TECHnically Speaking: Kim Welborn Talks Turning Trash Into Opera

December 2, 2022

We’re back! Join us for this week’s podcast episode where we’re joined by Opera in the Ozarks’ costume designer, Kim Welborn. We chatted with Kim about her work on Opera in the Ozarks' recent re-envisioned production of The Magic Flute. What makes it re-envisioned? Its eco-conscious spin to the storyline and costumes constructed one hundred percent using trash and recycled materials!

Click here to listen to the full episode or search TECHnically Speaking wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Click here to learn more about Opera in the Ozarks' production of The Magic Flute.

Click on the links below to see visuals of the costumes discussed during today's episode:

Get to know our guest: Kim Welborn is a freelance costume designer and resident designer for Opera in the Ozarks’ summer program. Her costume career spans the gamut from historically accurate productions, including clothing for Florida’s Quincentennial and the world premiere of My Dearest Friend for the National Park Service Centennial, to a production of The Magic Flute, re-envisioned as an environmental fable and built entirely from trash and recyclables. Recent projects include a 1960’s Best Christmas Pageant Ever and All is Calm, the story of the World War 1 Christmas Eve truce. She has designed more than 30 musicals and plays; favorites include A Little Night Music; Hello, Dolly; Evita; The Producers; Paint Your Wagon; South Pacific; Spamalot; the Diary of Anne Frank and Blithe Spirit. Her past several years have focused largely on opera, including Marriage of Figaro, All is Calm, Tales of Hoffman, Don Pasquale, La Boheme, Amahl & the Night Visitors, Hansel & Gretel, and youth company productions for Opera Orlando; Cosi Fan Tutte, Cendrilllon, Lucia de Lammermoor and Little Women (Opera in the Ozarks); Pagliacci and The Birthday Clown (Savannah Opera Company); Pirates of Penzance (International Opera Center) and Dido and Aeneas (University of Northern Iowa). Kim is a world native who divides her time between New York, Maryland, and Florida.