By Annie O. Cleveland and M. Barrett Cleveland

Foreword by Douglas W. Schmidt

$35.00
index, illustrations
128 pages
ISBN: 978-1-933348-19-3

Published by
USITT
in cooperation with
Broadway Press
March 2011

Award winning costume designer Carrie Robbins likes to say she holds the record for designing flopped Broadway shows. In fact, she has designed 38 Broadway productions, and many of them were hits like Grease (1972) The Octette Bridge Club (1985) and Irving Berlin’s White Christmas (2009). Her regional theatre and opera assignments have taken her coast to coast to design for many of the hallmark resident companies, including the Guthrie, Arena Stage, Alley Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Kennedy Center, American Conservatory Theatre, and many more. Her outstanding work has been recognized with thirteen awards and nominations, but Carrie Robbins’ talents aren’t limited to theatre. She was asked to design the clothes for Saturday Night Live in 1985 when Loren Michaels returned as executive producer, and she designed award winning uniforms for two of New York’s hallmark restaurants, Windows on the World and the Rainbow Room. She is also a terrific tap dancer and was a guiding light and mentor to hundreds of students in NYU’s Department of Design for Stage and Film.

THE DESIGNS OF CARRIE ROBBINS by Annie O. Cleveland and M. Barrett Cleveland is the seventh book in USITT's series documenting the work of America’s best theatrical designers. It is profusely illustrated with almost 100 exquisite costume renderings, sketches, and production photographs and it includes a complete design chronology, as well as a listing of her awards and honors. The foreword is by set designer Douglas W. Schmidt with whom Carrie Robbins worked throughout her career.

About the authors: Annie and Barry Cleveland have worked as a team in all aspects of their careers in theatre. Annie advises Barry on scenic matters when the use of fabric is involved and Barry assists Annie with special costume effects when ruby slippers need lights or buffalo are roaming. The two taught together for sixteen years at Colorado State University before relocating to Los Angeles when Barry joined the faculty at California State University Northridge in 2004. Each has been awarded a Fulbright grant to teach in Taiwan, Barry at National Sun Yat-Sen University in 1997 and Annie at National Taiwan University in 2009. Together they received the 2009 Hebert D. Greggs Award for their article in Theatre Design & Technology, "Fort Worth for Entertainment," about Billy Rose's 1936 Casa Mañana theatre in Ft. Worth, Texas. Their most recent joint writing project was "Lighting by Feder," published in USITT's Late and Great: American Designers 1960–2010. Their greatest collaboration, however, remains the raising of their three exceptional children: Simon, Julie, and Vincent.