Personal Summary

Alessia Carpoca is the Head of the Design and Technology program at the University of Montana where she teaches scene design, costume design and scenic painting along with continuing her professional Scenery and Costume Design career. She designed professionally in Canada, Italy, Germany and the Czech Republic along with several theatres in the USA. Alessia is also a resident designer for the Opera Program at the University of British Columbia, UBC (Vancouver, Canada) Alessia is an active member of USITT where she serves in the Conference Committee and International Committee. For USITT, she was the Assistant Project Coordinator for the 2011 USITT-USA Prague Quadrennial exhibit. Alessia research field lies in her passion for Japanese art and culture. She spent her sabbatical semester in Kyoto researching Ukiyo-e representation of scenery in Kabuki and scenic painting techniques in Kabuki while partnering with the Art Research Center at Ritsumeikan University. Her paper Japanese Anime: Visual and cultural influences on Italian contemporary artists of the “Goldrake Generation” (presented at the Italy and East Asia: Exchanges and Parallels International Conference, Stony Brook University, 2018) has been published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing in their Social Sciences series October 2018. In 2020 she participated in the ACE-IIGE Rapid Response Workshop about Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) and then developed a COIL module in collaboration with Prof. Murai from Sophia University, Tokyo. The Coil module partners her THTR340 Costume Design class with Prof Murai’s Art History 371Japanese Art in Cross-Cultural Context: Japonisme, for a 4 weeks online collaboration. Professor Carpoca has worked with the Global Engagement Office to create UMOVE - The University of Montana Online Virtual Exchange.

Some of her design work can be found at http://www.alessiacarpoca.net/

Education

MFA, Northwestern University, 2003

BFA, Academy of Fine Arts of Rome, Italy

Courses Taught

Courses with an international focus:

THTR 391.50 Manga and Anime: History, Practice and Form. Spring only

THTR 340.01 Costume Design 1 (COIL module) Fall only

Film:

THTR 351.50 Production Design for Theatre and Television

Theatre:

THTR 102A Intro to Theatre Design

THTR 356 Scenic Painting

THTR 556 Graduate Scenic Painting

THTR 556 Graduate Rendering

THTR 645 Graduate Design Seminar

Publications

PUBBLICATIONS

Author Japanese Anime: Visual and cultural influences on Italian contemporary artists of the “Goldrake Generation” Paper was published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing in their Social Sciences series October 2018.

Book reviewer for Focal Press: Teaching Introduction to Theatrical Design by Eric Appleton and Tracey Lyon June 2015

PRESENTATIONS

International

International Webinar Series Performance and Theatre Studies Aloysius College, Edathua, India,  January 2021

Italy and East Asia: Exchanges and Parallels International Conference, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY October 2018

      Art Research Center at Ritsumeikan University (Kyoto, Japan) November 2016

      Language Department at Ritsumeikan University (Kyoto, Japan) December 2016

      CITT/ICTS Rendez-Vous 2015 (CITT/ICTS Canadian Institute for Theatre and Technology) Vancouver, Canada August 2015

National

USITT’s 2021 Conference, Virtual Education Commission Poster Session, March 2021.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, Norse Offstage, Northern Kentucky University student organization Jan 2021

“Italian Renaissance Panting Techniques” USITT National Conference, Milwaukee April 2013.

“Bringing International Students to the USA” USITT National Conference, Long Beach, California March 2012. Description: Panel focused on the benefits and challenges of bringing International students to the U.S. classrooms.

“Scenofest Review” USITT National Conference, Long Beach, California March 2012. Description: Panel focused on the 2011 Prague Quadrennial Scenofest event and the opportunities available to both students and Faculty at the Quadrennial.

"Integrating Our Design History into the Classroom”. USITT National Conference Charlotte, NC 2011. Description: The panel will focus on the benefits of integrating Design History within the curriculum for Theatre Designers. Members of this panel will also share their strategies to add this fundamental topic without major changes to the core curriculum.

Affiliations

USITT United States Institute for Theatre and Technology 2003 ongoing.

OISTAT International Organization of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians 2003 ongoing.

Guild of Scenic Artist 2017 ongoing

Hobbies