TUTS QUESTIONNAIRE - colleen grady

Theatre Under the Stars

THE TUTS QUESTIONNAIRE WITH COLLEEN GRADY

Colleen Grady is the Costume Shop Manager and a resident costume designer at Theatre Under The Stars, where she has designed productions including In the Heights, Dreamgirls, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Guys and Dolls, A Chorus Line, Elf, Rock of Ages, Sister Act, The Secret of My Success, Mary Poppins, Sweeney Todd, Cinderella, and Newsies. Known for her eye for detail and passion for theatrical storytelling, Colleen has helped make the TUTS Costume Shop a favorite stop for staff, students, and guests—a welcoming, creative space where artistry comes to life. Learn more at colleengrady.com.

What moment in a performance—onstage or off—has ever made you feel most alive? 

One of the things was probably that first show back after COVID. And that moment of the first downbeat of that and the first curtain call of that [Rock of Ages]. I remember just crying and crying because I couldn’t believe we were actually back doing this because we thought we might not ever do this again. So that was a really huge. I’ll never forget that moment ever in my life.

If your life were a musical number, what would its title be—and what would be the final lyric? 

The thing that’s popping in my head — but it doesn’t describe my life because I’m a total worry wart and I worry about everything — but the thing that’s popping into my mind is, I think it’s from Spamalot, “Always look on the bright side of life…” The final lyric would be something to do with hoping that she left it a better place than she found it. She left it better than she found it.

Colleen and Logan working on costumes for Disney’s Frozen in the costume shop at TUTS. Photo by Melissa Taylor.

What part of the theatre-making process feels most like home to you—and why?

The part that feels most like home to me is between the design process and the fitting. Taking the design from the two dimensional on the paper or the computer screen and choosing the fabrics, the trims, all the actual things that are going to make up the three dimensional. Putting it together, like choosing the fabric for the skirt and what are we going to trim it with and what bodice are we going to put and mixing all those patterns and textures that I drew on the page and when we actually realize those into three dimensions. Even before it gets on an actor or any of that. Seeing it come together.