Carmen Alatorre

While studying a bachelor's degree in art history in my former life in Mexico City, I fell in love with theatre and its visual language. I feel lucky for my childhood years, spent surrounded by scraps of fabric since my mother had a home-based sewing business. This sparked a lifelong curiosity about the creative and sculptural potential of textiles and other materials. Soon I found myself exploring several drawing, painting and sculpting workshops while developing a small silversmithing atelier.

These unrelated skills, put together, made great sense for the imagery of the theatre arts making, so I eventually decided to devote myself to performance design, in which I find myself constantly inspired, motivated and at home. As a Latina immigrant artist and having designed over 80 productions, I am grateful to be able to live and work in the unceded traditional territories of the Musqueam xwməθkwəy̓ əm, Squamish Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and Tsleil-Waututh səl̓ilwətaɁɬ First Nations (Vancouver) since 2006 and most recently in the Lekwungen lək̓ wəŋən people territories. I earned an MFA in theatre design from the University of British Columbia, where I have taught as an adjunct professor and have recently become an assistant professor in performance design at the University of Victoria, Theatre department.

I am the recipient of 4 Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards for Outstanding Costume Design: 2014/15 in the large theatre category, 2016/17 in both large and small theatre categories and 2021/2022 LARGE THEATRE, as well as an Applause Musicals Society Ovation Award for Outstanding Costume Design in 2013.

I am a proud member of the Associated Designers of Canada (ADC), Canadian Latinx Theatre Artist Coalition (CALTAC) and IATSE 891.