Kevin Alberts grew up in theatre, designing from a young age in Detroit, Michigan. He has now been costume designing for Pioneer Theatre Company (PTC) for almost 40 years.

From student to superior

He graduated with a BFA from Wayne State University and had his heart set on the U, awaiting an internship with beloved, New York-based designer Patricia Zipprodt. However, his aspirations were cut short when he learned that she was no longer travelling to Utah. So, he quit. Alberts then moved to Chicago and began designing for small companies around town until the opportunity came to move to New York. It also wasn’t for him.

He said he grew up in theatre, thinking “New York is the place you have to be. I think I realized it isn’t always. You can do great theatre in other places. It doesn’t have to be on Broadway.” And after being mugged twice for “looking like a tourist,” he came back to Utah in 1988 and PTC became that place where he could do great theatre. And at first, he didn’t like Utah, but he soon grew a fondness for Salt Lake and now says, “I’m outlasting everybody.”

Alberts’ first show was “A Raisin in the Sun,” performed on the PTC stage in 1984 when he was still a graduate student at the U. From then, he says he has gained confidence in the work that he does with PTC and in the team he has become close with. “Chuck, who was the former artistic director, took a lot of chances on me because I was just starting graduate school. He let me do that. which doesn’t happen anymore here. So it’s just all about honing my own skills,” Alberts said.

Since then, Alberts has gained great traction, having worked on over 200 shows with the company. Some of these have included the first regional performance of “Les Misérables” in 2007, “The Play That Goes Wrong,” “A Christmas Story,” “Uncle Vanya,” “Bonnie and Clyde,” “Souvenir” and many more. From this, he has been described as the company’s most tenured staff member.

“I finally realized this is the right place for me to be. I didn’t need to be in New York … I don’t feel like I had a personal life at all,” Alberts said. “Where here, I have a life outside of my job. I love my job, but I have friends and I have other things to do.”

Committed curiosity and contemporaries

Alberts serves two roles for PTC: designer and a firsthand. As a first-hand, he is the first point of contact for the production of a character’s costume. He cuts out the shapes of costumes from the patterns and fabric and passes them off to the stitcher, though Alberts stitches and sews, too. But being a show’s designer is a completely different battle.

“Being a designer varies a lot from show to show, and who the director is and who your cast is, sometimes it’s really great, and you get along really well with everyone. It doesn’t always work that way, but you have to find a way through,” Alberts said. “If you’re having a difficult time with a director, you have to figure out what they’re really asking for. Sometimes it isn’t clear in their head, perhaps. And so I have to kind of sift through that and be like, ‘Is this what you’re thinking?’”

He also adds that to be a designer, every day is new. As a costume designer at PTC, he is constantly shifting shows every six weeks, even designing for the university shows. And that brings its own challenges.

“It’s a learning curve. You need to be flexible to work with different staff members and different guest designers for at least half of the shows,” he said. “You have to be able to adapt to how that designer wants to work or how these staff people work. So, you just kind of have to be open.”

And from this, it has allowed him to stay curious and excited, no matter how “jaded” he may believe himself to be. He added that a lot of his excitement stems from the work he sees from the new generations he works with at the U. 

“Sometimes I think, ‘Oh, I’ve just done this forever, and I’m really jaded.’ And I try not to be. It’s fun to be excited for them [the students],” Alberts said. “There’s always something new to learn … Even the new generation of actors coming into the field, and understanding how they like to work or how a certain director likes to work. It does keep things exciting and fresh, even though you know, you’re down in the basement for 38 years.”

Where things are going

Alberts is the costume designer for “King James,” ongoing March 20 through April 4. And in his 38th year with the company, he’s on his way to retirement, but he’s not quite done yet. “I joke about it [retirement], but I still like what I do. I don’t want to just leave. I think I’ve gotten to do incredible shows here and I worked with great people. So, until I just can’t stand it anymore, until I feel like I’m just too old.”

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