Mary McClung
Mary McClung | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Citizenship | USA |
| Occupation | Professor |
| Spouse | Alan McEwen |
| Academic background | |
| Education | Alfred University (BFA) West Virginia University (MFA) |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Costume design Puppetry Theatre |
| Institutions | West Virginia University Whitman College University of Dallas |
Mary McClung is a professor of theatrical costume design and puppetry at West Virginia University.
Early life
McClung is a native of Belington, West Virginia, and graduated from Philip Barbour High School. She initially pursued ceramics, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Alfred University. After graduating, McClung operated a small pottery studio in Belington. A friend encouraged her to visit West Virginia University to meet Professor Joann Siegrist, a puppetry designer.[2] McClung was offered a teaching assistantship and enrolled at WVU to study costume design and puppetry in the College of Creative Arts during the 1990s. She earned her Master of Fine Arts in costume design from WVU in 1994.[3]
Career
Teaching
After graduating from WVU in 1994, McClung joined Animax Designs in Nashville, Tennessee, where she worked on projects for Disney, Sesame Workshop, and Universal Studios.[2]
McClung subsequently accepted a teaching position at the University of Dallas. Her costume designs for The Beggar's Opera in 2002 won a Dallas Critics' award. During this period, while working at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, she met her future husband, Alan McEwen, a lighting and sound designer. She later moved to Washington to teach at Whitman College in Walla Walla, where McEwen served as lead lighting designer and technical director.[4] In 2006, McClung returned to West Virginia University to head the costume design program. Her husband Alan also joined the Division of Theatre and Dance faculty, teaching lighting and sound design.[5]
In 2010, she received a Design Expo award from the United States Institute for Theatre Technology, for her costumes designed for The Elementals, a WVU dance concert piece. The five costumes represented wind, water, earth, fire, and the moon, and were inspired by a Gamelan piece she heard at a WVU World Music concert. All costumes for The Elementals were created from donated wedding dresses, with additional elements made from recycled materials, including milk jugs.[1]
When her mentor Joann Siegrist retired in 2015, McClung inherited leadership of the WVU Puppet Mobile, which has brought live theatrical performances to communities across West Virginia for over 30 years.[6] As part of the School of Theatre and Dance, the Puppet Mobile tours elementary schools throughout the state, performing shows.[7][8] McClung views these tours as both educational outreach and professional training for students in WVU's Puppetry program, one of only two such programs in the United States.[9][10][11]
Authorship
McClung wrote two books published by Routledge, Mask Making Techniques and Foam Patterning and Construction Techniques.[12]
Popular culture
- McClung appeared in the 2024 documentary The Last Puppet Show.[13]
References
- ^ a b Lattea, Charlene (November 15, 2010). "WVU's Mary McClung recognized as one of nation's most inventive costume designers". West Virginia University. Retrieved December 12, 2025.
- ^ a b Gardner, Jennifer (2025-12-04). "Q&A: Mary McClung". The Daily Athenaeum. Retrieved 2025-12-13.
- ^ Pettit, Emma (2023-07-06). "Is College for Puppets?". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 2025-12-13.
- ^ "WVU College of Creative Arts and Media | Mary McClung". creativeartsandmedia.wvu.edu. Retrieved 2025-12-13.
- ^ "A major in puppetry? It's an option for WVU students now – but could soon be discontinued". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2025-12-13.
- ^ Powell, Michael (2023-12-03). "What Happens When a Poor State Guts Its Public University". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2025-12-13.
- ^ Siegen, Sabrina Siegen (2025-12-04). "The WVU Puppet Mobile: Bringing live shows to West Virginia for over 30 years". The Daily Athenaeum. Retrieved 2025-12-13.
- ^ Post, Jeniffer Graham, The Dominion (2018-03-31). "WVU Puppet Mobile performs for Preston kids". The Dominion Post. Retrieved 2025-12-13.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Smith, Don (2023-02-21). "Working in service: WVU takes the arts into Mountain State communities". West Virginia Press Association. Retrieved 2025-12-13.
- ^ Kaiser, Alison (2017-12-14). "At work with Alison: Puppets". WDTV. Retrieved 2025-12-13.
- ^ "Yes, you can enroll in these outrageous college majors". ABC13 Houston. 2018-02-16. Retrieved 2025-12-13.
- ^ Welsh, David (September 11, 2015). "WVU costume designer named Mabel Devries Tanner Professor". West Virginia University. Retrieved 2025-12-13.
- ^ "The Last Puppet Show". The Last Puppet Show. Retrieved 2025-12-13.