Sara Ryung Clement describes a career in creative support of theater | By Anne Holzman (Winter 2026)
Sara Ryung Clement has designed costumes and props, and built scenes for all sorts of characters on stages across the country. She has set Elizabethan characters at the iconic Folger stage in Washington, DC, created costumes for Noises Off at the Guthrie, and crafted both costumes and scenes for a production of Annie in California.
This month in Minneapolis, she is designing the set for six cartoonish dogs to display their hijinks for the delight of preschoolers. “We’re creating space for six actors who are incredible clowns,” Clement said, summing up the job during an interview in mid-January.
Based on the 1961 picture book Go Dog. Go! by P.D. Eastman, the new production at Children’s Theatre Company (CTC) features six people in a variety of costumes (designed by Danielle Nieves) performing scenes from the book – more or less. Asked how she reproduced the minimal backgrounds from the book for the stage, Clement said, “I think there are a lot of iconic images in the book that you would see in different ways.” She took period design into account, especially the Pop Art movement from that era, she added. And the production team sneaked in a few obscure theatrical references just in case the “theater geeks” show up, she said.
Clement was adopted from South Korea as an infant and grew up in Minnesota. She went to college and graduate school “out east,” she said, then settled in the Los Angeles area and built a career designing stage sets and costumes. She said she likes moving back and forth between those two types of design, sometimes doing both at once, because “you get to live in that world a little more extensively,” she said.
Her career branched out nationally as her connections grew. “You find a cohort of people that you enjoy working with,” and they call when they need someone, she said. The career isn’t known for its high pay, but the reward, she said, is that “most often we’re working with people we really enjoy.”
Two years ago, her career took a new turn when she was hired by the University of Minnesota’s theater department as an instructor in scene design. While working at the University, she has been fitting in some work on local stages, sometimes bringing students along to observe a design meeting or other aspect of the professional work.
She said children’s plays typically have short runs and employ designers who are still early in their careers, but “it’s been really fun” to do a major production for children now that she’s more established. She also enjoys access to the extensive collection of props and the well-appointed prop shop at CTC.
She said children’s shows are fun because they’re “so theatrical.” She chuckled at the memory of a show that involved considerations such as, “I think the squirrel’s pantyhose should be wider.”
At the same time, she said, the stagecraft has to measure up for its audience – the storytelling, the pace, all the aspects of successful theater – or the kids will let them know. “Young audiences are very honest,” Clement said.
For information and tickets for Go Dog, Go (Ve Perro! Ve!) at the Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis (January 20 through February 22) see this link.
