A.A. Bakhrushin Central State Theatre Museum

Lecturer of Theater

Specialization: Costume design; Costume construction; Costume history; Costume shop management

Sabrina Notarfrancisco, a native of Berlin, Germany has always had an affinity for both fabrics and theater. This combination of interests resulted in the natural career choice of costume designer. Sabrina has an MFA in Costume Design from the University of Connecticut and has worked at a variety of professional and educational theatrical venues. Many of her favorite designs are from shows produced right here at Connecticut College. Connecticut College favorites include The Increased Difficulty of Concentration, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Naga Mandala, Uncle Vanya, After the Fall andSmash. Other favorites include Smokey Joe's Cafe, The Maids, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, Life is a Dream, and Mad Forest.

Sabrina has both designed costumes and managed the costume shop for the Lincoln Amphitheatre, Connecticut Repertory Theater, and Theater by the Sea. She was the assistant designer at the Signature Theatre's production of Lanford Wilson's Book of Days in New York City and for numerous operas at the Connecticut Opera. She has worked as a mask builder for the Wausau Dance Theater's production of Alice in Wonderland and the National Theatre of the Deaf's production of The Curse of Sleepy Hollow.

Sabrina's primary scholarly interests lie in costume history. Favorite eras include the Elizabethan, Georgian, Empire, Victorian (particularly from 1890-1900) and Edwardian eras as well as the 1920s through the 1960s. She enjoys researching period details for costumes and loves building historical underpinnings (corsets, bustles, petticoats, etc.). In addition to period costume design, she is also keenly interested in the conceptually driven, post-modern approach to theatrical research and design.

Sabrina is a member of the United States Institute for Theater Technology (USITT).

"Fashion fades, only style remains the same." Coco Chanel

"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society" Mark Twain

Education
B.A., University of Central Florida;
M.A., Missouri State University;
M.F.A., University of Connecticut

Designer Gallery

Click on the photograph to start the gallery