Sascha van Riel studied theater design in Utrecht (Netherlands) and began her career assisting Jan Versweijveld on several projects produced by Het Zuidelijk Toneel and Toneelgroep Amsterdam. She met Richard Maxwell while working as Stephanie Nelson's assistant on Toneelgroep Amsterdam’s production of Good Samaritans.

She has since designed the set and lights for Richard’s plays The Frame, premiered at Theater Bonn in 2006, and Ode to the Man Who Kneels. 

She has also worked as a freelance set designer for a variety of Dutch and Belgian compagnies, including Muziektheater Transparant (B), the Flemish Opera House (B), and Het Zuidelijk Toneel (NL). She teaches set design at the High School of Arts Utrecht and Arnhem.

In 2004 she received the Charlotte Köhler prize for young Dutch designers.