Chloe Cappuccilli (she/her) joined the faculty at Kenyon College in the fall of 2025 as an assistant professor specializing in costume design, scenic design and puppetry. Cappuccilli has been a costume and puppet designer for over a decade including work with regional theaters, universities and children’s theaters across the country. She has professionally worked as a costume designer, draper, crafts artisan, props designer, technical director, puppet designer, and as part of puppet construction teams. 

Design credits include: “Unmasked,” “At the Table,” “Godspell,” “Unearthly Shadows” (University of Dayton), “The Moors” (Magnolia Theatre), “Godspell,” “Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles,” “Hookman,” “Big Frog,” “Fefu and Her Friends” (New Mexico State University), “The Phantom Tollbooth,” “Dance Now,” “Naga Mandala” (West Virginia University), “Half Life of Memory” (Cold Basement Dramatics), “Moon Shot,” “The American Revolution” (Theatre Unspeakable), “The Tempest,” “True West,” and “Human Rites” (Columbia College Chicago). 

Cappuccilli holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts in theater from Columbia College Chicago and a Masters of Fine Arts in costume design and technology from West Virginia University.

Areas of Expertise

Costume design, scenic design, puppetry, technical theatre

Education

2020 — Master of Fine Arts from West Virginia University

2015 — Bachelor of Fine Arts from Columbia College, Chicago

Courses Recently Taught

A fully realized theatrical production of a play is a lengthy process that engages numerous artists of many disciplines in an extraordinary collaborative effort to help create "the world of the play" and, along with actors, to help bring to life the characters. The course aims to serve as a foundation for young theater artists by offering insight into how thorough script analysis, the examination of given circumstances and character analysis can be translated into visual and audible elements of the mise-en-scène. In addition, the course helps students develop a universal vocabulary of theater and design terminology and an understanding of theatrical venues and equipment. It also enables first-year students to successfully engage in being valued members of a production team in any capacity. This counts toward the elements requirement for the major. DRAM 111 is recommended. No prerequisite. Permission of instructor required. Offered every spring.

This course surveys the history of Western dramatic literature from Ancient Greece through the end of the English Restoration, roughly 1700. The emphasis is on critical reading for a theatrical understanding of these seminal texts. This course consists of lecture, discussion sessions and critical-writing assignments. This course is required for the major. Prerequisite: DRAM 111.

This course surveys the history of Western clothing and fashion from the ancient world to the present day. Work includes papers, oral presentations, lectures and discussion. This counts as an elective requirement for the major. Generally offered every other year.

This course presents an introduction to the costume designer's creative process. Through a series of projects, students explore the relation of the costume to the character, the plot, the work of the director, the actor and the other designers. Projects involve drawing, painting, collage, writing and research. This counts toward the elements of theater art requirement for the major. DRAM 111 recommended. Permission of instructor required. Generally offered every year.

The face is the actor's most important tool in communicating the character's intent. This course teaches how the art and craft of theatrical makeup can be used to project students' facial features on stage and film, as well as how to visualize the determinants of a character's physical appearance. In addition to the assimilation and projection of the character in terms of age, environment and health, the course explores the psychological support makeup can give the actor. Students analyze the makeup design of characters in five to six plays and apply makeup to themselves during laboratory exercises and for project adjudication. Students are evaluated on how well they have prepared to do a daily exercise and on their progress and improvement at executing a technique once they have practiced it and received critical feedback. Students also evaluate their own and each other's designs and makeup applications. This counts toward the elements of theater art requirement for the major. No prerequisite. Permission of instructor is required. Generally offered every other year.

Individual study in drama is reserved for students exploring a topic not regularly offered in the department's curriculum. Typically, the course carries 0.5 unit of credit. To enroll in an individual study, a student must identify a member of the department willing to direct the project and, in consultation with him or her, write a proposal. The department chair must approve the proposal. The one- to two-page proposal should include a preliminary bibliography and/or set of specific problems, goals and tasks for the course; outline a schedule of reading and/or writing assignments or creative undertakings, and describe the methods of assessment (e.g., a journal to be submitted for evaluation weekly; a one-act play due at semester's end, with drafts due at given intervals; and so on). The student also should briefly describe prior coursework that qualifies him or her for this independent project. At a minimum, the department expects the student to meet regularly with the instructor one hour per week and to submit an amount of work equivalent to that required in 300-level dance and drama courses. Students are urged to begin discussion of their proposed individual study the semester before they hope to enroll, so that they can devise a proposal and seek departmental approval before the deadline.