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Carol Wolfe Clay

Professor (Theatre), Director of Graduate Practicums
Fine Arts, MFA in Arts Leadership

Curriculum Vitae

Contact Information

Phone

(206) 296-5356

Email

cwclay@seattleu.edu

Office

CLMB 181

Teaching and Research Interests

Classes: Scenic Design, Lighting Design, Puppetry, Performance/Production Practicum

Biography

Professor Clay received her M.F.A. in dramatic art – design from the University of California at Davis and her B.A. in Interior Design from the California State University at Fresno. She began teaching, designing scenery & lights and production managing at Seattle University in 1986. Since that time, she has designed over 50 productions at SU.

As a designer, Clay is interested in the developmental process of creating new work for the theatre and the use of puppets in the theatre, a fascination she has nurtured since creating a flying Babe-The-Blue-Ox for a production of Sam Shepard’s Mad Dog Blues in 1991 and participating in an intensive Henson puppetry workshop in the summer of 1994. Her designs have been seen at Seattle Children's Theatre, Seattle Shakespeare Company, Book-It Repertory Theatre, Strawberry Theatre Workshop, The Empty Space Theatre, New City Theatre, Seattle International Children's Festival and the Group Theatre. She has designed the world premieres of Lauren Weedman’s Bust, Vera Wilde and The Empress of Eden. She received a 2011 City Artists Grant for "little world," a collaboration with playwright Ki Gottberg, and has created the visual worlds for other Gottberg original plays: Big Boss or the Inner Life of Everything, Ubu, Mirabelle a Breeze, and The Hairy Baby. Clay is a member of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology, the professional organization for designers in the theatre, and the Puppeteers of America.

Clay was chair of the department of fine arts from 1996-2009, a period of tremendous growth that included a tripling of student majors; new degree programs in art history, interdisciplinary arts, digital design, photography, music and the MFA in arts leadership; new studios, practice rooms and classrooms for visual art, design and music; the Hedreen and Vachon galleries; and the building of the theatre, the Lee Center for the Arts.

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The College of Arts and Sciences is the oldest undergraduate and graduate college affiliated with Seattle University, the Northwest's largest independent university. The College offers 42 undergraduate majors, 37 undergraduate minors, 7 graduate degrees, and 1 post-graduate certificate. The College of Arts and Sciences provides a solid grounding in liberal arts education along with a host of majors and minors to best fit the needs of individual students in the 21st century.

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