Being a full-time professor is not an occupation for everyone. It takes long days and many hours to teach, prep and grade. For UMD alumni, Sarah Bahr, however, being a scenic design professor is only a small slice of the cake that is her life. On top of teaching, Bahr holds a career in set and costume design for theaters all over the country.

“The thing that drives me to identify as a theatre maker is collaborative storytelling. It's just something I love to do,” Bahr said. “It's part of my career, but also my lifestyle.” 

Barh began her theater journey back at the University of Minnesota Morris. As she made her way through her freshman year, she didn’t think about how her love of sewing and clothing could create a career in theater. 

“I walked into that costume shop and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is where I want to be… this is a career path,’” Bahr said. 

After getting involved with theater at Morris, Bahr knew she wanted to be a costume designer and started to look for bigger schools with certain degrees that would help her reach her goal. Fortunately for her, UMD offered a very specific degree in design tech theater and Bahr transferred to Duluth as fast as she could.  

In Duluth, Bahr got to meet some amazing people and professors and was given plenty of opportunities to get involved with the theater world that she missed out on while in high school. With all of the connections Bahr had, she was able to get her first internship at the Gutherie Theater in Minneapolis that summer.  

Bahr continued to work in set and costume design because she loved being able to take on the challenges this job brought and use her creativity to create something wonderful. One of her biggest challenges was that of creating a modern closet for modern characters. 

“Designing modern clothes is really challenging because our audience's eye looks at those clothes and can immediately have an opinion about the clothes,” Bahr said. “What does that say about the character and how [do] different colors and patterns have emotional reactions to audience members?” 

Over the years, after many shows, sets and costumes, Bahr knew she wanted to add a little something to her already full plate and that was teaching. Her passion for the arts and for being able to teach others about the opportunity in the field drove her to teach theater and theater-related classes at the University of Minnesota’s Twin City campus. 

“With teaching, it's encouraged that professors in the theatre department continue to work in the professional realm as freelance artists and designers so there's a balance of time for that,” Bahr said. 

Bahr’s current project outside of school is that of an Associate Costume Designer in a production of Alice and Wonderland currently showing at the Children's Theater in Minneapolis. This show was originally done in 2013 and was designed by Skip Mercier who has now passed. Bahr’s job is to use the costumes of Merciers that are still in stock and create new things that reflect the ideas of Mercier's original designs. 

“We're just staying true to his original vision and doing any additional design work or redesign or adjusting,” Bahr said. “I’ve never met [Skip]...but I can look at his drawings and I can use my designer eye to be like, ‘this is the intent.’” 

Barh encourages not only her students but anyone interested in a theater career to put themselves out there because you never know what type of specific job could be around the corner.

“It's a hard industry but it's really fulfilling too!” Bahr said. 

She also understands a job in the arts isn’t for everyone, but wants the audience to understand that their role in the theater is just as important; they still need people to enjoy the shows and support the industry by being patrons of the arts Bahr says. 

Bahr and many other artist’s work can be seen in the Childen Theater’s production of “Alice and Wonderland.” The show is running until Mar. 31, 2024, and tickets can purchased on the Children’s Theater Company’s website.