Exhibit Spotlights the Artistry and Imagination of Costume Designer Sherri Geerdes

Exhibit On Display Now – May 26, 2024

Costumes from The Rose Theater’s Charlotte’s Web, The Cat in the Hat, Madagascar – A Musical Adventure and more are on display at The Durham Museum as part of a new exhibition Play Clothes: Celebrating Rose Theater Costume Designer Sherri Geerdes.

For the past 40 years, costume designer Sherri Geerdes has delighted young people as her creations brought life to beloved characters on stage. In her early days with the Emmy Gifford Children’s Theater which later became The Rose Theater, and throughout her career, Geerdes used her talents to interpret a wide range of interesting characters from page to stage.

“I am grateful to have worked in children’s theater. I hope the imaginative productions we’ve always done at the Emmy Gifford Theater, and subsequently at The Rose, have inspired children to imagine wonderful ideas and stories of their own,” said Geerdes. “There will always be time in adulthood where you may need to be more practical and ‘more grown up,’ but why rush it?”

Along with accessories and sketches, the exhibit features 19 costumes — a small representation of the hundreds of costumes created by Geerdes prior to her recent retirement in 2023. Visitors will get an up-close view of the detail and skilled craftsmanship put into each costume, along with insight into the inspiration for many of the designs.

“Sherri’s greatest skill was the ability to see a material or an object and imagine limitless possibilities for how that could be utilized to make a costume like nothing anyone has ever seen before. Her work brings classic stories and characters to life in totally unexpected ways,” said Rose Artistic Director Matt Gutschick.

The Durham Museum is proud to team up with The Rose to spotlight the artistry and imagination Sherri Geerdes has brought to children’s theater in Omaha.