I’m just a small-town girl designing things that spark my interest.  I design from my heart, my mind and my soul I love costume design because through this work I can let my imagination run free.

 

When I design I am thinking about every detail on the stage. I strive to honor the director's concepts and vision, bringing my experience and knowledge to the table to make the end product better than even the director may have imagined.

 

I am a bit of an introvert which means that I truly enjoy the detail work in the costume shop. I love stitching both by hand and machine; and watching each piece come together.

 

I began my personal performing life in ballet, studying the Vaganova technique with very strict teachers, That early education impacted my design work. The specificity of the ballet technique and the discipline we were taught made me especially aware of the importance of small details. The right tights, period-specific shoes, the perfect scarf color, black socks worn with black leggings to ensure no skin shows between leggings and shoes--all of this is important to a show looking professional and complete.

 

I also learned to be aware of how the staging, choreography and blocking looked with the costumes--how to ensure if more than one person is wearing the same color they won't all end up together in one corner of the stage. That knowledge came in handy when I worked on Avenue Q: School Edition.  

 

My ballet teacher, Nadya Zubkov was also exceptionally good at re-purposing costumes so our parents did not have to spend exorbitant amounts of money on costume fees. A simple white sparkly dance costume could be a snowflake, an angel, or with colored wings, a butterfly.

 

I moved into musical theater where I experienced a wide variety of designers and saw how important it was to actors that their costumes were not only appropriate to character--but also fit well. I put this knowledge to good work on The Christians. I had actors of a variety of shapes and sizes, and all commented on how beautifully their costumes fit their body types. A confident actor is an even stronger actor.

 

In community theater I learned how to work quickly and on a tight budget. I have learned out to evaluate when to re-purpose, rent or create a costume from scratch,  At NAU those skills were developed even further. As a small state school, NAUs theater department was always working on a conservative budget and in theater time is always tight.

 

 I look forward to further developing my skills through work with Desert Foothills Theater and other community theaters while looking for an additional professional apprenticeship.