Contact: Erika Celeste
During Wednesday [Aug. 2] ceremonies at the Mississippi Museum of Art, nationally renowned costumer Myrna Colley-Lee of Charleston will donate a portion of her personal theater memorabilia collection to Mississippi State University's Mitchell Memorial Library.
A member of the Mississippi Arts Commission and JMA's Acquisitions Committee, she heads GladRags Designs, which also is located in Tallahatchie County.
During a 3 p.m. event in the museum's Atrium Galleries, where an exhibition of her designs currently is on display, Colley-Lee will join MSU President Robert H. "Doc" Foglesong, museum and university officials in the formal announcement.
Once transferred to the university, the collection, consisting of rehearsal notes, costume renderings, playbills, and related materials, will be housed in Mitchell's special collections department.
The acclaimed costumer has designed for Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater Co, New York's Public Theater and the Cleveland Playhouse, to name a few. Over her career, she has robed major performers from Rex Smith and Kevin Kline to Linda Ronstadt and Ruby Dee.
Colley-Lee also has designed for productions such as "Mothers," commissioned by Bill Cosby; the CableAce award-winning video-production of Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey into Night"; and the world premiere of the opera "X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X."
For a complete overview of her work, visit gladragsdesigns.com/about_myrna.php.
For more information on the Jackson program, contact Stephen Cunetto at 662-325-8542 or scunetto@library.msstate.edu.