I am the Professor of Costume Design in the department of Theatre and Film as well as Head of the Design and Production program. I mentor students in the area of costume, hair, and makeup design and production inside and outside the classroom.
Research Interests
My research focuses on the life experiences of Indigenous, African, Anglo-European, and mixed-race children in early America, their connections to textile production, the textile production process, the textiles created, and the clothing they wore.
Biography
Carey Blackerby Hanson is a Professor of Costume Design at the University of Mississippi. Her costume experience has covered a wide range of theatre, musical theatre, opera, dance and theatre for youth. Carey has worked professionally in the costume industry since 1991 and has been teaching students interested in costume, hair, and makeup design/production since 2000. She has worked professionally with The Santa Fe Opera, Utah Opera, Sundance Summer Theatre, Old Lyric Repertory Company, Unicorn Theatre, Utah Opera and Musical Theatre, The Pink Garter Theatre, and Playmill Theatre-Jackson. Her professional costume design credits include The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Dial M for Murder, Last Train to Nibroc, Clybourne Park, Singing In the Rain, Oklahoma!, The Music Man, Murder for Two, And Then There Were None, and Nunsense. Carey is a member of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology and the Costume Society of America. As a costume historian, her research focus is early American children and textile production. She has traveled abroad as well as throughout the Eastern, Southern, and Southwestern United States to gather primary information for her continuing research. Her first book, Early American Children’s Clothing and Textiles: Clothing a Child 1600-1800, was released in January 2024 by Routledge Press in both Oxford, England and New York. The publication and Carey’s continuing research focuses on the life experiences of Indigenous, African, Anglo-European, and mixed-race children in early America, their connections to textile production, the textile production process, the textiles created, and the clothing they wore. With the support of the department of Theatre and Film and the College of Liberal Arts, she is in the process of developing a historical clothing collection for students interested in studying vintage garments.
Courses Taught
- Thea 224 Intro to History of Dress
- Thea 240 Makeup for Stage & Screen
- Thea 246 Costume Crafts
- Thea 373 Advanced Makeup Techniques for Stage
- Thea 375 Costume Design II
- Thea 378 Fabric Dyeing and Modification
- Thea 442 Millinery
- Thea 474 Costume Design III
Education
B.A. Theatre, Utah State University (1994)
MFA Theatre, Utah State University (2000)
M.A. Theatre, Utah State University (2000)