russo reached out to host the results of the initial process of designing a set. He said the exhibit has benefited the museum.

“For many arts organizations, it’s been a struggle to return to pre-pandemic numbers,” Russo said. “The numbers have doubled from what they were before the pandemic.”

Both Korins and Russo are fond of the model of the Off Broadway production of “Hamilton.”

“It looks like it’s made of scaffolding,” Russo said. “Because they were really building the framework for our country. And, if you look closely, there are angles that don’t match up because they were building our country and they made mistakes along the way. And even if you don’t notice them immediately, it’s still in the subconscious.”

There are color models and white models as well as interactive pieces such as sketches from “Beetlejuice” that attendees can flip through and a large couch from the same musical with which people can take photos and sit on. 

Russo said beginning to consider possible venues to host the exhibit after its closing in Tucson in May 2025.