Dan Potra studied film, television and theatre design for five years at the Art Institute Nicolae Grigorescu, Bucharest, graduating in 1987.

Internationally he has designed for the Romanian National Theatre as well as working as a production, graphic and interior designer for film and theatre in Romania and Vienna.

He continued his studies in Design at NIDA, graduating in 1991.

Dan Potra has worked for major theatre and opera companies both in Australia and overseas including: Opera Australia (Jenufa, Ariadne auf Naxos), Red Shed Theatre Company, Adelaide Festival (Dog Eat Dog), West Australian Opera (Carmen, The Threepenny Opera), Melbourne Theatre Company (Faust), Australian Theatre for Young People (Dutch Courtesan, Mad Forest), 1994 Festival of Sydney (Short Circuits, From Moscow To Petushki), Festival of Perth (The Burrow), Belvoir Street (Blue Murder, Hamlet, Black Mary), Sydney Metropolitan Opera (Christina’s WorldQuito), Griffin Theatre (The Gap, The Monkey Trap, Ship of Fools), Legs on the Wall (Wildheart), Chamber Made Opera (The Burrow, Wide Sargasso Sea), Adelaide Festival (Last Days of Mankind), The Wellington City Opera (Rigoletto, Barber of Seville), Victoria State Opera (Lakme), Melbourne Festival (Lenz, Orlando), Muziektheater Belgium (The Medium, Trouble in Tahiti, Tolermo), Performing Lines in Berlin (Features of Blown Youth), Festival of the Dreaming (Black Mary), Sydney Theatre Company (Chasing the Dragon, Fred), Ensemble Theatre (Life Support), OzOpera (Orlando) and Legs on the Wall (Bubble).