The Tempest was my first professional design position. I started working on initial renderings back in November of 2023 and I was officially hired on after gradution in January of 2024. David's retelling of The Tempest decenters Prospero as the protagonist and instead highlights the spirits of the island (along with Ariel and Caliban) reclaiming their home from the shipwrecked nobles that found themselves in it. This production heavily featured a dance ensemble of the spirits of the island, each of whom were elementally based in their costume designs. David's inspiration material was fantastic and allowed me to experiment with the more conceptual designs of the spirits. Also, the unconventional and implacable fashion of the nobles really let me get creative in developing an entirely new culture of clothing to put on stage. My favorite piece from this production has to be Ariel's suit. I spent a lot of hours adjusting my designs and experimenting with materials, but I could not have pulled off the final look without the dye work of our incredible shop manager Katie Sellers.
