Michelle Bombe
Director of Theatre
Professor of Theatre
Resident Costume Designer

Michelle is in her 18th year of teaching at Hope College and has designed over 100 productions, which includes her professional work as well as her designs for Hope College.

As Director of Theatre, Michelle is in charge of the production program and is primarily responsible for recruiting and our Distinguished Artist Award process. Michelle has taught Costume Design, Principles of Design, Theatre Crafts, Senior Seminar, First Year Seminar and Encounter with the Arts.

Michelle works professionally with Kentucky Shakespeare Festival in Louisville, KY and has done so for the last 11 years. Michelle serves as Head of Design for KSF and in addition to designing costumes, hires the technical staff for the summer seasons. Prior to KSF, Michelle worked for 15 seasons with Hope Summer Repertory Theatre, a relationship that started while Michelle was an undergraduate!

Through her involvement at KSF, Michelle works with Shakespeare Behind Bars, a theatre company housed at the Luther Luckett Correctional Facility. Michelle has traveled to several film festivals (including the Sundance Film Festival in 05)to talk about her work with the documentary about the program titled- SHAKESPEARE BEHIND BARS.

Michelle is very active in the American College Theatre Festival where she serves as the Michigan State Chair and is a member of the Region 3 Selection Committee. Throughout the year, Michelle serves as a respondent to college theatre productions in MI, IN, WI, IL and OH.

Education

• BA The University of Evansville
• MFA in design from The University of Texas-Austin

Personal Life

Running is a passion for Michelle - she ran the Chicago Marathon in 2004 - with a debut time of 3:52. That's 3 hours and 52 minutes, was was 2 minutes shy of qualifying for the Boston Marathon! Michelle also ran the Chicago Marathon in 2006 (raising $3,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) & 2007. She also practices yoga.

E-Mail bombe@hope.edu