MFA 2026 Artists MFA 2026 Artists: Allison Morones

About Allison Morones

Allison Morones is a theatrical designer, fabricator, and textile artist based in Massachusetts. Born and raised in the Southwest, she received her BFA in Costume Design and Technology from the University of Arizona. After graduation she became the resident costume designer at Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Natick, MA (2019-2023) working on dance, opera, and theatre productions. Morones often teaches theatrical design and puppet construction at Creative Arts at Park in Brookline, MA and currently teaches at UMass Dartmouth in the fashion department. She instructs both illustration and construction courses to undergraduate students while being an MFA candidate in Fibers. Morones writes and develops her own original autobiographical theatrical productions about the Southwest, showcasing her craftsmanship as a puppet fabricator, performer, and textile artist. Her passion for education, textile construction, and theatre design make her a well-rounded artist, inventing new methods and developing new curricula.

Statement

The driving force behind my work is storytelling—specifically, the exploration of how humans seek to be understood. Since childhood, I have been enthralled by live performance and the incomparable, fleeting energy shared between the performer and the artist. To me, the act of suspending disbelief to engage in imaginative fantasy with others has no age limit, nor has it ever wavered in importance throughout human history. This has inspired me to be a theatrical designer and fabricator.

My career as a theatre designer has been focused specifically on the development of characters and an intimate understanding of the psychological motivations that drive an individual. As a costume designer and puppet fabricator, my medium remains in fiber arts, which has allowed me to create elaborate new characters and stories using traditional sewing and patterning techniques. Conceptually, my work often explores the "emotional scars" of childhood, cloaked in fantasy and viewed through rose-colored glasses. I am interested in how visceral memories—both joyous and painful—shape our perception of reality.

As a multidisciplinary fiber artist, my current focus is the creation of new live theatrical productions. I love telling stories and entertaining people with the joys and sorrows of human experience, and exploring the ways in which our uniqueness and our universality are simply two sides of the same coin.

Website: wildcactustheatre.com