My work lives at the intersection of costume design and devised theater. Costume design is my foundation; a form of live sculpture that breathes, moves, and thinks with the script. It asks how clothes can embody ideas, connect people, spark humor, ground emotion, and reveal the body in motion.

Devised theater expands this inquiry through collaborative, ensemble driven structures that blur traditional hierarchies. Performing with Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble in New York City has been exhilarating. It has allowed me to distill two passions: costume design and improvisational performance into a single hybrid form. The Ensemble practices a form of improvisation called Soundpainting, and I perform live with a sewing machine and costume pieces onstage. I stitch, distribute costumes, sculpt, sing, and improvise in real time, responding to music, movement, dialogue, and sound as signed by the Ensemble’s Soundpainter and founder, Leese Walker.

Moving between design and performance, I balance rigor with play and precision with improvisation. Whether designing for professional productions, devising experimental work with students, or improvising onstage, I treat my practice as both craft and inquiry and am committed to dissolving disciplinary boundaries, amplifying underrepresented voices, and reimagining how stories are told.

Laurie Churba is an Associate Professor of Drama at Dartmouth College, specializing in Costume Design and Devised Theater. With over thirty years of professional experience, her work has been seen on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in regional theaters nationwide. From 1997–2008, she was part of the costume design team at Saturday Night Live. Her regional theater costume design credits include Huntington Theatre Company, Arena Stage, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Old Globe, Mark Taper Forum, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Westport Country Playhouse, and Northern Stage.