Laffrey first served as scenic designer and costume designer on Darlinghurst Theatre Company's production of
Some Explicit Polaroids and
Griffin Theatre Company's production of
The Cold Child in 2006 in Sydney, Australia. He was nominated for a
Sydney Theatre Award for Best Set Design for
Some Explicit Polaroids that same year. The following year, he again served in both roles for the production of
The Colour of Panic at
Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia and Det Apne Teater in
Oslo, Norway. In 2007, he relocated to
New York City where he began designing sets, costumes, and one time-lighting for multiple
Off-Broadway,
Off-Off-Broadway, and regional productions. Notable Off-Broadway productions include
Lucas Hnath's The Christians, Dan LeFranc's
Rancho Viejo, and
Caryl Churchill's Cloud Nine. He was nominated for four
American Theatre Wing Hewes Design Awards for Off-Broadway productions between 2010 and 2017. In 2015, he served as the set designer for
Manhattan Theatre Club's production of
Fool for Love at The Friedman Theatre on Broadway and as both set designer and costume designer for
Deaf West Theatre's production of
Spring Awakening, performed in
American Sign Language, at
The Brooks Atkinson Theatre on Broadway. In 2017, he served as set designer for
Circle in the Square's production of
Once On This Island on
Broadway. Laffrey and Michael Arden, the show's director, took a research trip to Haiti which completely transformed his approach to designing the set for the production. Laffrey stated: "You cannot begin to describe the effect that trip had on me as a person but also in feeling equipped to responsibly bring this work to Broadway in 2017 in a way that was true to the piece and what it portrays ...
Hurricane Maria happened in
Puerto Rico and the storms that affected those tiny little islands in the
Bahamas. We continued to collect and pull those images because it felt like 'Island' is ultimately dealing with, at its core, how you survive in the face of something like that and the restorative power of storytelling. You feel that connection of the human spirit threaded through all these places." His design for
Once On This Island received widespread positive critical acclaim with multiple media outlets describing it as "a fractured paradisiac vision", "lush [and] immersive", "evocative", "ambitious", and "an aesthetic experience unlike anything else on Broadway." In 2017, Laffrey was awarded the
Obie Award for Sustained Excellence of Set and Costume Design. In 2024, his set design for the
Belasco Theatre's production of
Maybe Happy Ending left audiences "slack-jawed with awe." The "stunningly executed visual design" mirrors the way humans interact with technology through its “ dazzling iris effects of Dane Laffrey’s sliding-panel" that the New York Times' critic Jesse Green noted as "the most sophisticated I’ve seen.” Dane Laffrey almost exclusively collaborates with
Michael Arden. As a scenic designer and director, Laffrey and Arden have yet to work on a Broadway show without the other. a Tony Award-winning producing partnership. Laffrey has served as an advisor for
Lincoln Center Theatre's LCT3 and as a guest designer at
Yale School of Music, the
Juilliard School,
New York University,
Carnegie Mellon University,
Interlochen Arts Academy,
Western Sydney University, and the
National Institute of Dramatic Art. == Productions ==