Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1302805
SHELLE Y KUHEN is well-known to Middle Georgia theater-goers as the mastermind behind the magnificent costumes sported by actors on stage at eatre Macon, the Mercer Players and the Mercer Opera. She has been crafting costumes for 31 years, for approximately 400 productions. With all stages dark in the local area, Kuhen's two costume shops, one upstairs in eatre Macon and the other at the Tattnall Square Center for the Arts, have been repurposed for COVID-19 mask making. "I heard about costume shops in New York making masks, so my mask-making team – consisting of me and Mercer alum friends Katie Trotter and Lauren Parris – set about finding out what we needed to do," Kuhen said. "We got the right patterns, the right kind of fabric and the right kind of masks began coming off our production line." e team has made more than 2,400 masks – and are still going strong. "I often feel as if our team is a mere drop in a bucket when one considers the tremendous number of masks that are needed and are being made across the world, Kuhen said. "is coming-together of communities feels like a war effort. It reminds me of the stories my mother used to tell about how during World War II women banded together to roll bandages and anything else that needed to be done." It was those ladies in Kuhen's hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana, who she credits with her love for working with fabric – designing, altering and sewing. "My love for and interest in sewing is a result of being reared among ladies who knew how to sew and enjoyed doing so. If I weren't a costumer, I have no idea what I would be doing," she said. "Many don't know I am also an accomplished actress. I have been in 26 productions while making time for making costumes and pursuing my love of drawing." Kuhen left Indianapolis and continued sewing and alterations work in Boca Rotan, Florida, for a good number of years. "Circumstances brought me, my husband and two children to Macon in 1982. Children three and four were born after our move here," Kuhen said. With that move, Kuhen's career started afresh with eatre Macon, Macon State College's theater department and eventually Mercer University as well. Jim Crisp, former artistic director for eatre Macon, spotted her raw talent early on and enticed her to come volunteer and eventually be salaried. Kuhen credited Crisp, plus mentors Stephen Sisson and Tomas Mulrooney, for fine-tuning her emerging talents. "Shelley is the consummate costume professional creating extraordinary work from research, thorough vision, study and execution," Crisp said. "She provides the finished look to our productions, and is the only costumer in our area working at this level of costume artistry. I deeply admire her and so enjoyed working with her." It's not surprising that mask-making teammates Trotter and Parris were ready to jump in and help when the need arose. When the theater season is going strong, they are her skilled assistants. "Shelley is one of the most selfless and giving people I have ever known. Audiences have no idea how many hours she spends in design and production," Trotter said. Despite her ready talent, when Kuhen started with eatre Macon, she tried to keep her skills undercover. "My first show at eatre Macon was 'e Diary of Anne Frank.' I asked my friend Charlene Churchwell to not reveal that I was an accomplished seamstress. During the rehearsals, I innocently made a simple but obviously awesome apron for a cast member," Kuhen said, adding that her cover was uncovered, and as the saying goes, "e rest is history." S 86 maconmagazine.com | AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020