Ilona Somogyi, Lecturer in Design, graduated from David Geffen School of Drama in 1994. She returned to DGSD as a faculty member in 2006. She has designed costumes for productions at major regionals around the country, New York theaters and internationally over her thirty-something year career. She considers herself a storyteller. Regardless of period or genre, she looks to find the honest humanity in all the characters she designs for in order to best serve the actor, the audience and the story being told.
Recently she has designed costumes for Jane Eyre (Geva Theater and Hartford Stage,) Idaspe a ‘re-premiere’ of a baroque opera that had only one production in 1710 (Quantum Theater, Pittsburgh) and As You Like It (Guthrie Theater,) At Yale Rep she has designed Assassins, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Three Sisters and Passion Play. Notable New York productions include the Broadway production of Clybourne Park, Nice Fish (St. Ann’s, also on London’s West End and ART,) Gloria (also at the Goodman Theater in Chicago,) Body of an American, Satchmo at the Waldorf, My Name is Asher Lev; Jerry Springer: The Opera (Carnegie Hall,) as well as the original production of Wit, a project she still keeps close to her heart, having being fresh out of the Drama School and working with dear fellow alumni. I love you and miss you, Derek Anson Jones.
Her many regional credits include: Oklahoma! (Glimmerglass,) Carousel, Smoky Joe’s Cafe, Gem of the Ocean, King Hedley II (Arena Stage,) Grey Gardens (Ahmanson Theater, LA,) Anything Goes (Goodspeed,) Heartbreak House, Cloud 9, Romeo & Juliet, The Crucible, Tom Sawyer, Noises Off, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hartford Stage,) Richard III (Oregon Shakespeare Festival.)
In addition to her design and teaching career, Ilona is also the Founder and Executive Director of Ball & Socket Arts, a grass-roots non-profit organization that is restoring a historic factory site in her hometown of Cheshire, CT and converting it into a home for arts and culture. Only 15 miles north of New Haven, come visit!