Meet the Team

CO-FOUNDER

Bob Kuhn (he/him) has been a Chicago based freelance costume designer and technician since 2009. He enjoys the collaboration and world creating that theater offers and has had the opportunity to design a wide variety of shows and work with many amazing artists and company's over the years. These experiences, though they have resulted in great shows and life long friends, have highlighted the systemic inequities in the theater industry that need to be addressed.

His design work has been seen on stage sizes ranging from a 30 person black box to a 1000+ seat house, including designs with Drury Lane Theatre - Oakbrook, Mercury Theater, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Theo-Ubique Cabaret Theater, Pride Films and Plays, Boho Theater, Porchlight Music Theater, About Face Theater, Kokandy Productions, Ryan Opera Center at The Lyric Opera, Piven Theater Workshop, Emerald City Theater, Music Theater Works, Northwestern University, Concordia University (Chicago), The Palace Theater (Wisconsin Dells), Arkansas Shakespeare Theater, and Pennsylvania Centre Stage. He has also worked with, in varying positions, The Marriott Theater, The Paramount Theater, Lookingglass Theater, Northlight Theater, Writers Theater, The House Theater of Chicago, The Court Theater, and the Cadillac Palace Theater.

Bob has received two Joseph Jefferson Award nominations for Best Costume Design: HAIR! (Mercury Theater, Equity - midsize) and Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Theo-Ubique Cabaret Theater, Non-Equity). He is also an artistic associate with About Face Theater. He received his BA in Studio Art from the University of Central Arkansas and his MFA in Costume Design from the Pennsylvania State University.

CO-FOUNDER

Christine Pascual (she/her) is a costume designer based in Chicago since 1994. She was born in New York City and grew up on Long Island in Dix Hills, New York. She is the oldest of seven children whose parents immigrated to the US from the Philippines. She graduated from SUNY at Stony Brook with a Bachelor of Arts degree and earned a Master of Fine Arts in costume design from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Christine began her career in costume design with daring, innovative storefront theaters, including Defiant and Onyx. Since then she has been working with storefront, mid-size, and large theaters. Recent productions in Chicago include: The Displaced at Haven Theatre; Fade at Victory Gardens Theater; East Texas Hot Links at Writers Theatre; The Light Fantastic at Jackalope Theatre; and Traitor at A Red Orchid Theatre; in addition to Simpatico at McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, NJ and The Royale at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis.

Christine is drawn to and passionate about new theatrical works that deal with real life human experiences and the human condition. She is an advocate for a theater community that tells the stories of all Americans, and she aims to continue to work towards that goal. In 2010 she was a nominee for a Hewes Design Award for notable effects in costumes for The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity at Second Stage.

CO-FOUNDER

Elsa Hiltner (she/her) is a pay equity advocate and activist, and has extensively researched, written, and organized on pay equity within the arts. Her essays and data driven resources on labor and pay equity have inspired systemic change in the theatre industry.

She is a co-founder of On Our Team and the creator of the Pay Equity Standards - a system for establishing and publicly recognizing pay equity within an organization. Elsa launched the Theatrical Designer Pay Resource in 2018, which has been used nation-wide by designers to promote pay transparency and to start conversations about pay equity.

Elsa is associate director of programs at Lawyers for the Creative Arts, and has a background as a costume designer and director of development. Her three-pronged approach to building pay equity within organizations is used by BLVE Consults to help organizations build sustainable pay equity policies and practices. In 2021, she was honored to receive the Michael Merritt Arts Advocacy Award.

CO-FOUNDER

Theresa Ham (she/her) is a Chicago-based Costume Designer. Recent Design credits include: Ride the Cyclone & The Little Mermaid (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre), Hairspray, Oklahoma, Les Miserables, The Who's Tommy, Mary Poppins, Cats, RENT, 42nd Street and Annie. (Paramount Theatre- Aurora) Other designs include: October Sky (Marriott Theatre: Lincolnshire), Carmen (Finger Lakes Opera), Hello Dolly! (Drury Lane Theatre), Seussical: The Musical and Shrek: The Musical (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre), Dog Fight and Amadeus (BOHO Theatre). Ms. Ham is an Artistic Affiliate with both BOHO Theatre and Stage Left Theatre. Her work has also been seen at DePaul Opera Theatre, Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera Chicago, Northlight Theatre, Porchlight Music Theatre

Ms. Ham is an adjunct faculty member at Columbia College & Wilbur Wright College. She is the recipient of the 2010 Joseph Jefferson Award for Outstanding Costume Design (non equity wing) and three Broadway World Awards.