"[4] She has designed for many Off-Broadway productions, starting with The Vienna Notes by Richard Nelson at Playwrights Horizons in 1979 and more recently Uncommon Women and Others by Wendy Wasserstein at Second Stage Theatre in 1994.
The reviewer for The Christian Science Monitor wrote : "The production staged by Carole Rothman has been beautifully and observantly designed by Heidi Landesman (scenery)..."[7] She won the Obie Award for her work on A Midsummer Night's Dream and Painting Churches.
[8] She designed the set for the Off-Broadway one-man show Dinner With Demons at the Second Stage Theater in 2003, which was written and performed by her husband, Jonathan Reynolds.
The wide stage is flanked by two colorful cornucopias of fruits, vegetables and breads, with a floor to ceiling backdrop of spice jar filled glass shelves and overhanging the work area there's thousands of dollars worth of shiny copper utensils..."[9] She designed the sets for King Lear in 2007 at the Public Theater, starring Kevin Kline.
Ben Brantley, The New York Times reviewer wrote: "Ms. Ettinger’s tiered high-concept set combines industrial chic with a feeling of elemental magic.