Hyun Sook Kim

HYUN SOOK KIM (she/her/hers) is Professor of Theatre and Costume & Makeup Area Head and Area Advisor in the Department of Theatre and Dance. The full first name is ‘Hyun Sook,’ the last name is ‘Kim.’ She holds MFA terminal degree in Costume Design from U of Illinois Urbana Champaign - Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, and MA at U of Illinois Chicago, and BA from Korea University in Seoul. As a career educator and designer with over 35 years’ experience, Kim taught at Korea National U of Arts, Chung-Ang U, Ball State U, among others. She is internationally recognized for her outstanding costume designs in NYC, London, Toronto, LA, Tokyo, Osaka, Beijing and Seoul. Many of her designs have been seen in large-scale productions at prestigious international and national venues. Particularly, her designs for the mega-scale musical with over 70 cast, The Last Empress (Empress Myeongseong), have been presented at NY Lincoln Center, LA Kodak Theatre and Schubert Theatre, and Toronto Hummingbird Center, as well as in London’s West End. The musical has celebrated the long-run success to the present. Across the nation, Kim has designed for the NYC Pan Asian Repertory, the New York State LORT Capital Repertory Theatre, The Human Race Theatre, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, South Coast Repertory, East West Players, among others. Her designs have received laudatory reviews from The New York Times and many theatre critics. Internationally, Kim has presented her designs in the prominent exhibitions in PQ (Prague Quadrennial), WSD (World Stage Design), and International Costume Association Exhibit, etc. Her designs were selected and presented in Costume in the Turn of the Century 1990-2015 at the A. A. Bakhrushin Theatre Museum at Moscow and in World Stage Design 2022 at Calgary, also in World Stage Design 2009 and 2017. Particularly in Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space, Kim’s works have been selected for the National Exhibition in 1999, 2019 and 2023. Also, Kim has been presenting her creative costume artwork in various international exhibitions for a long time. Recently, Kim’s design work has been selected and invited in 2024 International Critical Costume and in 2025 International Invited Fashion Exhibition.

As a professor and artist, Kim is keenly interested in current trends and cultural developments in the field of the world costume design and technology to enrich design education from diverse creativity based on critical thinking to the most current technology with a variety of materials. As an educator, Kim is always excited to see her students growing to think out-of-box and reaching out of their scope. Her ultimate goal is to dedicate to educating young artists to make them soulful human beings and professionals who can eventually fulfill their life and artistry.

Kim is an active member of national USITT, international OISTAT, Performance Design Costume Commission, Costume Society of America, and The Korean Society of Costume.

 

-2025 International Invited Fashion Exhibition: https://news.fullerton.edu/spotlight/theatre-and-dance-professor-invited-to-present-costume-artwork-at-2025-international-exhibition/

-Critical Costume 2024: https://www.criticalcostume.com/files/CriticalCostume2024-BookOfAbstracts.pdf

-USA Prague Quadrennial 2023: http://pq23.usitt.org/catalogue/national/

-CSUF News: https://news.fullerton.edu/2023/03/costume-designer-takes-award-winning-designs-to-international-stage/

-Daily Titan: https://dailytitan.com/news/campus/csuf-theater-program-to-expand-with-diverse-courses/article_b0716104-bbc3-11ed-8e86-ffd575664c16.html

-Broadwayworld: https://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/article/Cast-Crew-Announced-for-THE-BROTHERS-PARANORMAL-at-East-West-Players-20221012

-Broadwayworld: https://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/article/BWW-Review-Satirical-Play-TIGER-STYLE-Mocks-Stereotypes-at-South-Coast-Repertory-20220601

-The LA Korean Daily: https://www.koreadailyus.com/hyun-sook-kim-breathes-soul-stage-costumes/

-Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kscostume/?hl=en