Sally Dolembo: Costume Designer

Chicago-based costume designer, Sally Dolembo, works in theatre and opera, and is making her Court Theatre design debut with the production of The Adventures of Augie March. Dolembo is Head of Costume Design at DePaul University, and previously served as an adjunct faculty member at Northwestern University and Columbia College.

Dolembo received training in sculpture and costume design at Washington University and obtained her MFA from Northwestern University. She was a 2007-08 recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship to study costume design and history in Rome, Italy. While in Rome, she worked at the Italian sartoria Tirelli Costumi where she studied historical garments and worked in Tirelli’s shop building costumes for opera, film, and theatre. Her research work in Italy built upon her previous study of historical costume and drawings completed in London and Bath, England as part of a Bemis Travel Grant.

Dolembo has designed at a variety of theatre companies, including Lyric Opera of Chicago, Kentucky Opera, American Theatre Company, Steppenwolf Theatre, Second City, Lookingglass Theatre, Paramount Theatre, Drury Lane Theatre, Timeline Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Porchlight Music Theatre, Gift Theatre, Steep Theatre, The Hypocrites, Haven Theatre, The Marriott Theatre, and Wolf Trap Opera. Her recent costume design credits include, The Barber of Seville, Holiday Inn, Newsies, She Loves Me, The Bridges of Madison County, L’Opera Seria, Second Nature, #DateMe, The Little Prince, A Christmas Story: The Musical, Peter and the Starcatcher, Next to Normal, 1984, The Book Thief, A Disappearing Number, and Chimerica.