Costume & Wardrobe Interns

Our costume and wardrobe interns, while often having a primary interest in either working with the costume shop staff constructing the costumes or assisting the wardrobe mistress or master with laundry and preparing the costumes & wigs for each performance & then helping actors with quick changes backstage, end up depending on each productions needs working both facets over the course of a season here.  Typically we have two interns in this area & they may be working together in the shop or in performance or on opposite schedules for a show.

Erin Benjamin ('09 - '10)  stayed in MI, has her own fashion business, "Scene Ripper" and returned to MBT to design costumes for "Spreading It Around" in spring 2012.  Becky Doster ('09 - '10) moved to NYC where she stage managed productions for several companies and a summer season in ME.  She 's still in NYC but working now for a financial company.  Abby Barker ('10 - '11) also went to NYC when she finished here & worked freelance in costume shop & ran wardrobe off-Broadway.  She's now returned to her home state of TX to work in the banking industry.  Mary Gietzen ('11 - '12) went  to Wayne State to earn her MFA and now is at Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant where she's the costume shop coordinator.  Emily Kimball ('11- '12) returned to her alma mater Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, MN where she designs, teaches costume design & manages their costume shop. In the summers, she travels to the New London Barn Playhouse in NH to work for the season in their costume shop.  April Townsend ('12 - '13) since leaving MBT has been working as a product specialist for auto shows and recently relocated to GA.  Izzy Bristow ('13 - '14) worked for the Santa Fe Opera for 2 seasons & spent a year studying costume design & model making for film at the Arts University of Bournemouth.  This year she's been pursuing a Masters degree in puppet design at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (check out some of her work at spinyleaf.wix.com/izzybportfolio).  Thea Peterson (13 - '14) is in NYC studying at the Fashion Institute ofTechnology.   Kiran-Durae  Lambert ('14 - '15) recently has gotten married (now Kiran-Durae Barkey) and almost as recently returned to MI from NC where she worked on the wardrobe crew at Arts Center of Coastal Carolina with Michaela O'Neill ('14 - '15) who is still there as wardrobe supervisor.