Abraham Lincoln statue on Carthage College?s campus.
Kim Instenes

Kim Instenes

  • Associate Professor of Theatre; Costume Designer
    Email Address:
    kinstenes@carthage.edu
    Office location:
    Straz Center 62B
    Phone
    262-551-6575

    Kim Instenes holds a Master Fine Arts in Costume Design and Technology from Ohio University and a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Her faculty credits include the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Lawrence University.

    In addition to teaching at these institutions, she has designed costumes and makeup for a number of productions including “The Imaginary Invalid,” “Pride and Prejudice,” “Trojan War,” “Sweeney Todd,” and “Translations.” She continues to work as a freelance costume and makeup designer in the Milwaukee/Chicago area.

    Professional design credits include “A Year with Frog and Toad,” “The Giver,” and “The Snow” at First Stage Milwaukee; “Jeeves Intervenes,” and most recently “Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily” at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre; “Henry V” and “The Merry Wives of Windsor” at Door Shakespeare; “Mary Jane” at Forward Theater Co. Madison, the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Renaissance Theatre Works, Utah Shakespearean Festival, and the Racine Theatre Guild.

    Her years at Carthage have brought opportunities for creative work designing department productions, many student success stories, and continued collaboration with talented colleagues and guest artists.

    Prof. Instenes is also active with the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, traveling to the festival with Carthage award-winning productions and students, as well as receiving personal accolades for costumes designed for “Lysistrata,” “Ghost Bike,” and “Into the Woods.”

    She is excited to be a part of the Theatre Department here at Carthage as it strengthens and strives to create theatre artists of the highest quality. She enjoys the thrill of watching a student understand what a costume does for their character and watch that character come to life as a result.

    She would also like to thank her family — husband, Doug, and children, Lauren and Dalen — for their continued support of her creative endeavors.

    • M.F.A. — Costume Design and Technology, Ohio University
    • B.A. — Theatre from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
    • THR 0200 Applied Tech. Production
    • THR 2920 Play Production II: Costuming and Makeup
    • THR 2950 Advanced Makeup Techniques
    • THR 2960 Draping and Pattern Making
    • THR 3610 Clothing History
    • THR 4610 Costume Design

    2019 Distinguished Teacher of the Year SURE grant for research for “Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily” production at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre with student Veronica Vickas Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Award for Outstanding Costume Design for “Lysistrata,” “Ghost Bike,” and “Into the Woods”