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Jessica Johnson
The South Carolina School of the Arts
The South Carolina School of the Arts
Assistant Professor of Theatre
jjohnson@andersonuniversity.edu
(770) 378-9198
Rainey Fine Arts Center 026
Academic Background
Jessica Johnson has been teaching theatre in higher ed for 12 years, the last 10 of those being at Anderson University. She has costumed hundreds of shows and has numerous design accolades to her credit. Jessica has worked in professional theatre markets in Atlanta and Chicago and continues to work with regional professional theaters—primarily in the upstate of South Carolina. Jessica has an undergraduate degree in theatre from North Greenville University and an MFA in costume design from Western Illinois University.
BA in Theatre, North Greenville University
MFA, Western Illinois University
Fast Facts
Teaching at Anderson University offers the opportunity to combine my love for theatre and my Christian faith. I love working in an environment that encourages me to share my faith with up and coming theatre artists.
Collaboration and networking is key to a successful career in theatre. Your ideas, excellent as they may be, should never be precious–always be willing to let go for the good of the show. I often say that each collaborator in this field is a story-teller with a different medium. My medium is costuming and it must meld flawlessly with the direction, other technical design elements, and performance to create theatre at the highest level.
I have received countless awards in costume design from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival for my costume design, including: Seussical (2023), Bright Star (2022), Guys and Dolls (2022), Sunday in the Park with George (2021), Curtains (2019), She Loves Me (2019), Sister Act (2018), White Christmas (2016), Me and My Girl (2015), The Importance of Being Earnest (2015) and for direction of The Bald Soprano (2022) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2024). Most notable, however, has been my ability to encourage our undergraduate students in their pursuit of graduate school. EVERY student that has come through my program in costume design that has chosen to pursue a graduate degree has not only been accepted with full tuition into a graduate program, but has also received a graduate stipend.
I really love helping students discover that they can find a career in the creative arts and that their love of theatre does not have to be relegated to a hobby. I believe in equipping the next generation of theatre artists with skills based in excellence that will catapult them into a career in the creative arts.
Costume design, costume construction, costume shop management, hair and wig design, makeup design, acting and directing.
In addition to teaching and designing at Anderson University, I work regularly in the professional realm of theatrical costume design with professional theaters. Most recently, my work has been seen on stage in Greenville, SC at the Warehouse Theatre (Assassins, Kill Corp, The Lotus Paradox, All My Sons, Uncle Vanya), The South Carolina Children’s Theatre (The Best Christmas Pageant Ever), and The Mill Town Players (Bonnie and Clyde). For the past ten years, I have also costumed for the SC Governor’s School for the Arts. In recent years, my costume design work (Seussical and Sunday in the Park with George) has been featured as an exhibit in the Vandiver Art Gallery. My favorite design to date still remains my own PINK (yes, PINK) wedding dress that was feature wedding in Town Carolina magazine.
