Costume design and costume history, based in Western and non-Western traditions,
formed the basis of my teaching during my career with a first-year seminar focused on the "language of clothing" added to the mix.
I have written hundreds of articles and eight books (out of a total of ten) about theatrical designers. The books include
The Designs of William Ivey Long about the award-winning costume designer (six Tony Awards
among 15 nominations), Costume Design on Broadway,
Broadway Design Roster, the catalog for the United States entry in the 2007 Prague
Quadrennial,
Design USA (with Jody Blake), and
The Designs of Willa Kim. I edited Late and Great: American Designers from 1960-2010
(and contributed an essay about Raoul Pene du Bois),
published in 2010 as part of USITT's 50th Anniversary celebration.
I am also interested in traditional dress around the world which
is increasingly disappearing and therefore even more important to document.
NowesArk
is an electronic study collection that contains information about
traditional garments and accessories including
some I have collected. NowesArk is a companion website to
Costar,
an online archive of
vintage clothing, mainly from the 19th and 20th century, located in the
Department of Dramatic Art at UNC-Chapel Hill.
My colleague, Professor Judy Adamson (who is also retired), and I created that site which I now continue to work on with students and faculty members including Triffin Morris.
Both collections, known as the Costar Project, are used by students in the classes taught in the Department of Dramatic Art and are a
valuable means to study the materials, construction, provenance, and patterning
of historic clothing.
Before retiring in summer 2021, I designed costumes for Edges of Time, the world premiere by my colleague Jacqueline E. Lawton with another colleague,
Kathryn Hunter-Williams, as Marvel Cooke. It was my 55th production for PlayMakers Repertory Company while serving as resident costume designer!
I edited PlayMakers Repertory
Company: A History (2021) for which Adam Versenyi served as advisory editor. It is available through UNC Press.
I continue to research and write about theatrical designers and am active with the Retired Faculty and Professionals Association (RFPA) at Carolina.
