Instructor

Laurie Kurutz

Professor Laurie Kurutz is a theatrical costume-maker and tailor by trade, specializing in period costumes and custom bespoke menswear at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Seattle Opera, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and many other Tony Award-winning theatres. At Southern Oregon University, she teaches courses on costume technology, Fashion in Western Culture, and U.S. Burlesque History. Her YouTube channel, Laurie Kurutz, features tutorials which support her costume construction courses. In addition to publishing in national educational journals, she regularly presents at national theatre and educational conferences. Her scholarship includes costume technology, burlesque costume, and documenting historical and contemporary burlesque. Laurie was the instigator, organizer, and host for the 2023 Oregon premiere of the documentary What the Funk?! a Love Letter to the BIPOC Community. Her signature scholarship work to date is the oral history archive, Voices of Oregon Burlesque, comprised of 31 video interviews with contemporary Oregon burlesque performers, producers, and makers. She has contributed two interviews to the BurlyCon Legend’s Archive featuring Legends Velvet Ice and Eartha Quake.