Katie Dowse
Katie Dowse is an international costume designer and the Assistant Professor of Costume Design. She holds a BA with honors in Theatre Design and Environment and Ecology from Pitzer College and an MFA in Costume Design from Temple University. Katie has designed more than 50 professional productions and has worked across the US, UK, and Australia.
In addition to her design work, she has experience in costume construction, costume shop management, hair and makeup design, 3D printing, and the events industry. She previously taught at CSU Dominguez Hills and Illinois Wesleyan University. At Santa Clara, Katie is passionate about helping students discover new areas of theatre, develop their techniques, and pursue their individual artistic interests.
When not in the theatre, Katie enjoys time with her husky mix, Finn—who can often be found keeping her company in the costume shop.
Visit her website to see a portfolio of her work.
Select Scholarship Credits
"Katie Dowse’s costumes cleverly explore the 1980s of the show’s present, as well as the 1950s of the show-within-a-show musical “Juliet’s Nurse.” Her outfits for Dorothy are ingeniously constructed to allow for rapid - often onstage – changes from Dorothy to Michael and back again." - Carla Maria Verdino Süllwold, BroadwayWorld
The Sound of Music, Berkeley Playhouse (2025)
Golden Girls Live!, The Curran Theatre (2024) "Much of that initial enthusiasm derived from [...] costumes, designed by Katie Dowse. If you weren’t already familiar with Blanche’s lasciviousness, you’d get a pretty solid idea of her self-conception just from her turquoise top with shoulder cutouts. Or if you didn’t know Rose is the naive one, the great big bow across her chest might give you a clue." - Lily Janiak, San Francisco Chronicle
"Ray of Light’s production, co-directed by Phaedra Tillery Boughton and ShawnJ West, says women of color are allowed to be girly girls, too. Katie Dowse’s pinkscale costume design, swirling the stage in shades of watermelon, thistle, fuchsia, Barbie and powder, underlines this assertion." - Lily Janiak, San Francisco Chronicle
"Katie Dowse’s costumes smartly recall the 70s and 80s “dress for success” mantra." - Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold, BroadwayWorl
"Costumes by Katie Dowse nail each distinctive personality" - Maria Skillings, The Times Record
BroadwayWorld Regional Theatre Best Costume Design Nominee
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, Maine State Music Theatre (2022)"Costume Designer Katie Dowse creates a wardrobe that combines period silhouettes with eye-catching contemporary fabrics, textures, and accessories [...]. Her pièce de résistance is the technicolor dreamcoat - a quilted patchwork sewn from fabrics used in other MSMT productions over the years - so that it has visual and symbolic resonance." - Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold, BroadwayWorld
"costume and makeup design by Katie Dowse, [...] give the Witch threatening birdlike features that hypnotize us." - Jordan Freed, Theatrius Archive
San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Costume Design Nominee
Theatre Bay Area Best Costume Design Nominee
"Katie Dowse hits the nail on the head with her period costumes" - Steve Murray, BroadwayWorld
Theatre Bay Area Best Costume Design Nominee
Current Work
Golden Girls Live! - The Christmas Episodes, The Curran Theatre (2025)
Costume Construction
Costume Design
Introduction to Design
Fashion and Identity
Myth, Fantasy, and Fashion