My story

BA in Theatre from Ripon College with a double minor in Studio Art and Music.

MFA in Costume Design and Construction from the University of Arkansas.

Assistant Visiting Professor - Costume Design - Ripon College (2024)

Designing process

My mother was a quilter and a seamstress, as was every woman in her family going back for generations. It made perfect sense that she would begin teaching me how to sew as soon as I was old enough to hold a needle. After sewing for 10 years in 4-H, I decided to study Theatre in College, specifically, pursuing my love of clothing by working in the costume shop.

I acted in college while working countless hours in the costume shop, and through the urging of my advisor and all the other professors in the department, I decided to continue my education at the University of Arkansas, where I got my MFA in Costume Design. But it was not, and has never been just about design. I love sewing, I love drawing, and I love shop management. I wanted to do it all.

I took a small break after graduate school, but when my Alma Mater, Ripon College, reached out to me to work as an adjunct professor for a semester teaching costume design, I jumped at the opportunity. This invigorated a love of teaching in me, as well as reignited the love I had for costume design. This is exactly what I want to do for the rest of my life.

Philosophy of Teaching Statement

My goal as an educator is to invigorate a love for the arts in all students. Teaching Theatre Arts is not just for the students already involved and engrossed in the arts; it is for teaching everyone, from any walk of life, to love theatre. Theatre is for everyone to enjoy, for millennia it has brought hundreds of thousands of people together. It is my job as an educator to keep bringing people together through theatre.

I was not raised in a theatre-attending family, but the arts surrounded me. Both of my parents were artists, my mother was an architect, and my father was a designer. I was raised attending dance class twice a week, and spent hours drawing. Most of all, I spent my free time sewing, but my knowledge of theatre was quite limited. For the formative years of my life, I thought of Theatre in a very amorphous way; the only way I could comprehend being involved in theatre was to be an actor. It was once I was older that I discovered all the people who worked behind the scenes. Anyone can have a place in theatre, and through the stories brought to life by playwrights, anyone can see themselves on the stage.

To teach theatre is to show each student that everyone is welcome in this world. Be it on the stage, behind the scenes, or in the audience, or even all of the above, everyone has a place. What is most important to me in teaching theatre is to create a welcoming atmosphere for anyone who wants to learn more. In the time I have spent both studying and teaching theatre, I find that getting everyone involved is paramount. Theatre is an experience, something to not just be seen but to be felt.

Experience

My focus for every project is blending the given story of the text with the interpretation of the director, my interpretation, and the interpretations of the rest of the design team. Theatre Design is all about collaboration. I will always come to a theatrical text with an open mind, putting aside all preconceived notions about the work and previous productions that I have come across. Every time a production is staged, it is a new, and unique vision of what the playwright created.

Inspiration can come from all places, the world around you, other literature, and of course, other theatrical productions. Experience in the world around us is just as important to the process of costume design as research. A contemporary production cannot be realistic if I am not aware of what all different sorts of people dress like and present themselves as on a regular basis.